Showing posts with label weddings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weddings. Show all posts

Friday, March 19, 2021

Koko trail viewing platform to be repaired, not removed; bill advances allowing nurses to perform abortions; Maui grappling with rising COVID-19 infections, more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

Honolulu Parks & Recreation
Koko Crater Trail PC:Honolulu Parks & Recreation

Viewing platform atop Koko Crater Trail won’t be torn down. The city announced Thursday that the metal grate platform at the top of the hike will not to removed until a new one is constructed. Hawaii News Now. Star-Advertiser. KHON2. KITV4.

Swelling inmate populations prompt new fears about COVID outbreaks. Although pandemic rules to lower the number of inmates eased overcrowding last year, officials worry more prison COVID outbreaks could spread as inmate populations swell again. Hawaii News Now.

Hawaii Lawmakers Seek Exemption From Political Ad Disclosures. House Bill 144 and House Bill 674 would exempt candidates for office from filing reports on ads with the state.  Civil Beat.

A matter of access: State Senate committees consider bill that would let APRNs perform abortions. Legislation that would allow advanced practice registered nurses to perform abortions passed through the state House and is now before the state Senate. Tribune-Herald.

Hawaiʻi Senate Committee Passes Resolutions Denouncing Racism Acts against Asian-Americans. District 16 Sen. Bennette E. Misalucha introduced resolutions SCR66 and SR48 that condemn and denounce all forms of anti-Asian sentiment and all acts of racism, xenophobia, intolerance, discrimination, hate crime and hate speech against Asian Americans and Asian individuals in the United States. Maui Now.

Gov. Ige orders flags to fly at half-staff in memory of Atlanta shooting victims.
Governor David Ige has ordered that the flags of the United States and State of Hawaii shall be flown at half-staff at all state offices in honor of the eight victims who were killed in three Atlanta-area massage establishments on March 16. KHON2.

House Majority Leader Della Au Bellati to lead investigation of colleague Rep. Sharon Har. House Majority Leader Della Au Belatti will chair a special House Committee tasked with investigating state Rep. Sharon Har following her arrest on suspicion of drunken driving on Feb. 22. Star-Advertiser.

Department of Health refines COVID-19 vaccine priority list for essential workers in Phase 1C. Effective immediately, only essential workers at hotels, restaurants and bars are eligible. It's a drastic cut to the priority list initially deemed eligible under Phase 1C. KITV4.

March 18, 2021 COVID-19 Update: The state Department of Health reports that there were 88 additional COVID-19 cases reported in Hawai‘i on Thursday, including 38 on O‘ahu, 39 on Maui, two on Molokaʻi, seven on Hawai‘i Island, and two in Hawai‘i residents diagnosed out of state. Maui Now.

Oahu

City prosecutor wants COVID-era policy changed so judges can jail misdemeanor offenders. City Prosecutor Steve Alm wants to restore some of the power Oahu judges had taken away during the pandemic. Hawaii News Now.

Possible Transfer Of Oʻahu EMS System Causing Concern At Honolulu Hale. A state proposal would transfer the responsibility and costs of emergency medical services on Oahu from the state Department of Health to the City and County of Honolulu. Hawaii Public Radio.

Proposal to rename McKinley High School and remove statue stalls at Hawaii Legislature.
A push to change the name of McKinley High School and remove its towering bronze statue of President William McKinley ran aground Thursday at the Legislature after passionate testimony on both sides. Star-Advertiser.

Wedding industry rally seeks Oahu reopening. Oahu’s wedding industry rallied Thursday at Honolulu Hale to urge Mayor Rick Blangiardi to reopen weddings under the city’s new Tier 3 structured-events mandate. Star-Advertiser. Hawaii News Now. KHON2.

Larger rail budget packs generous contingency plans. The new $12.449 billion price tag to build the city’s troubled rail project all the way to Ala Moana Center is based on more “conservative” budgeting expectations that include “every foreseen unknowables,” the board of directors of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation was told Thursday. Star-Advertiser. Hawaii News Now. KHON2.

HART, Hitachi At Odds Over Wheel Defect As Rail Costs Soar. The wheel rims are narrower than the track crossings, causing renewed headaches on what’s now a $12.4 billion transit project. Civil Beat.

Hawaii Island


CIP projects by district a no-go. One councilman’s request for the others to prioritize the top five capital improvement projects for their districts turned into a discussion Tuesday about whether the nine council members should stay focused on their own districts or take a countywide perspective. West Hawaii Today.

