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This week saw the culmination of a months-long effort by Civil Beat to dig deep into the workings of Hawaii government and come up with an account of how transparent and accountable our government really is.

We were part of a 50-state effort, called the State Integrity Investigation, that saw news operations across the country addressing more than 300 indicators so that states could be comparatively ranked. Hawaii came in at No. 10, tied with three other states. But we were 44th when it came to how well the laws that are on our books are really carried out on a day-to-day basis.

The Hawaii Accountability Project is definitely a must read, even something to bookmark because you’ll find it useful if you ever need to get a document or other information from state government. We’ll be adding to the special site as the days go by with detailed back-up information on hundreds of indicators covering 14 categories of government: access to information, campaign finance, executive accountability, legislative accountability, judicial accountability, budgeting, civil service management, procurement, internal auditing, lobbying disclosure, pension fund management, ethics enforcement, insurance commissions, and redistricting.

Here are 10 more must-read stories from this week:

• Legislature May Sacrifice Environment for Economy

• Civil Unions Returns to the Hawaii Legislature

• Water Board’s Beretania Land To Be Developed

• Kirk Caldwell, Friend of the Working Man

• Hawaii ‘Ambassador of Energy’ Pushing State Renewable Policy Forward

• Developing Kakaako: The Big Picture

• Oahu Takes Steps to Identify and Protect ‘Important’ Ag Lands

• Not So Public: Recipients of Hawaii Film Tax Credits Under Wraps

• Spouses Banned From Traveling on Taxpayers’ Dime in Other Cities, Too

• Hanabusa Rejects ‘Loan Shark’ Allegation