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Boaters living on their vessels at Ala Wai and Ke'ehi small boat harbors are facing a more than 330 percent increase in rent, forcing many of them to rethink their living options.
An estimated 14-foot-long tiger shark chomped the tail end off a local surfer's board yesterday afternoon in Hanalei Bay, witnesses said.
Bids to buy the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, including several that involve assets not for sale, are being reviewed by the U.S. Justice Department, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Voters will decide this fall whether to give the state Legislature the power to divert money intended for tax rebates to help finance a "rainy day fund" for economic emergencies.
The world’s largest real estate services firm says retail vacancies in Hawaii are at a four year high. CB Richard Ellis said vacancies rose 1.1 percent in the past year.
No shopping carts, and no tents without a permit - that's the ban Honolulu police started enforcing on Monday at Oahu city parks.
Officials at Waters of Life Public Charter School hope summer classes will help bring to a close a difficult chapter for the school.
Fire gutted three classrooms in "G" Building at Kahului Elementary School early Sunday, forcing officials to scramble for space and supplies to allow displaced teachers and students to hold classes today.
Where once coral was destroyed to build a harbor, it has regrown, presenting a new environmental obstacle to its expansion.
Hawaii County administration argued against yet another County Council attempt to address infrastructure inadequacies, claiming a policy is in place to deal with those problems.
The bottom fell out of travel plans for thousands of U.S. airline passengers Thursday as dozens of flights between the U.S. and Europe were canceled, part of a global disruption in air travel as clouds of ash from a volcano in Iceland forced widespread closures of European airports.
Dissatisfied with the government and brandishing messages such as "Taxed Enough Already" and "Enough Is Enough," hundreds of protesters rallied at the state Capitol yesterday to deliver a message to lawmakers: "No more taxes."
It's not necessarily paying taxes that ticks off the Tea Party supporters.
State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa has opened a fundraising advantage on her rivals in the May special election for Congress and can count on additional resources from U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye and the state's powerful labor unions in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Mauna Kea's newest, smallest telescope should reach the summit today.
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bout $46 million in federal funding for child welfare services is ensnared in a disagreement between legislators and the state Department of Human Services.
Hawaii County Police Chief Harry Kubojiri says he desires more openness and transparency between his department and the public, but doesn't want his own performance review made public.
Tsunamis have the potential to flatten whole towns as demonstrated in Chile recently, but Hawai'i engineers are helping to create new building standards intended to prevent sweeping destruction here and elsewhere.
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here are 3,000 stories on the Hawaii Literacy's Bookmobile, but right now, no one can read them.
A mainland developer's project continues to progress, as mandated by the state Land Use Commission, a county official said.
Saying there wasn't a legal basis allowing him to vacate an arbitrator's award, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza on Wednesday confirmed the award reinstating two fired Maui Police Department officers.
In 1926, Kaua‘i’s 11 sugar plantations — Kilauea, Make‘e, Lihu‘e Plantation, Grove Farm, Kipu, Koloa, McBryde, Hawaiian Sugar at Makaweli, Gay & Robinson, Waimea and Kekaha — employed most of the island’s workforce.
Listeners swayed and tapped toes to the rhythms of the Royal Hawaiian Band yesterday, enjoying a 174-year-old tradition of free music that some lawmakers say might be too costly to continue.
A proposal to keep thousands of complaints filed against Hawaii businesses secret has been resurrected by the legislature this year without one public hearing.
The state House and Senate yesterday gave final approval to an increase in the barrel tax and a measure to halt a state plan to close eligibility offices on the Neighbor Islands that help the poor.
A bill to drastically raise the state tax on a barrel of oil dribbled out of the Legislature yesterday, but faces an uncertain future.
Lawmakers have made a move to block streamlining and layoffs at the Department of Human Services
Pau. That's word from the group protesting school furloughs. Members of Save Our Schools Hawaii, or S.O.S., have been camping out at the governor's office since last Wednesday.
The past week of heavy rain created a mudslide and serious damage to a footbridge on the "pali trail," which forced the National Park Service on Tuesday afternoon to close the only land route to the Kalaupapa Hansen's disease settlement, which remains accessible by plane or boat.
Former Honolulu City Councilman John Henry Felix has agreed to pay a $50,000 administrative fine to settle claims that he violated campaign financing laws, the highest amount ever paid to the state Campaign Spending Commission by a political candidate.