Nearly 21% of Hawaii County’s total population vaccinated as of Thursday. As of Thursday, 63,721 people in the county had been vaccinated with at least one dose, which is 20.9% of the county’s total population. Tribune-Herald.

Bed and breakfast approved on Alii Drive: Leeward Planning Commission allows project despite cesspool concerns. A five-bedroom Alii Drive home a half mile south of Laaloa Beach Park won approval Thursday to become a bed and breakfast establishment, despite concerns about sea level rise and wastewater issues. West Hawaii Today.

Big Island Scales Back Plans For Recycled Water. The lower category of recycled water could still be used on golf courses and for some types of farm irrigation. Civil Beat.

Hilo Seaside Hotel under new ownership
. Hospitality company Soul Community Planet, or SCP, on Thursday announced the purchase of the 138-room Hilo Seaside Hotel. Tribune-Herald.

Maui

Maui mayor says uptick in COVID cases shows residents have grown ‘complacent’. Maui Mayor Mike Victorino expressed frustration Thursday following an uptick in COVID cases on the island linked to “complacent” behavior. Maui saw 41 new COVID cases Thursday. Hawaii News Now. KITV4.

Rickard to serve as acting police chief. Deputy Police Chief Dean Rickard will serve as acting police chief while a search gets underway for a new chief to replace Police Chief Tivoli Faaumu, who is retiring at the end of next month. Maui News. Maui Now.

Nonprofit seeks protected fishing area for Kipahulu. East Maui residents are proposing the creation of a protected fishing area for Kipahulu to help regulate harvesting practices and increased foot traffic and to protect depleting resources that once fully sustained nearby communities. Maui News.

Kauai

Ige assesses North Shore flood, landslide damage. As work continues to repair Kuhio Highway after the landslide last week above the Hanalei Bridge, officials gathered for a blessing of the site early Thursday morning. Garden Island.

Council moves forward on Ag land use bill. A bill making its way through the Kaua‘i County Council to allow produce stands on adjacent agricultural lands is moving to a final reading next week. Garden Island.


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Hawaii tourism board targets gay marriage market, battle intensifies between aquarium collectors and environmentalists, property tax hikes mulled on Oahu, Kauai, general plan updates on Hawaii and Maui, Hawaii pension plan ekes out an increase, more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

copyright 2014 All Hawaii News all rights reserved
Waikiki wedding © 2014 All Hawaii News
Hawai’i’s $15 billion visitor industry is in the process of diversifying and re-tooling to meet an onslaught of competition from other tourist destinations. Hawaii Public Radio.

Tourist industry gets on board. More couples are choosing Hawaii for same-sex weddings and honeymoons. Star-Advertiser.

Fisheries Panel Destroys Tape of Secret Meeting. The meeting held in the conference room of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Honolulu office on the afternoon of Jan. 29 must have been a doozy. Civil Beat
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The underwater assault caught on camera on the Big Island is making waves nationwide and its sparking more debate between environmentalists and aquarium fish collectors. The conflict between the two sides is quite passionate and it isn't expected to end anytime soon. Hawaii News Now.

Hawaii's largest public pension fund eked out a small increase in its fiscal third quarter as assets climbed to an all-time high of $13.7 billion. The state Employees' Retirement System posted a 1.5 percent investment gain in the January-March period to boost its nine-month fiscal-year return to 12.5 percent. Star-Advertiser.

The future of more than 125,000 people who registered for the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission, Kana'iolowalu, is not in jeopardy following a state department inquiry seeking clarification on the legal status of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Hawaii News Now.

The bump in hotel tax revenue that state lawmakers offered Hawaii's counties this legislative session was a glass-half-empty raise. Associated Press.

Another legislative session is over and it’s time for assessing the outcomes. For the most part, it’s pretty straightforward. The rather robust legislative website makes it much easier than it used to be to find information about what passed and how. Civil Beat.

A new poll suggests that a Democrat facing a credible primary challenge may have gained some momentum in his bid to be reelected to the Senate. The left-leaning firm Public Policy Polling released a poll Tuesday showing Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) with a commanding 15-point lead over his primary rival, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii). The poll was conducted on behalf of the progressive group Democracy for America, which came out in support of Schatz in February. HuffPost Hawaii.

