Tropical Storm Guillermon continues to weaken as it moves to the northwest at 21 mph. The storm is located about 490 miles northeast of Hilo. Maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph with higher gusts. A weather graphic of the storm can be found on our station website by clicking on the hurricane tracker icon.
The Hawaii County Council will hold its regular meeting on Wednesday in Kailua-Kona. South Kona councilwoman Brenda Ford tells “West Hawaii Today” that most of the agenda will focus on redoing all decisions reached at the council’s June 16th meeting. A recent court decision ruled the June meeting violated the state’s “sunshine law”. Also on the agenda is the final reading of a bill to extend the use of the Halekii Street extension for another six months.
Hawaii County Planning Director Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd tells the “Hawaii Tribune-Herald” that residents of Puna’s Kapoho Beach Lots subdivision may not own the only access into their gated community. Leithead-Todd says for the past 50 years everyone has assumed that Kapoho Beach Road was a private road, but the recent finding of an 1880 map puts the road on a government land parcel near Kapoho Point. Based on the map, Kapoho Beach Road could qualify as a public right of way. Leithead-Todd is conducting more research into the topic and wants to open discussion about creating a plan for providing access across Kapoho Beach Road to the shoreline.
The Pohakuloa Training Area will soon unveil a new plan for removing feral goats, pigs, and sheep from 5,300 acres on newly fenced land. According to the “Hawaii Tribune-Herald”, the often controversial practice of culling the feral animals with government hunters from helicopters will be shelved in favor of getting volunteers to drive the animals out of the area. Chasing the animals out of the fenced off areas will allow the preservation of endangered plants without destroying the animals that feed on them. PTA biologist Peter Peshut says “we’r going to drive them live out into open lands so they can remain in the system.
Marie Honda has been named Director of Business Services at UH-Hilo, effective August 10th. The Honoka’a native has more than 13 years of experience in business and finance at UH-Manoa, and is a recent graduate of the prestigious UH President’s Emerging Leader Program, which trains and mentors future leaders with the UH system.
(AP). A U.S. Senate panel led by Hawaii Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye will hold a special meeting in Honolulu next week. The Senate Appropriations Committee hearing will focus on how Hawaii has spent more than $1 billion it received from the federal economic stimulus law. The hearing is set to begin at 9:30 Monday morning at the state Capitol.
(AP). Hawaiian Airlines is looking to hire 170 employees by early next year after adding 100 workers to the payroll in recent months. The carrier says it’s growing to prepare for the arrival of its first long-range Airbus A330-200 next April. Some workers have already been hired. Hawaiian says 25 pilots and up to 30 flight attendants also will be hired.