Democrat led Hawaii from 1973 to 1986, coinciding with the party’s rise to power in the state
George R Ariyoshi – Hawaii’s former governor and the nation’s first Asian American governor – has died at age 100.
Ariyoshi, a Democrat who led the state from 1973 to 1986, died peacefully while surrounded by family on Sunday night, according to a statement Monday from the current governor, Josh Green.
Continue reading...Prosecutors alleged Gerhardt Konig, 47, had planned to kill Arielle Konig during a birthday trip to Honolulu
A Hawaii anesthesiologist who was accused of trying to murder his wife on a cliffside hike last year has been convicted of attempted manslaughter, a lesser charge.
A Honolulu jury returned the verdict against Gerhardt Konig, 47, on Wednesday after a day of deliberations.
Continue reading...Two others injured after sightseeing aircraft comes down on remote beach on Na Pali Coast
A tourist helicopter crashed on a remote beach off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, killing three people and injuring two others, authorities said.
The helicopter was carrying one pilot and four passengers when it crashed on Thursday afternoon at Kalalau Beach, the Kauai fire department said. The beach is on the Na Pali coast on Kauai’s north shore. The area is otherwise reachable only by hiking or boat.
Continue reading...People evacuated on Oahu and Maui as rains lifted houses and cars, swept through stores and left streets mud-clogged
Hawaii is assessing the extensive damage left by the worst flooding the islands have seen in more than 20 years.
Heavy rains and floodwater forced thousands on the North Shore of Oahu to evacuate over the weekend and triggered evacuation orders for parts of Maui. Floodwater from rains lifted houses and cars, inundated farms and swept through grocery stores on the islands, leaving behind a thick layer of mud.
Continue reading...People in hard-hit areas of Oahu and Maui told to evacuate with still more rain expected over the weekend
As Hawaii endures its worst flooding in more than 20 years, officials urged people in hard-hit areas to “LEAVE NOW”. That warning early on Saturday came after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week ago, and still more was expected over the weekend.
Muddy floodwaters smothered vast stretches of Oahu’s North Shore, a community renowned for its big-wave surfing. Raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu. Authorities cautioned that a 120-year-old dam could fail.
Continue reading...Officials warn some residents could be trapped by rising waters as Wahiawā dam on Oahu ‘may collapse at any time’
Towering flash floods and an imminent dam failure in the northern part of Oahu triggered evacuation warnings in Hawaii on Friday, as the state continued contending with a powerful storm this week.
The waters came on quickly in the middle of the night, and videos on social media captured inundated streets and cars being swallowed by the muddy floodwaters.
Continue reading...US president was meeting with Japanese PM when he said: ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan?’
It would be funny if it wasn’t so Trumpy.
Hosting the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office on Thursday, Donald Trump could not resist mocking Japan about its 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor during the second world war.
Continue reading...Former US representative who broke barriers as first woman president of state senate dies after five-month cancer battle
Former US representative Colleen Hanabusa, who was the first woman to serve as president of the Hawaii state senate, has died. She was 74.
Hanabusa died early on Friday after a five-month battle with cancer, said Mike Formby, her friend and former chief of staff in the US House.
Continue reading...Evacuation orders have now been lifted on fast-growing blaze near Paia, recalling Lahaina’s deadly 2023 fire
Officials on the Hawaiian island of Maui went door to door evacuating residents from a wildfire Tuesday and sounded emergency sirens. But evacuation orders were lifted later in the day, as the threat from the fire receded.
The fire, which on Tuesday grew to more than 100 acres (40 hectares), was first reported at 1.30pm near the north shore town of Paia, officials said.
Continue reading...North vent in Halemaʻumaʻu crater started releasing the molten rock in 32nd such episode since December 2024
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano resumed erupting on Tuesday, firing lava 330 ft (100 meters) into the sky from its summit crater.
It’s the 32nd episode of the volcano releasing molten rock since December 2024, when its current eruption began. So far, all the lava from this eruption has been contained within the summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes national park.
Continue reading...Rallies from Alaska to Hawaii will highlight cuts to wages, unions and social safety nets under Trump policies
Nearly 1,000 “worker over billionaire” protests are being planned in all 50 states starting this weekend as part of a Labor Day week of action organized by labor unions and advocacy groups in opposition to the Trump administration’s policies.
