In Case You Missed It

Update (8 p.m., July 11, 2024): Due to improving conditions Maui County officials have lifted the advisory as of 6:37 p.m. for residents in affected areas to prepare for potential evacuations. Maui Fire Department crews will remain on scene overnight to monitor the fire. Acreage of the fire decreased from 420 to 355 due to more accurate mapping assessments. 

While unloading cans of Spam and packets of saimin at distribution hubs shortly after the fires, Makale’a Ane and other farmers wanted to find ways to get fresher, healthier foods to families.  “After the fires, we kind of pivoted and took the work that we’re doing on the farm and said, let’s feed our people in this way,” said Ane, the climae and resilience director for the Living Pono Project.

“We felt it was time to really get a better understanding of how much really should be left in the streams as kind of the starting point and then balance that against the other uses as well,” Maui County Water Supply Director John Stufflebean said.

“We want to make sure that Moloka‘i High School is able to compete at a high level and that transportation is not a reason why they would not be able to,” Mokulele Airlines chief of staff Keith Sisson said.

“Everybody’s in a different situation. … We always say, do what you think would be good for your family and your situation,” said Desilee Santiago of the Disaster Recovery Permit Center.

“We never got a generator because we knew way back when if we ever had a major catastrophe of that significance all our physicians would report to the hospital because it’d be that severe,” Maui Medical Group Administrator Cliff Alakai said in explaining why the clinics would have to shut down if they lost power under Hawaiian Electric’s new plan.

Prolific herds of hungry Axis deer continue to wreak havoc in Maui County, damaging farm crops, overgrazing livestock pasture lands, threatening fragile watersheds and even encroaching in heavily urbanized areas like Kahului Airport’s runways and baggage claim areas. Without natural predators in the islands, the deer have flourished unchecked. Now, in part due to an initiative funded by Maui County, some deer are falling prey to hungry humans.

Walls are now in place for the first home to be rebuilt in the Lahaina impact zone since the deadly August 2023 wildfires. It’s a visual reminder of the hope that exists among those wanting to return to their beloved neighborhoods, and an encouraging sign of progress as displaced residents work their way through the permitting and construction process.

A future 60-bed Maui veterans home for the long-term health care of island veterans and their spouses is in the planning stages, with possible locations in Central Maui.

A standing-room-only crowd filled the Maui County Council chambers Tuesday morning to hear the start of debate over Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed phase-out of approximately 7,000 transient vacation rental units in apartment-zoned districts.

Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed elimination of transient vacation rentals in Maui County’s apartment-zoned districts is expected to lead to more available long-term rental and for-sale housing, although the high dollar value of apartments in coastal resort areas mean there “may be issues” about their affordability.

The Maui Police Department today confirmed the identity of another victim involved in the West Maui Wildfire incident of August 2023, bringing the total confirmed dead to 102. On Monday, June 24, 2024, the Honolulu medical examiner’s office confirmed Claudette Heermance, 68, of Lahaina succumbed to injuries sustained on Aug. 8, 2023, according to Maui police.

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court on Thursday issued a landmark decision in the long-running water case over Nā Wai ‘Ehā, “The Four Waters” of Waihe‘e, Waiehu, Wailuku, and Waikapū in central Maui. In a 134-page unanimous opinion authored by Justice Sabrina McKenna, the court ruled in favor of Maui community groups Hui o Nā Wai ‘Ehā and Maui Tomorrow Foundation, who were represented by Earthjustice, and joined by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA).

The reported theft and killing of “Eddie,” a well-fed and cared for pet pig, remains under investigation by Maui police, although the matter has been handed over to the Maui County Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

“They’re not going to be in the right mindset, the families are not going to be in the right mindset, the teachers are not going to be in the right mindset because we are all focused on 8-8,” said Mikey Burke of the upcoming one-year anniversary of the Lahaina wildfire.

Maui County Council Housing and Land Use Committee members unanimously recommended approval Wednesday of a bill to rezone the former Old Laundry Building in Hāna town. Bill 69 would re-establish commercial use for the 21,711-square-foot property, possibly as an art or culturally appropriate music studio.

Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. marked a milestone as it formally recognized the grand opening of Maui Bay Villas, a Hilton Grand Vacations Club, located on 27 acres in South Maui.

Without resuscitation, the future is bleak for Queen Kaʻahumanu Center, with the aging, once premier Central Maui shopping destination caught in a downward spiral — store closings lead to less foot traffic, which beget more loss of business, and so on.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands awarded 52 turnkey homes Saturday as part of phase one of the Puʻuhona Homestead lot awards. Puʻuhona is the department’s first project initiated through the $600 million allocation by state lawmakers in 2022 to support a multifaceted approach to reduce the DHHL Waiting List. Of the 52 homes offered in phase one, three- to five-bedroom homes were made available. Homes range in price from $509,800 to $699,000.

With the roar of heavy machinery nearby, US Army Corps of Engineers officials showed how rapid progress is underway in transforming the once gently sloping grassland above Lahaina into a graded expanse needed to install 169 temporary modular homes for wildfire survivors.