Verizon Wireless recently submitted an application to the Hawaii County Planning Department for approval to build a 54-foot cell tower behind Parker Ranch Shopping Center in Waimea.
Sticking to his promise in 2008, shortly before leaving office because of term limits, former Maui County Council Chairman Riki Hokama is making his return to politics.
A brush fire Wednesday morning scorched some five acres of former sugarcane lands across from the old Kekaha sugar mill.
Former Congressman Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa said last night that they would likely vote to let President Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy expire if elected to Congress, while Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou said he would extend the tax cuts.
Experience is not necessary for men interested in a part in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” which begins filming on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i early this summer.
State sheriffs made good on their promises Tuesday night, arresting two furlough protestors who were camping out in the lobby of the governor's office.
Two Save Our Schools members were arrested last night for trespassing in Gov. Linda Lingle's office as they continued a sit-in to urge the governor to end Furlough Fridays now.
With just three months left in the state's fiscal year, tax revenues appear to be improving but are still down for the year, according to the latest un-audited numbers from the Department of Taxation.
Last summer, Gov. Linda Lingle said she wanted to cut up to 2,500 state jobs to reduce the budget deficit. That figure was later revised to 1,197 positions. As of last week, the state had eliminated 817 positions through layoffs or other actions.
In the years before mortgage lender Washington Mutual became the largest bank failure in American history, it routinely sent its top-performing mortgage lenders to Hawaii for retreats.
If the Big Island were for sale, the asking price would be nearly $3 billion less than a year ago.
Hawaii Permanente Medical Group is planning to open a South Kona office this fall, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed Monday.
More than 200 Federal Fire Department workers are being advised to look for unusual activity on their bank accounts, after allegations that an employee wrongfully accessed their personal information.
Deputy sheriffs cited nine people with trespassing—including two for the second time—as the sit-in against Furlough Fridays continued yesterday in Gov. Linda Lingle's office.
Expecting vetoes by Gov. Linda Lingle, state House and Senate leaders yesterday placed several potentially contentious bills in position for final votes this week, including an increase in the barrel tax and an attempt to block the state from closing eligibility offices on the Neighbor Islands that help the poor.
As the state Legislature moves into its last three weeks, Democrats are positioning a series of tax law changes and tax increases that they hope will balance the budget without raising the general excise tax.
Honolulu City Council members yesterday said they were using a "paring knife," not an axe, to carve about $9.5 million from the city's $1.82 billion operating budget for the next fiscal year, but warned more drastic cuts would likely be needed.
A recent poll shows Republican Charles Djou is tied with Democrat Ed Case for the lead in Oahu’s special congressional election, according to The Atlantic magazine.
State sheriff's deputies tonight issued citations to nine adults who were occupying the governor's office on day 6 of a sit-in to pressure officials to end public school furloughs.
A group that has been calling on Governor Linda Lingle to settle the furlough situation received citations for a second straight weekday.
The state Department of Public Safety is looking into an incident on Friday in which a female correctional officer allegedly made a threat against state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, D-14th (Halawa, Moanalua, Kamehameha Heights).
State tax collections were down 1.6 percent through the first nine months of the fiscal year, the state Department of Taxation reported Monday.
Hawaii lawmakers and their staff gathered at the Capitol rotunda to participate in the Habitat For Humanity's nail-driving contest.
The furlough proposed by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. may not affect firefighters, but proposed budget cuts may impact the Kaua‘i Fire Department.
Despite the talk of change during the 47th annual Merrie Monarch Festival, some things stayed the same.
A Big Island assisted facility developer is looking to build a complex in West Hawaii.
Walgreens opened its second full-service store on Maui on Sunday, but it came with a demonstration against the store by members of the Hawaii Carpenters Union.
State House negotiators last night offered to significantly scale back a proposal to lift general-excise tax exemptions on several business activities and impose a new GET hike, a move that would generate $25.3 million — instead of about $100 million — to help contain the state's budget deficit.
Many tax breaks or exemptions for local businesses would be preserved under a tentative compromise bill set to move today at the Legislature.
The fifth day of a protest to end Furlough Fridays closed yesterday with bubbles, musicians, art and slam poetry at the state Capitol's rotunda as parents and students urged the governor to find a solution.
