Pope celebrates Christmas Eve Mass as virus surges in Italy
ROME — Pope Francis celebrated Christmas Eve Mass before an estimated 2,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday, going ahead with the service despite the resurgence in COVID-19 cases that has prompted a new vaccine mandate for Vatican employees.
COVID puts a damper on Christmas Eve again around the world
From Bethlehem and Frankfurt to London and Boston, the surging coronavirus put a damper on Christmas Eve for a second year, forcing churches to cancel or scale back services and disrupting travel plans and family gatherings.
Coroner IDs girl killed by police in Los Angeles shooting
LOS ANGELES — The coroner’s office has identified the 14-year-old girl who was fatally shot by Los Angeles police Thursday when officers fired on an assault suspect and a bullet went through the wall and struck the girl as she was in a clothing store dressing room.
Western storms bring flood threats, snow for Christmas
LOS ANGELES — Two people died in a submerged car, evacuations were ordered for wildfire-scarred California, and Seattle and Portland faced the rare chance of snowy streets as a wave of storms rolled through the West.
Massive ferry fire kills at least 39 in southern Bangladesh
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A massive fire swept through a crowded river ferry in Bangladesh early Friday, leaving at least 39 people dead and 70 injured, officials said. Many passengers leapt from the vessel into cold waters to escape the blaze.
Tropical Gardening: Christmas weekend an opportunity to share aloha
This is the perfect weekend with Friday being Christmas Eve, today Christmas and Sunday Boxing Day. Many Americans are not familiar with the history of the latter, but it is perhaps second only in importance to celebrating the birth of Jesus. The tradition of Boxing Day may be traced back to the early Christian era when the rich used to box up gifts to the poor. Today it is much more popular in the UK and Commonwealth Nations and is concurrent with the Christian holiday, Saint Stephan’s Day or Day of Goodwill.
Perpetual stress is taking a toll on all of us
As the head of Bridges, which sponsors 25 ministries in six states, I’ve seen our local leaders learning how to live and function during a dangerous malady which is impacting millions of people. But I don’t mean COVID-19; I mean the PTSD that results from it.
Hostage release is proof the US cavalry is not coming to Haiti
Whether or not 12 captured North American missionaries escaped or were intentionally let go by their Haitian captors after a hefty ransom was allegedly paid is up for discussion days after their release.
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Aroundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:
Hawaii marks single-day record for COVID-19 infections
On Christmas Eve, Hawaii hit a new single-day record for coronavirus infections.
Learning curve: Schools don’t need to close to contain COVID
As the seemingly (but not-for-certain) less severe omicron variant elbows out delta and political leaders across America try to stave off fresh hospitalizations and deaths, one sound we aren’t hearing is a clamor for schools to close and give way to remote learning after the Christmas vacation.
UK data suggests hospitalization is less likely with omicron
LONDON — Preliminary data suggests that people with the omicron variant of the coronavirus are 50% to 70% less likely to be hospitalized than those with the delta strain, Britain’s public health agency announced Thursday in a finding that one researcher called “a small ray of sunlight.”
Variant disrupts holiday planning
Dave Fravel and his wife invited several relatives to their Cape Cod home for Christmas to share food, gifts and the togetherness they’ve longed for during the lonely days of the pandemic. They were also looking forward to a holiday sightseeing trip to New York City.
Scores of plane flights nixed nationwide
Thousands of would-be travelers received the same troubling message Thursday: a last-minute cancellation of their Christmas Eve flight because of the recent spike of omicron cases.
US adds Merck pill as 2nd easy-to-use drug against COVID-19
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators on Thursday authorized the second pill against COVID-19, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the rising tide of omicron infections.
500M free tests are not enough, Mr President
When Joe Biden took over as president, millions of Americans were relieved to finally have a leader who could be counted on to consistently shepherd the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in a coherent and fact-driven way. But Biden’s record has been far from spotless.
How to protect keiki from COVID surge
We started December with an average daily COVID-19 case count of about 100 cases in Hawaii. Over the past week, we’ve seen five straight days of elevated infection numbers as high as 1,511.
Police: Missing teens found
Police report that two east Hawaii runaways have been located in good health. Fifteen-year-old Elijah Fontes was located in Hilo on Dec. 10, and 17-year-old Shayla-Rae Pomroy was located in Hilo on Wednesday.
Jury trials suspended again due to virus surge
Hawaii Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald on Thursday issued an order once again postponing the start of jury trials in Hawaii’s courts until after Feb. 28.
Hilo caught up in good crowd: Vikings face tough obstacles to end BIIF Division I girls championship drought
As the old saying goes, “Three’s a crowd,” and the Hilo High girls basketball team has been the one left without a chair when the music stops during the BIIF postseason.
Here comes Santa Claus: NORAD ready to help keiki track jolly old Saint Nick
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, launches its annual Santa locator tool today for keiki who want to track when jolly old Saint Nick will reach the Aloha State.
Astronomers discover dozens of rogue planets
Astronomers using Maunakea observatories have discovered at least 70 planets within our galaxy that do not orbit a star.
Obituaries for December 24
Rose Marie De Pontes, 73, of Kailua-Kona died Nov. 29 at Kona Community Hospital. Born in North Kohala, she was retired. Private services. Survived by husband, Gary De Pontes of Kailua-Kona; son, Chad De Pontes of Kailua-Kona; daughter, Debbie (Jon) Mabuni of Kailua-Kona; sisters, Joanne David of Ocean View, Shirley Henderson of Louisiana and Ethel Yamamoto of North Kohala; three grandchildren; nieces and nephews. Arrangements by Cremation Services of West Hawaii.
‘Omicron’s going to take off’: State health director urges caution as virus cases soar
State and county officials are urging residents to keep their holiday celebrations small as COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise statewide.
Police plan traffic checkpoints, saturation patrols for the holidays
The Hawaii Police Department plans to have DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols on the Big Island’s roads for the Christmas and New Year’s Day weekends.
