Video by Matt Lovein | Special to Hawaii 24/7

Karin Stanton | Hawaii 24/7 Contributing Editor

Matt and Mary Lovein were caught by surprise Friday afternoon when a car burst into flames near their home on Holualoa Homestead Road.

Emergency crews doused the fire and surrounding pasture land.

The Loveins said they don’t believe anyone was injured, although the horses in the pasture were alarmed by the excitement.

iPhone version of video
Video by David Corrigan | Big Island Video News

By Baron Sekiya | Hawaii 24/7

A community meeting Saturday morning (March 6) at SPACE (Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education) focused on the recent cease and desist order issued by the county Planning Department curtailing some activities at the center.

Leading the rally of supporters in the video above is HVC (Hawaii Volcano Circus) Founding Member and Executive Director Graham Ellis.

According to an e-mail notice and HVC Web site, the organization was granted a SUP (Special Use Permit) in 2001 in Seaview for a community arts center and home for the Hiccup Circus. The SPACE facility was later built to host the growing number of classes and events. SPACE has also been hosting weekly farmer’s markets, night bazaars, community meetings and charter school activities.

Messages in the online forum Punaweb cite noise, the influx of people, vehicles and parking issues in the residential community, extending beyond the private property and SUP as the impetus for the cease and desist order by the county.

Because of the order SPACE has cancelled the farmer’s markets and night bazaars, although charter school activities will continue as Mayor Billy Kenoi has made activities at the center by HAAS (Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences) exempt from the order.

SPACE supporters have started a petition to urge Kenoi to revoke the cease and desist order.

— Find out more:

SPACE Web site: hvcircus.org/arts_center.htm

iPhone version of video

Waters churn on the ocean side of the Hilo Bay breakwater as waters recede with currents caused by the 8.8M Chilean earthquake.

Photography and story by Baron Sekiya | Hawaii 24/7 Editor

A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft orbits over Hilo during the tsunami warning.

Motorists rushed to gas pumps Saturday morning (Feb. 27) in Hilo to fill up and get out of town before roads were closed. Some gas stations had closed early, which meant the few stations left open had lines of vehicles snaked out of driveways onto the streets. People seemed patient, waited their turn and headed for higher ground.

The rest of downtown Hilo was empty with little to no traffic as the morning wore on. A couple bicycle riders peddled the wrong way down the center of Kilauea Avenue near KTA as they took advantage of the empty streets.

County crews from various departments including police, public works, parks and recreation manned intersections ready to shut them down with barricades and flags. Every intersection along Kalanianaole Avenue was manned by police.

So many officers that it was surprising to see just how many police are on the force when you call all of them and put them to work at the same time.

Spectators lined the top of a pick-up with planks to create a viewing deck for front row seats of the tsunami action.

Spectators started to jam into the Wainaku scenic lookout for an overview of Hilo Bay hours before the first wave was to hit. Police ended up clearing the crowd out of the parking lot as they made way for officers and fire crews to move in and out without dodging the puzzle pieces of parked cars earlier.

A few spectators relocated to the highway shoulder above the lookout to retain their front row seats on the tsunami. Others walked back down to the lookout near 11 a.m.

As the time reached 11:05 a.m, the projected time of the first tsunami strike, all eyes scanned Hilo Bay for any sign of a wave, receding water or other disturbances.

What they saw was a half-dozen helicopters buzzing over the bay, a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft flying overhead, a dozen or so sailboats in open water and a pair of humpback whales splashing around.

The Fire Department's Chopper One flies near the breakwater in Hilo Bay.

At 11:30 a.m. water started surging near the breakwater, churning up the brown bottom staining the blue ocean. The water in Hilo Bay appeard to be receding as people pointed to surface currents moving out of the bay.

Then everyone waited for a wave, a hint of a wave, a surge of water, but from the vantage point on the north end of Hilo Bay it was difficult to see much except a bouy that had moved out with the receding water was now moving in.

There were a few times when a surge could be seen far on the opposite side of the bay near the mouth of Wailoa River and another time as the water in the bay appeared to rise up touching the base of the point light at Wailuku River.