Confirmation hearings are tomorrow for the three men nominated by Gov. Linda Lingle to serve on the board that oversees the 10-campus UH system.
Hawaiian Airlines did the best job for fliers last year, closely followed by low-cost carrier AirTran, according to an annual study released today that rates the nation's 18 busiest airlines for the quality of their service.
The spotlight was on Hilo, Hawaii for nearly a week as work crews, spectators and halau after halau poured into town. At the Edith Kanaka'ole stadium, the stage was prepped early for practice performances.
Make that two years in a row for the men of Ke Kai O Kahiki.
A and B Properties, Inc., announced today that it has acquired Lanihau Marketplace, an 88,300-square-foot shopping center in Kailua, Kona.
Hawaii County's labor costs will increase roughly $150,000 a year under Mayor Billy Kenoi's forthcoming proposal to combine vehicle-repair and transportation functions.
Farming sunshine may not become a reality for Kaua‘i after all.
A multimillion-dollar research project to investigate converting Hawaii's last sugar plantation to biofuel crops could mean the end of an era of another kind: cane burning.
North shore papaya farmer Kenneth Kamiya said wild pigs are devastating his crops and cutting into his profits.
With sleeping bags, pillows, a baby stroller and a teddy bear, people continued a sit-in at Gov. Linda Lingle's outer office for the second day yesterday, demanding an end to furlough days at public schools.
Members of the group "Save Our Schools Hawaii" are trying to put the heat on Governor Lingle to end furlough fridays, They are camping out for a second night inside the reception area of her office.
Leaders in the state Senate remain divided over whether to raise the state general excise tax to balance the state budget.
A new report from a national environmental organization blasts Hawaii's aquaculture industry, saying it damages the environment and is not sustainable. Companies that farm fish in Hawaii dispute the report.
The Hawai'i Supreme Court yesterday ruled that an updated environmental impact statement is necessary to expand Turtle Bay Resort, reversing lower court decisions and handing a victory to opponents of the long-delayed development plan for the North Shore property.
Four great performances graced the stage of the Edith Kanaka'ole Multipurpose Stadium on Wednesday night in a show that echoed long into the night and into the hearts of thousands who watched.
More positive signs emerged for the state's hotel industry in February, with occupancy rising for the third consecutive month and a slowing in the decline of both room rates and revenue.
The new drought numbers are out and for the first time Hawaii has reached the worst level possible on the drought scale.
Hawaii County Council members favor delaying new energy-efficiency building standards, and want public hearings held on the issue.
The Hawaii County Council gave the go-ahead Wednesday to privatize the county's green waste collection and disposal, provided the Kealakehe transfer station remains open for residential drop off of green waste.
A plan that would charge parking fees at Honokohau Small Boat Harbor in Kailua-Kona drew strong opposition Wednesday evening at a state Department of Land and Natural Resources talk story.
It's billed as a compromise betwaeen commercial aquarium fish collectors and recreational divers and snorkelers.
It was a successful rescue. Wildlife experts have freed a trapped whale after a dramatic race against the setting sun.
A group of parents upset with Hawaii public school closures on furlough Fridays held a sit-in at the state Capitol on Wednesday.
Supporters of the Royal Hawaiian Band are gearing up for a fight to save what's believed to be the second oldest marching band in the United States.
Asian-American Democrats are criticizing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for favoring a white former congressman from Hawaii over the Asian-American State Senate President in a hotly contested special election to represent a majority-minority Hawaii district.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's TV commercial slams Republican candidate Charles Djou, questioning his credibility on the jobs issue.
Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou said yesterday that new campaign advertisements against him by national Democrats are an "outside interference" in the special election for Congress and should be rejected by voters.
Within the next five years to 10 years, Hawaii's last sugar producer, Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Co. could be out of the topsy-turvy granulated sugar business and making much-desired biofuels, company, federal and state officials announced Wednesday afternoon.
Every year a Hilo crowd gathers at the Edith Kanakaole Multipurpose Stadium to watch Ho'ike night, which kicks off the Merrie Monarch Festival.
Underscoring the last-minute changes that sometimes occur during the free Hawaiian entertainment sessions at venues all over Hilo during Merrie Monarch Week, Hoku Award-winning performer Karen Keawehawaii was unexpectedly summoned from the audience on Tuesday to give a performance at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. She wowed spectators with her powerful falsetto renditions of "Ku'uhoa" and "Pualilia."
