honolulu

City dwellers know that finding an affordable downtown parking spot involves cutthroat competition. And in some urban centers, even the winners pay through the nose for a place to stash their cars. Find out where the rates are worst (and the high price we all pay for "free" parking.)

Here's news from the business world and other money matters to watch out for Friday (last updated at 7:33 a.m. Eastern time): Gambling With Welfare Benefits: In the U.S., welfare payments are made electronically in the form of Electronic Benefits Transfer cards, which work similarly to debit...

With Bell, Calif. pole-vaulting into national headlines for paying its city manager $800,000, it's human nature to wonder how much bacon the top manager in your community brings home -- and how much fat is on it. Bell covers 2.5 miles and has 36,000 residents, none of whom, it is fairly safe to...

The annual subscription for Honolulu Civil Beat is a pricey $240, attracting plenty of skeptics. But don't count it out yet -- Omidyar may have timed the bottom of the paid-content news market well. Watch this space for an indicator of where the news business is headed.