Maui family displaced by 2023 wildfires becomes 100th approved for Ho‘okumu Hou First-Time Homebuyer program

FEMA has launched a new tool to purchase a National Flood Insurance Program policy completely online through Floodsmart.gov. FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program provides more than $16.5 billion in coverage for over 64,000 policyholders in Hawaiʻi.

A Maui County Council committee voted 9-0 on Monday to recommend passage of a bill that would let the county provide temporary wastewater service to the new Central Maui School in Waikapū if the school opens before the county’s planned Central Maui wastewater plant is completed.

A structure fire broke out at a Wailuku construction site near Church Street and Vineyard Street on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, at around 10:17 a.m.

The 100th family received their home-shopping letter on Tuesday through Maui County’s Ho‘okumu Hou First-Time Homebuyer Opportunity Program, which provides eligible households displaced by the 2023 wildfires up to $600,000 in assistance to purchase a home.

Tony and Grammy Award winner Lauren Patten will headline “A Night at the Masquerade,” the opening concert of the new Broadway on Maui concert series, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Historic ʻĪao Theater.

The Lahaina Restoration Foundation is excited to invite the community to its 2026 Annual Meeting on Friday, Nov. 6, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lahainaluna High School Cafeteria. This special gathering will offer an opportunity to connect and gather with community members and learn about the progress of LRF’s ongoing historic preservation and rebuilding efforts.

County of Maui Department of Parks and Recreation is encouraging community members to participate in a Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, meeting that will help guide future H.A. Baldwin Park improvements and land stewardship. The H.A. Baldwin Park Adaptation Plan meeting will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in person at the Pāʻia Community Center and online via Zoom.

Mayor Richard Bissen’s Holomua Kākou is returning to Lānaʻi on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. The previously scheduled event was postponed due to severe weather forecasts.

NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is seeking to fill 13 primary and 11 alternate seats on its advisory council. NOAA’s Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary is seeking applicants for eight primary and five alternate seats on its advisory council.

Nearly two years after release into the forests of Haleakalā, five ʻalalā (Hawaiian crows) continue making their way in the wild and demonstrating encouraging natural behaviors.

The Maui County Department of Finance has launched an online portal, myMauiTAT, for managing county transient accommodations tax accounts following a 2023 audit and council scrutiny over millions in delinquent taxes.

The Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity captured a ball python. found in Waiʻanae on the leeward coast of Oʻahu, Saturday.