People appeared both relieved that there was no destruction, but also a little disappointed that they didn’t see much at all.

Water churns at the mouth of the Wailoa River Bridge near Suisan (red roof on left) at 12:04 p.m. Photography courtesy of William Ing/Hawaii Tribune-Herald

On the ground at the opposite side of Hilo Bay the close-up scene was a bit different. The energy of the ocean surge from the tsunami was funneled into Wailuku and Wailoa Rivers. Wailuku looked familiar with big choppy waves bouncing under the singing bridge upstream as it does anytime there’s big surf.

At Wailoa River, the water was pushing inland with standing waves coursing on the river in Wailoa State Park pulling mounds of grass and debris from the shoreline.

When the ocean waters receded thick mats of grass caught onto mooring bouys near the boat dock as large tree branches and other debris ran back and forth from the ocean to the park as the surges came in and out over and over again.

Debris float up and downstream in Wailoa River as the tsunami surge pushed in and out of Hilo Bay.

A boat near the dock strained at a line tied to a cleat as the vessel was pushed up river by the surge in and rose up as water washed over the dock, then it would lower with the water level and pull towards the ocean by receding waters. The river water continued to surge even after the all clear was given and the tsunami warning was cancelled.

People came down to the dock to watch the surge, take photos and videotape a fraction of what the power of the ocean can do.

A spiral of brown silt is pulled from Wailoa River by the receding tsunami surge into Hilo bay. Photography courtesy of William Ing/Hawaii Tribune-Herald

iPhone version of video

Photography by Baron Sekiya | Hawaii 24/7

Cherry blossoms blooming at Waimea's Church Row Park.

The Honokaa High School Jazz Band entertains the crowd at Parker Ranch Center.

Chef Toshi Kobayashi (left) from Imari Restaurant at the Hilton Waikoloa puts on a cooking demonstration at Kamuela Hongwanji.

Artwork by Zoe Johnson on display. Johnson demonstrated 'throwing' clay on a potter's wheel.

The festival celebrates the blooming of Church Row Park’s historic cherry trees and the Japanese tradition of viewing them – hanami – and to welcome the arrival of Spring. Get a free 2010 Cherry Blossom Calendar here.

Video by David Corrigan | Big Island Video News

The Cardinals from St. Joseph HIgh School beat the Pahoa Daggers 51-39 at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo Saturday (Feb 20).

Pahoa        6  17  7   9 — 39
St. Joseph  13  17  12  9 — 51

Video by David Corrigan | Big Island Video News

The Hilo Vikings beats Waiakea 71-39 at Hilo’s Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

Division I Championship game

Hilo   18 12 23 18 - 71
Waiakea 5 15  9 10 - 39

Third Place game

Honokaa   9 7 22 19 - 57
Kealakehe 2 9 15 11 - 35

iPhone version of video
Photography and story by Baron Sekiya | Hawaii 24/7

Lions, drums, cymbals and firecrackers chased away evil sprits and welcomed the Chinese Lunar New Year into Hilo Saturday (Feb 13).

The Big Island Shaolin Lion Dance parade started at the Mooheau Bus Terminal and wound its way along the bayfront shops of Hilo. Participants fed the dancing lions red packets of money for good luck as a dragon also wounds its way through the crowd.

From bayfront the celebration moved to Kalakaua Park where more lion dancing, firecrackers and entertainment were provided which included Taiko drumming, martial arts, a keiki Chinese costume contest and cooking demonstrations by Hawaii Community College Culinary Arts Program.

Calligraphy by Lilian Storino at the East Hawaii Cultural Arts Center and numerous food booth were available at the Park as free entertainment was provided on stage.

The actual start of the Luna New Year is Sunday (Feb 14).

Photography by Baron Sekiya | Hawaii 24/7iPhone version of video

Surfers take advantage of the ocean swells hitting West Hawaii at Lyman's surf spot in Kona. Photography by Baron Sekiya | Hawaii 24/7.

This is a Civil Defense message.

This is a high surf update for Tuesday January 12.

