Maui County and Hawaiian Electric Co. have both been targets of public outrage over who's responsible for the devastation and death in Lahaina -- the utility because power lines may have sparked the fire and the county for its ineffective response including leaving the Lahaina area too soon. First, Maui County filed a lawsuit against HECO then HECO pushed back last week with its view of events.

Despite years of studies and debate over managing the risk from wildfires, government officials still neglected the opportunities to put money or programs in place to address the growing problem.

The latest federal indictment of Donald Trump appears not to have hurt his polling numbers while helping him raise millions of dollars in his campaign to return to the White House. These charges relate to his refusal to return classified and top secret documents that he was keeping at his Florida estate.

City officials, including Honolulu City Council members, are in line for big raises come July 1. Council Chair Tommy Waters wants council positions to be full time and has introduced a measure to do that. But the 64% pay raises may take effect before members move to full time — if they ever do.

Longtime East Honolulu lawmaker Sam Slom died last week. For many years he was the only Republican in the state Senate where he served from 1996 to 2016. He was 81.