Maui News

Maui is placing itself firmly on the matcha map with the opening of its first matcha bar, Maui Matcha at Whalers Village in Kāʻanapali.

Participants who attend the UH College Application ʻAha on April 13 or May 11 at 6 p.m. will also be eligible to win a $500 scholarship to UH which will be awarded each night.

Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino announced the award of three County of Maui grants totaling $545,000 to three nonprofits to support kalo farmers, agriculture, youth development, family services and food security.

“We didn’t want to grow a non-native or invasive seaweed because we feared we might end up proliferating invasive seaweed out in the marine environment. So, they’re only fed native limu until they’re big enough to go out into the field and to begin eating invasive seaweed,” said David Cohen, urchin hatchery manager with the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources.

At completion, the Honomū Subsistence Agriculture Homestead Community is expected to include up to 375 parcels ranging in size from one to three acres.

Maui Now’s featured jobs for the week of April 2 to 9, 2022.

ClimbHI seeks to inspire students to finish high school and proceed to post-secondary education or employment by exposing them to future career paths and the steps necessary to achieve those goals. Their Leadership, Exploration, Inspiration (LEI) program was held on Maui on Friday.

The Maui High School’s Robotics program won the Hawai’i Regionals, and earned an invitation to the FRC World Championships in Houston, Texas.

Many of the more than 50 people who testified during a budget committee meeting on Friday voiced support for funding of Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art, a center dedicated to the study, practice, celebration and perpetuation of hula and various ‘ōiwi arts connected to hula.

A falsetto singing contest and a “Celebration of Island Tastes” are part of the events occurring on April 16 at the newly renovated, open-air Aloha Garden Pavilion at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua.

“With funding set aside for infrastructure, education, housing and health on the Valley Isle and statewide, we are heartened in anticipation of the needed work that will be done to improve the lives of our neighbors and friends on Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi,” said Senators Keith-Agaran, DeCoite, and Baker.

Maui County has purchased a $300,000 property with a three-bedroom home on the East End of Molokaʻi that will be used by the Department of Fire & Public Safety for the housing of two firefighters and an office.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture issued a quarantine order today for Molokaʻi, restricting the movement of all hoofed mammals, except horses, due to detections of bovine tuberculosis on the island.

Citing cost-of-living increases, Maui County Salary Commission voted this morning to boost by 5% the pay for Maui’s mayor and council members effective July 1. Maui council members are the highest paid in the state, but they have not seen pay increases since 2013, officials said.  

Roady and Kahalehau will oversee the Charity Walks held on Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022.

The County of Maui Department of Water Supply has reopened its Mahinahina Water Treatment Facility after recent rainfall in West Maui increased water flowing in the Honolua Ditch. The ditch supplies surface water to the Mahinahina facility, which has been shut down since March 7, 2022.

The Hawai‘i Department of Health’s Food Safety Branch issued a red “closed” placard and temporarily shut down Fu Lin Chinese Restaurant, located at 1312 Front St. in Lahaina on Monday, April 4, 2022.

With the rebounding of the State’s economy and significant increases in tax revenues, the Senate coffers are anticipating the general fund to be $ 8,772,816,000 for FY22 and $ 9,299,185,000 in FY23.

Maui Huliau Foundation and their program partners are inviting Maui high school and college students to participate in two in-person events where students can learn hands-on career skills from professionals working to protect Maui’s natural resources and ecosystems from mauka to makai.

“Many upcountry residents were left without reliable and safe drinking water for over a month following the December storm,” said Sugimura.  “Improvements to our aging water infrastructure are sorely needed.”