News

Hawai‘i’s largest major market area, the U.S. West, saw 80.6 percent of visitors indicating an interest in returning, followed by 77.8 percent of those from Korea, 67.1 percent from Canada, 64.7 percent from the U.S. East and 61.6 percent from Oceania.

Since its first edition in 2010, Ma‘ema‘e has evolved from a resource for media to a living toolkit for anyone who has a role in representing Hawai‘i.

Maui volunteers spotted the most humpback whales on Feb. 25 with 596, followed by O’ahu with 232, the Big Island with 105 and 64 for Kaua’i.

Beginning Feb. 16 in East Hawai’i, back-to-back Kona Lows followed by persistent showers ushered in by returning trade winds drenched places from Honomū to Pāhala, but the rain finally stopped long enough on Saturday to give the saturated ground a chance to dry out a little, at least in Hilo.

A 120-ton, 94-foot luxury yacht that grounded in a Maui bay now is defueled. Next is a $460,000 plus salvage operation.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center confirms there is no tsunami threat to Hawaiʻi Island or the State of Hawaiʻi.

Tickets for the non-competitive hula exhibition scheduled for Wednesday night, April 12, will be available in person from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., or until they are sold out, at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium box office in Hilo.

Strong trade winds will bring large and rough surf of 7 to 10 feet to east-facing shores through Saturday afternoon.

Simply put, dirt is dead soil or at least soil on its last organic breath. It contains rocks, sand, clay and other inorganic components.

Former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary were in Kailua-Kona on the island’s west side and attended the blessing of the new Grace Parish Center on Thursday at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Parish. The new parish center shares its name with Grace Wilsey, who is an inspiration for the church’s congregation.

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.