Colleen Uechi

As Hurricane Lane approached the islands, West Maui residents prepared for wind and rain. Instead, they were awakened by three brush fires that burned more than 2,000 acres. Since then, the community has come together to help the hardest-hit families rebuild.

Haleakalā National Park is one of Maui's most popular visitor draws. But starting this year, park officials vastly reduced the number of tour companies allowed to operate in the park. One business that didn't get a contract had to shut down earlier this month. We get more from contributing reporter Colleen Uechi.

Maui High is one of three public schools in the state to offer a day care program for students with children. But now that program is getting phased out because the school is running out of space. We get more from HPR contributing reporter Colleen Uechi.

This week is a busy one for Hawai‘i’s visitor industry. And while another record year is expected for tourism, more people at the beach means plenty of sunscreen ends up in the ocean. There’s now a movement in Maui County to ban sunscreen containing chemicals that scientists say are harming the reefs. We get more from HPR contributing reporter Colleen Uechi of The Maui News. 

Water can be a contentious subject, especially in East Maui, where streams have long been diverted for sugar. Now, a battle to restore these streams is coming to an end. We get more from contributing HPR reporter Colleen Uechi of The Maui News.

The road to Hāna can be a lovely drive, if you have time to make it out to the east side of Maui by car. Taking a flight has been a popular option for many tourists and locals, but there's only one airline that makes the trip. And now that company says it needs financial assistance to continue the route. We get more from HPR Contributing Reporter Colleen Uechi of The Maui News.

Short term rentals are a growing part of the visitor market on all of Hawai'i's islands. On Maui, residents of Paia and Haiku are trying to decide the future of short-term rentals in their community after an unusual discovery: their current community plan and the Maui County Code don't match up. We get more from HPR contributing reporter Colleen Uechi of the Maui News.

It's been just over a month since Kaiser Permanente took over operations at three Maui County hospitals. But the new chief executive officer of the hospitals is already moving on. We get more from Colleen Uechi of The Maui News.

Plans for further development on South Maui have been rejected at least for the moment. The latest proposal would have included housing, office and retail space on 75 acres in North Kīhei. We get more on what comes next from Colleen Uechi of the Maui News.

Around the state, the cost of housing has spiked higher and faster than wages. That has left a gap for what economists call “workforce housing” — housing that is inexpensive enough so that people who work in the area can live there on what they are paid. There’s a new workforce housing project in the works on Maui and this one involves rental units. Colleen Uechi of the Maui News has more.

It's been 17 years since Hawai'i legalized medical marijuana. In 2015, the legislature passed a measure setting up a dispensary program. Eight dispensaries have been approved around the state-and now one of Maui's two licensed dispensaries has begun testing its cannabis crop for sale to patients. We get more on the story from Colleen Uechi of the Maui News.

It's been a little more than five months since the last haul of a commercial sugar crop on Maui. The precise plans are still evolving for alternative crops on the land that was once used to plant sugar cane. But that's not the only question relating to big sugar-there's also a matter of hardware. We get more on the story from Colleen Uechi of the Maui News.

Baldwin Beach Park stretches for more than 17 acres along the north shore of Maui, just outside of Paia. It's got a soccer field, a softball field, and even a cricket pitch. It's also got a significant homeless population. Tomorrow, county officials will conduct a sweep of the area. We get more on the story from Colleen Uechi of The Maui News.

Plastic bags have been a point of political contention around the islands for years. In May of 2015, O'ahu became the last island to ban the use of most plastic bags at store check-out counters. This week, the Maui County Council considered toughening its ban on plastic bags—and extending it to other items that wind up in landfills. We get more on the story from Colleen Uechi of The Maui News.