Josh Green News

The Hawaii Supreme Court is scheduled to hear about insurance issues tying up a potential $4 billion Maui wild fire settlement

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te was feted with a red carpet, garlands of flowers and «alohas» as he kicked off his two-day stopover in Hawaii on Saturday, part of a Pacific tour that has sparked fiery rhetoric from Beijing. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has responded to Lai's first overseas trip as president with threats to «resolutely crush» any attempt for independence. Looking relaxed in a Hawaiian shirt, Lai flitted around the US island state, visiting a Pacific island history museum, an emergency management centre and the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbour.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved a one-year extension of housing help for Maui wildfire survivors

Water on an Alaska Airlines flight from Hawaii to Alaska entered the cabin from a flooded bathroom, crew tried to mop it up. (Credit: Dustin Parker/Facebook)

Joe Biden's reelection campaign fundraisers are on hold, multiple Democratic sources involved in the events told Reuters on Friday, even as the Democratic Party planned to accelerate his nomination and he vowed to continue in the 2024 race. Biden had planned to raise money in Austin, Denver and California next week, but these plans have been shelved, at least for now, the sources said. The president tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday but said Friday he would return to the campaign trail next week. Biden's campaign said his fundraisers would go ahead as planned. «Reuters' sourcing is incorrect, and we look forward to a robust fundraising schedule,» campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said on Friday.

Joe Biden could make a decision within days whether to remain a candidate for reelection, said Hawaii's governor who participated in a recent meeting with Biden and other Democratic governors and whose family has known the president for years. And if Biden decides not to run, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Saturday that he believes the president will designate Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the ticket. «I think the president stays in this race unless he feels that it is not winnable, or he feels that he has to hear other voices in his inner circle that he shouldn't run,» Green said. «If the president felt that he wasn't up to it and truly not up to it, he would step down.» «We'll probably know in the next couple of days how the president feels about all this,» he said.

An acute housing shortage hitting fire survivors on the Hawaiian island of Maui is squeezing out residents even as they try to overcome the loss of loved ones, their homes and their community

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green used his annual State of the State address to lead lawmakers and guests in a moment of silence for victims of the Lahaina wildfire

Tourism from Japan has been sluggish since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maui County's mayor says all of West Maui except for burned-out sections of historic Lahaina will reopen to tourism on Nov. 1

The area around the historic Maui town largely destroyed by wildfire two months ago has begun welcoming back travelers

Residents from fire-stricken Lahaina are petitioning Hawaii's governor to delay his plans to reopen a portion of West Maui to tourism starting this weekend

Most of West Maui will officially reopen to travelers next month under a new wildfire emergency proclamation signed by Hawaii's governor

Hawaii is opening several investigations into people who allegedly have made unsolicited offers for property in the fire-stricken town of Lahaina in violation of a new emergency order

3,000 buildings in Lahaina were damaged by fire, smoke or both. Insured property losses alone already total some $3.2 billion, according to Karen Clark & Company, a prominent disaster and risk modeling firm.

As Hawaii deals with the aftermath of devastating wildfires that have claimed more than 100 lives and up to 2,200 buildings, the economic fallout is just beginning to take root.

Survivors of deadly wildfires on Maui contended with intermittent power and unreliable cell service as they sought help rebuilding their lives. Experts, meanwhile, labored to find the dead and identify them.

Reuters, the fires, which ravaged a significant portion of the Maui resort town of Lahaina last week, resulted in a tragic loss of 110 lives. During the visit, Biden will personally witness the extent of the damage and hold discussions with first responders, survivors, and various governmental representatives at the federal, state, and local levels, The White House said in a statement. "I remain committed to delivering everything the people of Hawaii need as they recover from this disaster," Biden said in a post on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter.

By Doyinsola Oladipo, Julia Harte and Rich McKay

Joe Biden on Tuesday finally broke his silence on the deadly Hawaii wildfires that killed over 80 people in Maui, the most-affected island whose name was missing in his speech yesterday, according to a report published by The New York Post. His address came after facing harsh criticism for spending Sunday on the beach and refusing to comment on the situation of the Hawaii blaze when media persons asked about it.

Hawaii wildfires are the deadliest wildfire in the US since the 2018 Camp Fire in California that killed at least 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. The fire went from zero to 100 and essentially managed to "eat an entire town in four hours".