BIIF boys volleyball: Kohala hopes to feed off energy into playoffs
Yes, there is recruiting going on at public schools.
BIIF water polo: Waiakea gets points for improvement
KEAAU – Having played the sport in high school and college, Kelee Shimizu knows good water polo when she sees it.
BIIF softball: Kau’i Kanekoa heeds call for Honokaa
When Honokaa High athletic director Keith Tolentino asked Kau’i Kanekoa to, in effect, save the Dragons’ softball season earlier this year, she had her reservations.
BIIF volleyball: Wildcats sweep Ka Makani to clinch automatic state berth
KEALAKEKUA – Konawaena’s boys volleyball team may look impressive, but even after a three-set sweep over Hawaii Prep, their head coach knows they still have work to do.
Duarte’s blast helps baseball ’Bows to seventh win in a row
Slowly but surely, the University of Hawaii baseball team is starting to build momentum.
States scale back food stamp benefits even as prices soar
DES MOINES, Iowa — Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades.
Amid false 2020 claims, GOP states eye voting system upgrade
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For years, Tennessee Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro’s call to require the state’s voting infrastructure to include a paper record of each ballot cast has been batted down in the Republican-dominated Legislature.
Ethnobotanical Gardens hosts plant sale
Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens was flourishing with life Saturday, hosting its first plant sale since closing down in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in US
The U.S. may be heading into another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. Experts don’t know how high the mountain will grow, but they don’t expect a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population. Still, experts warn the coming wave will wash across the nation and push up hospitalizations in a growing number of states, especially those with low vaccination rates, in the coming weeks. Most cases are now being caused by a subvariant known as BA.2 that is thought to be 30% more contagious.
Ukraine’s port of Mariupol holding out against all odds
LVIV, Ukraine — Under relentless bombardment and a Russian blockade, the key port of Mariupol is holding out, but weapons and supplies shortages could weaken the resistance that has thwarted the Kremlin’s invasion plans.
Over 900 civilians dead around Kyiv, Russia vows new attacks
KYIV, Ukraine — Indignant over what it called Ukrainian strikes in Russian territory and following the stunning loss of its Black Sea flagship, Moscow threatened renewed missile attacks on Kyiv, where authorities said the bodies of more than 900 civilians were found outside the capital. Most had been shot dead, police said, and likely “simply executed.”
Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday repealed his traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border, after a week of intensifying backlash and fears of deepening economic losses.
Officer’s camera misses key moment of Patrick Lyoya’s death
Body camera footage of Patrick Lyoya’s fatal encounter with a Michigan police officer shows a close-up view of an intense struggle, but the video goes dark 42 seconds before the officer shoots the Black man in the head.
New Mexico village seeks prayers as deadly wildfire rages
With towering pine trees and cool mountain breezes, a pocket of southern New Mexico draws thousands of tourists and horse racing fans every summer. It’s also a community that knows how devastating wildfires can be.
Climate toll on Arctic bases: Sunken runways, damaged roads
WASHINGTON — U.S. military bases in the Arctic and sub-Arctic are failing to prepare their installations for long-term climate change as required, even though soaring temperatures and melting ice already are cracking base runways and roads and worsening flood risks up north, the Pentagon’s watchdog office said Friday.
A canceled flight was a nightmare for my family and many others. We deserve better
Our flight home to Chicago from Sarasota, Florida, was one of thousands that were canceled during the first weekend of April. Sarasota’s airport is small. It grew hotter, louder and more crowded as we worried and waited.
Ghost gun rule won’t do much good, but it also won’t do any harm
This week, President Joe Biden announced new measures to track the sale of “ghost guns,” untraceable firearms made from do-it-yourself kits. The new Justice Department rule will require such kits to be produced by licensed manufacturers, and will require purchasers to pass a background check. This is a reasonable gun control step that will undoubtedly face unreasonable responses.
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
A roundup 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:
Tropical Gardening: Easter healing gardens create peace of mind
What has the Easter Bunny and eggs have to do with Easter? Actually, the return of Jesus after the Crucifixion, has little to do with bunnies and eggs. However the concept of rebirth and resurrection was based on the pagan holiday of Eostra that celebrated new life and fertility. Early Christians connected the two events and thus we celebrate with joy rather than sorrow. The date palm is associated with the Easter Holy Week because it was the leaves of that palm used to wave as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. In many Catholic countries, the leaves are now woven to create intricate art forms used during Holy Week.
