At dawn, he would accompany his grandmother to a reef at low tide, where she plucked black snails, spiny lobsters and spiky sea urchins from the craggy rock. In Hawaiian, she would instruct him to break off a branch of kiawe, a type of mesquite, to tease out an octopus hiding in a hole.

It taught Rodrigues, 71, the value of ahupuaa, a Native Hawaiian system for dividing land from the mountains down to the ocean, with the residents of each section living off the land and waters within it.

But now the section where he lives and where his ancestors have always lived — the Olowalu ahupuaa — is also home to a temporary landfill being used to store debris from the deadly wildfire that decimated the historic nearby town of Lahaina last summer, destroying thousands of buildings and killing 102 people. It’s enough refuse to cover five football fields five stories high, including soil contaminated with lead and arsenic.

A controversy over whether that site is truly temporary — and over where the debris might finally wind up — has sparked a fierce legal fight with tens of millions of dollars at stake, not to mention a priceless ecosystem rich with coral, manta rays and other sea life just offshore.

“Why would you go put opala like this in a place that’s clean?” Rodrigues asked, using a Hawaiian word for trash.

Handling debris after large wildfires is always a logistical challenge. After the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and burned down most of the town of Paradise, California, more than 300,000 truck loads were required to transport the debris to three different landfills, said Cole Glenwright, the deputy incident commander of the debris removal operation. The whole process took about a year.

It’s taking much longer on Maui, given environmental concerns, how long it has taken to clear destroyed lots, worries about Native Hawaiian cultural sites, and tussling over the ownership of a potential permanent site for the debris.

The temporary landfill in Olowalu is a former quarry on state-owned land and close to Lahaina, which made it a convenient choice for quickly storing the debris being cleared away so the town can rebuild. Officials believe its arid climate will reduce the risk of contamination spreading, and they say they’ve taken many precautions, including using thick liner and stormwater controls to contain runoff.

Officials have analyzed samples of soil, groundwater and surface water and found no traces of contamination being released, according to a quarterly report released in July.

But the site is just uphill from a coral reef, and some locals fear an ecological catastrophe if pollution does reach the water.

The operation of the site also threatens sacred Hawaiian shrines and altars and desecrates ancient Hawaiian burial sites, according to a lawsuit filed by two people who don’t want the debris in Olowalu. One of the plaintiffs is Manoa Ka’io Martin, whose ancestors are among those buried nearby. The other is farmer Eddy Garcia, who worries about contamination of the food he grows, including taro, bananas, pineapples and starfruit.

Amid demands to remove the debris from Olowalu, Maui County is seeking to seize a privately owned former quarry near the Central Maui Landfill across the island to use as a permanent dump site.

That’s prompted another legal fight. The company that owns the land, Komar Maui Properties, doesn’t want to give it up.

Komar bought the land in 2015 with plans to build a private landfill, but it says permitting issues have stalled development. It is contesting the county’s effort to take the property by eminent domain — a process by which governments can seize private land for public use, with fair compensation for the owner. A federal judge has prevented the county from taking immediate possession while the lawsuit plays out.

Andy Naden, general counsel and executive vice president of Komar Investments, the parent company of Komar Maui Properties, says the county moved to seize its land only after learning the Federal Emergency Management Agency would pay “tipping fees” associated with disposing of the Lahaina debris — fees typically paid by weight to landfill owners. Maui County charges a tipping fee of nearly $110 per ton for municipal solid waste.

“FEMA is going to dump 400,000 tons into this hole,” Naden said. “That equates to $44 million that the federal government is going to give to whoever has the hole.”

Shayne Agawa, director of Maui’s Department of Environmental Management, disputed that. He said his department has long been interested in acquiring the land as part of plans to expand the adjacent public landfill.

Agawa, who lives in Olowalu, said the county doesn’t want the debris to remain at the temporary site. But it has yet to come up with a backup plan in case the court blocks the county from seizing Komar’s land. Officials are looking at other nearby parcels, he said.

To respond to cultural concerns, Maui officials consulted with the county’s archaeologist, Janet Six, and FEMA had one of its historic advisors assess the site. Six told The Associated Press she could not rule out the presence of ancient cultural sites or burial grounds, but noted that the area was previously disturbed by mining. FEMA found that no historic properties would be affected.

The lawsuit filed by Garcia and Martin asserted that the construction and operation of the temporary dump has in fact damaged or desecrated such sites by exposing them to toxic material, in violation of Martin’s spiritual practices.

Garcia said he feels uneasy as rumbling trucks haul debris up the road next to his farm. He worries one heavy bout of rain will cause toxins from the debris to contaminate the food he grows.

The pair dropped their lawsuit after the county announced plans for the permanent site in central Maui, but their lawyer is considering their next legal steps while the debris sits in Olowalu.

“I have a feeling they’re going to try to make it permanent and just say, ‘Sorry, we can’t move it to the other site,’” Garcia said.

Further complicating the issue is that the ashes or bones of some fire victims might be mingled in the debris. Raenelle Stewart’s 97-year-old grandmother died in the fire. Stewart often wonders if the ashes the family received contained all her remains. The fire debris should be kept nearby, she said.

