Best Read Hawaii Headlines

Headlines from our Hawaii Topic Page with the most time spent reading.

#1 Texas Judge Orders Houston Attorney to Reimburse Insurer $137,000 for “Frivolous” Lawsuit

Nov 28 2023 // A Texas judge has ordered a Houston plaintiffs’ attorney to reimburse an insurer $137,000 for the legal fees it expended to defend itself against a “frivolous” and “groundless” lawsuit that...

#2 Insurance Prices Threaten an Affordable Housing Oasis In Hawaii

Oct 24 2024 // Lahilahi Heen has lived for decades in a three-bedroom house surrounded by a carefully groomed garden in the lush Hawaiian Shores subdivision in Lower Puna. It’s also downslope from Hawaii’s most active...

#3 Hawaii Lawmakers Take Aim at Vacation Rentals After Wildfire Amplifies Housing Crisis

Apr 24 2024 // Amy Chadwick spent years scrimping and saving as a single mother of two to buy a house in the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. But after a devastating fire leveled Lahaina in August and reduced...

#4 Heart of Hawaii’s Historic Lahaina Reopens to Residents and Business Owners

Dec 13 2023 // The heart of Lahaina, the historic town on the Hawaiian island of Maui that burned in a deadly wildfire that killed at least 100 people, reopened this week to residents and business owners holding day passes.The renewed...

#5 Alaska Airlines’ Decision Not to Ground Boeing Jet Despite Warning Signs Comes Under Scrutiny

Jan 10 2024 // The decision by Alaska Airlines to stop flying one of its planes over the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii due to warnings from a cabin-pressurization system — yet keep flying it over land — is raising questions about whether...

#6 Safer Buildings Vs More Housing: How New Building Codes May Impact Hawaii

Nov 22 2024 // A month after wildfires ravaged Maui in August 2023, Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation to postpone the adoption of any new building codes that might exacerbate a housing shortage that had just gotten...

#7 High Condo Premiums a Top Issue in Hawaii Legislative Races

Jul 17 2024 // Jillian Anderson was planning to make fighting crime in Waikiki the top issue in her campaign for a seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives. Then came the letter from her condo association announcing a 300% increase in...

#8 Maui Fire Officials Defend Response to Deadly Lahaina Blaze

Apr 17 2024 // Maui Fire Department officials defended their initial response to what became the deadliest fire in Hawaii history, saying they stayed at the scene of the Aug. 8 blaze until it was fully extinguished.The officials...

#9 Hawaii Governor’s First Budget After Maui Wildfire Includes Funds for Recovery and Fire Prevention

Dec 20 2023 // Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said he was requesting $425 million from lawmakers during the next fiscal year to help Maui recover from August’s wildfires, and millions more to reduce the risk of wildfires statewide.The...

#10 Hawaii Says 30 Lahaina Fire Survivors Are Moving Into Housing Daily But 3K Still in Hotels

Apr 2 2024 // Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said some 3,000 people displaced by Lahaina’s wildfires are still living in hotels more than seven months after the August blaze but that up to 30 people are moving to longer-term housing each...

#11 Hawaii Agrees to ‘Groundbreaking’ Settlement of Youth Climate Change Case

Jun 21 2024 // Hawaii on Thursday agreed to take action to decarbonize its transportation system by 2045 to settle a lawsuit by 13 young people alleging the U.S. state was violating their rights under its constitution with infrastructure...

#12 Hawaii Officials Identify Last of 100 Known Victims of Wildfire That Destroyed Lahaina

Jan 30 2024 // The last of the 100 known victims of the wildfire that destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina in August was identified as a 70-year-old woman whose husband, sister and several other relatives also died in the...

#13 Growing Wildfire Risk Leaves States Grappling With How to Keep Insurers From Fleeing

May 1 2024 // Months after a catastrophic fire burned more than 2,200 homes in Hawaii, some property owners are getting more bad news—their property insurance won’t be renewed because their insurance company has deemed the risk...

#14 Hawaii Fire Shows Wildfires Pose Particular Threat to Elderly and Other Vulnerable Individuals

Dec 28 2023 // Sharlene Rabang and her calico cat fled the wildfire that destroyed her town on Maui and arrived at a family home on another Hawaii island after a 24-hour odyssey that included sleeping in a car.Dazed, coughing and weak,...

#15 Toxic Debris from Hawaii Wildfire Could Fill 5 Football Fields 5 Stories Deep

Sep 10 2024 // Hinano Rodrigues remembers being 4 or 5 years old, carrying a bucket across a highway to the ocean in the Maui community where he still lives.At dawn, he would accompany his grandmother to a reef at low tide, where she...

#16 Hawaii Attorney General Probe into Deadly Wildfire Won’t Lead to Criminal Charges

Nov 4 2024 // An investigation by the Hawaii attorney general’s office into the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, which destroyed most of the historic town of Lahaina, won’t lead to any criminal charges.Hawaii...

#17 Tropical Storm Hone Sweeps Past Hawaii; Rain Amounts Ease Wildfire Fears

Aug 27 2024 // Hone passed south of Hawaii and weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Sunday, dumping so much rain that the National Weather Service called off its red flag warnings that strong winds could lead to wildfires on...

#18 Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake Struck Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii

Feb 12 2024 // A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the world’s largest active volcano on Friday — Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii — knocking items off shelves and cutting power in a nearby town but not immediately prompting...

#19 Hawaii High Court Agrees to Weigh in on Issues Holding up $4B Wildfire Settlement

Oct 1 2024 // Hawaii’s Supreme Court will consider questions about issues that threaten to thwart a $4 billion settlement in last year’s devastating Maui wildfires.A Maui judge last month agreed to ask the state high court...

#20 After Maui, Hawaii Lawmakers Budget Funds for Firefighting Equipment and a State Fire Marshal

May 15 2024 // Hawaii lawmakers appropriated funds for more firefighting equipment and a state fire marshal after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century ripped through the historic Maui town of Lahaina and exposed...