General News

Updated: Aug. 20, 4:31 p.m.

Hawaii police say a woman bitten twice by a shark while swimming in Kealakekua Bay is expected to be released from a hospital.

It happens every fall. Schools and the University of Hawaiʻi restart for the new year and the roads grow significantly more congested. This time, officials say drivers can use several new safety improvements to ease their way through the annual back-to-school traffic jam.

A Marine stationed in Hawaii has waived a military hearing scheduled for this week for allegations he tried to enter an Air Force base while off-duty and heavily armed in his home state of Nebraska.

HILO, Hawaii — Southwest Airlines has announced plans to offer interisland flights across Hawaii, officials said. Southwest announced Thursday it will begin offering flights from Hilo as early as next year, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Friday.

AUWAHI, Hawaii — Musician Paul Simon joined environmentalists trying to reinvigorate a Hawaii forest on Maui and planted a tree during a ceremony, a report said.

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii  — A new statewide energy code could increase the cost of home building after officials missed a deadline to enact exemptions on Hawaii Island, a report said.

The Hawaii school board has voted to elevate the seriousness of high school bullying and harassment as disciplinary offenses, officials said.

WAILUKU — A fungal disease local to Hawaii has not been rediscovered after being found on Maui for the first time earlier this year, officials said.

Hawaii state officials are debating jurisdiction over the road leading to a contested telescope project, a report said.

When Hurricane Walaka passed through the French Frigate Shoals as a category three hurricane last October, it left massive destruction of the coral reef, researchers recently found. Scientists also discovered an invasive algae overgrowing native corals and native algae at Pearl and Hermes Atoll.

Three of the thirteen telescopes on Mauna Kea are set to be decommissioned before the planned Thirty Meter Telescope is built. This could involve relocating one of the telescopes elsewhere on the mountain, and that has its own issues.

The Honolulu Rate Commission is considering whether rail fares should be lower or higher than a ride on TheBus. That's along with other issues concerning fares that the advisory committee wants the public to comment on before it makes its final rate recommendations to the City Council and city administration later this year.

Hawaiʻi's threatened plants and animals could be impacted by the new changes to federal wildlife conservation rules, particularly those edging toward but not yet endangered.

HILO — University of Hawaii students protesting the construction of a $1.4 billion telescope are expected to have class options allowing them to remain on the mountain, a report said.

HILO — A magnitude-4.5 earthquake hit off the east coast of Hawaii's Big Island on Monday. According to the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, it was centered just offshore of Hilo. No tsunami was generated.

Updated: Aug, 12, 3:47 p.m.

Maui firefighters on Monday contained the last of three fires that broke out over the weekend, the latest in a series of wildfires the county has fought this summer. There were no injuries or structural damage reported.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, including a ban on the type of high-capacity ammunition magazines used in some of the nation's deadliest mass shootings.

Populations of two native endangered species endemic to Maui have been reduced by over half spanning the past two to three decades, according to an interagency report.

WAILUKU — Former Major League Baseball All-Star Shane Victorino has announced a partnership agreement between his Hawaii cannabis business and a California-based hemp business, a report said.

Updated: Aug. 9, 4:32 p.m.

Maunakea Observatories, the group operating the existing telescopes on Mauna Kea, announced plans on Friday to resume "close to full operations as possible," although the main access road to the summit remains blocked by protesters.

JUNEAU, Alaska — Daniel Bowen came to Alaska in 2011, looking for adventure and opportunity. He and his wife eventually settled on the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage, a salmon fishing haven calling itself "Alaska's Playground."