Fourteen previously suspended school bus routes in East Hawaii will be reinstated starting Monday, according to the state Department of Education.

The DOE announced on Aug. 1 that it was temporarily suspending 108 routes on Hawaii Island and Oahu – affecting nearly 2,900 students who signed up for bus transportation – due to a shortage of bus drivers.

In partnership with its contractor, Ground Transport Inc., the DOE has secured additional drivers and buses through a new direct contract with Roberts Hawaii.

This week-to-week arrangement, enabled by Gov. Josh Green’s emergency proclamation, will continue until Ground Transport can fully restore services on all impacted routes.

Efforts to restore the remaining suspended bus routes are ongoing, according to the DOE.

The following school bus routes in East Hawaii will resume service on Monday.

Hilo-Waiakea Complex Area: 5 routes

Hilo Intermediate – TR07A

Hilo Intermediate – TR02A, Hilo High – TR02A, Kapiolani Elementary – TR02B*

Hilo High – TR08A

Hilo Union Elementary – TR03B and Hilo High – TR03A*

Kaʻumana Elementary – TR09A, TR09B

Ka‘u-Keaʻau-Pahoa Complex Area: 9 routes

Ka‘u High & Pahala Elementary – SR05A, SR05B

Keaʻau Elementary – SR26A, SR26B*

Keonepoko Elementary – SR15A, SR15B*

Mountain View Elementary – SR34A

Naʻalehu Elementary – SR01A, SR02A, SR03A

Pahoa Elementary – SR08A and Pahoa High and Intermediate – SR08B*

Note: *These routes have been consolidated.

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A Hawaii residentʻs pockets got a whole lot heavier after a $1.75 bet won them $891,775 on Wheel of Fortune slots on Tuesday.

Get Hawaii’s latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You

The winner, who asked to remain anonymous, was playing slots just after 9 p.m. at the California Hotel & Casino when they hit the jackpot.

Hawaii resident hits $1.5M jackpot at Las Vegas casino

They triggered a bonus event which landed the pointer on a progressive jackpot.

Boyd Gaming said this is the second major jackpot on Wheel of Fortune at The Cal this summer, after another Hawaii resident had a $1.5 million payout in June.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.

Staying connected to the internet on flights to Hawaii will now be possible on many more jets.

That’s thanks to Viasat’s third-generation F1 satellite, which was activated for commercial use Monday. One of the biggest improvements with the new satellite is that it provides long-awaited coverage on routes from the mainland to Hawaii.

Going forward, any Viasat-equipped plane flying from the mainland to Hawaii will now have access to a satellite signal and internet connection.

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Historically, passengers flying on planes with Viasat antennas could not connect to the internet after leaving the coverage area above the continental U.S.

For some travelers, that’s been reason enough to travel on planes equipped with internet providers with global coverage, such as Panasonic. However, in the U.S., Panasonic internet service is largely limited to long-haul, wide-body jets flying for American Airlines and United Airlines.

While these carriers do sometimes deploy twin-aisle jets on select high-profile Hawaii routes, the majority of the mainland U.S.-to-Hawaii routes are operated by single-aisle planes that don’t feature Panasonic.

In fact, American, Delta Air Lines, United and Southwest Airlines all fly jets to Hawaii equipped with Viasat antennas that previously didn’t work on those particular flights.

The new Viasat satellite was tested over the first half of the year, and the provider was seemingly happy enough with the results to activate the enhanced service.

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While Viasat has been talking about the third-generation satellite for quite some time, last year’s ViaSat-3 launch ran into major technical issues as the satellites were launched into orbit.

Viasat wasn’t initially sure whether the new satellites would be salvageable, but the company said:

“Extensive in-orbit testing demonstrated that all other systems on the satellite were operating at or beyond expectations. And while the antenna deployment anomaly resulted in a significant reduction in overall capacity, the resiliency and high-performance specifications of the ViaSat-3 satellite system still allows the satellite to support high-speed broadband services for aviation customers over North America, where the satellite is deployed.”

At the bottom of this story, you’ll find a complete breakdown of mainland-to-Hawaii flights by internet provider. Note that aircraft substitutions can always occur, and the data is based on Cirium schedules for flights scheduled for August 2024.

If connectivity is a must, check with your airline before your flight to ensure that your plane features connectivity over Hawaii.

Going forward, United will be the only carrier that doesn’t offer Wi-Fi on all Hawaii routes, as some of its jets still feature Thales satellites that only work over the continental U.S.

Note that Hawaiian Airlines is in the process of installing free high-speed Starlink Wi-Fi across its fleet, which will work on all routes to the U.S. These retrofits are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Internet providers on US-to-Hawaii routes