The actions include marches and rallies in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, a Labor Day parade in New York City, rallies in Palmer, Alaska, Freeport, Maine, and a planned protest at the state capitol in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Continue reading...After Wednesday’s 8.8 magnitude quake, false claims spread online that Winfrey refused to let the public use a private road in Maui – and not for the first time
Even as the threat of a tsunami swamping Hawaii had passed on Wednesday, social media posts were still circulating claims that Oprah Winfrey had refused immediate access to a private road that would allow residents a shorter evacuation route.
The warnings followed one of the century’s most powerful earthquakes, an 8.8 magnitude quake that struck off a Russian peninsula and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a wide swath of the Pacific. Posts on X and TikTok contended Winfrey refused to open her private road, or was slow to do so during the evacuation.
Continue reading...Powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia triggers tsunami alerts across Pacific including for US coast and Japan
A major tsunami is not expected to strike Hawaii, a Pacific monitoring agency has said, after the first waves hit the islands after a powerful magnitude-8.8 earthquake that struck off Russia’s eastern coast.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, operated by the US National Weather Service, said in an update that “based on all available data”, a major tsunami was not expected, although it warned all coasts could remain “a hazard to swimmers and boaters”, including people near the shore.
Continue reading...Kahikinui fire is 85% contained as firefighting crews battle blazes in Pacific north-west, California and the Rockies
A fast-moving Hawaii brush fire fueled by fierce winds forced the evacuation of about 50 Maui residents on the opposite side of the same island where a devastating blaze killed more than 100 people two years ago.
The fire started on Sunday in a sparsely populated area with land set aside for Native Hawaiians.
Continue reading...Hilo office, with scientists and their volcano-monitoring equipment, may have lease cancelled from Doge cuts
As Hawaii’s most active volcano shot out fountains of lava on Thursday, some of them reaching as high as 700ft, scientists from the US Geological Survey have been posting regular updates on the scale and pace of the eruptions.
But those same scientists, along with their volcano-monitoring equipment, may soon be evicted from their office because of Elon Musk’s federal government cost-cutting, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Continue reading...Accident that also critically injured more than 20 others occurred just before midnight outside a Honolulu home
A New Year’s Eve fireworks explosion in a Honolulu-area neighborhood killed at least three people and critically injured more than 20 others, authorities say.
The accident occurred just before midnight outside a home, the Honolulu fire department said in a statement.
Continue reading...Child had run off from family ‘in a split second’ as they admired lava within caldera at sunset on 23 December
Hawaii national park rangers have reissued warnings about volcano tourism after a small child wandered off and came within feet of a 400ft cliff near the rim of Kīlauea volcano, whose latest eruption had begun on 23 December.
“The hazards that coincide with an eruption are dangerous, and we have safety measures in place including closed areas, barriers, closure signs and traffic management,” said park superintendent Rhonda Loh in a statement.
Continue reading...Flight left Chicago’s O’Hare airport on morning of Christmas Eve and body discovered at Hawaii’s Kahului airport
Police are investigating the discovery of a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii, the airline and the Maui police department said in statements on Wednesday.
The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on flight 202, which arrived at Kahului airport from Chicago on Tuesday, United said in an emailed statement.
Continue reading...Hannah Kobayashi disappeared voluntarily as she sought to ‘step away from modern connectivity’, LA police say
A Hawaii woman who vanished after landing in Los Angeles three weeks ago disappeared voluntarily as she sought to “step away from modern connectivity” and was last seen crossing into Mexico, police said at a news conference.
Hannah Kobayashi, 30, appeared unharmed as she walked alone with her luggage into a tunnel at the San Ysidro crossing about 125 miles (201km) south-east of Los Angeles around noon on 12 November the day after her family reported her missing, LA police said Monday. Authorities made the discovery after reviewing surveillance video from the US Customs and Border Protection late on Sunday.
Continue reading...Lai Ching-te’s US stopover on trip to Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau – three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island – prompts Beijing’s protests
The Taiwanese president, Lai Ching-te, has begun a two-day US stopover in Hawaii as part of a Pacific tour after declaring his democratically governed island a key force for promoting global peace and stability.
The trip has sparked fury from China, which views Taiwan as its own territory and opposes any foreign interactions or visits by the island’s leaders. China’s foreign ministry said on Sunday it had lodged “serious protests” with the US.
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