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Visit lahaina - maui, hawaii - inter-island steam navigation company - front street, kerne erickson.

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Signing and Release of 2021 Official Lahaina Poster

Village Gallery will host Lahaina artist, Jim Kingwell on Friday Jan. 8 for the release and signing of the Official 2021 Lahaina Poster.  The signing will be held on the large, front lānai of Village Gallery, 120 Dickenson Street between 5 and 8 p.m. during Friday Night is Art Night. 

“Village by the Sea”, a watercolor by Kingwell, was chosen as the official Lahaina Poster image by Juror and esteemed artist, George Allan from a field of 36 entries.  The Lahaina Poster Contest show will conclude on Friday evening, Jan. 8 at Village Gallery. 

Kingwell has been painting in oil and watercolor for over 30 years and maintains a gallery in Lahaina just a few steps back from Front Street, across from Kimo’s restaurant.  He calls his style “Romantic Realism”.

Lahaina Restoration Foundation will produce a numbered, signed, limited edition of 1,000 posters which will be for sale at Village Galleries and other locations around Lahaina. Proceeds from the sale of the poster will fund promotional efforts for Historic Lahaina Town. The poster will be printed at Island Printing and Imaging in Lahaina.  The poster is 16” x 20” with the year 2021 printed beneath the image. Price is $30 and shipping, if desired, is additional.

With 21 art galleries located in a walkable four block area, Lahaina has often been called the “Art Capital of the Pacific”.  Friday Night is Art Night in Lahaina, ongoing since 1989,  is currently celebrated every Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. in 18 of the town’s art galleries. 

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2023 Lahaina Poster

Click on the link below to purchase the 2023 Lahaina Poster

https://lahainarestoration.org/product/2023-lahaina-poster/

Laurie Robbins Miller’s artwork, “Banyan Tree Bliss” the winner of the 2023 Lahaina Poster Contest Limited Edition Of 1,000 Posters Celebrating its 35th consecutive year The Lahaina Poster, chosen annually is the official poster for the town of Lahaina Poster Measures 16" x 20"

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Alexander & Baldwin

Introducing the Lahaina waterfront Poster 2024, the perfect addition to any home or office space! Capturing the essence of the charming Lahaina town, this poster is an ode to its beautiful waterfront. The detailed artwork and vibrant colors evoke memories of Lahaina's rich history and culture, transporting you back in time. This poster is a wonderful piece of artwork for everyone who wants to remember Lahaina's beauty forever. Don't miss out on this limited edition poster and add it to your collection today!  Poster measures W 16 x L 20

REMEMBERING LAHAINA - POSTER 2024

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Pacifica Island Art Visit Lahaina - Maui Hawaii - Vintage Hawaiian Travel Poster by Kerne Erickson - 8 x 12 inch Vintage Metal Tin Sign

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• Wall Art Decor: Printed on Heavyweight Tin Metal (0.40 mil) with a Matte Finish
• Archival Inks: UV Fade resistant pigmented inks with print permanence duration
• Ready To Hang: 4 Pre-drilled Holes for Easy Mounting. Hazard-Free Rounded Edges
• Print Size: 8 x 12 inch (20 x 30cm) Overall Size
• Printed on Demand: Then carefully packaged in sturdy cardboard mailers or tubes

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Enjoy a taste of Aloha with these vintage-style Metal Art Tin Signs. They will perfectly accent any kitchen, home, Tiki bar, pub, game room, office or garage. - ABOUT THE ARTIST - Kerne Erickson - For over 30 years, award-winning artist Kerne Erickson’s retro-style travel posters have been taking viewers ‘on location’ to popular destinations around the globe. Inspired by vintage vacation photos, brochures and other graphics, his depictions are painstakingly researched and meticulously depicted for historical accuracy as well as irresistible nostalgia. At a time when sterile, computer-generated art has become popular, it’s refreshing to see an artist like Kerne who can work his way from a well composed pencil drawing, through transparent layers of under painting, building depth and tonality until finally adding the finishing touches that bring the work into focus. His work is a perfect blend of traditional technique and modern painting mediums. Erickson, a graduate of Los Angeles Art Center College, worked for years as a freelance graphic artist on client commissions which served to develop his distinctive style. He is now a freelance artist working at his home in Orange County, California where he lives with his family.

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Founded in 1991 and based on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii.

We publish Hawaiian Fine Art, Photographs and Vintage Images in the form of Prints & Posters, Wall Calendars, Greeting Cards, Postcards, Gift items and more.

Our love for Vintage Art led us to collecting old airline and travel posters with graphic art depicting worldwide destinations.

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For the production of fine art prints, we use a state of the art 10 color fine art Epson large format printer and print on heavyweight paper using archival quality pigmented inks.

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The mission of our company is to work together in harmony and to spread the Spirit of Aloha throughout the world with images that inspire and bring joy to people’s lives.

