Hawaii News Now

The top stories from across Hawaii and around the world, as seen and heard on 'First at 4 p.m.' from Hawaii News Now — anchored by Ashley Nagaoka and Mark Carpenter.

Hawaii reported 76 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, pushing the statewide total for infections since the pandemic began to 21,103.

Of the new cases, 55 were on Oahu, 10 were on Maui, seven on the Big Island and four were residents diagnosed out-of-state.

There have been 1,557 cases in the last 14 days.

There were no new fatalities reported Tuesday. The death toll from the virus in Hawaii stands at 285.

City card holders have until Tuesday night to spend their funds. The deadline was extended after multiple issues with distributing and activating the cards.

A woman was sent to the hospital with gunshot wounds after an apparent drive-by shooting in Honolulu Monday afternoon.

Lori Kahikina, who has served as the city’s director of Environmental Services for eight years, was announced Monday as interim CEO of the problem-plagued rail project.

Kahikina has no rail or transportation experience.

But at Environmental Services, she oversaw the $5.2 billion wastewater project connecting Kailua and Kaneohe, which the city says is the second-largest public works project next to the rail system.

When asked by Hawaii News Now earlier this month about Kahikina’s expected appointment, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said:

“She knows how to build infrastructure projects. She is a competent leader who knows how to complete projects within the budget set and within the time set, and has a track record of doing so.”

However, her tenure as the head city Environmental Services was also marked by a number of well-publicized sewage spills, such as a half-million gallon spill in 2015 that was caused by a broken pump and employee errors and a 200,000-gallon leak at Ko Olina in November 2016.

Kahikina has also clashed with HART staff over relocating utilities on Dillingham Boulevard.

More travelers from the U.S. mainland came to Hawaii in the week leading up to Christmas than in any other week since the launch of the state's pre-travel testing program.

Despite CDC warning, millions of Americans are traveling for the holidays, including to Hawaii.

Hawaii reported 129 new COVID-19 infections on Christmas Eve, pushing the statewide total for cases since the pandemic began to 20,650.

Over the last 14 days, there have 1,733 cases in Hawaii.

There were no new fatalities. The death toll from the virus in Hawaii stands at 285.

Of the 129 new cases:

79 were on Oahu

33 were on Maui

13 were on the Big Island

one was on Kauai

and three were residents diagnosed out-of-state

Starting today, inmates who test positive for COVID-19 will be removed from Oahu's tier metrics.

Problems with the city’s grocery card continue, but officials are offering other options for those unable to get through to the vendor to activate them.