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Gov. Linda Lingle is asking for your input on the measures that do everything from dictate street planning to make include pathways for bicyclists and pedestrians, banning opihi hunting, changing the expiration date of some licenses, to designating the state insect.The wife of Republican state Sen. Fred Hemmings has been indicted on charges of theft from a nonprofit organization.DLNR faces ‘Plan B’ to fix parks, harbors
Hawaii lawmakers couldn't agree on a ban on genetic modification of Hawaiian taro this year.Recycling paper to cut costs at Hawaii Community Correctional Center apparently led to the "inadvertent release" of confidential information on prisoners.More than 600 public comments were lodged in response to a city plan to build a 20-mile East Kapolei to Ala Moana train.A Kailua woman, accused of stealing about a dozen people's personal information to obtain credit cards, is expected to make her first court appearance in the case Monday.Despite high-profile killings including a recent fire death in Makiki and the shooting of a Kailua attorney, the number of homicides in Honolulu this year is low compared to comparable-sized Mainland cities and on pace to meet the decade's average.
Kapolei resident Brent Buckley said he is glad the federal government is helping to fund a cleanup of former sugar cane land in West Oahu containing toxic chemicals from pesticides.Maui Memorial Medical Center improvements, bolstering Honoapiilani Highway against erosion, and land acquisition for a Maui Community College campus on Molokai are just some of the projects funded in the budget passed by the state Legislature.The value of one Hilo parcel has more than quadrupled since it was rezoned by the County Council in 2004, leading one council member to question whether the county should be stricter about making property owners adhere to their stated plans for rezoning.County crews pushed back sand and removed the tops of dunes along a quarter-mile stretch of South Kihei Road last week as part of an effort to keep sand out of the road.Hawaii-born astronaut Megan McArthur will have her hands full this week as part of the daring shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
On a day rich in political theater, Gov. Linda Lingle stood before several hundred people in the state Capitol and vetoed tax increases she warned would further damage the state's sagging economy.State lawmakers return to work today -- one day more than usual -- poised to override three of Gov. Linda Lingle's vetoes.Legislation that would ease the way for implementation of the 4 percent general excise tax on all Internet purchases made from Hawaii is on its way to the governor.Hawaii's congressional delegation has decided to turn to the past to advance a measure that would give native Hawaiians federal recognition similar to that of American Indians.Pilot error caused a Cessna to crash June 17 into Mauna Loa on the Big Island, killing all three on board, the National Transportation Safety Board reported yesterday.O'ahu's latest swine flu victims did not have contact with any of the first three patients and appear to have contracted the disease here, state health officials announced yesterday.The state Senate briefly revived civil unions yesterday but then quickly voted to amend the bill, a move that killed the bill for this session but led to new promises from majority Democrats that they would try again next year.Maui County Council members will look at maintaining cuts in the county budget, and setting aside some or all of the hotel tax revenues they now expect to get from the state, when they meet to restore $18 million to the budget next week.Hawaii County wants to work with its three counterparts in pursuing a single, statewide solution to each county's garbage-disposal challenges.A tiny high school on the Big Island that provides a free college-preparatory education to students from Pacific island nations expects to shut down at the end of the academic year for lack of funds.Target is hiring up to 300 people to work in its Big Island store.Maui Police Commission members heard testimony from 13 people Wednesday morning on the panel's pending decision on the successor to police Chief Tom Phillips, who retires June 1.To help prevent the extinction of Kaua‘i’s native flora and fauna, the State of Hawai‘i recently added 486 acres of preserved land to the system’s Waimea district, bringing the total size of the Hono O Na Pali Natural Area Reserve to 3,579 acres.Who says it's only for banks? More than 194,000 island residents are getting a little economic stimulus of their own. The federal government is mailing nearly $55 million in checks to Hawaii Social Security recipients.
May Day in Hawaii is, of course, Lei Day. The tradition started back in 1928, and it was a way to encourage people to wear and celebrate lei.State lawmakers have killed an attempt to balance the state budget by taking the counties' share of hotel room tax money, a move that would have brought the state $100 million annually.The attack submarine USS Jacksonville sailed 6,000 miles from the East Coast to Hawai'i in just less than a month's time, stopping in its namesake city in Florida and passing through the Panama Canal along the way.Occupancy at Hawai'i hotels sank to a more than two-decade low in March, with about one-third of all hotel rooms empty, according to the latest monthly survey of visitor accommodations.An updated University of Hawaii study estimates repair and maintenance costs at the system's 10 campuses will likely top $1 billion through the next 10 years, raising questions about how the university and taxpayers will pay for it.Honolulu Community College has identified four finalists for the position of chancellor and has invited them to participate in a final round of interviews and open forums from Monday, May 4, through Thursday, May 7.Hilo land once slated for a large residential and commercial development has been purchased by a Hilo group that wants to build medical facilities and senior housing.The Hawaii County Council won't make a final decision Wednesday on the mayor's proposal to suspend payments to the 2 percent land fund.More than 400 Hawaii residents are making plans to attend the canonization of Father Damien in Rome this fall, including about 10 patients from Kalaupapa.
