If a global pandemic can even have a silver lining, it’s this: Public access to state and local government meetings has never been easier, especially for neighbor island residents.

A $10.5 million facility intended to take green waste and mix it with other materials to make compost is on hold after officials discovered they’re missing a critical ingredient — food waste to make the material cook to the high temperature needed in the composting process.

Big Island households will see a water rate increase beginning Jan. 1, but the approximately 8% hike in the basic rate is expected to be tempered by a decrease in the power cost charge in the near future.

Hawaii County ended the last fiscal year with $40 million left over to be applied to the current budget, according to an Oct. 15 report to the County Council.

Mermaid Mushrooms, a Kailua-Kona company developing a business producing gourmet mushrooms for local consumption, was awarded the $25,000 HIplan 2020 Grand Prize on Saturday.

Some 41% of Hawaii County’s more than 127,000 registered voters had already voted by Friday, with 11 days to go before the Nov. 3 general election.

A bill that would allow hotels at Kona’s Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport and Hilo International Airport moved a step forward Tuesday with a positive vote from the County Council Planning Committee.

Two County Council members are meeting behind closed doors with developers of a controversial Kailua-Kona development, trying to work out a deal after proposed changes to the project received negative recommendations from the county Planning Department and Leeward Planning Commission.

A special permit to expand the uses of a historical ranch near Hawi was approved Thursday on a 6-0 vote by the Leeward Planning Commission.

Mayor Harry Kim prefers not to open up the island at all today to trans-Pacific travelers without quarantine, but since he has no choice, he implemented the two-test procedure to reduce the coronavirus infection risk to residents and visitors.

Three Kailua-Kona apartment buildings had their mail stopped, apparently without notice, shortly after ballots went out last week.

Neighbors of a Kailua-Kona vacation rental won a round Friday, when the county Board of Appeals overturned the Planning Department and revoked the nonconforming use and vacation rental permits of a resident who claimed a homeowner’s property tax exemption.

Interest is growing in the upcoming election.

The future appeared muddy Tuesday for a county compost project, leaving members of a County Council committee frustrated that the long-awaited project may never be completed.