U.S. Congressman Mark Takai, who served as the representative for Hawaii's first district, has died, NBC News has confirmed.

Takai, 49, announced in May he would not seek re-election after recently learning that his pancreatic cancer has spread. Takai had planned to serve the rest of his term, which would have ended in January 2017.
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The Democratic primary race heads west this weekend -- way, way out west.

Democrats will hold presidential contests in Hawaii, Alaska and Washington state on Saturday, three states expected to be friendlier to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ( Read more... )

Three federal appeals court judges who have ruled in favor of gay rights in the past are to hear arguments Monday on whether to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Western states ( Read more... )

KONA, Hawaii - From the moment the bill to ban genetically engineered crops on the island of Hawaii was introduced in May 2013, it garnered more vocal support than any the County Council here had ever considered, even the perennially popular bids to decriminalize marijuana.Public hearings were dominated by recitations of the ills often attributed ( Read more... )

Abercrombie Will Sign Gay Marriage Bill Wednesday

The state Senate, as expected, overwhelmingly approved a marriage equity bill today, sending the measure to Gov. Neil Abercrombie who has vowed to sign it and make Hawaii the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage.

An invitation-only bill-signing ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the ( Read more... )

[This story is a few weeks old, but I don't think it was ever posted here. Based on that, and the fact that it's really interesting, I'm posting it now.]

FBI Releases Its File On Late Senator Daniel Inouye (UPDATED)Newly released FBI files on Dan Inouye show that the Hawaii senator was subject to several anonymous death threats during his long ( Read more... )

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Tuesday's elections brought two historic firsts for religion in American politics: A Buddhist senator and a Hindu representative -- both from Hawaii -- will join Congress.

Democrat Mazie Hirono beat former Gov. Linda Lingle (R), making Hirono the first Buddhist in the Senate. In Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Tulsi Gabbard defeated ( Read more... )

Japanese-American GOP ranks rareLike many Japanese-Americans living in Hawaii, Janell Yim loves eating "musubi" rice balls made with Spam and arranging flowers. When she travels, she never forgets to bring back "omiyage" for family and friends ( Read more... )

Ken Bennett, Arizona's secretary of state, is the latest person to question the President's birthplace, although he's doing it the way people do when they want to call it into question but don't want to seem like a loon. Bennett, a Republican who perhaps coincidentally is planning to run for governor in 2014, said on a radio show last week that he' ( Read more... )