Overflow crowds turned out Monday to support or attack the hotly debated vacation rental phase-out bill, but the action started early, on the sidewalk outside the Kalana O Maui Building in Wailuku. Wearing red Lahaina Strong and yellow ILWU shirts, supporters of Bill 9 formed a circle and prayed. Their signs read “Maui People First,” […]

Still rebuilding in the wake of the August 2023 wildfires, King Kamehameha III Elementary School has received a $25,000 gift of essential classroom supplies from Subaru Hawaiʻi in partnership with the national nonprofit AdoptAClassroom.org. “We are honored to give back in a small way to the rebuilding efforts in Lahaina,” said Lance Ichimura, senior vice […]

Kaibigan ng Lahaina and Central Pacific Bank Foundation have announced the 2025 Lahaina Palengke Night, set for Sunday, June 22 from 4 to 8:30 p.m.

The Lahaina Restoration Foundation has received a $30,000 donation from Bishop Clark Zenkyu Watanabe of the Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaiʻi and Rev. Takayuki Meguro of the Lahaina Shingon Mission to aid in the restoration of Lahaina’s historic sites damaged by the August 2023 wildfires, per an announcement Friday.

Three sites have been selected for up-close plans: Olowalu town, Mile Marker 14 and Ukumehame Beach Park.

Almost two years after the disastrous August 2023 wildfires brought to light shortcomings in Maui County’s emergency response, the Maui Emergency Management Agency has completed a comprehensive Strategic Plan and an Integrated Preparedness Plan aimed at reshaping the county’s approach to disasters. While the plans presented by agency Administrator Amos Lonokailua-Hewett were met Wednesday with […]

The County of Maui Office of Recovery will hold a series of workshops on rebuilding Lahaina’s commercial district. “Your feedback is critical to shaping the future of our town,” an announcement says. The workshops are scheduled as follows: Maui County’s Office of Recovery is inviting members of the public to provide input on the rebuilding […]

Gov. Josh Green, M.D., today announced the appointment of Dori Booth as Hawaiʻi’s new State Fire Marshal, reviving a critical public safety position that has been vacant for nearly 46 years. The original Office of the State Fire Marshal was abolished by Act 241 of the 1978 Session Laws of Hawaiʻi, with its responsibilities devolved to the counties as of July 1, 1979.

Volunteers from Kahului Walmart and Walmart’s Hawaiʻi Market Office helped assemble 1,225 food boxes at the Maui Food Bank last week.  It’s part of an ongoing program for Lahaina’s Filipino community by Kaibigan ng Lahaina and supported by the American Red Cross.

A resurgent construction industry in Hawaiʻi is building the state’s economy, even as tourism falters, and offers hope of boosting Maui’s recovery from the devastating August 2023 wildfires. This optimistic outlook comes from the Hawaiʻi state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s recent second-quarter statistical and economic report. “The growth in the construction industry […]

Residents are encouraged to attend the County of Maui’s Lahaina Community Meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 4, at the Lahaina Intermediate School cafeteria.

The state Department of Education held a blessing and groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning for a $20 million rental housing development for educators and school staff in Lahaina. The project addresses a critical workforce housing shortage and supports efforts to stabilize and retain staff at West Maui schools following the August 2023 wildfires.

The County of Maui Office of Recovery, Lahaina Filipino fire survivors and community members gathered to celebrate the official launch of the Lahaina Filipino Fire Survivors Association on Tuesday. LFFSA, an initiative of the Hawaiʻi Workers Center, is a grassroots organization of directly impacted worker leaders organizing for a long term recovery that addresses the most crucial needs of Lahaina’s Filipino fire survivors in the aftermath of the 2023 wildfires.

In partnership with cultural organizations, local schools and community businesses, the foundation will open a new Lahaina History Museum. 

State lawmakers passed legislation aimed at accelerating Maui’s wildfire recovery and approving a 60-day “shot clock” for counties to review building permits, a chronic cause of delaying construction projects in Hawaiʻi. Those were a couple of takeaways from a May 16 Grassroot Institute of Hawaii legislative wrap-up event titled “What went down at the Capitol […]

US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined in introducing a bipartisan, bicameral resolution designating May as “National Wildfire Preparedness Month.” The introduction of this resolution comes as recovery efforts continue following the devastating Lahaina wildfires in 2023 and the Los Angeles fires earlier this year.

Beginning Saturday, May 24, 2025, access to the shoreline on the north and south ends of Lahaina Harbor will be made available for recreational, noncommercial purposes, the County of Maui Office of Recovery announced.

In actuality, the typical household can comfortably afford a $379,000 house. But in 2024, there were zero homes sold within that price range, and only a half dozen single-family transactions under $500,000, according to the LCLT report.

The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, through its Maui Strong Fund, has committed up to $8 million to help restore a vital emergency shelter and affordable housing facility in Lahaina, closing a critical funding gap for Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Centers Inc., one of the island’s longest-standing service providers for Maui’s unhoused.

The transport of nonhazardous Lahaina wildfire debris from the Temporary Debris Storage Site in Olowalu to the Permanent Disposal Site at the Central Maui Landfill in Puʻunēnē will begin in early June.