West Hawaii Today

Kolten Wong, one of the University of Hawaii’s most successful baseball players, has been inducted into the school’s Circle of Honor, UH officials announced Friday.

Two House committees Thursday passed a bill that would impose more user fees to nonresidents who visit specified state parks and trails.

President Donald Trump’s widely expected executive order Thursday to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education was met with alarm and contempt from Hawaii educators and the state’s Democratic congressional delegation who are worried about many federally funded programs supporting student loans, civil rights and low-income children.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Friday that the Education Department would no longer manage the nation’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio or supervise “special needs” programs in a major shake-up of an agency he has sought to eliminate.

WASHINGTON — U.S. immigration agents wearing masks arrested a Georgetown University academic outside his home in Virginia. They detained two German tourists for weeks when they tried to enter the country legally through the southern border. They knocked on doors at Columbia University apartments, searching for pro-Palestinian protesters.

Israel will permanently annex land in Gaza if Hamas continues to refuse to free hostages, its defense minister said.

KEALAKEKUA — In a rather drizzly Thursday afternoon along the slopes of Mauna Loa, Konawaena girls flag football displayed a perfect performance of offensive execution and defensive intensity in its 41-0 shutout win of the visiting Kohala Cowgirls at Julian R. Yates Field. With the impressive victory, the Lady Wildcats elevated themselves to a 3-0 record in the young season.

When Chad Cleveland bought Ahualoa Farms in 2017, he knew he wanted to add the word family to the name.

SEATTLE — Kyan Evans picked a good time for the best game of his young college career.

If you are maintaining turf on a golf course, it has to be almost perfect. However, most folks aren’t held to such high standards when it comes to a home garden. The important thing to know is that plants produce oxygen and sequester carbon, thus helping to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So grass, shrubs and trees are helping to reduce the negative effects of global warmin

With interest rates holding steadily high and home prices still above average compared to before the pandemic, many homeowners are turning to additions and renovations instead of buying and selling.

The top diplomats from Japan, China and South Korea met in Tokyo on Saturday as the East Asian neighbours seek common ground on regional security and economic issues amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.

‘Embarrassed and disgusted’ by Trump

March 27 marks the anniversary of the onset of Mauna Loa’s dramatic 1868 eruption, when lava flows from the Southwest Rift Zone severely impacted the Ka‘u district. However, this may not have been the only place that saw significant changes during the eruption, since new research suggests a simultaneous collapse at the volcano’s summit — similar to events at Kilauea in 2018.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration fired nearly the entire civil rights branch of the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, gutting a government office responsible for conducting oversight over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Billionaire Elon Musk took his campaign to cut the U.S. federal government into uncharted waters on Friday, holding an unprecedented top-level meeting at the Pentagon and calling for the prosecution of any Defense Department officials leaking “maliciously false information” about his visit.

U.S. authorities said on Friday they are closing Canadian access to a library straddling the Canada-U.S. border, drawing criticism from a Quebec town where people have long enjoyed easy entry to the space.

Almeda White Crozier

Vesuvius turned one victim’s brain to glass

There is reason and evidence to believe that early education pays back handsomely, possibly over $40 to one. Many object to paying for public schools. Who taught them? Who paid? Probably their parents and neighbors who paid school tax.

KEALAKEHE — Waiakea softball had a successful business trip to the Kona Coast.

As the Grand Ole Opry marked 100 years Wednesday night, Reba McEntire said what many people may have been thinking: The party wasn’t the same without Dolly Parton throwing down.

A former Eminem employee has been charged in the leak of a batch of unreleased material from the rapper.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order barring the Social Security Administration from granting Elon Musk and members of his Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive records stored in the agency’s systems, or from holding onto sensitive data they had already taken.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday invoked emergency powers to boost domestic production of critical minerals used widely across the economy as part of a broad effort to offset China’s near-total control of the sector.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States will sign a minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine shortly and that his efforts to achieve a peace deal for the country were going “pretty well” after his talks this week with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration sent a new group of migrants to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Thursday to await deportation, claiming that they may have ties to a Venezuelan gang, according to officials with knowledge of the operation.

At least 91 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday after Israel resumed bombing and ground operations, the enclave’s health ministry said, effectively ditching a two-month-old ceasefire.

Clarence Wilson Alameida Jr.

Six famous figures visit Donald Trump

Funding from Hawaii County and the state totaling $6 million is bringing the decade-long effort to build Hilo’s first skatepark closer to fruition.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday instructed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin shutting down her agency, a task that cannot be completed without congressional approval and sets the stage for a seismic political and legal battle over the federal government’s role in the nation’s schools.

TORONTO — Elon Musk has said that “Canada is not a real country,” just one of his social media jabs at the U.S. neighbor.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday in an attempt to shut down the Education Department.

Joey Cortez, who served 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, had been waiting since August to see a mental health specialist from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, when he experienced a fresh jolt of anxiety.

A small sample of once-loyal Hawaii visitors from Canada have written to Gov. Josh Green and Hawaii tourism officials that they canceled their latest trips to the islands because of President Donald Trump’s comments and actions toward their country.

No matter where he’s coaching, Will Wade always seems to have something cooking. On Thursday, it was an upset of fifth-seeded Clemson in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, an end-to-end 69-67 victory in his final days as McNeese head coach.

Several U.S. national security agencies have halted work on a coordinated effort to counter Russian sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks, easing pressure on Moscow as the Trump Administratio