“I think they should designate a spot in Lahaina for it,” she said. “I don’t think it’s so toxic that the earth can’t handle.”

Randy Awo, a retired administrator in the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, is a Native Hawaiian resident of Maui. He’d prefer to have the debris shipped out of state — an option officials rejected as too expensive.

Awo called the concerns about remains “a sacred topic” and said he does not want to be insensitive to families who lost loved ones. But, he added, the community must also protect Maui’s finite amount of land.

“When our environment is subjected to toxins that threaten life itself,” Awo said, “we have to start making decisions that weigh both.”

Meanwhile, the eastern Pacific saw a new threat emerge as Tropical Storm Hector formed, packing top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect as Hector churned far out at sea, the National Hurricane Center said.

Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) had top winds of 70 mph (110 kph) Sunday night as it swirled slowly past Hawaii about 180 miles (290 kilometers) southwest of Honolulu and 185 miles (300 kilometers) south of Lihue, according to an 11 p.m. advisory from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.

Jon Jelsema, a senior forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, said earlier Sunday that tropical storm force winds were blowing across the island’s southeast-facing slopes, carrying up to a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain.

Floods closed Highway 11 between Kona and Hilo, and a higher-altitude alternative, the Cane Road, was closed by flooding as well, isolating properties like the Aikane Plantation Coffee Co. outside Pahala, where owner Phil Becker said his 10-inch (25-centimeter) rain gauge overflowed in the deluge.

“We’ve got quite a lot of flood damage, the gulches are running full speed ahead and they’re overflowing the bridges, so we’re trapped down here, we can’t get in or out,” Becker said Sunday.

Becker said his plantation is off the grid, powered with batteries charged by solar electricity, and his family is safe, so they have no reason to evacuate. The weather may even prove beneficial: “We’ve been in a drought situation so the coffee is probably loving all this rain,” he said.

Hurricane Gilma, meanwhile, weakened to a still-major Category 3 hurricane Saturday night, but it was far east of Hawaii and forecast to weaken into a depression before it reaches the islands. Gilma was expected to remain a hurricane through Tuesday and at 11 p.m. Sunday was 1,260 miles (2,025 kilometers) east of Hilo with top winds of 100 mph (155 kph).

Shelters were opened as Hurricane Hone blew in and beach parks on the eastern side of the Big Island were closed due to dangerously high surf, Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said.

Jelsema offered a vivid metaphor for the rainfall: “As the rain gets pushed up the mountain terrain it wrings it out, kind of like wringing out a wet towel,” he said.

“It’s been really soaking those areas, there’s been flooding of roads. Roads have been cut off by high flood waters there in the windward sections of the big island, and really that’s the only portion of the state that’s had much flooding concern at this point,” he said.

Hone, whose name is Hawaiian for “sweet and soft,” poked at memories still fresh of last year’s deadly blazes on Maui, which were fueled by hurricane-force winds. Red flag alerts are issued when warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds combine to raise fire dangers. Most of the archipelago is already abnormally dry or in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze that torched the historic town of Lahaina was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, with 102 dead. Dry, overgrown grasses and drought helped spread the fire.

Calvin Endo, a Waianae Coast neighborhood board member who lives in Makaha, a leeward Oahu neighborhood prone to wildfires, has worried for years about dry brush on private property behind his home. He’s taken matters into his own hands by clearing the brush himself, but he’s concerned about nearby homes abutting overgrown vegetation.

“All you need is fire and wind and we’ll have another Lahaina,” Endo said as the storm approached. “I notice the wind started to kick up already.”

The cause of the Lahaina blaze is still under investigation, but it’s possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds. The state’s two power companies, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, were prepared to shut off power if necessary to reduce the chance that live, damaged power lines could start fires, but they later said the safety measures would not be necessary as Hone blew past the islands.

Roth said a small blaze that started Friday night in Waikoloa, on the dry side of the Big Island, was brought under control without injuries or damage.

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Walker reported from New York.

Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) had top winds of 75 mph (120 kph), according to an 11 p.m. advisory by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. The minimum threshold for a hurricane is 74 mph (119 kph).

A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Big Island as the storm moved west at 12 mph (19 kph) about 105 miles (170 kilometers) south of Hilo, Hawaii, and about 275 miles (440 kilometers) southeast of Honolulu, the center said.

The hurricane center, part of the National Weather Service, previously said Hone was expected to remain just below hurricane strength at its peak Sunday through Monday.

Hurricane Gilma, still about 1,480 miles (2,380 kilometers) east of Hilo, increased to a Category 4 hurricane Saturday night.

Hone, whose name is Hawaiian for “sweet and soft,” drew near the islands Saturday with breezes that were expected to intensify and increase the wildfire risk for drier parts of the state even as memories are still fresh from last year’s deadly blazes on Maui.

A red flag fire warning was in effect for the leeward sides of all islands through 6 p.m. on Saturday. The National Weather Service issues the alert when warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds combine to raise fire dangers.

