In Case You Missed It

The Bears, who are 11-0 in the MIL and clinched a state tournament berth, are hoping for a big sendoff for their eight seniors, who’ve grown up playing volleyball together.

Some Lahaina students who lost their homes have said goodbye to their friends and their dreams of attending Lahainaluna to finish their high school years at other campuses.

Robert Francis Dumaran, 47, of Kahului, entered a plea agreement, pleading guilty to possessing explosive powders as a convicted felon and possessing an unregistered destructive device. Sentencing for Dumaran is set for Feb. 2, 2025, before United States District Judge Jill A. Otake.

The Hawaiʻi Housing Finance & Development Corp. Board of Directors approved last month a proposed public acquisition of the Front Street Apartments destroyed in the Aug. 8-9, 2023, Lahaina wildfire disaster, although there was some uncertainty about rebuilding in the burn zone.

Sparks from a broken overhead power line ignited unmaintained vegetation off of Lahainaluna Road on the morning of Aug. 8, 2023, and that led to a chain of events that leveled Lahaina town and killed at least 102 people, according to an official origin-and-cause report released Wednesday. The fire’s cause was officially determined to be “accidental.”

The clock is ticking on negotiations after the contract for the union that represents about 930 employees of Maui Health expired on Monday night.

A $40 million project to improve the safety and public use of a half-dozen Hāna Highway bridges while retaining their historic character has received a finding of no significant environmental impact, according to the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation.

Music legend Kris Kristofferson who is remembered as an artist, singer, songwriter, actor and activist, passed away peacefully surrounded by family in his home on Maui, Saturday, Sept. 28. He was 88 years old.

Upcountry residents have relied for years on cesspools, which are required under state law to be eliminated by 2050.

For nearly two decades, HNU Energy CEO Dan O’Connell has been quietly revolutionizing Maui’s solar scene, now claiming to have outdone the Tesla Powerwall with his HiVE Home Energy Storage Stackables.

Maui High graduate Rachel Kondo and husband Justin Marks captured a record 18 Emmys for the series, which was hammered out through a pandemic, work stoppages and plenty of arguments in the writers’ room.

A lack of fresh water resources has long held back housing development on Maui. And now that there’s a post-disaster housing shortage, the Maui County Council will consider Friday a resolution calling for increased production and expansion of recycled wastewater use to make more potable water available for human consumption.

As West Maui rebuilds from the 2023 wildfires, Kā‘anapali Beach Resort has expanded its commitment to restoring the region’s ecosystem through Treecovery’s reforestation efforts. With four new grow hubs across the resort and more than 1,600 trees donated, Kā‘anapali Beach Resort is nurturing the community’s long-term ecological and cultural resilience.

More than 100 coral fragments were rescued from the bay over a year ago and coaxed back to life in the Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute’s saltwater tanks.

A Maui man who was on trial for the second degree attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend’s infant, was found guilty instead of a lesser first degree attempted assault charge. The verdict in the trail of Christian Rosete was reached on Monday afternoon (Sept. 23). The jury found Rosete guilty as charged of separate first and second degree assault charges, and a charge of felony abuse against a family or household member. Another second degree assault charge for Count 3 was reduced to a third degree assault conviction.

The middle East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea that began on Sunday, Sept. 15 has ended and is unlikely to restart, according to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Lahainaluna, Kamehameha Maui and Maui High win in football, while Baldwin and Seabury stay undefeated in volleyball.

A team of fishers and marine resource advocates are working to overhaul reef fishing rules — but they say it needs to come with tougher penalties.

Maui’s economy will only gradually recover from its post-wildfire downturn while visitor industries in other counties across the state will continue to operate at high levels, according to the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization’s (UHERO) third quarter forecast for 2024.

Work on the parcel originally started to clear a firebreak following concerned neighbor complaints, but a conservation group says it’s gone far beyond that and put wildlife habitat at risk.