For the 14th year, nonprofit Hawaii Island LGBTQ+ Pride will host a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community this Saturday in downtown Hilo, featuring a parade and festival.

The theme and slogan of this year’s festivities is “Strong Together, Proud Forever!” said HILGBTQ+ Vice President Phill Russell. He said the event’s planning committee chose the slogan to highlight the need to show resilience and strength amid the current political climate. The Trump administration has rolled back numerous protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.

“The LGBTQ+ community is facing a lot of challenges federally, and so it just becomes even more important for us to stand together,” Russell said. “We appreciate everyone in the community, all of our allies, everyone that steps up and helps uplift the LGBTQ+ community, calls out stigma and homophobia and transphobia when they see it, and looks out for our LGBTQ plus brothers and sisters here on the island.”

While he said the event has drawn some protesters in recent years, it is a small number compared to the 500 to 700 community members he estimates typically attend to celebrate and show support.

“Luckily, all the supporters in the love far outnumber the hate in the bigotry, so we’re able to kind of ignore that,” he said. “We are getting record-breaking crowds that increase every single year. Seeing all of the folks, the families — it’s very heartwarming.”

Russell said that he thinks having public events such as this one play a role in advancing LGBTQ+ rights and reducing hate and stigma.

“I feel like it’s important to keep Pride going, because the visibility matters … .,” he said. “It’s hard to hate someone for being gay when you generally like them, and you’re already friends with them, and you’ve been friends with them forever, or they’re your kid or they’re your auntie — so that kind of … breaks down those walls.”

While Pride events take place around the world throughout the month of June, Russell said the Hilo celebration is special, with a focus on being community-oriented and family-friendly.

“I’ve been told by so many people that come from other islands, from other events like, ‘wow, this is like the most wholesome, family-friendly Pride I’ve ever been to,” he said. “It’s that Hilo touch, that Big Island touch, that makes it what it is and all the people that come together to make it happen.”

This year’s parade will begin at 11 a.m. starting at Kamehameha Avenue and Ponahawai Street proceeding down Keawe Street, back to Kamehameha, and ending at the Mo‘oheau Bandstand, where the festival will kick off at noon.

The festivities will continue until 4:30 p.m., featuring drag and aerial arts performances, dozens of local vendors and info booths, food, a bounce-house, scavenger hunt for kids and live music.

“There’s a great lineup of bands and performers at the bandstand,” Russell said. “We want everyone to come out and dance, enjoy the day. It’s going to be beautiful.”

Email Grace Inez Adams at grace.adams@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Over the last month, strong earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and higher have rocked the Philippines, Japan, Venezuela, and even Hawaii.

Researchers have been closely monitoring the activity, and while it may seem like more quakes than normal, they say it’s about on par with forecasts.

“This is all pretty normal for earthquakes. On a given year, we expect around 15 between magnitude 7 and 8, and about 150 between magnitude 6 and 7,” said Helen Janiszewski, assistant professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Department of Earth Sciences.

The quakes are, however, hitting in more populated places compared to some large earthquakes in past years, making them more noticeable.

“A couple years ago, there was an actual very similar, sequence of earthquakes to the one that we had in Venezuela where it was, 7.8 and 8.1 in very close sequence, but it was here, where no one lives,” Janiszewski said, pointing to the Southern Atlantic Ocean on a map.

Despite advancements in technology, researchers say there’s still no way to precisely predict when and where the next big earthquake will strike. But some seismology enthusiasts believe patterns can be monitored, studied, and used to implement potential life-saving warnings.

“I think it’s something that could happen as well across the world if people, scientists got together and really understood what’s happening. And then governments also utilize this knowledge to better notify and warn their citizens,” Pahoa resident Bob Gentzel said.

There are upwards of 100 seismographs throughout Hawaii constantly monitoring for quake activity.

Very subtle energy from the Venezuela quake was mapped traveling through the continent.

Some hope investments will be made in early-warning technology, as well as individual emergency preparedness.

“I’m just trying to prove the point that they can be forecastable because I want to save lives,” Gentzel said.

Janiszewski added, “There’s a lot that we can do still in the interim, both on an individual scale for preparedness in your own home as well as investment at community and state levels.”

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – More than $10 billion in SNAP benefits paid nationwide in fiscal year 2025 were above recipients’ eligibility or went to people who didn’t qualify for the program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

An annual analysis shows the national payment error rate was 10.62%, well above the congressional threshold of 6%.

The error rate measures how accurately states determine who is eligible for SNAP and how much they should get.

In Hawaii, the payment error rate is higher than the national average at 10.92%

“These payment error rates are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins said in a press release. “USDA has taken historic action to help interested states curb SNAP waste, and I hope other states, regardless of political leadership, prioritize needy families and the American taxpayer over politics.”

States above the threshold must now pay back a percentage of their benefits and submit an action plan to the USDA explaining how the errors will be addressed.