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It was a week dominated by the human trafficking trial of Alec and Mike Sou, owners of Aloun Farms, and the showdown in Congress over the debt ceiling. In both cases, Civil Beat had a unique vantage point. Our Sara Lin live blogged from the trial and Adrienne LaFrance was on the scene in Washington to capture the unvarnished views of our congressional delegation.

But we also provided plenty of unexpected stories that we hope you’ve come to expect from Civil Beat, such as Sophie Cocke’s piece on power usage for air conditioning in state buildings.

Of course, there was also that minor development in the Hawaii news world, the decision by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser to start charging for its website. Change begins with a questionâ„¢, Civil Beat responded. Which news service will you choose?

Here are 10 stories from Civil Beat this week that you wouldn’t want to have missed.

• Live Blog: Aloun Farms Human Trafficking Trial — The End
• Jurors: Prosecution Botched Aloun Farms Case
• Aloun Farms Trial — The Damage Done
• Hawaii Human Trafficking Case Tossed Into Confusion
• Warm Hawaii Government Offices Chill AC Sting
• Full Disclosure: Hawaii’s Cabinet
• Carlisle Holds Huge Financial Edge Over Mayoral Opponents
• Abercrombie Campaign Spent More Than It Raised in First Six Months of 2011
• Hee Builds $300K War Chest, Tsutsui Has $100K
• Senior Center at Heart of Federal Probe Falls Short