News

Amanda Deguair told her story of being addicted to opioids during a press conference Friday morning hosted by the Hawai‘i Island Fentanyl Task Force that not only highlighted the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s support of lifting all restrictions on a life-changing medication called Buprenorphine that can help addicts recover, but also urged medical providers around the Big Island and throughout the state to prescribe it to appropriate patients with opioid use disorder.

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Land and Natural Resources said it has hired Visionary Marine of Honolulu to do the salvage operations of the luxury yacht that grounded in Honolua Bay.

While attempting to catch mongoose on his property in the Keaukaha area, Hilo resident Chris Owens caught a skunk, which are prohibited in Hawai’i.

Karie Luana Klein was charged on Feb. 16 for allegedly falsifying Department of Education mileage and parking forms and using purchase orders and a “P-Card” to steal more than $7,000 from the department. 

Update: Missing child was located in good health in Hilo.

Marc Togashi, Hawaiʻi Tourism Agency’s vice president of finance, will be leaving the organization Feb. 28 to assume a leadership position at the state Department of Human Resources Development.

The Kaua‘i Police Department reports that a dead body found in Kōkeʻe on Thursday is believed to be 22-year-old Kody Gardner, the suspect of the Feb. 16 murder in Lāwa‘i of Delwood Kalei Gardner, his father.

The U.S. Coast Guard, with the help of a private contractor, removed several barrels of diesel on Thursday from a 94-foot-long luxury yacht that ran aground three days earlier in Honolua Bay on Maui.

Anyone with flights on Saturday from Hilo International Airport is advised to take a cab, shuttle or be dropped off.

House Bill 57, introduced by state Rep. Chris Todd, and Senate Bill 696, introduced by Sen. Tim Richards, seek to compensate volunteer first responders who are injured or killed in the line of duty with an equivalent pay rate based on years of service and rank rather than a standard rate of pay.

So far this year, there have been 145 DUI arrests compared with 162 during the same period last year, an increase of 2.4%.

The Kaua‘i Police Department reports that a dead body thought to be that of 22-year-old Kody Gardner, the suspect of an alleged Feb. 16 murder in Lāwa‘i, was observed by officials Thursday, Feb. 23, in Kōkeʻe. Foul play is not suspected, as preliminary findings suggest Gardner fell from height.

The victim has been tentatively identified as a 59-year-old Big Island man.

Power lines were down and multiple vehicles were on fire.

Over the past two decades, scientists and members of the public have anticipated the occurrence of slow slip events (SSEs) on Kīlauea’s south flank. These events are recorded by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s (HVO) continuous GPS network, which show as much as 2 cm (0.75 inches) of increased seaward motion of the flank over 2-3 days — equivalent to about a M6 earthquake.

Headquartered in Kea‘au, the ranch has had an agreement since 2017 with Pōhakuloa Training Area on the Big Island that gives members of the U.S. Armed Forces training there an opportunity to gain insight and appreciation for Hawaiian culture, history and ranching traditions by visiting the ranch.

Hawai’i County’s director of the Department of Environmental Management told Hawaiʻi County Council members that “we haven’t even started” the state-mandated conversion of 48,596 cesspools.

A strong high pressure system far north of Hawaiʻi will deliver strong trade winds and gusts through Friday, particularly in exposed areas. Stable conditions will allow for intense downsloping gusts in South Kohala.

Big Island police report that Elissa Karstu was located Feb. 23 in Hilo.

Big Island police report that Kayzlyn Grammer was located Feb. 21 in Hilo.