A high surf warning remains in effect for west facing shores through this evening. An increase in surf heights yesterday afternoon has resulted in the closure of Kahaluu, Laaloa, Hookena, Milolii, and Mahukona Beach parks. These parks remain closed this morning. Surf heights are expected to slowly diminish through the day.

Again, Kahaluu, Laaloa, Hookena, Miloii, and Mahukona Beach parks are closed this morning. This station will be notified if there are any changes.

Thank you and have a safe day. This is your Hawaii County Civil Defense

The President discusses his budget reductions on May 7, 2009

The following was released by the federal Office of Management and Budget:

The President’s 2010 Budget seeks to usher in a new era of responsibility – an era in which we not only do what we must to save and create new jobs and lift our economy out of recession, but in which we also lay a new foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.

To achieve these goals, the nation must address some of the deep, systemic problems that have been ignored for too long by making critical investments in education, so that every child can compete in the global economy, health care so that we can control costs while boosting coverage and quality, and renewable sources of energy so that we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and become the world leader in the new clean energy economy.

At the same time, we also must restore fiscal discipline, making sure that we invest in what works and do not waste taxpayer dollars on programs that do not work or are duplicative.

Taken together, education, health care, clean energy, and fiscal discipline are the pillars upon which we can build a new foundation for our economy, a foundation that brings opportunity and prosperity to all Americans for decades to come.

Under the President’s budget, Hawaii will see:

• Tax cuts for 500,000 families.
• $104 million for schools, students, and teachers.
• $241 million in new funding for Pell Grants to help families pay for college.
• A pay raise for the 56,700 men and women in Hawaii serving in our Armed Forces.

Creating Jobs, Getting the Economy Moving Again, and Investing for Long-Term Growth

The President’s budget will mean lower taxes for 500,000 families in Hawaii. Through the Making Work Pay tax credit, the budget provides a tax cut up to $400 for individuals and $800 for families.

Hawaii’s 105,200 small businesses are central to economic progress. That’s why the budget eliminates capital gains taxes on stocks of certain small businesses to encourage innovation, expansion, and job creation. The President also makes the Research-and-Experimentation Tax Credit permanent, promoting innovation and business growth.

The budget helps to create jobs here at home by assisting small businesses with improved marketing, technical, and contracting assistance. It supports $17.5 billion in loan guarantees to get credit flowing again.

Also, the budget proposes changes to the tax code that will get rid of tax incentives for large U.S. multinational companies to invest abroad, rather than here at home.

Hawaii’s infrastructure – like the rest of the nation’s – is in need of investment. An estimated 71 percent of Hawaii’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition, while 44 percent of the state’s bridges are judged structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

The budget establishes a national Infrastructure Bank to fund these improvements, builds on the historic investments in our highways and mass transit systems in the Recovery Act, and invests an additional $1 billion over what was committed in the Recovery Act into expanding broadband Internet access to rural and underserved areas.

The budget invests $8.0 million in the federal HOME program and $63.3 million in the Housing Choice Voucher program to help Hawaii families find affordable, good-quality places to live.

Bringing Down the Cost and Boosting the Quality of Health Care

In Hawaii, more than 294,000 people are uninsured, and rising health care costs take more than $9,300 a year from paychecks of Hawaii residents.

The budget makes an unprecedented $635 billion down payment on health care reform. This deficit-neutral reserve fund will be used to pay for a substantial part of a health care reform that will bring down costs, boost quality, expand coverage, preserve the ability to choose your doctor, and put our nation on a fiscally sustainable path.

To cut prices on medicines, the budget helps Hawaii residents to buy more affordable medicines from other countries, streamlines the approval of generic medicines, and strengthens efforts to make food and medical products safer.

The budget invests $0.9 billion in Medicaid grants to help Hawaii protect health care coverage for families with dependent children as well as aged, blind, or disabled individuals.

Giving Every Child a World-Class Education

Across the country, a college degree is fast becoming too expensive for middle-class families. In the past 25 years, tuition, fees, and room-and-board costs have jumped by 107 percent. But financial assistance hasn’t kept pace.

