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Our week was cut short by the Memorial Day holiday but that just seemed to mean there was more news tucked into the days that were left.

The mayor’s race heated up, no pun intended, when firefighters and retired firefighters got into a political skirmish over endorsements. Another mayoral debate focused largely on rail and we took a closer look at Ben Cayetano’s idea for bus rapid transit as an alternative to rail.

One story of major interest to us here at Civil Beat was a judge’s decision to keep secret the surveillance video and other records in the case of the State Department special agent charged with murder for shooting a man in McDonald’s as APEC was about to begin. This over the objections of the defense, which was trying to get the information out in the open. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii News Now and the Hawaii Reporter joined Christopher’s Deedy’s attorney in trying to prevent that from happening, but the prosecution won the round, at least for now.

And we couldn’t resist offering our take on the latest birther developments.

Here are our picks for the 10 must-read stories of the week:

• Honolulu Judge Seals Video of Fatal Shooting Inside Waikiki Restaurant

• Firefighter Fiasco Unfolds in Fiery Back and Forth

• Bus Rapid Transit: The Devil’s in the Details, But What Are They?

• Half of Native Hawaiians Awarded Homesteads Under Lingle Lack Homes

• Off the Beat: Is Birtherism Finally Dying Down?

• Pacific Island Could Be Spared From Becoming Tsunami Dump Site

• The Hawaii Supreme Court: A Legacy for Gov. Neil Abercrombie?

• Off the Beat: What Does the Mayor Plan To Do About Kawamoto?

• Why They Are Democrats

• EPA Targets Hawaii Refineries In Plan To Eliminate Haze