Closing for renovations
The Princeville Resort will shut down completely on May 1 “for many months” as it undergoes a major renovation, according to reservations staff members who were asked Sunday to explain why the hotel’s website was no longer accepting bookings for July.
‘Significant’ challenges
Kauai is the deadliest place in Hawaii for fatal helicopter crashes — nearly all of which are flights operated by tour companies — with a total of 26 people killed since Jan. 1, 2000.
Rise of EVs
Two sleek cars — one red and the other blue — sit in adjoining parking spaces at Kukui Grove Center in Lihue. They are testimony to the speed with which Kauai is embracing electric vehicles.
Housing ‘for the greater good’
Two new housing projects that will change the landscape of Lihue near Kukui Grove Center are set to start construction early next year, signaling a historic shift in priorities for the Lihue town core.
Kauai must reduce use of plastic products
The Honolulu City Council has passed a historic revision of its plastic-bag ban ordinance that extends prohibitions on single-use items to include disposable eating utensils, plastic plates and bowls and other food-related things contributing to the plastic pollution epidemic worldwide.
Mayor, others promote walking to school for improved health, learning
About a dozen Kilauea School students, parents, school and public-safety officials joined Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami Thursday along a new route recently created to better guarantee the safety of students walking to school.
Kilauea ag park becoming something bigger
When the Kilauea Community Agricultural Center (now also known as Aina Ho‘okupu O Kilauea) was first incorporated as a nonprofit in 2015, it was probably true that most people on Kauai — if they’d heard about it at all — thought of it as small plots that community gardeners would tend.
Smoother ride — and faster — on Kilauea Road
It’s always important to be careful what you wish for. Some Kilauea residents, especially those on Kilauea Road, are finding this is a practical — not just a theoretical — truth.
Shopping center opening set
KILAUEA — The North Shore’s first new shopping center in 30 years — long delayed by everything from rainy weather to road construction, planning and other uncertainties — opens its doors to the public on Sept. 26 in Kilauea.
Coco Palms rebirth still alive
WAILUA — The Utah private-equity company that has taken over the ruins of the former Coco Palms Resort in Wailua says it is moving ahead with plans to rebuild the property as a hotel and can meet an Aug. 31 county deadline to submit 26 different building permit applications.
‘Namahana’ gathering support
On Saturday night before a capacity crowd at Anaina Hou’s Porter Pavilion in Kilauea, a North Shore community group announced the name of the public charter middle and high school it hopes to open in three to five years.
Car beach ban stands
Hanalei’s Black Pot Beach Park — closed since the storms of April, 2018 — will reopen July 22, but, for the moment, anyway, motor vehicles will be banned from driving on the sand.
Fire chief hiring process handled poorly
Kauai County has begun the second year of a search for a new fire chief—to replace Chief Robert Westerman, whose retirement became effective in January. At its April 1, meeting, the Fire Commission confirmed that it “… is at step one of its hiring process.”
Haena State Park reopens to little fanfare
It may have been the ultimate soft opening. At least that’s what Vivien Davenport, of Lihue — who said she was the first person at Ke‘e Beach at 4:45 a.m. Monday — had to say about the grand relaunch of Kuhio Highway and Haena State Park, which reopened after a lingering shutdown of more than a year.
Follow County Charter in auditor selection
It hasn’t taken long for the new County Council to consider a personnel decision many on Kauai might find surprising.
A movable restroom
When Black Pot Beach Park reopens to the public in June, it will not yet have a new, state-of-the art restroom unlike any ever seen before on Kauai.
Seeing Ke‘e Beach as a place of unity
There is — and always has been — something unique and indescribably beautiful about sunsets at Ke‘e Beach.
Wary of highway reopening
Kuhio Highway west of Hanalei — closed and accessible only to residents since last year’s disastrous storms — is tentatively set to reopen on or about May 1, but continuing restrictions will make actually using the highway challenging for both residents and visitors.
‘Generations of injustice’
Kauai County Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution that could reopen a controversy that originally dates to 1993 over whether Bank of America reneged on a deal to provide a total of $180 million in mortgage loans to Native Hawaiians and Filipinos. The vote was 6-0, with Councilmember Kipukai Kuali‘i absent.
Raises sound wrong, but they are right
Would it surprise you to know that Kauai’s police chief receives a salary of $144,133, but a police sergeant, with overtime, can make as much as $191,764?