The President’s budget makes college more affordable for an estimated 120,000 Hawaii residents by increasing the maximum Pell Grant for college students for the next school year to $5,550.

The President also wants to eliminate middlemen in student loans, bypassing big banks and putting the funds directly in the hands of students.

This would save an estimated $5 billion next year in subsidies for the banks, and $48 billion during the next decade. The savings would be invested in our students, increasing Pell awards across the country. In Hawaii, the President’s plan would boost Pell funding by $241 million between now and 2019.

The budget makes permanent the $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit for people attending college while also proposing to cut the red tape on financial aid, making it easier for students and their parents to apply for assistance.

The budget invests $45.2 million for state and local educational initiatives throughout Hawaii which strengthen student achievement in low-income areas. These funds would provide additional assistance to teachers and schools as they implement innovative approaches to raising student performance.

The budget provides Hawaii $14.0 million to increase students’ academic achievement by boosting teacher training efforts and expanding recruitment efforts for effective teachers and principals in high-need school districts.

The budget provides $12.4 million for the state’s School Breakfast program and $55.0 million for its School Lunch program.

Reducing Our Dependence on Oil and Investing in a Clean Energy Future

It’s a security, economic, and environmental imperative that we reduce our dependence on foreign oil and invest now to make the United States the world leader in clean energy. That’s why the budget establishes a New Energy Innovation Fund to drive the creation of an energy-efficient housing market — including the “retrofitting” of older, inefficient housing — and act as a catalyst for private lending for this purpose in the residential sector.

The budget also supports loan guarantees for innovative energy technologies including renewable energy projects, transmission projects, and carbon sequestration projects that avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants and greenhouse gases while simultaneously creating green jobs and contributing to long-term economic growth and international competitiveness.

And the budget lays out how Administration plans to work with key stakeholders and Congress to develop an economy-wide, market-friendly emissions reduction program to start in 2012 that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The goal is to reach levels approximately 14 percent below 2005 emissions by 2020, and approximately 83 percent below 2005 emissions by 2050.

Supporting Our Military and Veterans

The President’s budget supports additional permanent forces in the Army and Marine Corps, which will increase to 547,400 and 202,000, respectively, by the end of 2009.

This growth is two to three years ahead of schedule and will reduce stress on servicemembers and their families, while ensuring heightened readiness for a full spectrum of military operations.

The budget increases VA funding by $25 billion during the next five years to ensure quality health care close to home for all our veterans, including the more than 118,600 veterans in Hawaii.

The budget also contains a proposal to expand concurrent receipt of military retired pay and Veterans Disability Compensation to all retirees receiving disability retired pay. Under current law, the prohibition on concurrent receipt means that these benefits offset each other so that military retirees with disabilities greater than 50 percent cannot receive both retirement and disability payments.

To honor the sacrifice of the more than 56,700 men and women from Hawaii and the thousands more from across the nation who serve in our Armed Forces, the budget includes funding for a 2.9 percent military pay raise.

— Find out more:

www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fy2010_factsheet_hi/

Video by David Corrigan | Big Island Video News

A sign alerts visitors to poor air quality at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park entrance. (Hawaii 24/7 photo by Karin Stanton)

Karin Stanton | Hawaii 24/7 Contributing Editor

It’s just accepted that Kilauea Volcano is doing it’s thing. It’s been erupting continuously since Jan. 3, 1983 and many Big Island residents pay Pele no mind as she and they go about their business.

Volcanoes, especially active ones, however, do demand attention.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando. (Hawaii 24/7 photo by Karin Stanton)

To mark the anniversary of the eruption and the need to be aware of all its glory and hazards, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Obeservatory,  Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, county Civil Defense Agency and the University of Hawaii at Hilo have declared January “Volcano Awareness Month.”

‘Who could not be aware of it?’

At Saturday’s kick off event, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist and public information office Janet Babb asked that very question.

For most residents, visitors and volcanology buffs, it’s certainly nothing new. But officials say being aware, educated and prepared is a necessity.

