Hawai'i State News

While international tourism will continue to recover, domestic travel in Hawai’i will soften as the U.S. economy contracts later this year.

The eruption of Kīlauea, which began on Jan. 5 and was confined within Halema‘uma‘u crater, has paused after 61 days of lava activity. There also is no active lava within Moku‘āweoweo caldera at the summit of Mauna Loa.

The grounding and salvage operation of a 120-ton yacht off the shore of Maui caused damage to corals and reef live rock covering at least 19,434-square-feet, according to a state damage assessment.

On Wednesday, the Hawai‘i County Council affirmed its commitment to fixing the problems with animal control on Big Island, acting to create a new Hawai‘i County Animal Control and Protection Agency by approving the second and final reading of Bill 22.

The report cited a slew of high-profile criminal acts by government workers and officials, including a Big Island case involving $2 million in bribes and kickbacks to a county housing office employee.

The plight of the Nākoa, a 94-foot luxury yacht that spent nearly two weeks grounded in Honolua Bay on Maui only to be freed from the rocky shoreline and then sink in about 800 feet of water, is not the only yacht plot to unfold in Hawai‘i waters during the past decade.

After being freed, the multimillion-dollar yacht grounded in a Maui bay had suffered severe holes in the hull during the days it was pounding repeatedly against the rocks of the shoreline.

Readers were asked “What’s your favorite extraterrestrial event in 2023?” and the comet garnered one-quarter of the total vote.

The recent reels are part of an album of astronomical and meteorological hits produced by the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera since the beginning of 2023 that have captured the attention — and imagination — of the world.

Other than a few sightings in the Captain Cook area on the Big Island’s west side and Hāmākua on the east side, no one else has seen or spoken to 42-year-old Landon Fairbanks of Kailua-Kona since about noon on Aug. 3, 2022.

Grammy award-winning Hawaiian icon John Cruz is releasing songs from the Kauaʻi-based musical “Hawaiian Heart,” with Taiana Tully and Bronson Varde.

The book’s comic section follows a family of four visiting the Big Island and O‘ahu and learning about responsible and regenerative tourism through participation in a Mālama Hawaiʻi tour.

Salvage efforts will resume sometime this weekend as crews attempt to free the grounded yacht Nakoa from the near-shore reef on the edge of Honolua Bay. 

Two men from Maui were sentenced in federal court for their racially motivated attack on a white man who was attempting to move into their neighborhood of Kahakuloa. Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi, 33, was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison; and Levi Aki Jr., 33, was sentenced to four years and two months in prison.

The inaugural Western Regional Native Hawaiian Convention will be held at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino and will feature discussions on cultural perpetuation, housing and tourism.

Mother Nature has teased many of us with a few breaks, psyching us out with sunny and blue skies, before 10 minutes later turning the faucet back on full blast. It’s been cold and windy. The weather has definitely been more than a bit dismal. That doesn’t mean, however, we have to be.

Director Tia Hartsock outline the many goals of the newly created state Office of Wellness and Resilience.

While at least one person in East Hawai‘i wondered Wednesday if anyone had Noah’s phone number so they could ask if there’s room left on the ark as rain continued to drench parts of the Big Island, those who work at the frigid 13,803-foot summit of Maunakea faced yet another round of snow and ice.

In its response to a wrongful death lawsuit, the Boy Scouts of America admits only that 11-year-old Manny Carvalho died Aug. 28, 2022, “due to a gunshot while attending a Boy Scout Troop 19 Family Fun Day at Camp Honokāia.”

The body believed to be Kody Gardner was first observed on Thursday in Waimea Canyon, but due to bad weather and the remote location it was not recovered for five more days, police said.