“They gotta take this thing serious,” said Calvin Endo, a Waianae Coast neighborhood board member who lives in Makaha, a leeward Oahu neighborhood prone to wildfires.

Most of the archipelago is already abnormally dry or in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The winds are expected to be strongest where they blow downslope from higher terrain, over headlands and through passes, the hurricane center advised.

The situation recalls last year’s deadly wildfires on Maui, which were fueled by hurricane-force winds. But while Hone presents high fire dangers, “it’s not on the magnitude of that,” weather service meteorologist Derek Wroe in Honolulu said Saturday.

The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze that torched the historic town of Lahaina was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, with 102 dead. Dry, overgrown grasses and drought helped spread the fire.

For years, Endo has worried about dry brush on private property behind his home. He’s taken matters into his own hands by clearing the brush himself, but he’s concerned about nearby homes abutting overgrown vegetation.

“All you need is fire and wind and we’ll have another Lahaina,” Endo said in the morning. “I notice the wind started to kick up already.”

The cause of the Lahaina blaze is still under investigation, but it’s possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds.

The state’s two power companies, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, said they would be monitoring conditions this weekend and ready to shut off power if necessary to reduce the chance that live, damaged power lines could start fires.

Firefighters remained on the scene of a small blaze that started Friday night in Waikoloa, on the dry side of the Big Island, according to Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth. It was under control and did not cause any injuries or damage.

“We’re expecting to have bands of rain come through the day,” Roth said from Hilo, on the island’s east side, where it was raining.

The island was getting enough rain later Saturday to cancel its red flag warning, though a warning remained in effect for the other islands, said Ian Morrison, a weather service meteorologist in Honolulu.

Officials were closing some Big Island beach parks in anticipation of dangerously high surf and preparing to open shelters if needed, Roth said.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority told travelers it’s still safe to come to the islands but recommended postponing outdoor activities.

The eastern and southeastern parts of the Big Island could get 5 to 10 inches (11 to 25 centimeters) of rain. The island could get sustained winds of 20 to 40 mph (32 to 64 kph) and gusts near 60 mph (97 kph), weather officials said.

Moving westward across the Pacific behind Hone was Hurricane Gilma. A separate 11 p.m. Saturday advisory said Gilma’s “intensification rate has leveled off” and placed the storm 1,500 miles (2,410 kilometers) west of Baja California. The maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) elevated the storm into the bottom of Category 4 hurricane status.

Forecasters had called for additional strengthening before gradually weakening as Gilma moves over cooler sea-surface temperatures and into a drier, more stable airmass.

Amos created the Famous Amos cookie empire and eventually lost ownership of the company — as well as the rights to use the catchy Amos name. In his later years, he became a proprietor of a cookie shop called Chip & Cookie in Hawaii, where he moved in 1977.

He died Tuesday at his home in Honolulu, with his wife, Carol, at his side, his children said. He died from complications with dementia, they said.

“With his Panama hat, kazoo, and boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story, and a source of Black pride,” said a statement from his children, Sarah, Michael, Gregory and Shawn Amos.

They said their dad “inspired a generation of entrepreneurs when he founded the world’s first cookie store” on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1975.

Wally Amos was also co-founder of Uncle Wally’s Muffin Co., whose products are found in stores nationwide. But Amos said the fame never really mattered much to him.

“Being famous is highly overrated anyway,” Amos told The Associated Press in 2007.

His muffin company, based in Shirley, N.Y., was originally founded as Uncle Noname Cookie Co. in 1992, a few years after Amos lost Famous Amos, which still widely uses his name on its products.

Amos had said the Famous Amos cookies sold today are unlike his cookies, which had lots of chocolate, real butter and pure vanilla extract.

“You can’t compare a machine-made cookie with handmade cookie,” he told the AP. “It’s like comparing a Rolls Royce with a Volkswagen.”

Uncle Noname, however, foundered because of debt and problems with its contracted manufacturers.

The company filed for bankruptcy in 1996, abandoned cookies and went into muffins at the suggestion of Amos’ business partner, Lou Avignone.

Inside his now-shuttered Hawaii cookie shop, he sold bite-sized cookies similar to the ones he first sold at the Famous Amos Hollywood store.

Amos also was active in promoting reading. His shop, for example, had a reading room with dozens of donated books, and Amos usually spent Saturdays sitting on a rocking chair, wearing a watermelon hat, reading to children.

The former high school dropout penned eight books, served as spokesperson for Literacy Volunteers of America for 24 years and gave motivational talks to corporations, universities and other groups.

Amos earned numerous honors for his volunteerism, including the Literacy Award presented by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

“Your greatest contribution to your country is not your signature straw hat in the Smithsonian, but the people you have inspired to learn to read,” Bush said.

In one of his books, “Man With No Name: Turn Lemons Into Lemonade,” Amos explained how he lost Famous Amos even before it was sold for $63 million to a Taiwanese company in 1991. Despite robust sales, by 1985, the business was losing money, so Amos brought in outside investors.

