East Hawaii News

Selflessness, dedication and hard work. Those qualities and others are why the Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaiʻi selected Hawaiʻi Police Department Puna Patrol Officer Michael Sailer as its Officer of the Year for 2022 and Hawai‘i Fire Department Capt. Jon Wayne Boteilho as its Firefighter of the Year for 2022. The two men were honored during a ceremony March 25 in Hilo.

After conferring with the Hawai’i County prosecutor’s office Friday, detectives with the Hawai’i Police Department’s Area I Criminal Investigation Section charged 35-year-old Joseph Diego Soares with several offenses including first-degree reckless endangering, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and other firearms offenses.

Community members who attended a public hearing March 24 about proposed changes to the Hele-On Shared-Ride Taxi Program left after 90 minutes frustrated, confused and even angry, with more questions than answers.

Cohlby Espaniola, 25 of Mountain View, was sentenced to a 20-year prison term in Hilo Circuit Court for a stabbing and robbery that occurred in 2018 at a residence on Leilani Street in Hilo.

It’s been a little more than three weeks since the lava supply to the lake within Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea volcano on the Big Island ceased March 7 and the eruption paused.

Mana‘o-Akamai Ka‘aihue was last seen at 11 p.m. Friday, March 24, on Mahi Ko Place in Hilo wearing a black shirt, denim pants and white sneakers. He is described as 6 feet tall, weighing 145 pounds, with black curly hair and brown eyes.

Lilinoe Kahalepauole-Bustamonte and her husband helped law enforcement retrieve a nēnē gosling that was abducted from a Hilo state park in an onion bag and have it reunited with its parents.

At an April 1 town hall in Hilo, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda will discuss her first three months in office, legislation she’s sponsored and her priorities for the 118th Congress.

Meiqin Chen, 57, from Hilo was observed by multiple witnesses putting an endangered nēnē gosling in her vehicle at Wailoa River State Recreation Area in Hilo on the Big Island and driving away.

The victim was identified as Clifford Edward Myers Sr. of Van Nuys, Calif. Preliminary results of an autopsy performed March 16 did not show signs of foul play; however, final results are pending toxicology and additional forensic testing.

Construction is expected to start this year on a new research campus in Hilo that will not only house the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory but also the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center.

Spenser Jordon Feary of Hilo was charged with first-degree theft and first-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, according to the Hawai‘i County prosecutor’s office. First-degree theft is a Class B felony carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years is prison.

Have you seen 76-year-old William Romeo Bishop Sr.? No one has heard from or seen him since the afternoon of Jan. 22 in the area of his home in Hawaiian Paradise Park. Police are again asking the public for any information that could help lead to finding him.

Kayzlyn Grammer was last seen at 2:25 a.m. Feb. 22 in the 1100 block of Waiānuenue Avenue in Hilo, wearing a tan/brown hooded jacket and nondescript bottoms. She is described as 5 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing 110 pounds, with long, brown hair, brown eyes, a thin build and tan complexion,.

The college in Hilo on the Big Island was recently recognized by the U.S. State Department as a Fulbright Program Top Producing Institution for the 2022-23 academic year.

Just three Big Island rain gauges measured less than 100% of their average rainfall for February, with several spots in Kaʻū and on the windward side of the island recording rain totals up to nearly six times greater than average.

Uilani Ahuna was located in Hilo on May 11.

The Hawai‘i Police Department says 44-year old Ronald Kahihikolo of Ocean View was arrested just before 11 a.m. Saturday near the 39.5-mile marker on Highway 19 in Hāmākua, north of Hilo, after a five-day manhunt.

One of two security checkpoints at Hilo International Airport is down. Because of that, travelers catching a flight Sunday morning, March 12, should arrive no later than two hours prior to their flight.

After stirring earlier today, it looks like Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire, might not reawaken after all.