Rick Blangiardi

The first of the month was a busy day for Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi. The county moved forward with lifting some COVID-19 restrictions just as news broke of the first case of the Omicron variant in the U.S. Blangiardi spoke with The Conversation about all of it.

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply weighs in on their side of the military housing water crisis; Honolulu's mayor discusses the water crisis, preparing for the omicron variant, and the recently passed hotel tax bill; A local historian takes a tour of a forgotten cemetery, where smallpox victims were buried in a mass grave.

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply weighs in on their side of the military housing water crisis; Honolulu's mayor discusses the water crisis, preparing for the omicron variant, and the recently passed hotel tax bill; A local historian takes a tour of a forgotten cemetery, where smallpox victims were buried in a mass grave.

Social gathering limits and restaurant spacing requirements will be lifted starting Dec. 1, leaving the rulemaking up to the counties, Gov. David Ige announced Tuesday. The state will continue to require that travelers to Hawaiʻi show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to avoid quarantine. The indoor mask mandate also remains statewide.

Officials plan to hold the first of a series of virtual public meetings this week to develop a new plan to control flooding in Waikiki and other parts of the Ala Wai watershed.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi says starting next week, the city will allow outdoor and indoor entertainment venues to operate at full capacity with vaccinated attendees. The mayor says the city will still keep public safety and public health at top of mind as it adopts a new round of looser coronavirus restrictions.

The Joint Committee on Executive Management and Housing and the Economy will review the city's plan to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Hawaiʻi's counties are in different stages of approving their increases to the transient accommodations tax to make up for lost revenue after the state stopped allocating its statewide tax. The Honolulu City Council approved last week the first reading of a bill that would allow the city to levy a 3% tax on tourist accommodations.

Oʻahu started allowing some professionally organized events on Wednesday. While it was welcome news for event planners, it may still take time for business to return.

Honolulu will soon begin allowing a limited number of fans at University of Hawaiʻi football games and other outdoor entertainment events as it begins to ease COVID-19 restrictions. Officials said they were doing so in response to rising vaccination rates and declining numbers of cases, hospitalized patients and test positivity rates.