As the Big Island welcomes in 2023 with hopes for prosperity and success, West Hawaii Today is taking a moment to look back on the big events of 2022. Here are the Top 10 news stories as voted by the newsroom.
1. Mighty Mauna Loa roars to life
Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, roared to life late Nov. 27, painting the sky orange as lava roiled in Moku‘aweoweo crater. The awakening followed months of heightened unrest and earthquakes.
The eruption of Mauna Loa, the first since a three-week event in 1984 that sent lava within 5 miles of Hilo, drew onlookers from near and far eager to get a glimpse of lava making its way down the mountain’s Northeastern Rift Zone. The eruption also marked the first simultaneous eruption of Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes in 38 years.
The popularity of the eruption even prompted Hawaii County and the U.S. Army to partner to create a route across Army land to provide for safe viewing. Some 30,000 vehicles traversed the 4.5-mile route during its 15 days in operation.
However, as the lava traveled down the volcano’s steep slopes, concern began to increase in early December about the possibility of the flow crossing Daniel K. Inouye Highway — the cross-island route connecting East and West Hawaii. But, the Big Island got a reprieve when the flow front “stagnated” on flatter terrain nearly 2 miles from the vital highway around Dec. 8.
Two days later, Mauna Loa’s eruption “paused, probably permanently,” scientists said. That determination came a day after the lava supply to Kilauea volcano’s Halemaumau summit crater ceased. HVO, however, will not declare either eruption officially over until at least three months have passed.
Between Nov. 27, when the Mauna Loa eruption began, the county spent over $390,000 responding to the eruption. During that time, three people were cited for trespassing and police issued 98 traffic citations to drivers on Daniel K. Inouye Highway.
2. Fentanyl takes its toll
The scourge that is fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, heroin or prescription opioids — hit the Big Island hard in 2022.
By year’s end, the Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force said CDC data showed one person dying every 11 days of opioid overdose with officials attributing most of the deaths to fentanyl. A lethal dose of fentanyl can be as small as 2 milligrams, the size of a few grains of table salt.
Gary Yabuta, director of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas for Hawaii, stated in 2022 that the Big Island “proportionately, has the most fentanyl deaths.” The drug can come in powder form or in a pill of any size or color, or disguised as as legitimate prescription pills such as Adderall, Xanax or Oxycontin.
Between January and September, police vice sections in Hilo and Kona seized a reported 4,268 fentanyl pills and 221.2 grams of powdered fentanyl. The drug has become such a concern that the local task force has been distributing Narcan, a nasal spray that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose, at community events — including the Kailua-Kona Christmas Parade.
Most tragic was the revelation that the November 2021 death of a 14-year-old was caused by a fentanyl overdose. Police confirmed when forwarding their investigation into the case that the youth died after reportedly recording herself sniffing a substance while using the TikTok social media app. Her death has been ruled accidental by a medical examiner. Charges have yet to be filed in the case.
3. Moving away from COVID
The Big Island and state continued to pull away from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 with the resumption of cruises, international travel and large events.
In January, the island saw its first cruise ships visit ports since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 brought the cruising industry to a halt. In August, Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole would welcome back Japan Airlines, the first international flight to the state’s second international gateway airport since March 2020.
More positive news came in early February when Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said he was confident large events — like the annual Merrie Monarch Festival and Ironman World Championship — would be able to take place. By month’s end, all of the mayor’s rules related to COVID came to an end, and in March the state’s mask mandate was dropped.
And big events did, in fact, return with the resumption of the Kona Brewers Festival in March, followed by the signature hula showcase Merrie Monarch Festival in April, the first-ever two-day running of the Ironman World Championship in October and the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival in November, among others. A host of parades also returned to normal formats during 2022, including the ever-popular holiday parades in Waimea and Kailua-Kona.
Though it seems COVID has waned, the pandemic remains active, and other illnesses are affecting residents like influenza and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus.
On Wednesday, the state reported 1,095 COVID-19 cases across the state in the seven days ending Monday. Hawaii Island saw 148 of those cases and a seven-day test positivity rate of 4.9%, which the lowest rate across the state’s four counties.
4. Big Island gains political power
Hawaii Island earned an eighth seat in the state House of Representatives in 2022 at the expense of Oahu under new maps reapportionment maps for the next decade. The map put the newly allocated district in West Hawaii, running down the coast from Kailua-Kona to Honaunau.
