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A federal judge in Honolulu has expanded the Trump administration’s list of family relationships needed by people seeking new visas from six mostly Muslim countries to avoid a travel ban. U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson ruled today that the travel ban exemptions should include grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts and other relatives. President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which was partially allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court, did not include grandparents, grandchildren and other relations considered “bona-fide” family relationships to be granted an exemption to the ban. The administration said a bona fide relationship would be a parent, spouse, fiance, son,...

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — As part of the continuing demonstration of the U.S. commitment to its allies against the growing threat from North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs, two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted a 10-hour sequenced bilateral mission yesterday with South Korean and Japanese fighter jets. The mission is in response to a series of increasingly escalatory actions by North Korea, including the July 3 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, officials said. "North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland," said Air Force...

A coffee farmer in Hawaii who appealed his deportation order in federal court was forced to leave the island late Friday, after a last-ditch effort to remain with his wife and children was denied, according to NBC-affiliate KNHL. Andres Magana Ortiz said goodbye to his wife and his three children at Kona International Airport late Friday after the Department of Homeland Security rejected his lawyer's petition to grant him legal status because he is married to a U.S. citizen, KNHL said.

Just hours after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied its most recent challenge to the Trump travel ban, the state of Hawaii filed yet another motion challenging it in federal court: In its June 26 decision, the Supreme Court let stand the temporary travel and refugee ban contained in that executive order but added that the ban would not apply to refugees and visa applicants with a “bona fide relationship” to an American resident. The Trump administration quickly defined “bona fide relationship” as parent, child, sibling, spouse or fiance. The state of Hawaii wants a broader definition that would...

A U.S. appeals court refused Friday to clarify the scope of the Supreme Court's lifting of the blockade against President Trump's travel ban, citing a lack of jurisdiction. Earlier Friday, the state of Hawaii had asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to expand the categories of people who can bypass the travel ban. On Thursday, a U.S. district judge had refused to act on Hawaii's request, leaving in place the Trump administration's rules regarding what classes of people to exempt from the travel ban. The judge in that case, Derrick Watson, also claimed he did not have the...

The state of Hawaii asked a federal appeals court on Friday to issue an emergency order blocking parts of President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban while the state seeks clarification over what groups of people would be barred from travel. A Honolulu judge on Thursday rejected a request by Hawaii to narrow the government's implementation of the ban, saying the state should directly ask the Supreme Court to clarify its ruling. Instead, Hawaii appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying in a court filing on Friday that the appeals court has the power to narrow the travel...

A federal judge from Hawaii has denied an emergency motion to broaden the scope of exceptions to President Trump's executive order on travel Thursday evening. As NBC News reported, Hawaii and other challengers filed their final court papers on Wednesday, clearing the way for a ruling on the state's claim that the Trump administration wrongly excluded grandparents and other relatives from the list of close family members who can get visas to travel to the United State during the 90 days while the executive order is in force.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Two additional medical marijuana dispensaries -- one on Oahu, the other on Kauai – were recently given the green light by the state Health Department to begin cultivating cannabis, even though the labs needed to test marijuana products still have not been certified to begin doing so. The announcement brings what's expected to be an even bigger workload for employees from the three independent testing facilities, who have not even begun to approve any of the cannabis that's already been harvested. The continued delays have one pain specialist concerned for a very specific reason: He says one...

“In Hawaii, ‘close family’ includes many of the people that the federal government decided on its own to exclude from that definition. Unfortunately, this severely limited definition may be in violation of the Supreme Court ruling,” Attorney General Doug Chin said in a news release today.

Hawaii rushed to federal court late Thursday to challenge the revived travel ban, saying the Trump administration is drawing too broad a line in deciding who can still be blocked from entering the count

Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin says the important thing about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on President Donald Trump's travel ban is that it won't go into effect for people with a "bona fide" connection to the United States. Chin said Monday that means University of Hawaii students and family members of U.S. citizens may still enter the country. Hawaii sued in March to stop the travel ban, arguing immigration shouldn't be restricted by religion or national origin. The nation's highest court says it will allow a limited version of Trump's ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries take...

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) called Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas "the three horsemen of the apocalypse" on MSNBC on Monday as she decried President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning travel from six nations in the Middle East and North Africa. Hirono criticized the justices for wanting to lift the injunction against Trump's executive order, which the other six justices agreed to review. Hirono called the order a "Muslim ban," despite the fact that it does not affect about 88 percent of the world's Muslims. "This is like the three horsemen of the apocalypse,...

Full Title...........................Hawaii could become the first state to offer its citizens universal basic income after bill passes through both houses of state legislature.....................It may have been the last state to join the United States, but Hawaii may trail blaze and become the first to offer guaranteed basic income. A bill was recently passed through both the houses and state legislature in a unanimous vote that declares that all Hawaiians 'deserve basic financial security' and prompts state agencies to look over 'universal basic income' along with other policy. 'As innovation and automation and inequality disrupt our economy, we want to make...

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected requests for a hearing related to Pohakuloa Training Area’s radiation monitoring plan. The board, under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Tuesday the petitioners lacked standing or did not submit an admissible contention. The petitioners — Jim Albertini, Cory Harden, Ruth Aloua and Hawane Rios — sought to intervene on an amendment for the Army’s license covering past use of depleted uranium in spotting rounds at PTA. The monitoring plan is a requirement of that license.

The United Service Organization, also known as USO, supports military, active duty, retired, all veterans and morale. Part of that support on Hawaii Island has been providing swim gear for recreational activities for troops training at a military compound at the Kawaihae harbor for the past nine years.

.... This week, the wayfinders will return to a Hawaii that on Tuesday took a defiant stand, becoming the first state to legally implement portions of the landmark Paris climate agreement that President Trump chose to abandon last week. “Climate change is real, regardless of what others may say,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige said at a bill signing ceremony Tuesday in Honolulu. “Hawaii is seeing the impacts first hand. Tides are getting higher, biodiversity is shrinking, coral is bleaching, coastlines are eroding, weather is becoming more extreme. We must acknowledge these realities at home.”

A 6-month-old from Hawaii was mauled to death Monday by her family's pit bull. Layla Tsuda, who said she was with the girl, told KHON-TV that the baby was playing in a baby walker inside their home in northwest Las Vegas valley when she was attacked. Tsuda reportedly went to the bathroom and when she came back she found the dog mauling the girl. Tsuda was able to stop the attack, but the baby already suffered major injuries, according to KTNV. The child was rushed to the hospital where she died.

From Kailua-Kona to Hilo to the marquee event Peoples Climate March in Washington, D.C., thousands of like-minded folks nationwide took to the streets on Saturday to demand action on climate change and take aim at the Trump Administration’s policies they say are an assault on the environment.

The top U.S. military officer in the Pacific said Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is “clearly in a position to threaten Hawaii today” with a ballistic missile attack and that the Pentagon should consider adding new ballistic missile interceptors and defensive radar there to counter that possibility. Navy Adm. Harry Harris, the chief of U.S. Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee there are already “sufficient” ballistic missile interceptors protecting the United States at Fort Greely in Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But he added there is a possibility that not every missile...

President Trump told the Washington Examiner that he is "absolutely" thinking about breaking up the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump criticized the heavily liberal court that blocked his executive order calling for a Mideast travel ban. He suggested it would likely uphold the injunction against his withholding of sanctuary cities' federal funds if the Justice Department appeals that ruling. Trump said that "many people" would support breaking up the "outrageous" bench, adding that he is "absolutely" considering the possibility.