The Honolulu Fire Department’s aviation manager wants to beef up the department’s ability to fight fires and make rescues. Battalion Chief Robert Thurston's vision includes adding two new helicopters and three more full-time pilots.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has received nearly $900,000 from the National Science Foundation to collect new species of seaweed, specifically in low-light environments. Funding is also allocated to train incoming algal biologists in DNA sequencing, dried plant collecting and more.

Greenpeace activists are engaged in a sit-in protest on a deep-sea mining ship in the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaiʻi. They say the boat is conducting exploration which will be used to justify destroying marine.

Health and human services organizations make a big difference in Hawaiʻi, especially on Maui. Pacific Business News editor-in-chief A. Kam Napier has more.

This week in Japan, the focus was on a different sport — one that's attracting new fans — and players. HPR's Bill Dorman has more in today's Asia Minute.

The state Senate unanimously confirmed Judge Lisa Ginoza and attorney Vladimir Devens on Tuesday to serve as associate justices on the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. Ginoza and Devens will fill vacancies resulting from the retirements of Associate Justices Michael Wilson in March and Paula Nakayama in April.

Hawaiʻi leaders want to make it easier for tourists from Japan to visit the U.S. state by creating a traveler pre-clearance program. Gov. Josh Green and other state officials proposed the idea during a recent visit to Tokyo.