O'ahu's housing market appears to have established a firm footing toward recovery, with sales activity in March marking the third consecutive month that single-family home median prices rose over the same month last year.
Starting Monday, independent tour operators won't be allowed inside Hilo Harbor unless they have pre-arranged passengers from cruise ships docked there.
Standing atop seven ancient Hawaiian burials, on a lot with at least 24 more, the house that Joe Brescia is building at Naue, on Kauai’s North Shore, has been the focus of protests and prayers, emotional meetings, a stand-off with police, sacred rituals, a months-long vigil and lawsuits — some of them still ongoing.
On a recent afternoon, rental cars filled the parking lots at Hapuna Beach State Park.
In an ideal world, Hawaii County would reuse, recycle or compost so much of its waste that landfills would be all but unnecessary.
With Mayor Billy Kenoi and the county Board of Ethics singing out of different hymnals, the Hawaii County Council Finance Committee on Tuesday postponed a bill tightening the ethics code until it could have both proposals on the table at the same time.
Mayor Charmaine Tavares racked up another early endorsement when the United Public Workers union announced its support for her re-election bid during a news conference Tuesday.
The Kaua‘i Fire Commission on Monday voted unanimously against a proposed change to the County Charter that would give the mayor more power to hire and fire the chief of the Kaua‘i Fire Department.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Gay and Robinson to pay a fine of $110,000 for its failure to close 40 large-capacity cesspools, according to a press release Wednesday.
The Coast Guard and state boating officials are enforcing stricter safety guidelines that could put canoe races farther from harbor entrances and away from spectators.
State House and Senate lawmakers yesterday preserved an array of difficult and unpopular options to contain the state's $1.2 billion deficit, moving into the final weeks of the session with the tools — if not the consensus — to balance the budget.
Thirty-seven transactions that are now exempt from the state's 4 percent general excise tax would be subject to a tax of 1 percent starting July 1, and the tax on a barrel of oil would jump to $1.55 from a nickel under proposals advancing in the Legislature.
The Navy wants to increase up to sevenfold the state's solar power output as part of a militarywide effort in Hawai'i to reduce its dependency on foreign fossil fuels.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has contacted Hawaii Sens. Dan Inouye and Dan Akaka to inform them the committee might support former U.S. Rep. Ed Case in Hawaii's special congressional election, the political Web site Politico reported Tuesday.
Honolulu City Council members are growing increasingly skeptical that Hawaiian Waste Systems can fulfill a contract to ship 100,000 tons of municipal trash to the Mainland by the end of September.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis and its crew are back in Honolulu Tuesday night after a two month mission to crack down on illegal fishing in the South Pacific.
The 2011 APEC Summit meetings will bring 21 world leaders and 20,000 visitors to the state, and it's expected to pump millions of dollars into the state's economy, but hosting the nine day event comes with a big price tag.
County Council members have toured the site of a proposed 100-unit Hilo apartment complex, listened to area residents' objections and now appear ready to vote on the rezoning request.
Nearly $4 million in federal stimulus funds is headed for the Big Island to refurbish three public housing areas
Hawaii County wants to save about $2 million per year by privatizing its green waste collection and disposal, but some West Hawaii residents worry the Department of Environmental Management is going to leave them holding the bag.
Three years of budget cuts have led to some bleeding from balance sheets, including those of the nonprofit organizations that rely on Maui County dollars to aid ever-growing numbers of people needing help in the economic downturn.
In a move to cut costs at a time of a projected $56 million budget shortfall, Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares has proposed slashing, but not eliminating, funds to two bus programs that serve Maui's elderly and disabled.
Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. announced 17 county employees from the county’s different departments to the Employee Recognition Program and 2009 Service Awards coordinated by the county’s Personnel Services Department.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed a ruling that shields Hawai'i's teacher furlough program from a federal legal challenge by a group of special-education students and their parents.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals Monday upheld Hawaii's public school furlough program against a legal challenge from eight special education students and their parents.
Three bids to buy the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, including one that does not include assets listed in the sales offering, are being reviewed by the U.S. Justice Department and the state attorney general's office.
State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and her top supporter, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, are rejecting Washington rumors that Democrats are trying to get Hanabusa out of the special congressional election.
