Join Goro Majima on a new adventure and check out the latest Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii trailer to see fast-paced combat gameplay from this upcoming action-adventure RPG. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza will be available on PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One on February 28, 2025.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday for Na Hale Makoa, a new affordable workforce rental housing development in Waikoloa Village.

Na Hale Makoa will feature 139 one-, two- and three-bedroom units serving households earning up to 140% of area median income, as well as one resident manager’s unit.

Construction is expected to take a little over a year, and families are anticipated to begin moving into the units during the first quarter of 2026, according to the county.

Applications will be accepted starting around September 2025.

“Today marks a pivotal step forward in our commitment to addressing the affordable housing needs of our community.,” said Mayor Mitch Roth. “Na Hale Makoa represents more than just new buildings. It symbolizes our dedication to ensuring that working families have access to safe, affordable and high-quality housing,”

The nonprofit Pacific Housing Assistance Corp. was selected by the county’s Office of Housing and Community Development following a request for proposals in 2020 to develop the rental housing within the county’s existing Kamakoa Nui subdivision on the northern end of Waikoloa Village.

“We have been diligently working with our development team and our state, county and private financing partners on the Na Hale Makoa project since 2020,” said Audrey Awaya, executive director of Pacific Housing Assistance Corp. “We appreciate their support and look forward to starting construction on this much-needed workforce housing development to help our working families in West Hawaii.”

The county is leasing the approximately 10-acre site for 68 years to Kamakoa Nui Limited Partnership, the ownership entity.

Furnishings include in-unit washer/dryer, range, refrigerator, vinyl plank flooring, window coverings and ceiling fans. Each unit also features a private lanai and storage closet.

The pet-friendly community also includes a recreation center with a kitchen for meetings/gatherings, a resource and technology center with high-speed internet access, a management office, and a keiki playground. Picnic areas and walking/biking paths are provided throughout Na Hale Makoa.

Funding for the $84.5 million project comes from various state and county programs. National Equity Fund, one of the largest nonprofit tax credit syndicators, is the project owner’s limited partner, contributing $36.9 million in financing. First Hawaiian Bank is the project’s construction and permanent lender.

Previous development on county-owned land within the Kamakoa Nui subdivision includes 185 homes and a 12-acre park. Future development proposes hundreds more affordable rental and for-sale units, a library, and a public school for the Waikoloa Village community.

The Office of Housing and Community Development anticipates it will seek bids by the end of 2024 to construct a loop road and related infrastructure that will open vacant land within Kamakoa Nui for future development. Funding for this infrastructure project is provided in part by the Affordable Housing Production Program established in 2022 to increase the availability and accessibility of affordable housing on Hawaii Island.

“As we move forward with the Kamakoa Nui project, this next phase will not only expand housing options but also enhance community resources,” said county Housing Administrator Susan Kunz. “By investing in essential infrastructure, we’re laying the groundwork for a vibrant and sustainable future where every resident has access to an affordable home where they can forge a path to a better future.”

For more information about Na Hale Makoa, please visit www.pacific-housing.org/na-hale-makoa.

The University of Hawaii (UH) has faced backlash over the poised renewal of its $285 million Navy research deal.

Despite critics calling for the university to end its partnership with the Navy, which began in the early 2000s, its Board of Regents unanimously passed a motion on Friday allowing administrators to finalize the renewal of the school’s contract with the U.S. military worth up to $285 million over 10 years.

Supporters of the Applied Research Laboratory—which is the name of UH’s U.S. Navy University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC)—say it creates well-paying jobs conducting research with important civilian applications, while critics say the university shouldn’t be involved in a partnership that includes work for the military, some of which is classified.

Critics are particularly concerned about the U.S. Navy, which is the laboratory’s sponsor, following back-to-back fuel spills at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii in 2021. The first fuel spill event in late November 2021 contaminated the Red Hill drinking water well, which affected about 93,000 U.S. Navy water system users.

Vassilis Syrmos, UH’s vice president for research and innovation, told The Associated Press (AP) that the recent backlash reprises one that started when the university began its partnership with the Navy nearly two decades ago.

“The catastrophic event at Red Hill brought all those feelings up again,” he said. “There is no way to sugar coat this thing.”

Meanwhile, the UH student senate passed a resolution demanding the university end its partnership with the military.

Momi Bachiller, a fourth-year student of molecular cell biology and Hawaiian language who serves as a student senator, said it’s disheartening to students that administrators are pushing forward with the contract renewal despite its opposition.

“We are stakeholders, but they don’t respect us,” Bachiller told the AP.

The Applied Research Laboratory founded in 2008 focuses on ocean science, astronomy, optics and renewable energy. It is one of five UARCs across the country that researches critical Navy and national defense technology. The other UARCs are located at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Texas at Austin.

The laboratory is a major source of funding for UH. Last fiscal year, the Department of Defense (DOD) provided roughly $65 million of about $625 million in so-called extramural funding the university received for research, according to Syrmos.

Syroms told the AP that Native Hawaiian students and residents are leading the outcry against the DOD.

“It’s a movement,” Syrmos said. “It’s a Native Hawaiian renaissance against the DOD presence. It’s real, and I don’t think it’s going away.”

Punia Pale, the student government treasurer, was one of the handful of students senators who testified against the research contract at Friday’s Board of Regents meeting.

“These lands should be returned to the Hawaiian people, and they should not be used for research that serves the U.S. military interests – especially when such interests have historically oppressed Indigenous people around the world, currently now Palestine,” Pale said during his testimony, in an apparent reference to U.S. support of Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza.

Meanwhile, in a presentation to the Board of Regents earlier this month, Syrmos quoted UH’s former president, David McClain, who recognized the controversy of the UARC but said researchers should be able to pursue their interests.

“Because of the inherent diversity and need for freedom of inquiry which in my view does and should characterize the academy, I tend to be biased in favor of measures to support the individual scholar no matter how popular — or even more importantly, how unpopular — his or her research interests,” McClain is quoted as saying.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.