Maui News

A SMALL TOWN * BIG ART Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) recently went live for orientation-based artwork at five sites within the Wailuku Municipal Parking Structure, which is currently under construction in the heart of Wailuku town. The art will function as directional signage and offer a wayfinding element that draws people to entry and exit points, a news release said. Application deadline is March 26.

Theo Morrison has been a staunch advocate for the restoration of historic buildings and the preservation of Maui history, through her work as executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation for the past 15 years. Morrison, once a fiber artist creating baskets from a variety of natural materials, has helped to successfully weave the stories of Lahaina’s past into an amazing tour through history. Maui Now’s Gary Kubota conducts this People of Maui interview.

A total of 596 humpback whales were observed during the Great Whale Count on Maui, for a grand total of 997 spotted throughout the state. On Maui, Great Whale Count volunteers collected data from 12 sites during 15-minute intervals between 8:30 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. A total of 105 whales were observed during the 11:30-11:45 a.m. time period, the most of any time period throughout the day’s count. 

The state Department of Transportation will be conducting road work this week that will result in lane closures at various locations. Lane closure schedules may change at any time without further notice.  All projects are weather permitting.

Hawaiian Telcom spokesperson Ann Nishida tells Maui Now the company has located the source of the problem, a break in a fiber in Lahaina. Service was restored to the remaining affected customers by 9 p.m. on Saturday.

Defueling of the 120-ton luxury yacht, Nakoa, is now complete, and salvage of the vessel is expected to start on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.

Kīhei Charter School open house and registration dates have been announced by Michael Stubbs, head of school. The school’s open house informational sessions will be held on campus starting at 5 p.m. on March 1, March 9, March 21 and March 30. Meetings are open to the public and consist of a tour of the three-story campus and an explanation of the school’s unique programs, including Project Based Learning. 

Kūlanihākoʻi Street in Kīhei will be closed between Piʻilani Highway and Māhealani Place for sidewalk reconstruction work from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27, to Friday, March 3, according to a County of Maui announcement.

Public feedback is being sought on the latest renderings and floor plans for “Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art,” a Hawaiian cultural center slated for Wailuku, during an open house Monday night in Wailuku. The informational open house will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, at the Maui Academy of Performing Art’s Promenade Food Court located at 2050 Main St., Wailuku, a news release said.

East Maui residents can take large appliances, automobile tires and batteries, and scrap metal to the Hana Landfill on March 17 and 18 during a County of Maui Hana Metals Collection and Recycling Event.

Work to remove fuel, other pollutants, and batteries from the grounded 94-foot-long luxury yacht Nakoa, will continue today (Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023) at Honolua Bay in northwest Maui. The State will bill the yacht’s owner for reimbursement of the $460,000 salvage cost, and for additional staff and administrative costs, and take legal action if necessary.

The most recent Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Survey released Friday surveyed visitors from the U.S. West, U.S. East, Canada, Japan, Oceania, Korea, and China who visited Hawai‘i from October to December 2022. More than 60% of visitors from all markets indicated they were “very likely” to return to Hawai‘i in the next five years, a news release from state DBEDT said.

A worker at one of Maui’s largest private employers, Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging owners of the luxury hotel giant misclassified hundreds of spa and salon workers, groundskeepers, facilities maintenance personnel and window washers as independent contractors in a “fraudulent scheme” to avoid pay and benefits at two of its landmark hotels, the Grand Wailea and Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria.

Skunks are prohibited in Hawai’i. They are avid egg-eaters and would pose a threat to Hawai‘i’s native ground-nesting birds if they become established. 

Michael Castillo, the head golf professional at Kapalua Golf’s Plantation Course, has been awarded a sponsor exemption to compete in the 2023 Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences, a PGA TOUR Champions event to be played March 3 through 5 at Omni Tucson National Resort in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release issued today.

Cooke Memorial Pool on Molokaʻi will be closed for staff lifeguard training on Monday, Feb. 27, according to a county announcement.

Marc Togashi, Hawaiʻi Tourism Agency’s vice president of finance, will be leaving the organization Feb. 28 to assume a leadership position at the state Department of Human Resources Development, according to a news release.

Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union is now accepting applications for its annual Masami Oishi Memorial Scholarship program. The deadline to apply is April 21.

Seabury Hall junior Dean Tapler has been selected to represent Kahului as a National Youth Delegate to the 2023 Washington Youth Summit on the Environment at George Mason University in Washington, D.C.

To recognize the big importance of tiny snails from Hawai’i, Gov. John Green on Thursday proclaimed 2023 the Year of the Kāhuli. The governor signed a proclamation Thursday that hails the native Hawaiian species, which inhabited almost every ecosystem across the state and played a key role in the natural and cultural life of Hawai’i, according to a state Department of Land and Natural Resources news release.