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A senior Democratic senator is pushing Defense Department leaders to create new processes to investigate disasters within the military in an effort to better prevent other tragedies in the future. In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Tuesday, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said the current way such major mishaps are handled by service...

Democratic lawmakers reintroduced a bill on Wednesday aimed at breaking down the persistent stigmas associated with mental health in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.   The legislation, first shared with NBC News, coincides with the final day of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Called...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, took center stage this week in a fiery Senate floor clash over fellow Senate Armed Services Committee member Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, and his ongoing one-man blockade of military promotions in protest against a new Department of Defense abortion policy. Tuberville, the former Auburn...

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono questioned the nation’s top military leaders about the Red Hill fuel crisis among national security priorities Tuesday morning. She wanted to know whether unfunded projects in Hawaii to improve infrastructure would be addressed. “How is the department ensuring that infrastructure, maintenance and modernization...

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono questioned a panel of experts about military infrastructure in the Pacific during a Senate Armed Serv­ices Committee hearing Wednesday. The Pentagon is looking to beef up its military presence in the Pacific, and recently signed new basing agreements with Japan and the Philippines as regional tensions simmer with China...

Three Democratic senators sent a letter Thursday urging a drug company to add miscarriage as a use for the drug mifepristone. Currently, the label only indicates mifepristone for use in medication abortion, though the drug can be safely — and legally — used in miscarriage management in the first trimester.Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Maggie Hassan...

Hawai’i’s U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono joined colleagues in introducing a bill that would expand access to longterm care, enabling older adults and people with disabilities to receive quality care while remaining in their communities.  The Better Care Better Jobs Act would enhance Medicare funding for home care, helping many of the...

A year after the U.S. Pacific Fleet completed its investigation into two jet fuel spills in 2021 at the underground Red Hill fuel storage facility that led to the contamination of the Navy’s Oahu water system, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono is pressing the service to provide answers on what’s changed. In a letter this week to Navy Secretary...

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono visited the University of Hawaii–West Oahu on January 12, and spoke with students, alumni, faculty, staff and administrators about initiatives in sustainable food and agriculture, food security, digital media, labor education and research, and more. As part of her visit, Hirono toured Hale...

A new state-owned ocean cargo container terminal being built at Honolulu Harbor is slated to receive extra bells and whistles valued at $139 million thanks to a federal grant requiring private matching funds. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration awarded a $47.3 million grant to bolster development of the Hawaii...

Federal help is on the way for local farmers battling the effects of coffee leaf rust, a destructive fungus that could potentially jeopardize the state’s $500,000 coffee industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded $1.37 million to the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center to address...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded $1.9 million in federal funding to programs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of Hawaii Maui College to boost Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced. The funding will...

The US Department of Health and Human Services awarded $1.28 million in federal funding to the University of Hawai?i Systems to train new community health workers. The funding is part of the Community Health Worker Training Program created by the American Rescue Plan, which US Senator Mazie Hirono helped pass last year. Currently, there are...

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) recently met with the Kupuna Collective, a network of support organizations that focus on maximizing the health, independence and engagement of Hawai‘i’s older adults, for a roundtable conversation about supporting seniors in Hawai‘i. During the roundtable, Hirono discussed issues including food...

The head of the Department of Veterans Affairs testified on Oahu Wednesday about the state of health services in Hawaii and issues including staff shortages, women’s care and complaints from community clinic providers about payments. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough appeared at a congressional field hearing chaired by U.S. Sen....

A new ocean cargo container terminal at Honolulu Harbor long deemed a crucial state project supporting economic growth is on track for completion in early 2024 after nearly two decades of work that has included major delays. The $526 million project on 84 acres of state land that was once an Army shipping and warehouse base known as Kapalama...

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously last week to pass a bill that would limit non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements in cases involving sexual harassment or sexual assault. “NDAs have been weaponized by employers, corporations and others in power to cover up abuse and sexual misconduct,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who...

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono joined a group of Democratic colleagues to introduce the Women’s Business Centers Improvement Act of 2022, aiming to improve the U.S. Small Business Administration/s Women’s Business Center Program. “As our economy continues to recover from the pandemic, supply chain issues and labor shortages, it is...

Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a resolution recognizing the 50th anniversaries of the establishment of Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge and Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge on O‘ahu. The resolution, cosponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), celebrates the two refuges...

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded $1.5 million in federal funding to Hawai‘i to support veterans’ suicide-prevention efforts. The funding is made possible through the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health...