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4 days ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
Water flows through an irrigation ditch alongside Hāna Highway on June 16. HJI / COLLEEN UECHI photoFarming company Mahi Pono has reached an agreement with Alexander & Baldwin to take over full ownership and operations of East Maui Irrigation, the extensive system of ditches and tunnels that diverted water from East Maui streams to sugar plantations for nearly 150 years.
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6 days ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
A home in Kahikinui is seen surrounded by the blackened landscape earlier this week. Photo: Maui CountyOn the steep slopes of the remote Hawaiian homesteading community of Kahikinui, a red house with a salmon-colored roof can be seen surrounded on all sides by blackened landscape in an aerial shot posted last week on social media by Maui County.
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1 week ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
Jerome Kekiwi Jr., president of Nā Moku ʻAupuni ʻo Koʻolau Hui, shows the kalo that the hui is growing in Wailuanui on June 16, 2025. HJI / COLLEEN UECHI photoKE‘ANAE — Jerome Kekiwi Jr. remembers when kalo farmers in East Maui used to haul sandbags, shovels and picks up the Ko‘olau mountainside to channel what little water they could access from a spring to their lo‘i below.
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2 weeks ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
Cars line Holomua Road in Pāʻia in May. HJI / COLLEEN UECHI photoPĀʻIA — Since the Maui County Council voted a year ago to close down Holomua Road where dozens of homeless community members have been living on the outskirts of Kūʻau and Pāʻia town, Tania Kawaakoa has been on edge. “We’re just going day by day, waiting,” said Kawaakoa, who lives in makeshift housing along Holomua Road. “They haven’t told us anything though.
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2 weeks ago | 
kauainownews.com | Colleen Uechi
When Sam Akoi IV’s mother passed away 15 years ago, she had been on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list since roughly the 1980s. Now Akoi and his father are on the list, waiting for agricultural and pastoral lands. His family, which has deep ties to East Maui, knows all too well the struggle of languishing in line for a shot at a lease from the department.
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2 weeks ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
A portion of the Wākiu project area along Olopawa Road is shown in this screenshot of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ final environmental assessment. When Sam Akoi IV’s mother passed away 15 years ago, she had been on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list since roughly the 1980s. Now Akoi and his father are on the list, waiting for agricultural and pastoral lands.
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2 weeks ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
A rescue surfboard is ready for action during a training exercise at Ho’okipa Beach Park on Friday. HJI / COLLEEN UECHI photoWAILEA — The cries for help reached painting contractor Zeb Walls at about 2 p.m. on May 23 as he worked on an oceanfront condo in Wailea. Glancing past the gawking bystanders, Walls spotted two men struggling in the choppy conditions along the south end of Wailea Beach in front of the Four Seasons Resort.
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3 weeks ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
The Lahaina Roads condo complex is seen along Front Street on Wednesday. HJI / COLLEEN UECHI photoJust two months before the Aug. 8, 2023 wildfire, Martin Cherry was hired as the property manager of the Lahaina Roads apartment complex on Front Street. He signed up to be the go-to guy for maintenance issues and residents’ complaints.
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4 weeks ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
Cuttings from roots of ‘ulu trees that survived the fire in Lahaina in August 2023 are seen producing shoots of their own in a Hilo lab on Wednesday. HJI / COLLEEN UECHI photoHILO — University of Hawai‘i associate professor Noa Kekuewa Lincoln gently picks moss off the dark-brown bark of an ‘ulu log. Nearly two years ago, this roughly three-foot section of tree root was buried deep within the smoldering remains of Lahaina town.
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1 month ago | 
mauinow.com | Colleen Uechi
A dog scratches an itch on Amala Place in Kahului on Tuesday. HJI / COLLEEN UECHI photoKAHULUI — When government crews and police officers cleared out the extensive homeless community along Amala Place in 2021, it didn’t take long for some people to return. “I never left,” said one man, who declined to give his name. “I just went deeper in the bushes.” Now, a community of people once again are living in decrepit vehicles, tents and makeshift shelters along Amala Place — though on a smaller scale.
