East Hawaii News

The “He Kaʻao No Aunty Edith Kanakaʻole” celebration starts at 10:30 a.m. with a welcoming ceremony in the UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center in Hilo on the Big Island followed by a ceremonial presentation of gifts and tributes.

Jsteyn Villanueva-Santos was located in Hilo. Big Island police thank the public for its assistance.

The Hawai‘i Police Department report that a 13-year-old runaway girl has been located in good health.

According to police, Puna patrol officers found 52-year-old Christopher Roy Howlind with a large sword covered in blood next to him at an Orchidland Estates residence on the Big Island early Friday afternoon, April 28, and a dead woman inside.

The Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday authorized the state Land Division to negotiate a development agreement with Banyan Drive Management of Hilo to conduct a $20 million renovation of the former Country Club Condominiums complex on Hilo’s iconic Banyan Drive on the Big Island.

The Island of Hawai‘i Visitors Bureau is seeking proposals from non-profit organizations to develop and operate a community cultural-based education program in the Keaukaha area that will help balance the preservation of cultural and natural resources with mindful visitation.

Big Island Singers, a new 33-member community choir under the direction of founder Douglas Albertson, presents “Love Songs in Spring” from Friday through Sunday, April 28-30, at several venues in Hilo.

It’s been almost five years since the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea volcano and resulting lava flow landlocked the Pohoiki boat ramp, yet the battle continues for funding to dredge the beach and reopen access to the ocean.

The official Merrie Monarch Hawaiian Arts & Crafts Fair that showcases and supports more than 150 of Hawai‘i’s best artisans and creators will be open one more day, on Saturday, at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium and Butler Buildings in Hilo on the Big Island.

Benjamin “Kawika” Jerin-Kealoha of Ka‘ū is also wanted in connection with other criminal investigations.

On Thursday night, a 21-year-old from Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu, was swept over by emotions when she was announced as the Miss Aloha Hula 2023 at the 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival on the Big Island.

With 1,148 points, Agnes Renee Leihiwahiwaikapolionāmakua Thronas Brown, who dances with Oʻahu hālau Ka Lā ʻŌnohi Mai O Haʻehaʻe, won the title of Miss Aloha Hula 2023 on Thursday during the first night of competition for the 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo on the Big Island.

The historic and much-anticipated 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival officially kicked off at the Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium in Hilo on the Big Island with a Hōʻike Night for the ages.

The Merrie Monarch Royal Parade will be in Downtown Hilo on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., with than 100 horses gussied up to carry women dressed in long, colorful skirts (pāʻu) riding sidesaddle or as part of a private mount group.

Plans to renovate the Keawe Health Center in downtwon Hilo were ended when anomalies in the exterior concrete walls were discovered, leading to demolition of the building instead.

The Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park has announced its flight operations for April 2023, which will include several low-level helicopter flights.

Although the initial motivation for the Merrie Monarch Festival was to boost the economy of Hawaiʻi island through tourism, this event has come to serve a far greater purpose, which is perpetuating Hawaiian culture.

Get ready, world. The Merrie Monarch Festival returns next week with full regalia for the first time since 2019, and there’s just two days left until the celebration of hula and everything Hawaiian gets underway.

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Land and Natural Resources continues to seek a general fund appropriation from the State Legislature of at least $12.5 million for demolition of the once iconic and now condemned Uncle Billyʻs Hotel & Resort.

When Yachiyo Hamada and Jeanette Rhamsey were born in March 1922, Warren Harding was president, Wallace Farrington was governor of the Territory of Hawai‘i and Babe Ruth had already signed a three-year contract with the New York Yankees at $52,000 a year. Later that month, the U.S. Navy’s first aircraft carrier, USS Langley, was commissioned and the first airplane landed at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.