Supreme Court clears a path for climate lawsuits to proceed. US Supreme Court declines to hear from oil and gas companies trying to block climate change lawsuits. The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t hear an appeal from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change. The order allows the city of Honolulu’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies to proceed. Associated Press. New York Times.Hawaiian Electric submits wildfire safety plan. Hawaii’s largest electrical utility has formalized a three-year plan to reduce future wildfire risks in a new report filed with state regulators. Hawaiian Electric said its latest wildfire safety strategy is expected to cost $450 million to implement over three years through 2027 after $120 million spent on wildfire risk mitigation in 2024. Star-Advertiser. Tribune-Herald. Maui Now. KHON2.  KITV4.Hawaii offering discounts to survivors, first responders. Gov. Josh Green has asked Hawaii’s visitor industry to partner with the state to offer heavily discounted packages to give California residents and first responders an opportunity to come to Hawaii for respite, and film crews displaced by the California wildfires to continue their work here. Star-Advertiser. KITV4.Hawaiʻi Agriculture Department Loses Another Deputy. High vacancy rates, particularly in key leadership positions, have cast doubt over the department’s ability to strengthen protections against invasive species. Civil Beat.Hawaii’s governor responds to deadly fireworks blast with proposed $300 fines, more prison time. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Monday proposed a range of new penalties to crack down on those who flout the state’s fireworks laws, nearly two weeks after a fireworks explosion at a Honolulu home on New Year’s Eve killed four people and injured about 20 others. Associated Press. Star-Advertiser.  Civil Beat. Hawaii News Now.Weather Monitoring System Dispatched In Hawaiʻi. An advanced network of weather monitoring stations are being installed across the state of Hawaiʻi to strengthen flood and wildfire early warning systems. Big Island Video News. Hawaii News Now. Lawmakers look to expand preschools, tackle teacher shortages this year. Expanding preschools, tackling teacher shortages, and banning cell phones in the classroom are some of the priorities on lawmakers' to-do lists. Hawaii Public Radio.Struggling To Survive: Hawaiʻi Residents Take On Debt, Think About Leaving. Report: More people having trouble getting by are on neighbor islands. A quarter of households in Hawaiʻi spent more than their income in 2024.  Civil Beat. Hawaii Public Radio. OahuKai Kahele, OHA board chair, on a renewed push to develop Kakaʻako Makai. Current law bans residential housing on the ocean side of Ala Moana Boulevard. The state transferred the Kakaʻako Makai land to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs years ago as a land base. For the past several years OHA has tried unsuccessfully to get the zoning changed to allow it to build high-rise towers as part of a development called Hakuone.  Hawaii Public Radio.Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting temporarily shutters online system. The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting today is expected to perform the second major upgrade to its electronic plans review software called ePlans. Star-Advertiser.Strike at Queen’s is averted in final hours. A strike by union nurses at two Queen’s hospitals on Oahu was averted Monday after a tentative agreement on a new, three-year contract was reached during the early morning hours. Star-Advertiser. Hawaii Public Radio.  KITV4. Possible security threat triggers evacuations at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The commissary and base exchange on Hickam Air Force Base were shut down Monday evening due to a possible security threat. An alert was posted by Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam at around 4:16 p.m. Hawaii News Now.Hawaii IslandIsland begins new year in drought. Most of the island is in moderate drought, with a sliver of the northern portion of West Hawaii in severe drought, according to an update Friday by the National Weather Service in Honolulu. Tribune-Herald.MauiRescuers free two whales entangled in lines off Maui. Two humpback whales were rescued in separate incidents by disentangling them from lines in waters off Maui at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Maui News. Maui Now. Hawaii News Now.Millions of dollars soon to be available for Maui immigrant fire survivors. Maui immigrant fire survivors will soon be eligible for millions of dollars to help with their recovery efforts. Roots Reborn has launched the Our Financial Future program aimed to help immigrants who lost their jobs or homes in the 2023 fires. Hawaii News Now.Public comment sought on Maui County Food and Nutrition Security Plan. The Food and Nutrition Security Plan aims to ensure that all Maui County residents have access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food. Maui Now.Discovery of hollow grenade halts play at Waiehu Golf Course. Play was suspended at the Waiehu Golf Course on Saturday not because of the weather but because of the discovery of what appears to be an unexploded grenade. Maui News.KauaiNurses at Wilcox Medical Center to start a three-day strike Tuesday morning. Wilcox Medical Center nurses will go through with a strike this morning after negotiations with the hospital ended last night without an agreement.  Kauai Now.The Kaua‘i County Office of Boards and Commissions will be closed to the public from Wednesday through Jan. 31 because of construction. In-person service is expected to resume Feb. 3. Kauai Now.New hours for Kauai Police Department. The Records window will now be open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Firearms window will also be open on the weekdays but will be available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Garden Island. Kauai Now.