“The new owners gobbled up more of my share until all of a sudden, I found I had lost all ownership in the company I founded,” Amos wrote. Before long, the company had changed ownership four times.

Born in Tallahassee, Fla., Amos moved to New York City at age 12 because of his parents’ divorce. He lived with an aunt, Della Bryant, who taught him how to make chocolate chip cookies.

He later dropped out of high school to join the Air Force before working as a mailroom clerk at the William Morris Agency, where he became a talent agent, working with The Supremes, Simon & Garfunkel and Marvin Gaye before borrowing $25,000 to launch his cookie business.

He was the first Black agent in the business, his son, Shawn Amos, said.

“Our dad taught us the value of hard work, believing in ourselves, and chasing our dreams,” his children’s statement said. “We also know he would love it if you had a chocolate chip cookie today.”

One year after the fire, here’s what to know about the banyan tree and the efforts to restore it.

Why is Lahaina’s banyan tree significant?

The banyan tree is the oldest living one on Maui but is not a species indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. India shipped the tree as a gift to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries to live in Lahaina. It was planted in 1873, a quarter century before the Hawaiian Islands became a U.S. territory and seven decades after King Kamehameha declared Lahaina the capital of his kingdom.

The tree is widely beloved and fondly remembered by millions of tourists who have visited Maui over the years. But for many others it is a symbol of colonial rule that has dispossessed Native Hawaiians of their land and suppressed their language and culture.

For generations, the banyan tree served as a gathering place along Lahaina’s waterfront. By many accounts, it was the heart of the oceanside community — towering more than 60 feet (18 meters) high and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre.

The enormous tree has leafy branches that unfurl majestically and offer shade from the sun. Aerial roots dangle from its boughs and eventually latch onto the soil to become new trunks. Branches splay out widely, and have become roosting places for choirs of birds.

What happened to it during the fire?

The 2023 fire charred the tree and blackened many of its leaves. But it wasn’t the flames so much as the intense heat that was generated that dried out much of the tree, according to Duane Sparkman, chair of the Maui County Arborist Committee. As a result of this loss of moisture, about half of the tree’s branches died, he said.

“Once that section of the tree desiccated, there was no coming back,” he said.

But other parts of the tree are now growing back healthy.

How was it saved?

Those working to restore the tree removed the dead branches so that the tree’s energy would go toward the branches that were alive, Sparkman said.

To monitor that energy, 14 sensors were screwed into the tree to track the flows of cambium, or sap, through its branches.

“It’s basically a heart monitor,” Sparkman said. “As we’ve been treating the tree, the heart beat’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger.”

Sparkman said there are also plans to install vertical tubes to help the tree’s aerial roots, which appear to be vertical branches that grow down toward the ground. The tubes will contain compost so as to provide the branches with key nutrients when they take root in the soil.

A planned irrigation system will also feed small drops of water into the tubes. The goal, Sparkman said, is to help those aerial roots “bulk up and become the next stabilizer root.” The system will also irrigate the surrounding land and the tree’s canopy.

“You see a lot of long, long branches with hundreds of leaves back on the tree,” Sparkman said, adding that some branches are even producing fruit. “It’s pretty amazing to see that much of the tree come back.”

What other trees were destroyed in the fire?

Sparkman estimates that Lahaina lost some 25,000 trees in the fire.

These included the fruit trees that people grew in their yards as well as trees that are significant in Hawaiian culture, such as the ulu or breadfruit tree; the fire charred all but two of the dozen or so that remained.

Since the blaze, a band of arborists, farmers and landscapers — including Sparkman — has set about trying to save the ulu and other culturally important trees. Before colonialism, commercial agriculture and tourism, thousands of breadfruit trees dotted Lahaina.

To help restore Lahaina’s trees, Sparkman founded a nonprofit called Treecovery. The group has potted some 3,500 trees, he said, growing them in “micro-nurseries” across the island, including at some hotels, until people can move back into their homes.

“We have grow hubs all over the island of Maui to grow these trees out for as long as they need. So when the people are ready, we can have them come pick these trees up and they can plant them in their yards,” he said. “It’s important that we do this for the families.”

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AP writer Audrey McAvoy contributed from Honolulu.

The Hawaii Police Department on Monday said they matched DNA taken from Dana Ireland’s body to that of 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr. of Hawaiian Paradise Park on the Big Island. Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz said Lauro died by suicide and was found at home.

Authorities zeroed in on Lauro in recent months and got a DNA sample from him off of a discarded fork after they watched him eat lunch. He killed himself last week after police went to his home to test the sample against a swab taken from him in person.

Attempts by the AP to reach Lauro’s relatives were unsuccessful.

The DNA work represented a major development in a case that made headlines last year when Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, who had been incarcerated for more than 20 years for the killing, was released based on new evidence. Ireland’s body was found on Christmas Eve in 1991 on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Schweitzer was one of three men who spent time behind bars over her killing, but he always maintained his innocence. A judge is expected to rule Tuesday on a motion to officially exonerate him.

