Maui Council committee advances bills rezoning dozens of Kīhei, West Maui apartment complexes as hotels

Maui County and Higashi-matsu-shima City, Japan, formalized a Friendship City agreement during a ceremony on Maui. The partnership, signed by Mayor Richard Bissen, honors a bond rooted in disaster resilience following the 2023 Maui Wildfires and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The Maui Public Art Corps will invite the community to celebrate the blessing and public unveiling of a new large-scale mural by artist Efren Rebugio Jr. at the historic Pāʻia Sugar Mill, on Thursday, July 16, 2026, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

The crux of the debate is whether apartment units, long zoned for residential use, should be used as direly needed local housing or continue operating as visitor accommodations with the economic benefits of jobs, property tax revenue and income for vacation rental investors.

Lahaina Homecoming, a new, three-day celebration focused on healing, reconnection and hope, will kick off July 17-19, 2026, to welcome home 103 former Lahaina residents while inviting the public to help recognize Lahaina’s enduring spirit.

West Maui residents may dispose of recyclable, bulky items for free at the Go Green Recycling event from 8 a.m. to noon July 18, 2026, at 300 Lahainaluna Road near the Pioneer Mill smokestack (enter off Kuhua Street).

Gov. Josh Green enacted two measures that strengthen Hawaiʻi’s efforts to protect vulnerable individuals, support survivors and hold offenders accountable. HB 1960, Act 191, Session Laws of Hawaiʻi (SLH), and HB 1959, Act 192 SLH, build upon the state’s ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking, address domestic violence and enhance public safety systems statewide.

Miwa will share the extraordinary rediscovered diary of his father, Larry Fumio Miwa, a Hiroshima survivor whose firsthand account offers rare insight into one of history’s most devastating moments. As a young schoolboy in August 1945, Larry documented each day with clarity and courage—recording the destruction around him, the improbable survival of his family, and his solitary journeys through an abandoned and shattered city.

The public is invited to shop a weeklong celebration of Native Hawaiian creativity, entrepreneurship, and culture at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, where Nā Mea Hawaiʻi will curate special marketplace experiences during the Hawaiian Council’s 2026 Native Hawaiian Convention and the 51st Annual Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition & Festival.

The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation announced that its five largest airports have reached Level 3 under the Airport Carbon Accreditation Program. This milestone reinforces the department’s commitment to sustainability in aviation across the state.

“For the first time in state history, qualifying cancer patients will have the opportunity to access promising investigational therapies here in Hawai‘i, without traveling thousands of miles to medical centers on the U.S. mainland,” said Dr. Naoto T. Ueno, medical director of the new Hoʻōla Early Phase Clinical Research Center.

The Maui Police Department is asking for the public’s help with any information on the whereabouts of Yves Dela Torre, 41, of Kahului.

The coalition is advocating for a practical, near-term solution: the immediate funding and installation of two 500,000-gallon water tanks integrated directly into the Upper Kula potable water system.