Good morning, Honolulu.

On Thursday near 6 p.m., a 32-year-old moped rider collided with a car on Waialae Avenue and was taken to hospital by EMS—he did not wear a helmet at the time.

Three men have been charged with defrauding the VA education benefits program out of $9.1 million—Brian Matsudo pleaded guilty in April while Marshall Scott and Raheem Wells face multiple wire fraud charges—and federal investigators are reviewing the case.

A Kailua man pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a nearly $2 million scam that cost an elderly California man his home and yacht—he fabricated documents to transfer the yacht's ownership and convinced the victim to shift his million-dollar home to an LLC he owned, leaving the victim homeless and facing up to 20 years in prison when sentencing is scheduled for October.

Preliminary data from the DBEDT shows that March visitor arrivals increased by 3% to 903,891 while spending rose by 10.3% to $1.99 billion compared to last year.

Air and cruise numbers grew from the U.S. West and U.S. East and arrivals nearly reached pre-pandemic levels — with spending up by 33.8% from March 2019.

Kīlauea’s Episode 19 ended early Friday after nearly 8 hours of lava fountains — the eruption began at 9:28 p.m. on May 1 and stopped at 5:20 a.m. on May 2 while releasing about 4 million cubic yards of lava across half of Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

Today, Hawaii lawmakers ended their session by passing a green fee bill that raises the transient accommodation tax to 14% for all visitors, including cruise ship guests.

The change is expected to raise about $100 million a year to fund disaster mitigation for wildfires, flooding and coastal erosion.

Grassroot Institute praised the Legislature’s passage of several bills on May 1 that aimed to boost housing, speed up Lahaina’s recovery and enhance government accountability.

Grassroot President Keli’i Akina said the measures — such as lowering school fees and shortening permit wait times — reduced building delays and protected property rights as lawmakers worked to ease the housing crisis before the governor’s review.

Kailua native Aiva Arquette, a projected first-round MLB Draft pick and OSU shortstop, will return home to play his first game at Les Murakami Stadium as the University of Hawaii hosts Oregon State this weekend — he has earned Golden Spikes Player of the Week honors three times this season by leading the Beavers in hits, home runs, RBI and batting average.

Former UH athletics director Craig Angelos reapplied for the AD position after submitting his application on Thursday, as he confirmed to Hawaii News Now on Friday.

Angelos, who led UH for 18 months until his dismissal on Nov. 19, 2024, is seeking a return as UH officials begin a national search for a new athletic director.