The much-needed and long-planned Kukuiola Emergency Shelter and Assessment Center moved a step closer to fruition Thursday with a groundbreaking and blessing ahead of the start of mass grading of the site in Kailua-Kona.

The Hawaii County Office of Housing and Community Development will soon have another tool for its toolbox to address homelessness and emergencies on the Big Island.

Two officers Hawaii Police Department officers were discharged and eight received suspensions ranging from one to 21 days in 2022, the department’s annual disciplinary report to the state Legislature revealed.

HONOLULU — On Ian Schweitzer’s first morning of freedom Wednesday, he woke up in a hotel room, looked over the balcony at the ocean and took in the beauty of the island he had been away from for over 20 years while imprisoned for a 1991 killing and rape he has always maintained he didn’t commit.

A judge on Tuesday ordered that a Puna man who spent 26 years of his life behind bars for perhaps the most notorious murder in Hawaii’s history “be released from his shackles immediately.”

Hawaii received an “F” grade for its policies on flavored tobacco products, according to the American Lung Association’s annual State of Tobacco Control report.

A bill that would require County Council authorization of time extensions to zoning ordinances was temporarily set aside Tuesday after an amendment to the measure.

Big Island lawmakers are hopeful they can get a struggling program to revitalize parts of Hilo back on track.

It’s the first night of freedom for a Puna man who spent 26 years behind bars for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Dana Ireland on Christmas Eve 1991.

During his first State of the State address, Gov. Josh Green said his high priority legislative and budget priorities are “housing, homelessness, the cost of living, climate, environment and mental health.”

HONOLULU — A petition filed Monday outlining new evidence in one of Hawaii’s biggest murder cases asks a judge to release a Native Hawaiian man who has spent more than 20 years in prison for the sexual assault, kidnapping and murder of a white woman on the Big Island.

The Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force has partnered with state Sen. Joy San Buenaventura of Puna to introduce legislation to legalize fentanyl test strips.

After a private swearing in ceremony Jan. 11 for Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz in Hilo, the new Hawaii County top cop took the oath again during a public affair Friday at the West Hawaii Civic Center.

Big Island real estate agents are hopeful the housing market will stabilize in 2023 after sales slowed in 2022.