Minimum wage to increase to $12 on Oct. 1

HONOLULU — The Hawai‘i State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) today announced that per Act 114, Session Laws of Hawai‘i (2022), the Hawai‘i minimum wage will increase to $12 per hour beginning on Oct. 1, 2022.

Happy Camper for Friday, September 30, 2022

The Kukui Grove Cinema, closed since March, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be the site of the free community screening of the documentary “Cane Fire,” presented by a group of community sponsors on Oct. 9 and 11, starting at 6 p.m.

VOICES: No hotel at Coco Palms site

Our elected or selected government representatives have been misled and duped by the empty promises of off island developers for the past 30 years since Coco Palms was destroyed by ‘Iniki.

Obituaries for Friday, September 30, 2022

• Ricardo Sales Fermin • Judith David Irons (Judy Bell) • John ‘JP’ Alexander Kalimahana Punua • Elizabeth Jean ‘Betty’ Ferreira Gatewood • Patricia Ann Perez Lopes • Tanya Angeliqua Hall • Gordon James Mattos • Jack Haruo Iida, Jr. • Aldrico C. Butac • Lawrence ‘Larry’ Mata

SHOPO survey shows low morale in Kaua‘i Police Department

LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Police Department has a morale problem, a new survey shows. The assessment — conducted from Aug. 11 to 26 this year by the State of Hawai‘i Organization of Police Officers — featured responses from more than 80% of the Kaua‘i Police Department union membership, a total of 113 officers.

In KIF volleyball Red Raiders, Voyagers win in five

KAPA‘A — Kaua‘i High School girls volleyball picked up its second win of the season, and Waimea High School girls volleyball suffered its first season loss, Tuesday night during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball games contested at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea and the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.

COVID-19 reinfections on the rise

LIHU‘E — For the period of March 5, 2020 to Sept. 26 this year, there were 467 COVID-19 reinfections on Kaua‘i, according to the state Department of Health.

Auction of county items is online

LIHU‘E — County officials announced that its annual vehicle and equipment auction is now live on its website. To view the list of items in the auction and instructions on how to submit a bid, go to the county’s website, kauai.gov and click on “Bids and Proposals” and refer to 2023-SA-1.

Ian swamps southwest Florida, trapping people in homes

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the U.S., swamped southwest Florida on Wednesday, turning streets into rivers, knocking out power to 2 million people and threatening catastrophic damage further inland.

RFK assassin Sirhan asks to go home to live ‘in peace’

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The lawyer for Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, on Wednesday asked a judge to free him and played a recording of her client saying he is now dedicated to nonviolence and wants only to “return home to my brother and live the rest of our days in peace.”

VP Harris to visit DMZ after North Korean missile tests

SEOUL, South Korea — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is capping her four-day trip to Asia with a stop at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean Peninsula as she tries to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the security of its Asian allies.

Friend or foe? Japan-China ties complicated after 50 years

TOKYO — Friend or foe? Or both? On the streets of Tokyo and Beijing, the ties between Japan and China remain complicated and often contradictory, 50 years after the two Asian countries normalized relations as part of the process that brought Communist China into the international fold.

Rohingya seek reparations from Facebook for role in massacre

With roosters crowing in the background as he speaks from the crowded refugee camp in Bangladesh that’s been his home since 2017, Maung Sawyeddollah, 21, describes what happened when violent hate speech and disinformation targeting the Rohingya minority in Myanmar began to spread on Facebook.