Inouye told KITV4 he is not concerned about a congressional newspaper report that U.S. House Democrats are considering throwing their support behind democrat Ed Case.
Child welfare advocates are rallying to save the remnants of Healthy Start, a nationally recognized child-abuse prevention program whose state funding shrank from $15 million two years ago to $1.3 million this fiscal year and which is now in danger of being eliminated altogether.
While the Lingle administration continues to study the impact of the new federal health care reform law on Hawaii's landmark Prepaid Health Care Act, key state lawmakers say they do not believe it will negatively affect island residents.
A current state court judge’s assistant at the Lihu‘e courthouse has in a lawsuit accused a former supervisor of sexual harassment, retaliation, defamation, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and damage to her marriage.
George Na'ope was a hula master like no other and a colorful figure whose small shadow looms large this week over the Merrie Monarch Festival he co-founded.
Hundreds of homes and businesses in areas long believed to be safe from a tsunami could be added to O'ahu's evacuation map in light of new research.
The committee drafting a new platform for the state Republican Party has dropped language that some interpreted as support for federal legislation to establish a governing entity for native Hawaiians.
Japan resident Kanayo Miyagawa pulled out her camera and asked friend, Taeko, to pose in front of Scandinavian Shave Ice in Kailua-Kona.
A local doctor and his mentor are at the heart of a Maui Memorial Medical Center pilot project that treats irregular heartbeats and reduces the risk of stroke.
Hawaii's participation in the 2010 Census, so far among the worst in the nation, is raising concerns about whether the state will again lose out on millions of dollars in federal funding.
Hawai'i is among the nation's leaders in swine flu vaccinations and health officials here credit an aggressive educational program for much of the success.
The leaders of the state Legislature's two money committees continue to criticize Gov. Linda Lingle's handling of the state budget shortfall.
Hawaii hotels have performed better in the economic slump than key rival destinations, despite cutting room rates less.
Maui coral reef lovers came looking for answers Tuesday night from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources about an accident in which state officials and private contractors dropped 125 concrete slabs onto the Keawakapu artificial reef.
A day after votes by Hawai'i lawmakers and the teachers union renewed pressure for resolution of the state's teacher furlough mess, Gov. Linda Lingle's office released new details about the "nonessential" personnel that have become a $30 million sticking point in the controversy.
One Big Island lawmaker wants police and fire personnel to forgo pay raises for a year to share in the sacrifices most other government workers are making.
The popular Peppa's Korean BBQ on South King Street was shut down yesterday by the state Department of Health after seven people were diagnosed with E. coli poisoning last month, four of them requiring hospitalization.
An April Fool's Day joke on KUMU-FM that the upcoming Merrie Monarch Festival was canceled because of the recent deaths of three hula legends, left many in Hawaii dismayed Thursday morning.
Award-winning songwriter Roslyn Catracchia says her prayers have been answered. Honolulu police recovered her stolen computers Thursday and they still contained her prized compositions.
When it comes to selling its Paauilo lands, Hawaii County is batting .000.
Rows of tables, stacks of documents, piles of pens. The Hawaii County Finance Department was ready. In fact, only one thing was missing from the much heralded bid opening for the first Hamakua land sale -- bidders.
As the Kaua‘i section administrator in the state Department of Human Services Benefit, Employment and Support Services Division, on Monday she had the unenviable task of hand-delivering letters of layoff to 22 of her co-workers.
The county's long-term solid waste management plan is up for review Tuesday by a Hawaii County Council committee.
In 2008, James Koshiba helped launch Kanu Hawaii, a nonprofit that promotes and supports Island-style sustainability.
The Army National Guard accepted six new Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters on Tuesday in a dedication attended by both of Hawaii's U.S. senators.
Laulima -- cooperation -- was cited repeatedly during Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the future Ane Keohokalole Highway.
The House Finance Committee late Wednesday night approved a plan that would end furlough Fridays, but it left open the amount that would be funneled from the state's Hurricane Relief Fund.
Hawaii State Teachers Association members overwhelmingly voted to support a $92 million supplemental agreement that would end Furlough Fridays in public schools.
April 12th. That's the deadline lawmakers have set for the governor, teachers union and Board of Education to come up with a consensus to end school furloughs.
