HILO — The closure of Maunakea and uncertainty about the status of Saddle Road is having a direct impact on the island’s tour guides — primarily mom and pop operations that rely on stargazing and astronomy tours to make their living.

HILO — County Council members reported gifts ranging from a $100 Southwest Airlines card to a trip to Portugal in their most recent gift disclosures.

HILO — For the first time, the nation’s population will be invited to fill out and return their census forms online.

HILO — There’s a lot of enthusiasm for zero-emission hydrogen-powered buses, but it’s a long road ahead before they become a staple of Hawaii County’s Hele-On fleet.

HILO — The Hawaii County Council on Tuesday joined Maui and Kauai in backing Gov. David Ige’s request that Bank of America return to the table to discuss a decades-old dispute over $150 million in home loans for Native Hawaiians.

HILO — Prayers, chants and tears — and an outburst or two — marked an afternoon of testimony Monday as more than 50 people shared their mana‘o about Maunakea and the impending construction of a massive telescope there.

HILO — Despite a waiting list of more than 2,000 applications — some going back nine years — Hawaii County hasn’t built any new affordable housing units since 2017.

HILO — Puna Councilman Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder wants to know what’s going on atop Maunakea.

HILO — Over the years, the Daniel R. Sayre Foundation has donated ATVs, lifeguard PA systems, jaws of life, Billy Pugh nets and all kinds of other life-saving equipment. Now it’s donating a firetruck.

HILO — A decades-old dispute over $150 million in home loans for Native Hawaiians has captured the attention of two Hawaii County councilwomen, who have sponsored a nonbinding resolution supporting Gov. David Ige’s attempts to bring Bank of America back to the bargaining table.

PUU WAAWAA — Tucked among the old-time paniolo ranches in North Kona is a cutting-edge ranch of a different kind.

HILO — The county Salary Commission is considering bonuses as one way to attract quality candidates to head county departments.

HILO — The Big Island’s two major well-drillers continue to ask for more time to complete their projects, even as new contracts are awarded to them.

HILO — Land preservation advocate Debbie Hecht left the county Charter Commission meeting Friday vowing to launch a “just say no” campaign to a 2020 ballot amendment that would allow open space preservation money to be used to pay county staff.

HILO — Amid promises to create future laws curbing the growing waste stream heading to the county’s soon-to-be sole landfill, the County Council on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill loosening restrictions on the allowable plastic alternatives to polystyrene.

HILO — Should police be able to impound your car because its windows are too dark?

HILO — There’s a new police officer moving to West Hawaii, of the four-legged kind.

HILO — Vacation rental registrations are coming in faster than workers at the county Planning Department can process them.