But the move of the House seat to the Big Island to reflect population changes didn’t go without challenge. Shortly after the maps were approved, a coalition of Oahu and Big Island residents formed to challenge the new legislative district maps created by the state Reapportionment Commission. The petition asked the Supreme Court to declare the political maps invalid and direct that the state withdraw them and draw new ones. In mid-March a divided Hawaii Supreme Court denied the citizen petition and lifted a stay on candidate qualifying allowing the filing process for the Aug. 13, 2022, primary election to move forward.
The first candidate to fill it was Democrat Kirstin A.K. Kahaloa, who vanquished her Republican opponent, Jonathan P. Kennealy, with 66.6% of the votes, based on mail ballots representing 41.3% of registered voters in the Nov. 8, 2022, general election.
Kahaloa most recently worked as portfolio manager of sustainable industry development for Kamehameha Schools. She’s previously served as community engagement lead for the Blue Zones Project, legislative aide for state Sen. Dru Kanuha and executive director for the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce.
Another political gain for the island comes with the election of Lt. Gov. Josh Green, a former Big Island legislator and a physician, as governor. Green and his Democratic running mate, Sylvia Luke, who were heavily favored, easily outdistanced the Republican ticket of Duke Aiona and Seaula Jr. Tupa‘i, garnering almost 64% of the vote. The well-financed Green also turned back U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, who surrendered his House seat to make a late run for governor in the Democratic primary.
Green became the first Big Islander to occupy the governor’s residence, Washington Place, and only the second neighbor islander to do so, with Linda Lingle, the former Republican Maui mayor being the first. Green, who was born in Kingston, N.Y., and grew up in Pittsburgh, moved to Hawaii with the National Health Service Corps in 2000. He was a doctor in Big Island rural areas before entering politics, and continued working part-time as a physician while in the state Legislature and as lieutenant governor.
5. Gun laws come under scrutiny
Hawaii residents saw big changes to the state’s gun laws in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled various states “may-issue” laws unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 23, 2022, in a 6-3 ruling struck down as unconstitutional New York’s concealed carry law that required an individual to prove “proper cause” existed before a license would be issued. That meant “may-issue” laws — which give broad authority to reject applications — violate a person’s constitutional right to bear arms for self-protection.
Without such a license, people in Hawaii were only allowed to keep firearms in the home and can transport them — unloaded and locked up — to shooting ranges, hunting areas and other limited locations such as for repairs.
Prior to the ruling, Hawaii police chiefs had issued only six carry permits in 21 years, according to state data. By November, just under 20 had been issued with dozens of applications pending.
However, the high court ruling did leave some wiggle room for states with Justice Clarence Thomas writing the states could still prohibit guns in “sensitive places” so long as the list wasn’t overly expansive. In a concurring opinion, justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts noted that states also had discretion to require licensing and training requirement.
On Nov. 16, 2022, the Hawaii County Council passed Bill 220, a controversial bill limiting where people can carry guns on the Big Island.
The measure defines a list of “sensitive places” on the island where carrying concealed and unconcealed firearms is prohibited. Those places include hospitals and other medical facilities, schools, parks, churches, voting centers, government vehicles, public transit facilities and vehicles, establishments that serve alcohol, and “private property open to the public where it is conspicuously posted that public carry of firearms is not allowed.”
6. Teen’s abduction triggers Big Island’s first AMBER Alert
Hawaii Island’s first-ever Maile (AMBER) Alert was issued Sept. 16 after a 15-year-old Kona girl was abducted at knifepoint from Anaehoomalu Bay in South Kohala.
Initially, police issued an emergency alert asking for help locating the girl as county, state and federal government agencies worked the search from land and air. However, at 7:12 p.m. authorities sent out Hawaii County’s first Maile (AMBER) Alert informing the community via emergency broadcast of the abduction and the teen being in danger.
As the community came together to search for the girl, she was able to escape her captor around 11:30 a.m. Sept. 17 in Hilo with the assistance of Good Samaritans.
Her alleged abuductor, 52-year-old Duncan Mahi was apprehended several hours later. The teen was later reunited with her parents.
Mahi, of Hilo, remains in custody in lieu of $2 million bail pending trial. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts each kidnapping, first-degree terroristic threatening, first-degree robbery, first-degree sex assault and third-degree sex assault and one count of meth trafficking for giving the substance to a minor.
7. Feds take aim at corruption
Former County Councilman Stacy Higa was sentenced by a federal judge in February to 46 months in prison for embezzling from AmeriCorps and offering a bribe in return for federal relief funds while CEO of Na Leo TV in Hilo. The former mayoral candidate was from June 2011 to May 2020 executive director for the Hawaii Commission for National and Community Service, with responsibility for administrating AmeriCorps programs in Hawaii. Higa’s co-conspirator, Hanalei Aipolani of Oahu, also was sentenced for his role in the coronavirus relief scam.