A senator is vocally contesting the inclusion of a project in his home state in the 2014 “Congressional Pig Book.” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, issued a statement over the weekend touting his effort to preserve (and in fact increase) funding for the East-West Center, a cultural and education exchange center established by Congress in 1960 that’s based in Honolulu. Civil Beat.

Members of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents' budget committee Tuesday hinted at the possibility of providing some tuition relief to students as early as next spring. Star-Advertiser.

The Right Stuff? Retired General Vies for University of Hawaii Presidency. Civil Beat.

An online petition is questioning the qualifications of one of the finalists to become the next University of Hawaii president. Associated Press.

Oahu

The City Council moved a step closer to passing Honolulu's budget for the upcoming fiscal year after approving several measures Tuesday in Budget Committee. One of the more controversial measures involves raising the property tax rate on hotels and those who own vacation or investment homes worth $1 million or more. KITV4.

City contractor Waste Management and two of its top officials entered not-guilty pleas Tuesday in U.S. District Court to charges linked to the discharge of hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated stormwater from the city's Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill into the ocean near Ko Olina Resort. Star-Advertiser.

An unnamed city employee has admitted to misusing sick leave and accepting inappropriate gifts from an employee of a private company that had business before his/her department, according a city Ethics Commission advisory opinion. Civil Beat.

Each year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires Honolulu county to conduct a Point in Time (PIT) count of Oahu’s houseless. Literally a snapshot of the houseless population, the PIT happens on a random day during the year. This years’ took place on the night of January 22, 2014. Hawaii Independent.

The Queen's Medical Center is putting the final touches on its $100 million Ewa hospital, which will open May 20 and restore emergency services to West Oahu after a more than two-year absence. Star-Advertiser.

About 110 Schofield Barracks soldiers stood at attention Tuesday as they prepared for something increasingly rare: a deployment to Afghanistan. Star-Advertiser.

Mokulele Airlines confirmed Tuesday that it plans to begin the first commercial service out of Kalaeloa Airport on July 1 and will gradually ease into the operation by offering three daily nonstop round-trip flights between Kahului and the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station. Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii

Poised to miss a deadline that was set 10 years ago, the county Planning Department on Tuesday got a three-year reprieve to update the county General Plan. West Hawaii Today.

The Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences Governing Board delayed action Tuesday at a meeting regarding abuse allegations against a teacher after the teacher left the meeting out of fear of the crowd. Tribune-Herald.

Hawaii County could have the $20 million it needs to finish the Mamalahoa bypass within five weeks. Deputy Corporation Counsel Joseph Kamelamela said Tuesday a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge’s ruling should be finalized in one to two weeks, with the payment coming to the county two to three weeks later. West Hawaii Today.

Maui

The Maui County Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday to gather testimony about a bill that would adopt the implementation program of the Maui Island Plan. Maui News.

Commercial thrillcraft operators have agreed to relocate their businesses farther away from the popular Hanakao'o (Canoe) Beach Park in light of community concerns about safety, especially during regatta season. Maui News.

Kauai

The Kauai County Council on Tuesday approved a broad swath of spending measures, cuts and tax increases to level out the county’s budget over the next fiscal year. What that will likely mean for residents are increases in real property taxes across five categories. Those categories range from a 30-cent increase for homeowners in the county’s residential class to a $1.85 increase for hotel and resort class properties per $1,000 in assessed valuation. Garden Island.

Dylan Hooser filed nomination papers Monday to become a candidate for the State House of Representatives District 15 seat for the 2014 elections. Hooser is a small business owner who resides in Wailua Homesteads and is the current chair of the Kauai Young Democrats. Garden Island.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Hawaii can regulate beach weddings; Native Hawaiian tax breaks, incarceration at issue; big bucks budgets pass Honolulu, Maui councils; Hawaii council challenges aerial hunting, more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

Hawaii can regulate weddings on public beaches without violating people’s right to marry, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Associated Press.

The state of Hawaii has the right to require a permit for commercial weddings on the state’s beaches, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. Pacific Business News.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Hawaii's right to regulate commercial weddings on public beaches. KITV4.

News agencies are reporting that the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the State of Hawaii’s right to regulate commercial weddings on public beaches. Maui Now.

The Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force is gathering information on why Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented among the state’s prison population. Associated Press.

In direct response to concerns about the disproportionate number of Native Hawaiians who are in prison in Hawai’i and the U.S. mainland, members of a newly-created task force are using their collective reach and access to engage policymakers in the issue, build public awareness and identify and support comprehensive solutions. Garden Island.

