Hawaii News Now

Hurricane Douglas is continuing to strengthen in the eastern North Pacific and could move over or near portions of Hawaii over the weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Forecsters said Douglas could rapidly intensify into a a major Category 3 hurricane on Thursday.

As of the 11 a.m. Wednesday update, Douglas was about 1,690 miles east-southeast of Hilo or 1,570 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.

Douglas now has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph with higher gusts, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 10 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles.

It was moving west near 16 mph.

A powerful earthquake struck Alaska last night, but there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii. Plus, we're tracking Hawaii's first storm threat of the season.

Top stories from across Hawaii and around the world, as seen on the 5 p.m. news broadcast from Hawaii News Now.

Hawaii is reporting 25 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the statewide total to 1,418.

Of the new cases, 21 are on Oahu and the remaining four are on Maui.

In recent weeks, state health officials have raised growing concerns about community spread of coronavirus and have urged residents to take precautions.

Also Tuesday, the state reported:

The state’s death toll remains at 24.

At least 151 patients in Hawaii have required hospitalization since the start of the pandemic.

Of all those who have tested positive, 1,084 people have been released from isolation.

There have been more than 106,000 people have been tested for the virus in Hawaii.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are discussing what could be part of the next COVID-19 aid package. Plus, it's a dire situation for hospitals in virus hotspots like Florida. But what about Hawaii?

Top stories from across Hawaii and around the world, as seen on the 5 p.m. news broadcast from Hawaii News Now.

A new lawsuit is seeking to overturn the governor’s emergency powers during much of the coronavirus pandemic.

The suit was filed on behalf of a Kona family by local attorney Jim Hochberg and the Center for American Liberty. It alleges that after Gov. David Ige invoked his emergency powers on March 4, they lapsed on May 3.

“When his authority to issue emergency orders ended automatically, anything that he did in that regard subsequently was unlawful,” said Hochberg.

The attorney said any arrests or fines against people violating the state’s quarantine law after May 3 are not valid.

“I think that’s baloney and I have every expectation that our Attorney General will kick the crap out of the argument in court,” said Lt. Gov. Josh Green.

“For one thing, the governor and I have pretty extensive powers for health and safety and if a pandemic does not meet that standard, I don’t know what does.”

The lawsuit comes about two weeks after a federal judge dismissed a restraining order to a lawsuit challenging the state’s 14-day quarantine for out-of-state travelers.

Now that the full hour-long job interviews with each Honolulu mayoral candidate have aired, we're working to bring together the views of each individual on a single issue — so that you, as a voter, can compare them and hear their thinking in detail.

The first episode is about Honolulu's $9 billion rail transit project, by far the most controversial issue in the community and among the candidates.

Now that the full hour-long job interviews with each Honolulu mayoral candidate have aired, we're working to bring together the views of each individual on a single issue — so that you, as a voter, can compare them and hear their thinking in detail.

The candidates face one of the most difficult issues of our time, homelessness, as well as its root cause, Honolulu's housing crisis.

Now that the full hour-long job interviews with each Honolulu mayoral candidate have aired, we're working to bring together the views of each individual on a single issue — so that you, as a voter, can compare them and hear their thinking in detail.

In this episode, it seems that after seeing our economy devastated because of its reliance on tourism — and the break from visitors many are enjoying — no one wants to go back to the way it was.