Maui

Maui County has dropped all charges related to protests over construction on known historic burial grounds in Kaua’ula Valley. Five native Hawaiian women with familial ties to the area on Maui’s west end have been refunded their bail and are calling for a halt to the project after human remains were uncovered.

It’s been a month since Hawaiʻi started its pre-travel testing program, slowly expanding the number of visitors in the islands. In some places, that shift has gotten a mixed reaction, even for communities that have come to depend on tourism dollars. Here's how this is playing out in the Maui beach town community of Pāʻia.

Tensions are rising on Maui’s west end over construction that’s begun on known historic burial grounds in Kauaʻula Valley. Lineal descendants of the area have flocked to the site in recent days to halt the project until archeological work can be done to ensure ancestral remains are protected.

The absence of tourists in Hawai'i' is affecting Maui's housing market. The tourism  drop and its ripple effects are among the reasons over 900 homeless people were moved into permanent housing on Maui since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Service agencies are working harder now to keep people in the homes they currently have.

Following a meeting with President Donald Trump, Maui Mayor Mike Victorino came out in support Friday of Trump’s plan to loosen federal environmental rules on development.

Maui Mayor Michael Victorino is asking the state Legislature to extend a deadline that will allow the county to impose a general excise tax surcharge on business activities such as sales of products.

During an hour-long hearing on the Maui Clean Water Act case, the U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed to be seeking a legal path to keep polluters from skirting the law without ensnaring ordinary homeowners. 

On Wednesday, the nine justices of the nation's highest court will hear oral arguments in a case accusing Maui County of violating the federal Clean Water Act. 

Maui is famous for its beaches and other natural features, and in the old days, Maui people really knew the land they lived on. Now, a project to collect the songs of West Maui has uncovered a treasure trove of cultural and environmental knowledge embedded in music.  A new project is bringing the old songs back to life as a book, an album, and a concert.

One of Hawaiʻi’s largest water rights cases is coming to a close on Maui next month after more than 16 years. The resolution is up to the state Water Commission—which will decide who gets water and how much. 

Cyber-security; CEO of Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Kealoha Update; Aerial LFA Treatment

A federal court ruled Valley Isle wastewater treatment plants violate the Clean Water Act. The island’s mayor wants to challenge the ruling at the Supreme Court, but lawmakers want to settle. A decision may come down to a Maui County Council vote today. 

Mahi Pono, the Maui agricultural venture, is asking to divert stream water originally sought by the old Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company that it never got. The state Water Commission is hearing the case today – and it could delay dozens of requests from others who have been waiting for years for water from Wailuku streams.