#Maui

Maui County hopes to launch a program to buy properties makai of Front Street and create a connected waterfront to protect against flooding and create more open space and shoreline access.

Despite playing without the only returning starter from last season’s state championship, the Spartans swept Hāna and improved to 19-2 overall and 9-0 in MIL Division II play.

While the planned two-story youth center will still be in a flood zone, it will be built to withstand the erosion and sea level rise that continues to take its toll along the North Shore of Maui.

Yuki Lei Sugimura, a five-term council member, said her decision was spurred by the recent passage of the bill to phase out thousands of vacation rentals, which she says will negatively impact the local economy.

These efforts are at the top of the state’s list of 10 priorities for improving wildfire prevention after the deadly and destructive blaze on Maui in 2023.

In 39 days, those types of gatherings will not be possible for the 1,475 individuals still in FEMA-funded housing on Maui if the deadline is not extended. In November, the state requested a 12-month extension to the current deadline.

For a decade, the organization has helped more than 1,000 families and saved 1,000 pounds of belongings each month from entering the landfill.

To date, the program has awarded more than $81,000 in scholarships to Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i students who have displayed a passion for returning to Maui County after college to contribute to the community.

Government shutdown and pause in SNAP benefits at the end of the year spurred even more need in the community.

To bring back the cloud bridge requires restoring the forests that disappeared due to wild animals, ranching and the U.S. military’s bombing of Kaho’olawe.

The state Commission on Water Resource Management gave the company a chance to offset the fine by making improvements to its water system in Honokōhau Valley.

Economists say Maui’s tourism industry is “outperforming” other islands as visitors continue to return after the 2023 wildfires, a trend that could help cushion the island from an overall weakening economy.

Maui police said they arrested an individual this week in connection to multiple home break-ins but provided few details, including the name of the suspect.

Starting Dec. 15, loading and unloading activities will be allowed on a permitted basis. Some companies haven’t been operating since the fire damaged their vessel.

The water commission has yet to approve any of the more than 140 permit applications for water use in West Maui that were filed two years ago shortly before the Lahaina fire.

The environmental law firm claims the golf courses unlawfully used millions of gallons of potable water to irrigate their greens, and that the state water commission chair knew about it.

Before Hale Pōmaika‘i Community Dialysis Center opened 16 years ago in Hāna, patients had to travel four-hours roundtrip to Central Maui three times a week for the life-saving treatments.

Food boxes, donated meals and loan payment pauses have been geared toward helping folks afford over a month’s worth of lost paychecks and food stamps.

Saturday night’s second-place finish felt different than 2007, 2012 or 2014 when Seabury Hall was also the Division II state runner-up; the Spartans fought back from two sets down to force a fifth set that came down to the wire before bowing to Kapa’a of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation.

A Texas man died as the result of a single-vehicle collision on Mākena Road in South Maui on Thursday evening. Police say the involvement of speed was considered a factor.