In July, a federal grand jury indicted Hilo attorneys Paul Sulla Jr. and Gary Zamber and Big Island businessman Rajesh Budhabhatti. The indictment alleges the trio conspired to defraud and deprive the Office of Housing and Community Development, the county and its citizens of “their intangible right to the honest services of their public officials through bribery and kickbacks.” All three have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The feds allege the three received affordable housing credits — which can be transferred to other developers — and land conveyances with an aggregate value of at least $10.98 million, with no intention of developing affordable housing.
A fourth alleged co-conspirator, former county housing official Alan Scott Rudo, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and admitted to accepting more than $1.8 million in bribes. Rudo is expected to testify against Sulla, Zamber and Budhabhatti, should their cases go to trial.
8. Minimum wage gets a boost
Former Gov. David Ige in June signed into law a bill that raises the state’s minimum wage in four steps that will eventually boost it to $18 an hour by 2028, which would be the highest in the nation provided no other states enact larger hikes. The first installment went into effect Oct. 1, raising the minimum wage from $10.10 an hour to $12 an hour. The increase, according to Ige, benefited 190,000 workers.
The bill received support among Hawaii workers during its progress through the Legislature, including the state branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, which said the pay hikes will help the state’s most economically vulnerable workers, who were disproportionately affected by the state’s COVID-related economic downturn. Miles Yoshioka, executive director of the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, said in late August that businesses, many unable to fill existing job openings, have been strapped by the cumulative effect of inflation, supply chain issues and pandemic aftereffects, with the wage hike adding to that strain.
9. New oversight authority for Maunakea
Without fanfare, Ige signed into law House Bill 2024, which removed the University of Hawaii as the management authority of the summit lands on Maunakea and established the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority. The bill was introduced by four representatives including Big Island Reps. Mark Nakashima and David Tarnas, at the behest of House Speaker Scott Saiki.
At the beginning of the 2022 legislative session, Saiki called for replacing UH as Maunakea’s management entity. The speaker also said UH should stop pursuing the renewal of the master lease of the Big Island mountain, home to Hawaii’s world-class astronomy observatories. The lease expires in 2033. The new law authorizes the new entity to develop a framework to allow astronomy development on Maunakea and declares astronomy as a state policy. It provides for a five-year transition period from UH management to the new authority.
The mountain was the site of protests and arrests in 2019, as opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope project staged a massive blockade of Maunakea Access Road, stalling construction for months before winter, and then the coronavirus pandemic set in. The last remaining cases of those arrested were dismissed by a judge earlier this year.
The new board consists of 12 members, including: Chairman John Komeiji, vice president and general counsel for Kamehameha Schools; former Department of Land and Natural Resources Chair Suzanne Case; Doug Adams, Hawaii County director of Research and Development; UH Regent Eugene Bal III, a retired Navy captain and former executive director of the Maui High Performance Computing Center; UH-Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin; Hokule‘a crew member Pomai Bertelmann; Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, executive director of the Lalakea Foundation and TMT protest leader; Lanakila Mangauil, executive director of the Hawaiian Cultural Center of Hamakua who’s opposed both TMT and the UH lease; Kamana Beamer, a professor of Hawaiian Studies at UH-Manoa; Paul Horner, interim president of Na Leo TV; Kalehua Krug, an educational specialist for the state Department of Education; and Rich Matsuda, associate director of external relations at W.M. Keck Observatory.
10. Out of the loop
Thousands of Big Island residents and visitors and hundreds of businesses lost the ability to make phone calls and cruise the internet in July when a subcontractor severed a fiber-optic cable in South Kohala.
An estimated 4,500 internet and 16,000 voice customers in Kona, Ka‘u, and Waikoloa Village went without landline phones, cellular service and internet for seven hours on July 26 when an overhead Hawaiian Telcom cable was severed by a crew working on a new Hawaiian Electric substation being built to connect to the AES solar and storage project mauka of Waikoloa Village.
The lost of communications is the result of a long-standing problem. According to a 2013 report by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Big Island’s fiber “ring” isn’t actually a ring. Instead, it’s more like a slightly upside-down letter “C,” with a 22-mile gap from Volcano to Pahala. A complete ring around the island would provide redundancy, preventing outages like the one experienced Tuesday.
Hawaiian Electric upgraded and relocated power lines through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, a process that allowed Spectrum and Hawaiian Telcom to share space on the poles to complete the broadband loop. The National Park Service in September 2019 completed a 90-page finding of no significant environmental impact as part of an environmental assessment. Hawaiian Telcom has not completed its portion of the loop, but said it was a priority in 2022.