Police said the DNA evidence gave them probable cause to bring rape charges against Lauro but the statute of limitations on such charges expired years ago. Murder is still within the statute of limitations for Ireland’s death but police said they didn’t have enough evidence to charge Lauro with murder.

“The presence of Lauro’s DNA at the crime scene was, in and of itself, not sufficient evidence to prove that Lauro intentionally or knowingly caused her death,” Moskowicz said at a news conference livestreamed from Hilo.

Police hope Lauro’s cellphone will provide some answers and that family and friends who knew him in 1991 and now will help police determine what happened, Moskowicz said.

Schweitzer’s attorneys took the police to task, alleging that they intentionally botched the investigation into Lauro by not taking steps to ensure that he didn’t flee or kill himself after they obtained his DNA. They suggested that because of the man’s death, the truth about what happened to Ireland will never come to light. They also demanded a federal investigation, as well as all communications related to the DNA work.

“We knew that he had a family. He had a good life,” Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck, who is assisting the Hawaii Innocence Project in Schweitzer’s case, said of Lauro. “It’s well known in law enforcement circles … if you have DNA on a guy and you know he committed the crime, that if you do not bring him into custody, there is a serious chance that the person will flee, destroy evidence or kill themself.”

Moskowicz said if police arrested Lauro without probable cause, a court wouldn’t have accepted evidence they gathered afterward.
He denied police sabotaged the case.

“That is abjectly false, 100% not true,” he said, adding the police would follow the evidence wherever it goes.

Mayor Mitch Roth, who was the Big Island’s top prosecutor when Schweitzer’s attorneys and prosecutors entered into a “conviction integrity agreement” to reinvestigate the case, said Monday that he stands behind the police and noted that the results from the swab they collected didn’t come in until after Lauro died.

Lauro hadn’t been on law enforcement’s radar when Roth was prosecutor: “I don’t recall ever seeing this person in any of the police reports when I went over the case.”
Moskowicz said Lauro was arrested once in 1987 for shoplifting when he was about 20 years old.

The push to find out who killed Ireland gained renewed traction after the January 2023 release of Schweitzer, who was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 130 years in prison. Innocence Project lawyers who took up his case argued that he didn’t match the DNA on a T-shirt found near Ireland. The shirt didn’t belong to Ireland but was soaked with her blood and contained DNA from an unknown man.

Even though Schweitzer was released, his legal team and prosecutors have continued to quibble over whether he’s actually innocent and deserves compensation for his years behind bars.

Schweitzer’s Innocence Project attorneys tracked down a DNA match with help from Steven Kramer, a retired FBI attorney and federal prosecutor who led the genetic genealogy team that solved the Golden State Killer case in 2018. Kramer found a match, based on genetics, ancestry, age, and address history, among other factors.

Lauro, according to Innocence Project court filings filed Sunday, lived less than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from where Ireland’s body was found along a fishing trail in a remote part of the Big Island. He would have been in his mid-20s at the time and owned or had access to a pickup truck that would have left the tire marks found at the scene, the filings said.

Innocence Project attorneys looked up his Facebook page and saw that he was still an avid fisherman and would have been familiar with the trail where Ireland was found.

On Monday, the attorneys called for a federal investigation into why police didn’t arrest Lauro, saying they had probable cause to do so. In their filing, they ask for police and prosecutors turn over all communications about the decision not to seek an arrest warrant after the DNA from Lauro’s fork was tested. They also want to know why he wasn’t arrested before or after police took the DNA swab.

A 2023 petition filed in the quest to release Schweitzer, the last of the three Native Hawaiian men who remained imprisoned in the killing, outlined the case, which was one of Hawaii’s most notorious.

Ireland, who was 23 years old and visiting from Virginia, was found barely alive in the bushes along a fishing trail in Puna, a remote section of the island. She had been sexually assaulted and beaten, and later died at Hilo Medical Center. The mangled bicycle she had been riding was found several miles (kilometers) away and appeared to have been run into by a vehicle.

She grew up in Springfield, Virginia. The killing remained unsolved for years.

A man named Frank Pauline Jr., who claimed to have witnessed the attack, told police that Schweitzer and his brother, Shawn Schweitzer, attacked and killed Ireland. But he was interviewed at least seven times and gave inconsistent accounts each time, eventually incriminating himself, leading prosecutors to indict Pauline as well as the Schweitzers.

Pauline and Ian Schweitzer were convicted in 2000. Shawn Schweitzer took a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping — and receive credit for about a year served and five years of probation — after seeing juries convict Pauline and his brother in 2000. Pauline died in prison.

The Schweitzer brothers “are happy that this person was finally caught,” said Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project. “They’re disappointed in the way it happened.”

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Associated Press journalist Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report.

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Nearly a year after wind-whipped flames raced through Kim Ball’s Hawaii community, the empty lot where his house once stood is a symbol of some of the progress being made toward rebuilding after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than century destroyed thousands of homes and killed 102 people in Lahaina.

“Welcome to our neighborhood,” Ball said Wednesday as he greeted a van full of Hawaii reporters invited by Maui County officials to tour certain fire-ravaged sites.