In a compromise that could help candidates for governor in 2010 with fundraising, state House and Senate negotiators agreed yesterday to relax a limit on Mainland political contributions.Legislative leaders are saying a plan to take the hotel room tax money from the counties might not be needed and that lawmakers might not be able to override a veto anyway.A "handful" of suspect patients in Hawai'i have been cleared for swine flu, including one who had traveled to Mexico, state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said at a Capitol press conference yesterday.The Caltech Institute of Technology is expected to announce on Thursday plans to decommission the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory.Fire investigators ruled the house fire in Makiki that killed two people last week was intentionally set.Maui County visitor traffic in March plunged 25.8 percent from the same month a year ago, to 168,546, according to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.A swarm of some 300 to 400 community members converged Wednesday at the doors to the Kaua‘i Community College One Stop Center for a job fair where pickings were slim. Divers have begun the task of collecting, storing and relocating coral that was dislodged when a 9,600-ton warship ran aground off the reef runway in February.It costs taxpayers more than $3 million a year. But unlike other purchases made by Hawaii County government, the leasing of private property doesn't have to go out to bid and the county can pay more than appraised value.Kulani Correctional Facility inmates can breathe easier now -- on the taxpayer's dime.The eighth annual Free Comic Book Day is coming Saturday, May 2 to eleven public libraries on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island.It's a unique organization uniting island video-gamers. Members meet face-to-face instead of competing with one another online.
"A handful" of people in the Islands — including one arriving from Mexico — are being tested for swine flu, state health officials said yesterday. None of the cases has been confirmed, state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park emphasized yesterday at a Capitol press conference.The Lingle administration is giving public employee unions until Friday to accept furloughs of up to 37.5 days a year or face unilateral action by the state, according to state union leaders.Hawaii's visitor arrivals plummeted 16.6 percent in March, which marked a full year of declines for the state's lead tourism industry, according to preliminary research released today by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.Puna Rep. Faye Hanohano has mailed 1,200 newsletters accusing the University of Hawaii of desecrating Mauna Kea by allowing telescope development on the sacred summit.A federal judge has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Washington who police said was the head of a conspiracy to distribute cocaine on the Big Island.Clear Channel Radio Hawaii on Tuesday announced it is changing some of its radio personality teams and letting go some others.The National Trust for Historic Preservation has put Lanai City on its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The old section of Lanai City, built for pineapple workers in the 1920s, is described as "the last remaining intact plantation town in Hawaii," by Richard Moe, president of the National Trust.The Maui County Council Budget and Finance Committee on Monday voted 7-0 to recommend a $549.7 million budget for 2010, with cuts in spending that reflect the county's tight economy.The prospect of using sugar cane to produce ethanol and electricity remains uncertain for Gay & Robinson Inc. as financial concerns force the historic Westside company to seek out a different crop. Corn is in.
Ikaika Anderson wrapped up a short, costly race for the Honolulu City Council seat representing Kailua, Kane'ohe and Waimanalo by capturing the seat formerly held by his mentor.The political dynamics of the Honolulu City Council are not expected to change with the election of J. Ikaika Anderson, observers say.While most Hawaii residents said they have not been affected by the tourism downturn, a whopping 85 percent agreed that the state should do everything it can to bring visitors back to the state.The residents of a hillside home in Makiki argued over a stolen moped just before the house went up in flames early yesterday morning, killing a man and a woman inside, according to the homeowner.Nearly $8 million from the federal stimulus bill is headed to the Big Island to improve access and services in its national parks.Hawaii County has received more than $1.3 million in stimulus money for workforce investment programs.There's a most unusual farm on the leeward side of the Big Island. It doesn't grow anything, but it's taking a lot of heat.BOE might review use of force at high school. A small Taser-mounted video camera captured the April 14 Tasering of a Keaau High School student. Campus security camera footage also recorded the incident.Authorities said a 21-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier was critically injured Thursday morning after he was hit by a car in Wahiawa.
A $500,000 reduction for the Maui Visitors Bureau heads a list of proposed cuts in an austere budget being considered by the County Council that county departments and grant-funded agencies are not happy about.The Maui Police Department calls state Rep. Joe Bertram III's criticism of its DARE program "offensive."