Saturday underscored the need as the usual trade winds dropped, leaving Halemaumau’s belching gases to sit over Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and fouling the air to dangerous levels. Rangers sported full masks and signs urged visitors to stay in their cars.

The morning presentation was moved from the Halemaumau overlook inside to prevent choking media representatives. (Yes, please, insert your own joke here.)

The month-long outreach program is designed to ensure everyone has the information they need to stay safe, while respecting the culture and history of the volcano, enjoying nature’s awesome display of raw power and energy, and advancing the science and technology of volcanology.

Civil Defense Agency Administrator Quince Mento

Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando said the NPS recognizes that Kilauea and Mauna Loa are incredible resources, and works with the U.S. Geological Survey scientists “who have their finger on the pulse and constantly monitor these mighty mountains.”

They share with park visitors the curiosity, awe and respect for the mountains.

“We encourage them to become aware through their own perceptions and experiences – on trails that descend into craters and lava tubes, loop around spatter ramparts and steam vents, and cross pahoehoe and aa flows dotted with stands of lava trees,” she said.

Visitors – whether they are life-long Big Island residents or vacationers from around the globe – also are encouraged to become aware of hazards and dangers that pool beneath the surface of the island.

“Hawaii basically is volcanoes and it’s important for people to realize that,” HVO Scientist-in-charge Jim Kauahikaua said. “Our challenge is in conveying information.”

Civil Defense Agency administrator Qiunce Mento said volcanoes present real and changing hazards. While Civil Defense is charged with helping keep people safe when hazards become untenable, Mento said personal responsibility is key.

For example, he said, everyone should know how to react to the island’s most common threats.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Scientist-in-Charge Jim Kauahikaua

“You should know when the ground shakes, maybe it’s time to get under something so things don’t fall on you. When the ground shakes a lot and you’re near the shore, maybe it’s time to head inland,” he said. “When the vog is heavy, maybe it’s time to get inside or even to leave the area. This knowledge ultimately will be your best protection.”

Upgrading the seismic system

Kauahikaua said $3.3 million in federal stimulus money will be used to fundamentally upgrade the observatory’s monitoring network. The upgrades are expected to last more than 18 months and create a handful of temporary jobs.

The seismographic network currently includes more than 60 sites that collect data continuously and shoot it back to the observatory in real-time, he said. Although some GPS and Web cams are operational, Kauahikaua said, it’s “fairly old technology.”

Dated analog equipment will be replaced with digital technology, he said.

“While the networks are working very well, the upgrade will allow us to receive more useful information from each monitored location and make the networks more expandable,” he said. “Most of our seismic networks were installed in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s so the upgrade to 21st century standards will be dramatic.”

The next generation

A second initiative this year involves a formal cooperative relationship with the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Kauahikaua said the partnership should enhance volcano research in Hawaii, as well as help train the next generation of volcano scientists.

In addition to offering internships to college students from around the globe, Kauahikaua said he hopes the relationship with UH will encourage budding Big Island scientists.

“We have found that local kids are either not interested at all in science or tend to want to go into astronomy. So we’re basically playing catch up,” he said. “We’re trying to put it on the radar. With this cooperative relationship, we hope to create a better field for volcanologists. And there is a lot of room for other technology specialists.”

Culture and history

Keola Awong, the park’s cultural anthropologist, said today’s island residents should have the same understanding and respect of the volcano as those in ancient times had for Pele.

“Pele is here and she will remain here,” Awong said. “And it’s very important for us to know this. She is much more than (the legend of) an old lady dressed in white walking on the side of the road late at night or a white dog that you might see just before an eruption.”

The legend and lore of Pele tells its own story, Awong said. The ancient chants still have great meaning and we can learn the same lessons from them.

“Pele is volcanism. She is very unpredictable,” she said. “And that’s the kind of respect that we have to show for her.”

Halemaumau vents steam across Kilauea Iki in January 2010. (Hawaii 24/7 photo by Karin Stanton)

Dates and milestones

Volcano Awareness Month marks the 50th anniversary of the 1960 eruption that leveled Kapoho. The 27th birthday of Kilauea’s current eruption along the East Rift Zone was Jan. 3.