The gravel covering lots on his street in Lahaina indicate which properties have been cleared of debris and toxic ash in the months since the Aug. 8, 2023, blaze. On the lots along Komo Mai Street, there are pockets of green poking up through still visible charred vegetation.

Speaking over the noise from heavy equipment working across the street, Ball described how he was able to get a building permit quickly, partly because his home was only about 5 years old and his contractor still had the plans.

Ball wants to rebuild the same house from those plans.

“We may change the color of the paint,” he said.

Nearby on Malanai Street, some walls were already up on Gene Milne’s property. His is the first to start construction because his previous home was not yet fully completed and had open permits.

When he evacuated, he was living in an accessory dwelling, known locally as an “ohana unit,” borrowing the Hawaiian word for family. The main home was about 70% done.

“I was in complete denial that the fire would ever get to my home,” he recalled. “Sure enough, when I came back a couple days later it was gone.”

It’s “extremely healing,” he said, to be on the site and see the walls go up for what will be the new ohana unit. Using insurance money to rebuild, he’s “looking forward to that day where I can have a cocktail on the lanai, enjoy Maui — home.”

The construction underway at Milne’s property is “a milestone for us,” said Maui Mayor Richard Bissen. “I think the rest of the community can use this as sort of a jumping off point, and say, ‘If they can do it, we can do it, too.’”

Even though it’s been nearly a year, rebuilding Lahaina will be long and complicated. It’s unclear when people displaced by the fire will be able to move back and whether they’ll be able to afford to do so. The county has approved 23 residential building permits so far and 70 are under review, officials said.

“We’re not focused on the speed — we’re focused on the safety,” Bissen said.

Other stops of the tour included debris removal at a former outlet mall that had been a popular shopping destination for both tourists and locals, and a beloved, giant 151-year-old banyan tree, now drastically greener with new growth thanks to the preservation efforts of arborists.

They cared for the sprawling tree with alfalfa and other nutrients — “mainly just water,” said Tim Griffith, Maui County’s arborist, who is helping care for the tree along Lahaina’s historic Front Street. “Trees are … going to heal themselves, especially when they’re stressed.”

The gesture is sometimes known outside the islands as the “hang loose” sign associated with surf culture, but it was a fixture of daily life in the islands long before it caught on in California, Brazil and beyond. People in Hawaii have a variety of shaka styles and use it to convey a range of warmhearted sentiments, from hi and bye to thanks and aloha, among other meanings.

When captains of the Lahainaluna High School football team, from the Maui community devastated by last summer’s deadly wildfire, were invited to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas last month, they flashed shakas for the cameras.

Now, a pair of bills in the state Legislature would make the shaka the state’s official gesture and recognize Hawaii as its birthplace.

Sen. Glenn Wakai, who introduced the Senate version, said he can’t imagine the measure meeting any opposition and expects it to “sail through.”

Here are some things to know about Hawaii’s shaka — including its purported origin with a seven-fingered fisherman.

On paper, the House bill notes that the “shaka generally consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while holding the three middle fingers curled, and gesturing in salutation while presenting the front or back of the hand; the wrist may be rotated back and forth for emphasis.”

In practice, the shaka is far more nuanced.

Some say the only requirement is an extended pinky and thumb. Others say shaking the shaka is a no-no.

Those from beach or rural communities tend not to shake their shakas. But in the capital city of Honolulu, it’s common.

“It’s just a strong movement — one movement,” said Chase Lee, who grew up just outside Honolulu. He was taught never to shake the shaka. If you do, “you’re a tourist,” he said.

But Erin Issa, one of his colleagues at Central Pacific Bank, likes to wag hers.

“I’m a very animated person,” she said. “I feel awkward if I’m just standing still.”

She prefers to flash a shaka with the palm facing outwards, as a sign of respect: “It’s shaka-ing to you, not to me.”

“As long as you get your pinky finger and your thumb out, you can wave it or you can just do just a flat shaka,” Dennis Caballes, a Honolulu resident, said while fishing at a beach park.

The shaka carries friendliness and warmth — aloha spirit. Some hold it low when greeting a child, and some like to flash double shakas. It can convey greetings, gratitude or assent, or it can defuse tension. It was particularly useful in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were afraid to shake hands.

“It’s such a versatile gesture,” said state Rep. Sean Quinlan, who introduced the House bill at the behest of a documentary filmmaker exploring the sign’s backstory.

Big Island state Rep. Jeanné Kapela, one of the House bill’s co-sponsors, said residents are “so lucky to have a visual signal for sharing aloha with each other.”

Shakas can avert altercations when people are cut off in traffic, said Wakai, the state senator who introduced the Senate version.

“The angst toward that driver kind of just immediately gets reduced,” Wakai said.

The prevailing story of the shaka’s origin traces back to a Native Hawaiian fisherman named Hāmana Kalili, who lived on Oahu’s North Shore in the early 1900s. Mailani Makaʻīnaʻi, Kalili’s great-great-granddaughter, wants the bills amended to include his name — something lawmakers are considering.