A proposed audit of the Department of Taxation now in the hands of the Senate Ways and Means committee is related to allegations from current and former department employees about state-level mismanagement of tax dollars.
Hawaii’s Department of Education paid $17,100 to a restroom cleaning consultant and $1.7 million for substitute clericals, according to a new report from The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii (GRIH) and premiere taxpayer watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).
More than 350 bankruptcy cases were filed in March -- the highest monthly total in nearly 41/ 2 years -- as individuals and businesses in the state continued to struggle with the recession.
The seven-tower Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa plans to add two more timeshare towers as part of its most significant 10-year master plan since the resort opened in 1955.
New laws that prohibit unauthorized tents and shopping carts in city parks are now official. Mayor Mufi Hannemann on Wednesday signed the two bills into law and police will begin enforcing the restrictions on April 19.
A group of builders, environmental groups, lawyers and public agencies and institutions has been quietly meeting in private to help shape the first overhaul of Hawai'i's environmental laws in 40 years, even as lawmakers hold public hearings on a bill that is likely to go nowhere this session.
Critics say State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa's new TV commerical does not tell the whole story when she says she helped cut legislative salaries.
Crime is up, but Hawaii County police and prosecutors are trying to hold the line on their budgets.
Maui County welcomed 174,027 visitors in February, a gain of more than 7 percent compared with the same month last year. Every other county showed an erosion in the already weak traffic count, although small ones.
Former Maui Police Department officer Allison Moore pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 25 charges, including deceiving the department, tampering with evidence, drug possession and forging doctors' notes.
The unemployment rate for Kaua‘i held steady in February at 9.1 percent, according to recently released statistics from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
A jump in the number of visitors traveling to Maui in February helped offset declines on the other major islands, the Hawai'i Tourism Authority reported yesterday.
The best combination of green and budget for accommodations? Camping, of course
The state House Finance Committee agreed yesterday that voters should decide whether the state school board will be appointed by the governor.
The state stood by its decision yesterday to institute a 10 p.m. curfew at two Kalihi public housing projects following a string of violent confrontations that ended in a shooting Monday, but some residents said the security measure goes too far.
Hawaii got top marks for setting high standards and an agenda for education reform in the competition for Race to the Top federal funds. But it was graded low on helping charter schools and lifting student achievement.
A proposed constitutional amendment to abolish Hawaii's elected school board might be in the hands of voters in November.
Honolulu was ranked the second-most expensive city in the world to do business among 112 cities studied in a recent global survey.
Supporters say it could have been ground breaking legislation to protect sharks, instead Senate Bill 2169 was deferred by State House Judiciary Chair Jon Riki Karamatsu, essentially taking all the bite out of the bill.
The Department of Human Services Kalihi Unit is one of 31 the state's shutting down as DHS switches to an on-line and over-the-phone application system.
Pedestrian safety advocates are urging both drivers and pedestrians to pay attention and avoid taking risks.
While Maui County might be facing its largest budget hole ever, the buses still need to run, and Mayor Charmaine Tavares said she is sticking with her pledge to start building a bevy of benches and shelters this year to protect riders from the sun, rain and wind.
Eliminating more vacant positions, encouraging early retirement and seeking federal money were among the suggestions County Council members gave Monday for avoiding a tax hike and service cuts.
Hawaii County administration plans to plug a $24 million hole in property tax revenues by raising tax rates, but a corresponding decline in property values is supposed to make it a wash for property owners.
A West Hawaii resident is questioning police and other state and county officials' inaction after he spent six months trying to report alleged, ongoing sexual abuse of a minor.
While a burglary-free community might be an unrealistic goal, it is what the Neighborhood Watch program strives to accomplish — and with noted success.
A high-wind advisory remains in effect for all islands until 6 tomorrow night.
The state's budget crisis continues to echo through the Capitol as the Senate prepares a budget that moves inmates to the mainland by closing a prison module, cuts the work year for school principals, and even includes a 3 percent pay cut for lawmakers, judges and state executives.
The state Senate Ways and Means Committee yesterday produced its draft of the state budget, avoiding a broad-based tax increase but scooping hotel-room taxes from the counties to help close the state's $1.2 billion deficit.
The state Department of Human Services will lay off nearly half of its 517 workers who process applications for government benefits and will shut down 31 eligibility offices statewide under a cost-cutting plan set to go into effect June 30.