Kaua‘î has seen its fair share of development over recent years, yet as the island’s natural beauty fades away into a cloud of red dirt and bulldozers, one local nonprofit organization continues to help preserve as much open space as possible for the benefit of multiple generations to come.
Honolulu residents have been registering guns this year at a blistering pace that, if kept up, would result in 18,900 firearms registered this year, a possible 13.5 percent jump from last year, reflecting national trends.Gov. Linda Lingle will sign a bill today allowing married couples and others to live in the same residential care facility. Currently, two non-Medicaid patients cannot live in the same adult residential foster home, even if the two people are married. But the bill will allow married couples, reciprocal beneficiaries, siblings, the parents of a child or best friends to do so.Hononulu tries online voting. The Neighborhood Commission Office has entered into a contract with San Diego-based Everyone Counts, Inc. for online voting services in the 2009 Neighborhood Board elections, the city announced yesterday.The House and Senate are expected to vote this afternoon on Senate Bill 1111, which would raise the state's 7.25 percent Transient Accommodations Tax 1 percentage point this year and an additional 2 percentage points next year to 10.25 percent.Hawaii County must have really hated parting with a landfill bulldozer it sold as surplus in 2000. Hated it so much, in fact, the county's been leasing it back for almost $15,000 a month.Just days after announcing in no uncertain terms that his office won't tolerate employees politicking on the Internet, Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi found himself defending the use of his own county address, e-mail address and telephone number to register his campaign Web site for mayor.A bill in the state Legislature that would have banned pit bull dogs or puppies in Hawaii appears dead -- at least for this session.The University of Hawaii Warrior football team is in their final week of spring practice, and so far, head coach Greg McMackin is pleased with the overall progression of the entire squad, including the secondary unit who entered spring with a big question mark.If you are seriously delinquent in paying your taxes, look out. On Friday, the state Department of Taxation will post the names of the biggest tax delinquents in the state on the Internet.Second Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza has ruled there's no constitutional right to engage in recreational dancing, dismissing a lawsuit by a group that has challenged a Maui County Department of Liquor Control rule on dancing in bars. Maui Dance Advocates and its president, Ramoda Anand, filed the lawsuit over the rule that prohibits dancing in businesses that serve alcohol, unless there's a designated dance floor in an area where alcohol isn't consumed.James Pflueger made his first physical appearance in a Kaua‘i courtroom Tuesday, sitting in the gallery alongside family and friends as a handful of his attorneys argued a pair of motions in the manslaughter case stemming from the Ka Loko Reservoir Dam breach three years ago.
- An approaching cold front will shift winds from southwest and west ahead of it, to north and northeast after the passage, the National Weather Service said. Clouds and showers will be possible throughout the week the week, forecasters said.
- HONOLULU -- State House and Senate negotiators have agreed to raise income taxes on the wealthy as well as hotel-room levies as part of a state budget package for the next two fiscal years that begin July 1.
- A sprint to fill the City Council vacancy in Windward Oahu comes to an end this week. Voters will learn Thursday which one of 11 candidates will serve out the term of Barbara Marshall, who died Feb. 22 of colon cancer just months after overwhelmingly winning re-election to the seat representing parts of Kaneohe, Kailua and Waimanalo.
- Honolulu is ready to begin a new round of curbside recycling by adding 40,000 customers to the program using the gray, green and blue carts.
- Construction crews have unearthed 68 undated sets of remains at Kawaiahao Church and could run into more before a multipurpose center is finished in 2010, officials said yesterday.
- Services have been set for a Hawai-based soldier killed in Iraq earlier this week. Specialist Michael Anaya died Sunday when a bomb exploded near his vehicle. A memorial will be held next Wednesday at 10am at the Main Post Chapel at Schofield Barracks.
- Merrie Monarch winners: 2009 Overall Winner: Ke Kai O Kahiki, 1,151 points. Overall Kane: Ke Kai O Kahiki, 1,151. Overall Wahine: Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu, 1,142. Best Wahine Kahiko: Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu, 564. Best Kane Kahiko: Ke Kai O Kahiki, 567. Best Wahine 'Auana: Hula Halau 'O Kamuela, 583. Best Kane 'Auana: Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu, 590.
- Molokai Ranch: A year after closure, times are hard but spirit is alive.
- HANALEI — A visitor’s rent-a-Hummer burst into flames late Saturday afternoon at Lumaha‘i Beach after he reportedly got stuck driving in the sand.
The state Supreme Court yesterday denied a request by the Lingle administration and state House and Senate leaders to reconsider a March ruling that led to the shutdown of Hawai'i Superferry.
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