Kalili lost three fingers in a sugar mill accident, she said.

After the mishap, Kalili worked as a guard on a train. Kids who jumped the train for a free ride would curl their middle fingers to mimic Kalili’s injured hand, giving other train-jumpers the all-clear, said Steve Sue, who researched shaka for his documentary.

Other residents adopted Kalili’s three-finger-less wave more broadly, according to family lore, and it spread, possibly fueled by the waves of tourists that began arriving after World War II.

“I love the compassion part of it, you know, where, ‘Oh, okay, he doesn’t have all three fingers. So, I’m going to say hi the way he’s saying hi,’” Makaʻīnai said. “It’s the idea that … I’m like you and you’re like me.”

There’s a bronze statue of Kalili, his right arm extended into a shaka, at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.

There are various theories about how the term “shaka” became associated with the gesture. Some have suggested that the name came from Japan’s Shaka Buddha.

The sign has spread around the world since the surfing boom of the 1950s and ’60s. It’s popular in Brazil, where it’s been used by martial arts aficionados. Brazil soccer greats Ronaldinho and Neymar Jr. incorporated it into their goal celebrations.

The shaka is such an integral part of Hawaii life that it’s easy to miss, said Sen. Chris Lee, chair of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts.

Some Honolulu city buses are outfitted with a digital shaka light that bus drivers can turn on to thank motorists for letting them merge. Texters have co-opted the “call me” emoji to symbolize the shaka, and local station KHON-TV has ended each evening newscast since the 1970s with clips of people flashing shakas.

Longtime KHON anchor Howard Dashefsky said throwing a shaka is almost a reflex when people in the community recognize him and call his name.

“There’s a lot of other places where you only get a one-finger gesture,” he said.

Shakas also come out naturally when people from Hawaii are somewhere else in the world and want to display connection to their island roots.

Businesses often use the shaka to project community belonging.

Central Pacific Bank, for example, called their digital checking account Shaka Checking at the suggestion of electronic banking manager Florence Nakamura.

“It makes people feel good when they receive one,” she said.

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The first of thousands of residents who lost their homes in the wildfire that destroyed the Hawaii town of Lahaina returned to their devastated properties Monday, with some stopping for a moment of reflection and others searching for mementos among the ruins.

“They’re very appreciative to get in here, something they’ve all been waiting anxiously for,” Darryl Oliveira, interim administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, told reporters gathered outside the burn zone. “People who haven’t been here since the fire are taken aback by the amount of and extent of the destruction.”

In the days following the Aug. 8 wildfire, some people were able to return to their properties to evaluate the damage. But since then, the burned area has been off-limits to all but authorized workers. Authorities opened one small part of it on Monday, allowing residents in for supervised visits from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. By midday, about two dozen vehicles carrying residents had entered the area.

The prospect of returning has stirred strong emotions in residents who fled in vehicles or on foot as wind-whipped flames raced across Lahaina, the historic capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom, and overcame people stuck in traffic trying to escape.

The wildfire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes. Some survivors jumped over a sea wall and sheltered in the waves as hot black smoke blotted out the sun.

Officials urged returning residents not to sift through the ashes for fear of raising toxic dust. The first area to be cleared for reentry was a zone of about two dozen parcels in the northern part of Lahaina.

From a National Guard blockade near the burn zone, Jes Claydon has been able to see the ruins of the rental home where she lived for 13 years and raised three children. Little remains recognizable beyond the jars of sea glass that stood outside the front door.

Claydon hoped to collect those jars and any other mementos she might find.

“I want the freedom to just be there and absorb what happened,” Claydon said. “Whatever I might find, even if it’s just those jars of sea glass, I’m looking forward to taking it. … It’s a piece of home.”

Claydon’s home was a single-story cinderblock house painted a reddish-tan, similar to the red dirt in Lahaina. A few of the walls are still standing, and some green lawn remains, she said.

Claydon said Monday evening that she was able to take some sea glass. She said the jars, weakened by the heat, cracked at her touch. She said it was difficult to be the first residents to return “knowing that so many are waiting for this opportunity.”

Those returning were given water, shade, washing stations, portable toilets, medical and mental health care, and transportation assistance if needed. Nonprofit groups also offered personal protective equipment, including masks and coveralls. Officials say ash could contain asbestos, lead, arsenic or other toxins.

Most journalists were confined to an area where they could not see people visiting their properties. Oliveira said officials wanted to ensure residents had space and privacy to reflect or grieve.

A team of more than two dozen people from Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational Christian ministry, was on hand to help residents sort through what was left of their homes, said Todd Taylor, who works with the organization.

“It’s like losing a loved one. That’s exactly what these folks are going through,” Taylor said. “Those homeowners can talk to us about their house — ‘This is where my bedroom was, and I had a nightstand here with my wedding ring,’ or, ‘My grandfather’s urn was on the sink’ — those type of indicators that can help our volunteers sift through the ash and look for very specific items.”

HONOLULU (AP) — Nearly a month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed at least 115 people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed.

Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about the loss of tourism.

Government officials from Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen to President Joe Biden have pledged support, and thousands of people have been put up in hotels and elsewhere as they await clearance to visit and inspect the properties where they once lived.

A look at things to know about how the recovery in Lahaina is taking shape following the Aug. 8 disaster:

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HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED?

The official confirmed count stands at 115, a figure that has not changed since Aug. 21. But many more names remain on a list of people who are considered unaccounted for, and it is unclear whether the toll of the deceased will rise — or whether it will ever be known how many perished.

Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier has repeatedly pleaded for patience as authorities try to verify who is missing, who has been accounted for and who has died.

Officials have also sometimes clouded the situation. Police on Aug. 24 released a “credible” list, compiled by the FBI, of 388 missing people for whom authorities had a first and last name and a contact number for whoever reported them missing.

Many of them, or their relatives, came forward to say they were safe, resulting in the removal of 245 names on Friday. Some others are known to have died in the fire, but their remains have not yet been identified.

Gov. Josh Green had said the number of missing would drop to double digits with Friday’s update, but when police released it, there were 263 newly added names, for a new total of 385.

Over the weekend Green posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, seeking to clarify, saying, “The official number has been 385 … but there are only 41 — 41 active investigations after people filed missing persons reports.”

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WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

Formal investigations will aim to determine the cause of the fire and review how officials handled it. But about a dozen lawsuits have already been filed blaming Hawaii Electric Company, the for-profit, investor-owned utility that serves 95% of the state’s electric customers.

Among the lawsuits is one by Maui County accusing the utility of negligently failing to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.

Hawaii Electric has said in a statement that it is “very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding.”

Other lawsuits have come from residents who lost their homes. On Monday, the father of Rebecca Rans, a 57-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis who died while trying to escape the fire, sued Maui County, the state, Hawaiian Electric and the state’s largest landowner, Kamehameha Schools, a charitable trust formerly known as the Bishop Estate.

The lawsuit alleges that the county and the Bishop Estate failed to maintain their land by mowing or otherwise removing the dry, invasive grasses that have taken over former sugar and pineapple plantations in the region and which helped fuel the fires on Aug. 8.

“All the landowners knew how dangerous it was to have that huge volume of dry grass next to subdivisions, and could have saved hundreds of lives at a cost of less than $1,000 per acre to cut the brush down,” attorney James Bickerton said in a news release.

The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to the county. The Department of the Attorney General said in a written statement that the state is reviewing the lawsuit, and Hawaiian Electric declined to comment in an email sent by spokesperson Darren Pai.

“Our hearts are with all affected by the Maui fires,” Kamehameha Schools said in a written statement. “We are committed to restoring our Native Hawaiian people and culture through education, which includes stewarding and uplifting the health and resiliency of our ’āina (lands) and Native communities. As many aspects of the fires are still under investigation, we have no further comment at this time.”

In another case, lawyers representing Lahaina residents and business owners claim that cable TV and phone companies overloaded and destabilized some utility poles, which snapped in high winds, helping cause the fire.

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HOW IS THE GOVERNMENT HELPING PEOPLE?

Much of the immediate disaster relief aid has been organized by community members, such as a supply distribution center operating out of a Hawaiian homestead community in Lahaina where most of the homes survived.

Hawaii U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said during remarks Tuesday on the Senate floor that federal support must continue.

“It’s our responsibility here in Congress to provide relief — in any way that we can, for as long as people need it,” he said.

As of Monday night, 5,852 people were staying at 24 hotels serving as temporary shelters around Maui, according to the county.

At the hotels, they’re receiving American Red Cross services including meals, mental health support and financial assistance.

More than 1,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel have been on Maui helping survivors, Schatz said.

FEMA will also need to complete “one of the most complex debris removal operations in its history,” he said, which may take as long as a year and cost up to a billion dollars.

Gov. Green said in a video on social media Monday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cleared more than 200 parcels.

“This is important because we can start getting people back to inspect their own land and get some closure soon,” he said.

FEMA has given up to $19.4 million of assistance, Green said.

Help is also coming from the rich and famous: Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson announced the creation of a $10 million fund to make direct payments to people on Maui who are unable to return to their homes.

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SHOULD TOURISTS VISIT MAUI?

Officials said last week that the visitor traffic to the island has dropped 70% since Aug. 9, the day after Lahaina burned. Maui relies heavily on tourism for jobs, and the economy is reeling.

Lahaina’s restaurants and historic sites, once popular tourist draws, are now charred ruins. Large resort hotels farther up the west coast of Maui were spared but are now housing displaced residents.

Authorities are encouraging travelers to visit the island and support the economy, but ask that they avoid west Maui and instead stay in other areas like Kihei and Wailea.

Celebrities including Native Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa and Aerosmith singer and Maui homeowner Steven Tyler are also among those urging people to visit.

“Everything’s beautiful, except we gotta come there and make it more beautiful, OK?” Tyler said during a weekend concert in Philadelphia.

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Johnson reported from Seattle.