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the 1950 Mauna Loa episode and the 20th anniversary of Kalapana’s obliteration.

Since the eruption began in 1983, lava flows have buried at least 45 square miles of the volcano and have added more than 500 acres of new land to the island.

Lava along the coast is 33 to 115 feet deep. Kalapana was smothered under 50 feet of lava in the 1989 flow.

Nearly 9 miles of coastal highway has been covered and at least 189 structures have been engulfed.

— Find out more:

hvo.wr.usgs.gov

www.nps.gov/havo

www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~csav

Video of Jan 1, 2009 fireworks in Pahala via MySpace (yes, it’s 2009 fireworks since it was after midnight of 2008).

Little thin on public fireworks displays this year.

The Four Seasons at Hualalai plans a midnight fireworks show. Several other hotels and resorts also are hosting special events to celebrate the new year.

Pahala has a midnight fireworks show.

If you know of any neighborhoods that ring in the new year in specially sparkly and noisy fashion, leave a comment below …

Visitors to Donkey Mill Art Center in Holualoa took turns with a huge wooden mallet to pound steamed rice into sticky dough for rice cakes. Photographs by Baron Sekiya

By Karen A. Iwamoto
Hawaii 24/7 correspondent

The hot, sticky rice dough is quickly shaped into rice cakes making mochi.

Mochi, that sweet, sticky rice treat sought by cultists of Two Ladies Kitchen in Hilo, and available in the freezer section of your grocery store via the Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream company, has a more humble history as a traditional New Year’s food.

Traditional mochi is made from an especially glutinous short-grained rice that is first soaked in water for 24 hours then steamed over an open fire for an additional hour. From there, it makes its way to a wooden usu (large Japanese mortar, usually made of wood or stone) where it is pounded by someone weilding a kine (large wooden mallet that serves as pestle to the usu). The grains of rice are mashed to a sticky-smooth doughlike consistency, then transferred to a long wooden table where small chunks are pinched off and molded into round, palm-sized, flat-bottomed rice cakes.

The steamed sweet rice is kneaded in an usu before being pounded with mallets.

No fancy chocolate fillings here. No ice cream or fresh strawbery fillings either. Nor will you find the fancy mochi confections molded into intricate shapes. Just a plain white mochi ready for the grill or a pot of ozoni (traditional Japanese New Year’s soup).

This is the way the Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture has been making its New Year’s mochi for the past 10 years. (The usu used has been in Holualoa Foundation member Kris Kaneko’s family for three generations.) But the plainess has a purpose.

“It’s symbolic. Mochi is sticky and heavy, representing strength and energy (for the new year),” explained Setsuko Morinoue, one of the founders of the Holualoa Foundation for Arts & Culture. “And it’s white. Anything white is purified, represents purity.”

Morinoue, who married a Big Islander but hails from a town just south of Tokyo, remembers rolling the mochi dough onto a flat surface and cutting it into neat rectangles.

“There are two different ways of making mochi,” she explained. “Tokyo versus kansai. Kansai is southern Japan. In Tokyo, the mochi is not round. Round is just for the shogun (Japanese military commander). In kansai, they make the mochi round.”

Rice is steamed over an open fire at Donkey Mill Art Center.

Also, Morinoue said, in Tokyo the New Year’s mochi tends to be plain and ungarnished, while in the kansai region the people tend to garnish with sweet adzuki beans or other fillings. In a nod to that tradtion, members of the Holualoa Foundation for Arts & Culture set out bowls of sweet adzuki bean paste, natto (fermented soy beans) and daikon so eaters could garnish their mochi should they so choose.

To find out more about the Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture, please visit the Donkey Mill Art Center Web site at: www.donkeymillartcenter.org

Tiare and Celia Ball get a lesson from Hiroki Morinoue, right, in the art of building a kadomatsu which is a Japanese New Year decoration made of bamboo.

Visitors to Donkey Mill Art Center lend a hand at shaping mochi rice cakes.