West Hawaii News

The 22nd annual Kauikeaouli Festival, which commemorates the monarch’s birthday, is planned for March 17-18 at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa at Keauhou Bay in West Hawaiʻi on the Big Island, complete with a free ʻaha mele (concert) and cultural activities.

Benjamin Tautges received his Doctor of Optometry from Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Optometry in Pomona, Calif.

Ilima Shim, a mother of two who lives in Kapolei, O‘ahu, and grew up in Hōnaunau on the Big Island’s west side, finished in the top six of season four of the CBS reality TV competition show “Tough As Nails.”

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.

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.

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.

The high wind warning is in effect until 6 a.m. Thursday, with a wind advisory for much of the rest of the island also in effect. The high surf warning will remain until 6 a.m. Thursday.

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.

The Hawai’i County Council celebrated the Konawaena High School Wildcats on Wednesday before moving on to agenda items during its regular session meeting. The Wildcats won the Division I state high school football championship last November, bringing the school’s first-ever state football championship back to the Big Island.

Resolution 51-23 would authorize Hawai‘i County Finance Director Deanna Sako to negotiate a lease with the Hawai‘i State Public Library System for the development, construction and operation of a library in the South Kohala community of about 7,400 people.

The Wiliwili Festival on Feb. 11 is hosted by the Waikōloa Dry Forest Initiative and will feature informational booths, guided tours and self-guided hikes, food and beverages at the Waikōloa Dry Forest Preserve on the Big Island.

The whale, which is in poor condition, emaciated and suffering physical trauma, is thought to be fully disentangled with some non-wrapping embedded lines that will hopefully be shed with time.

There are many forms of love and the shopping center is highlighting them all this February.

Despite the ruling by a Hawaiʻi judge lifting an injunction, aquarium fishing along the Big Island’s western shore is not automatically allowed.

All three people are known to frequent the South Kona and Ocean View areas.

John Bull Macomber, 51 of Kona, was arrested and charged with robbery, assault and drug offenses.

Benjamin Kawika Jerin-Kealoha, 46 of Ocean View, was charged with stealing a Jeep rental car, resisting an order to stop and methamphetamine possession following his arrest on Jan. 21 in Kona.

Cineworld plans to reject the leases starting in February of 39 of its more than 500 Regal theaters across the United States, including the Keauhou Stadium 7 in Kona, as part of its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

The band is a community and civic band comprised of about 20 musicians from all walks of life.

Through the first three episodes of the CBS reality competition show, Ilima Shim is giving her 11 fellow contestants a run for their money.