Some $6 million in state funding for lifeguards, emergency medical services and ambulances is on the chopping block, forcing Hawaii County to look for ways to cover expenses out of its own tight budget, which already had to be balanced by raising taxes on luxury homes.

A comprehensive rewrite of the county building code is heading for its first vetting at a County Council committee after more than a year of tinkering by the county Building Division and various stakeholders.

The Hawaii Police Department will become the last department in the state to equip its officers with body cameras, following a unanimous County Council vote Wednesday to spend $1.8 million to purchase 340 video cameras.

The state Department of Transportation wants a 150-room hotel and conference center at the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport and is seeking new zoning for that airport as well as Hilo International Airport for a variety of travel-related uses.

A major telecommunications company wants to rent space on Hawaii County utility poles to attach equipment increasing wireless data speeds and reducing dead zones, but community reception has been less than enthusiastic.

Some short-term vacation rental owners are crying foul that they can’t offer their properties even for long-term rental to locals during the coronavirus pandemic.

Taxes will increase for luxury real estate under a budget passed Thursday evening by the Hawaii County Council.

The federal government is giving Hawaii County money for 10 new buses, plus an extra $4.5 million for operations.

Victory is all but assured for three Hawaii Island incumbents, despite what seems a renewed interest in politics, with lots of candidates competing for office this election.

Neighbors of a Waimea vacation rental vowed Friday to appeal Planning Director Michael Yee’s decision to allow the property to be grandfathered in under a county law prohibiting such properties in residential districts.

The county Planning Department has finally been able to process almost all the approximately 4,000 short term vacation rental applications it received following last year’s implementation of a mandatory registration system.

Casting a wary eye toward a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said discharging wastewater indirectly into the sea by allowing it to flow through groundwater violates the Clean Water Act, the county Environmental Management Commission on Wednesday unanimously voted to ask the County Council and administration to solicit proposals for public-private partnerships to fix island projects falling into that category.

Max the Catalina macaw is on break from his usual job of calling out to folks entering and leaving the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo. These days, he’s chatting with construction workers while the zoo undergoes a $9 million renovation to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

How would you spend $80 million? Mayor Harry Kim had less than two days to submit a plan to the state Legislature, and now that SB 75 passed and is on its way to the governor, a plan is taking shape.

Fees for sewers and rubbish disposal will continue to increase, taxes could rise for luxury second homes and services will be cut countywide, but County Council members still found room in the budget Thursday to add another $565,000 for their contingency accounts and golf subsidies.

With serious work on the coronavirus-stricken county budget set to begin today, the County Council on Wednesday set up a property tax structure that would allow it to tax $2 million-plus second homes at a higher rate than other residential property.