A modernization and consolidation plan for some operations within the Department of Human Services would expand benefits for the needy and save the state about $8 million a year, the Lingle administration says.
Cockfighting is illegal, but that didn't stop Hawaii lawmakers from advancing a resolution yesterday recognizing its cultural value.
State Sen. Sam Slom, president and executive director of Smart Business Hawaii, and Malia Zimmerman, co-founder of online news journal Hawaii Reporter, have expressed an 11th-hour interest in purchasing the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Data for pregnant women on the Big Island suggest about half of the island's 37,892 children under age 18 were exposed before birth to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use, researchers report.
The fourth installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" doesn't begin filming until this summer, but they're already looking for extras. There will be two casting calls held in Oahu & Kauai
Local songwriter Roslyn Catracchia is asking the public to help in getting back her life’s work. Burglars broke into Catracchia’s home in Aina Haina Sunday, and stole computers that contained 20 years of her work.
Forced to make difficult budget decisions due to a dramatic drop in tax revenue collections, Mayor Charmaine Tavares has proposed to eliminate Maui County's only helicopter ambulance service, her staff said.
Keauhou Beach Resort's 40th anniversary celebration Sunday summoned memories for former employee Elaine Watai, of Kailua-Kona, who shared stories and old photographs of the hotel in its heyday.
Kaua‘i Island School’s robot won’t be coming home just yet.
Ringed rice coral appears strikingly modest for a species that is caught in the struggle over greenhouse gas emissions.
Failing to implement “common-sense measures” and neglecting to secure an incidental take permit to help mitigate the deaths and injuries to rare native seabirds led conservation groups to file a lawsuit last week against Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, court documents show.
State lawmakers are again looking to raise the barrel tax on petroleum products to finance food and energy security programs, but this year there is a twist: most of the new revenue could initially help reduce the state's budget deficit.
About 200 Chinatown residents gathered at the Sun Yat Sen Cultural Center on Kukui Street yesterday to show their opposition to a proposed city project for chronically homeless people.
Thousands of people turned out in Maui for a chance to appear in the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston movie "Just Go With It."
The prospect of being an extra in the upcoming Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston movie "Just Go With It" drew people like locusts Saturday to the Lipoa Center in Kihei.
It was a tribute to a trailblazer. A distinguished crowd turned out in downtown Honolulu Sunday afternoon to celebrate the life of the late congressman and broadcaster Cec Heftel.
Cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states, but the practice continues in Hawaii. State lawmakers on Monday are expected to consider a resolution that recognizes the cultural, financial and historical aspects of the activity without making it legal again.
Animal rights groups are protesting a resolution before Hawai‘i lawmakers supporting the recognition of cockfighting as a cultural activity.
The Hawaii County Council will be sharpening its pencils next week, as the Finance Committee goes line-by-line over Mayor Billy Kenoi's spending plans for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
It's an age-old problem: You move into a new place, and none of your old stuff looks right in it.Hawaii County's solution: Spend another $400,000 on furniture and window treatments on top of the $24.6 million already spent to renovate the County Building on Aupuni Street.
New energy-efficiency building standards Hawaii County plans to start enforcing in May will be expensive, possibly unnecessary and may outlaw common home designs, says Puna Councilwoman Emily Naeole-Beason.
An Ocean View man convicted of manslaughter for shooting and killing an intruder was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.
Shoes and slippers lined Hulihee Palace's entryway Saturday as residents and visitors meandered about the 172-year-old royal vacation home taking in its history and beauty for the first time since the museum closed its doors to the public more than three years ago.
With the housing market still wobbling like a Front Street reveler on Halloween, West Maui continues to have a glut of market-priced homes.
Jean Souza, the Kaua‘i programs coordinator for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, said she received a call from Kaua‘i police dispatch reporting calls of a whale being born in the harbor.
Hawaii is in a position to develop as a model for holistic care in the new health care reform movement, says Shirley Otis-Green, a national authority on palliative care.
The state is declaring victory in the fight against an invasive species that killed thousands of Hawai'i's trees — thanks to some scientific detective work that took one entomologist all the way to Tanzania to enlist a natural enemy of the gall wasp.
Nearly half of a randomly selected group of Hawaii public school fourth-graders tested below basic reading levels, according to a nationwide assessment.
