Our Best-Read Stories in 2018

We can’t track which stories are read most in the print version of Hawaii Business, so we gauge popularity using page views at hawaiibusiness.com. By that measure, the best-read stories of the year through the end of October were:

1. “20 for the Next 20: Hawaii’s People to Watch,” in the March print edition, the 2018 edition of our annual profiles of emerging leaders in the Islands.
2. “Best Places to Work 2018,” April, one of our most popular stories every year for 14 years now.
3. “Cost of Climate Change,” September, which I have described as our most important story of the year.
4. “Reviving a Legend: The Coco Palms Resort,” January, staff writer Noelle Fujii’s look at a Kauai icon aiming for a comeback.
5. “Top 100 in Real Estate 2018,” June, our annual ranking of the top performing Realtors in Hawaii.
6. “Maternity Tourism in Hawaii,” March, former intern Nicole Tam’s investigation into two companies that bring late-term pregnant Chinese women to Hawaii so their children are born here and get U.S. citizenship.
7. “Hawaii’s Top 250 Companies 2018,” August.
8. “Native Hawaiian Culture is Science,” April.
9. “Wahine Moving Up,” October, senior writer Beverly Creamer’s report on how Hawaii companies help turn smart, ambitious women into leaders.
10. “Mana Up Aims to Turn Small Local Companies into Global Brands,” February.
11. “The Future of Recycling in Hawaii,” September.
12. “Overtourism and Crowding at our Favorite Spots,” January.
13. “What Makes Waikiki Dangerous,” September.
14. “The Best of Small Business 2018,” May.
15. “Project Delays at Hawaii’s Airports,” January.

A lot of the stories listed on these pages were among our staff’s favorites, but here are a few others they also liked:

• Lavonne Leong’s illustrated story on “Honolulu by the Numbers,” April.
• Ilima Loomis writing about how the wave of Chinese investments in the Islands has been much smaller than expected, July.
• Jeff Hawe’s story called “High Seas Entrepreneur” about Kahaluu native Mark Towill’s round-the-world sailing company, August.
• Two by Noelle Fujii, “You Can’t Beat Robots So Work with Them” and “5 Reasons to be Optimistic About Hawaii’s Clean Energy Future.” About the first one, Noelle says: “This was a fun story to write. I love covering education because I’m constantly amazed and inspired by the innovative projects that students are working on and the drive they have to make the world a better place.” 
• And two of my columns about threats to American democracy, “Don’t Be So Certain It Can’t Happen Here” and “Here’s What Makes America Great.”

We tracked the most-read stories from our daily email, “Today’s Hawaii News.” 2018’s top ongoing stories were:

• KIlauea Eruption, especially in June, with “Kapoho Bay lost to lava” on June 6 generating 2,256 click-throughs from the summary to full versions of the story.
• Kauai Floods, April, with Hawaii News Now’s “Evacuation and relief effort continues in flooded Kauai communities” on April 17 capturing 1,113 clicks.
• The False Missile Alert, January, with HNN’s “Screenshot of what HI-EMA worker saw before pushing the button” on Jan. 16 capturing 705 clicks.
• Elections and Politics, beginning early in the year and ramping up around primary and general election days.
• Killing of Hawaii Island Police Officer, July.
• Kealohas Trial, throughout the year.

Today’s Hawaii News

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What Did you Like in 2018?

Use the hashtag #HiBiz2018 on social media to tell us your favorite Hawaii Business stories from 2018.