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Lokomaika’i Hawaii Heritage Center opens in Hawaii Kai, preserving mele and history

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Lokomaika’i Hawaii Heritage Center opens in Hawaii Kai, preserving mele and history


HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A non-profit focused on preserving and perpetuating Mele Hawaii has opened a cultural hub filled with pieces of Hawaiian history.

Let’s go holoholo to the Lokomaika’i Hawaii Heritage Center.

Tulutulu Mana is a curator for the Lokomaika’i Hawaii Heritage Center.

“The more I look at this space, the more I think wow, I’ve touched every single one of these pieces, which is mind-boggling,” said Mana.

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It’s like a mini museum within this 1920 plantation home; that’s right behind Lunalilo Home in Hawaii Kai.

Mana said in partnership with the King Lunalilo trust, instead of paying rent, the non-profit hosts classes three times a week and teaches kupuna about mele Hawaii and different crafts.

“A lot of our kupuna have Alzheimer’s or dementia, so getting to play music and mele Hawaii and bringing them back to their grassroots actually has stirred them up and created such life in them that the nurses have not seen,” said Mana.

The center was created by the non-profit, Hawaiian Music Perpetuation Society.

It was initially in Waikiki, but last January, they officially moved into the Lunalilo Estates.

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“And we decided that we needed to display all the artifacts that were donated to us, plus what was in the possession of some of our membership,” said Board Member Jayme Peterson. “So, we start off with doing our honor to our ali’i and their significant contributions, and then we walk them through where we came from, our cultural artifacts, our crafts, and we tell stories.”

As you tour the center, there are dozens of books, with the majority of them not in print anymore.

In addition, over 800 vinyls from across the islands, and so many stories involving Hawaiian instruments and musicians.

“Steel guitar is actually an indigenous art form, started by Joseph Kekuku, who is from Kamehameha Schools,” said Mana. “What happens was he takes a metal boat, and he runs it across the strings of a guitar, likes the sound, creates a note system, then takes this system and he tells his friends, they go out throughout the world.”

“Nashville, Tennessee, gets a hold of it, adds pedals and electronics. It is now one of their number one staples. If you go to like the Grand Ole Opry, you go to Tennessee, Nashville, they honor the Hawaiians for doing this.”

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There’s also Tau Moe, a Hawaiian Musical Group that performed around the world.

Mana said one of their stops included Germany during World War II.

“So, the boys play the steel guitar for Hitler. After that, Hitler loved it so much, he gives them the pass,” said Mana. “This pass allows them to go in and out of Germany without being stopped.”

“Our Hawaiian boys, all the way in Germany, they had actually taken out a bunch of Jews from the internment camp and saved them from the Holocaust.”

“So we would like people, our own, citizens of Hawaii, to come and learn about your heritage, as well as try to educate some of the visitors about what we Hawaiians are really about,” said Peterson.

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Tours are about one hour, and tickets are $10.

You can purchase them by clicking here.



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Puna man, 42, charged with felony firearms offenses | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Puna man, 42, charged with felony firearms offenses | Honolulu Star-Advertiser


COURTESY HAWAII POLICE

Kawika Benny Kahee

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Hawaii island police have arrested and charged 42-year-old Kawika Benny Kahee of Pahoa with firearm offenses stemming from an incident Sunday near Kehau and Mauna Kea roads in the Nanawale Estates subdivision.

At 7:34 a.m., Puna patrol officers conducting area checks on a subdivision road came upon two vehicles, including a white To­yota pickup truck with Kahee standing outside it. Kahee was placed under arrest on two outstanding bench warrants.

The other vehicle was occupied by a woman. Officers determined she had no outstanding warrants and saw no violations.

While placing Kahee under arrest, officers observed a black semiautomatic pistol on the front passenger seat of the pickup truck. Kahee was subsequently arrested on suspicion of a firearm offense. The vehicle was recovered as evidence and towed to the Hilo Police Station pending execution of a search warrant.

The investigation was continued by detectives with the East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Section.

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Upon executing a search warrant on the pickup truck, detectives recovered an unloaded semiautomatic 9mm pistol with no serial number, commonly referred to as a ghost gun. Detectives also determined that Kahee is prohibited from owning or possessing firearms due to a prior felony conviction involving violence, according to police.

On Monday, Kahee was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon, illegally carrying a handgun and being a felon in possession of a handgun. His bail was set at $120,000. Kahee was also charged on two outstanding bench warrants with bail totaling $15,000.

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Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Detective Joseph Picadura at 808-961-2375 or Joseph.Picadura@hawaiipolice.gov.




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The Rally Point: Navy Leaders on the importance of Navy Week in Hawaii

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The Rally Point: Navy Leaders on the importance of Navy Week in Hawaii


HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – For the first time, Navy Week is being held in Hawaii. From March 9 – 15, Sailors (majority based on Oahu) and also abroad Hawaii namesake vessels will be here to learn more about the culture, the people, and the communities in which the are stationed at and ultimately, serve through service projects to education by visiting local schools to share more about the Navy resources and satellites, buoys and water currents, and speaking engagements with senior ranking Navy officers to include Rear Admiral Ryan Mahelona who is the third Native Hawaiian to reach this rank, a local boy, born and raised in Kaneohe who graduated from Kamehameha Schools – Kapalama Campus.

Commander Daniel Jones, commanding officer of the USS Hawaii and Commander David Taweel will join Jonathan on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 to talk about Navy Week in Hawaii.

The Rally Point is a new show that airs every other Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. on all of HNN’s platforms.

Host Jonathan Masaki, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, will focus on engaging conversations with military service members and defense department civilians and contractors on military-related issues that impact Hawaii and our community.

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Watch a recap here:

Jonathan Masaki speaks to Maj. Gen. Stephen F. Logan on this inaugural episode of “The Rally Point.”



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Towering lava fountains of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano trigger park and highway closures

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Towering lava fountains of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano trigger park and highway closures


HONOLULU — The latest lava fountaining episode of an erupting Hawaii volcano reached 1,000 feet high Tuesday, prompting temporary closures at a national park and part of an important highway because of falling glassy volcanic fragments, including ash.

Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been dazzling residents and visitors for more than year with an on-and-off eruption that periodically sends fountains of lava soaring into the sky.

The fountaining that began Tuesday morning marked the eruption’s 43rd episode since it began in December 2024. A livestream showed two fountains of bright-red lava and smoke. It’s unclear how long the fountaining will last. Some episodes have lasted a few days and others a few hours.

This image from video by the United States Geological Survey shows lava erupting from Kilauea volcano on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii.USGS / via AP

Like other times, the molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and hasn’t threatened homes or buildings.

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But the lava fountains were creating trouble for neighboring communities and a highway where the volcanic fragments and ash, known as tephra, was falling. The tephra prompted temporary closures at the national park around the summit and a partial closure of Highway 11, an important route around the island, on either side of the park.

Hawaii County officials also opened a shelter at a district gymnasium for residents and tourists impacted by the road closure or falling tephra. There were no people using the shelter soon after it opened, said Tom Callis, a county spokesperson.

The National Weather Service issued an ashfall warning.

Volcanic tephra can irritate eyes, skin and the respiratory system, according to county officials. Tephra also can clog and cause other problems with water catchment collection systems, which are common in some parts of the Big Island, officials said.

Ash fell so heavily during a previous fountaining episode that some communities needed help from county civil defense workers to clean up ash that coated their homes, Callis said.

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Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.



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