A parents group, the teachers union and the state Board of Education want legislators to support restoring cuts in public school days, despite a warning by Republican Gov. Linda Lingle that she would restrict the funds to pay for it.
A preliminary report released by two federal agencies confirmed that when the state accidentally dropped 125, 1.3-ton concrete slabs onto a swath of coral reef last year, it damaged a living habitat for myriad fish and other aquatic life-forms.
A public informational meeting will be held Tuesday to discuss the investigation of coral damage at Keawakapu reef during a state reef-enhancement project in December.
Honolulu's proposed rail-transit project needs to be conducted with "a higher level of transparency," the state Department of Transportation said yesterday as it made public all its correspondence on the issue.
The top uniformed officer in the U.S. military yesterday sharply criticized Fort Shafter's Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. "Randy" Mixon after Mixon said he is against repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military.
After a top-level public scolding over his remarks on the military's policy regarding gays, the commander of U.S. Army Pacific issued a terse "no comment" yesterday from his headquarters at Fort Shafter.
An attorney for the U.S. Army argued in court on Thursday that Army officials have no legal duty to report child abuse to civilian authorities.
A lawyer for two boys filed suit against the state Thursday, saying the state could have prevented years of abuse they suffered from their legal guardians. It's a case prosecutors referred to as a "house of torture."
The video playing on YouTube shows 95-year-old Beatrice Muranaka talking to her pet bird, walking with her walker, and trying to call Charles Schwab.
According to Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville, people are still being caught and prosecuted for welfare fraud despite state budget cuts that have left the Big Island with one welfare fraud investigator instead of the three it once had.
A well project in North Kona got the environmental green light from a state economic development agency.
Roy Yasay got more than appreciation premiums from the Hawai‘i Counts 2010 Census Van which was parked at the Salt Pond Beach Park Sunday.
Gov. Linda Lingle has sent a letter to all 100 U.S. senators, reaffirming her opposition to the latest version of a bill that would allow native Hawaiians to create a sovereign government, but Hawaii's two senators predict the bill will pass without her support.
The Native Hawaiian community and the military have often been at odds over the use of land across the islands. But Wednesday, representatives from both signed a promise to work together.
The state agency that for years has struggled to protect Hawai'i 's historic and cultural sites is in danger of losing federal funding that amounts to half its budget.
The state Historic Preservation Division risks losing more than $1.1 million in federal funding -- about half its budget -- due to program lapses detailed in a new report by the National Park Service.
Hawai'i state and county officials are pitching Google Inc. in the hopes of landing one of the free ultra-high speed broadband networks the company is proposing to install around the country.
The state and the four counties have made a bid to be part of online search giant Google's test of ultra high-speed broadband.
Gov. Linda Lingle is asking the Legislature for $40 million in emergency funds to help the Department of Human Services cover its April payment to the state's Medicaid providers.
In a survey of 500 residents that began statewide in December, 71 percent supported a 60-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax to reduce smoking and the state budget deficit.
Lawmakers Thursday, will debate a bill that would carve out $86 million from the Hurricane Relief Fund to end school furloughs.
Gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie says he isn't looking for villains to blame for the continuing school furloughs.
The city, not the state, will have to pay to resolve the issue of a planned commuter rail line running too close to the Honolulu International Airport, according to a Nov. 3 letter from the state Department of Transportation.
With each delay along the way, the City’s mantra about its multibillion-dollar rail proposal remains unwavering.
Little more than two years after opening its doors, Hilo's Yukio Okutsu Veterans Home finds itself nearly full.
Facing opposition from farmers and ranchers, the Hawaii County Water Board is having second thoughts about discontinuing its agricultural subsidy, a move that could cause residential rates to rise more than first thought.
The $23 million fresh fruit processing line that three years ago was supposed to represent the new future of Maui Pineapple Co. was auctioned Tuesday for $125,000.
The carcass of a rare beaked whale will be a "treasure chest" of information for scientists, after it was recovered in Hana this week.
A weekend dog attack that left three Kapa‘a High School sheep dead highlights the shortcomings in the school’s struggling agriculture program and the dearth of student interest in farming, the school’s principal and primary ag teacher said this week.
Clayton Hale remembers a time when professional musicians could make a decent living performing on the Big Island.
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