Final Brief In Case Challenging Hawaiian Homes Property Tax Exemption As Racial Discrimination: SG's Assertion That HAWSCT Decision Was One Of State Law "Dead Wrong." Hawaii Reporter.

Former Gov. Linda Lingle, candidate for U.S. Senate is about to get her own cable television channel. KHON2.

The Democratic Party of Hawaii appears poised to take legal action as early as this week to stop Laura Thielen from running for the state Senate. Civil Beat.

Centuries ago Hawaiians used knowledge of the stars and planets to guide their daily lives. King Kala--kaua’s Interest in astronomy helped scientists around the world measure our solar system. Hawaii Public Radio.

Honolulu resident Jim Nabors, best known for his 1960s television role as Gomer Pyle, was among the first patients in Hawaii to get a heart valve replacement using a new procedure that avoids the stress of open-heart surgery. Star-Advertiser.

State roundup for June 7. Associated Press.

Oahu

The Honolulu City Council voted 8-1 on Wednesday to approve a $1.96 billion operating budget and $588.7 million capital improvements budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. Star-Advertiser.

The message from Wednesday's marathon Honolulu City Council hearing was clear: this nine-member body is decidedly pro-rail. KITV4

The Honolulu City Council wasted little time passing the $620-million Capital Budget bill Wednesday. The biggest dollar signs went toward improving Honolulu roadways.KHON2.

Honolulu City Council member Romy Cachola is questioning whether a public relations consultant hired by a city contractor to promote Honolulu rail inappropriately used public money to lobby him to support the controversial $5.2 billion project. Civil Beat.

Honolulu City Council Chair Accuses Mayor of 'Quid Pro Quo' Politics on Sewage Project. Civil Beat.

A state agency is moving closer to privatizing a $22 million renovation and expansion of Kewalo Basin to better serve commercial and recreational boaters. Civil Beat.

The general manager of Turtle Bay Resort has been appointed to the Oahu Burial Council, making it possible for the committee to meet for the first time after a five-month hiatus. Civil Beat.

About 150 opponents of a plan to expand Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's North Shore demonstrated at Honolulu Hale Wednesday in an effort to raise public awareness and urge the City Council to reconsider decades-old approvals for the estimated $1.2 billion project. Star-Advertiser.

The man challenging Honolulu City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro in November's election said there's been a "mass exodus" of lawyers from the office since Kaneshiro took over about 18 months ago. Hawaii News Now.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit will have the ability to tap up to $450 million via low-interest city loans under a bill passed by the City Council today. Star-Advertiser.

Incoming University of Hawaii Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple, who's already being paid more than the UH president, will also receive car and relocation allowances, according to Apple's employment agreement. Hawaii News Now.

Hawaii

Council Chairman Dominic Yagong found plenty of support Wednesday for two bills challenging the state Department of Land and Natural Resources by taking up the cause of island hunters. West Hawaii Today.

The Hawaii County Council moved one step closer toward asking voters whether they support the creation of a Game Management Advisory Commission. They also approved a bill to ban the practice of eradication by aerial shooting in the county. Tribune-Herald.

The Hawaii County Council passed two geothermal bills through their first reading Wednesday evening, clearing the way for final approval at a later meeting. Tribune-Herald.

Kahili ginger, a beautiful and fragrant, but prolific ornamental species, has taken root atop Kohala Mountain, slowly destroying the area’s native Hawaiian forest that many rare flora and fauna not only call home, but also require for survival. West Hawaii Today.

Maui

The Maui County Council this morning unanimously passed on second and final reading a $549.9 million spending plan for fiscal 2013, which includes property tax hikes and water rate and bus fare increases. Maui News.

Longtime County Council Member Joe Pontanilla will challenge attorney and incumbent Gil Keith-Agaran for the Central Maui state House seat in the Primary Election. Maui News.

A Maui County Council committee Tuesday reversed itself and decided to add 390 acres near the Makena Resort's golf course to future growth boundaries for South Maui. Maui News.

The Maui County Department of Environmental Management will begin work on a second sewer line replacement project in West Maui this month. Maui Now.

Kauai

Kauai County Council members have been pressing the administration for years to step up recycling efforts on the island as the Kekaha Landfill nears capacity. Garden Island

Molokai

Molokai’s ocean resources are fragile, and many say they’re rapidly disappearing. Molokai Dispatch.