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" Love the retro design . The soft pastel colors showcasing a time long ago in Lahaina is beautiful. So glad I bought the 16x20 size." Read more

" Beautiful print !!" Read more

" Super great print of old Lahaina . Not the newer prints that have no nostalgia Bought more after this one." Read more

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"Love the retro design. The soft pastel colors showcasing a time long ago in Lahaina is beautiful. So glad I bought the 16x20 size." Read more

"Really high quality! Good solid metal, not too thin or flimsy. Nice color . Shipped faster than expected...." Read more

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Hawaii lawmakers take aim at vacation rentals after Lahaina wildfire amplifies Maui housing crisis

H ONOLULU (AP) — Amy Chadwick spent years scrimping and saving as a single mother of two to buy a house in the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. But after a devastating fire leveled Lahaina in August and reduced Chadwick's home to white dust, the cheapest rental she and her now-husband could find for their family and dogs cost $10,000 a month.

Chadwick, a fine-dining server, moved to Florida where she could stretch her homeowners insurance dollars. She’s worried Maui’s exorbitant rental prices, driven in part by vacation rentals that hog a limited housing supply, will hollow out her tight-knit town.

Most people in Lahaina work for hotels, restaurants and tour companies and can’t afford $5,000 to $10,000 a month in rent, she said.

“You’re pushing out an entire community of service industry people. So no one’s going to be able to support the tourism that you’re putting ahead of your community,” Chadwick said by phone from her new home in Satellite Beach on Florida’s Space Coast. “Nothing good is going to come of it unless they take a serious stance, putting their foot down and really regulating these short-term rentals.”

The Aug. 8 wildfire killed 101 people and destroyed housing for 6,200 families, amplifying Maui's already acute housing shortage and laying bare the enormous presence of vacation rentals in Lahaina. It reminded lawmakers that short-term rentals are an issue across Hawaii, prompting them to consider bills that would give counties the authority to phase them out.

Gov. Josh Green got so frustrated he blurted out an expletive during a recent news conference.

“This fire uncovered a clear truth, which is we have too many short-term rentals owned by too many individuals on the mainland and it is b———t,” Green said. “And our people deserve housing, here.”

Vacation rentals are a popular alternative to hotels for those seeking kitchens, lower costs and opportunities to sample everyday island life. Supporters say they boost tourism, the state's biggest employer. Critics revile them for inflating housing costs, upending neighborhoods and contributing to the forces pushing locals and Native Hawaiians to leave Hawaii for less expensive states.

This migration has become a major concern in Lahaina. The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, a nonprofit, estimates at least 1,500 households — or a quarter of those who lost their homes — have left since the August wildfire.

The blaze burned single family homes and apartments in and around downtown, which is the core of Lahaina's residential housing. An analysis by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization found a relatively low 7.5% of units there were vacation rentals as of February 2023.

Lahaina neighborhoods spared by the fire have a much higher ratio of vacation rentals: About half the housing in Napili, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) north of the burn zone, is short-term rentals.

Napili is where Chadwick thought she found a place to buy when she first went house hunting in 2016. But a Canadian woman secured it with a cash offer and turned it into a vacation rental.

Also outside the burn zone are dozens of short-term rental condominium buildings erected decades ago on land zoned for apartments.

In 1992, Maui County explicitly allowed owners in these buildings to rent units for less than 180 days at a time even without short-term rental permits. Since November, activists have occupied the beach in front of Lahaina's biggest hotels to push the mayor or governor to use their emergency powers to revoke this exemption.

Money is a powerful incentive for owners to rent to travelers: a 2016 report prepared for the state found a Honolulu vacation rental generates 3.5 times the revenue of a long-term rental.

State Rep. Luke Evslin, the Housing Committee chair, said Maui and Kauai counties have suffered net losses of residential housing in recent years thanks to a paucity of new construction and the conversion of so many homes to short-term rentals.

“Every alarm bell we have should be ringing when we’re literally going backwards in our goal to provide more housing in Hawaii,” he said.

In his own Kauai district, Evslin sees people leaving, becoming homeless or working three jobs to stay afloat.

The Democrat was one of 47 House members who co-sponsored one version of legislation that would allow short-term rentals to be phased out. One objective is to give counties more power after a U.S. judge ruled in 2022 that Honolulu violated state law when it attempted to prohibit rentals for less than 90 days. Evslin said that decision left Hawaii's counties with limited tools, such as property taxes, to control vacation rentals.

Lawmakers also considered trying to boost Hawaii's housing supply by forcing counties to allow more houses to be built on individual lots. But they watered down the measure after local officials said they were already exploring the idea.

Short-term rental owners said a phase-out would violate their property rights and take their property without compensation, potentially pushing them into foreclosure. Some predicted legal challenges.

Alicia Humiston, president of the Rentals by Owner Awareness Association, said some areas in West Maui were designed for travelers and therefore lack schools and other infrastructure families need.

“This area in West Maui that is sort of like this resort apartment zone — that’s all north of Lahaina — it was never built to be local living,” Humiston said.

One housing advocate argues that just because a community allowed vacation rentals decades ago doesn't mean it still needs to now.

"We are not living in the 1990s or in the 1970s,” said Sterling Higa, executive director of Housing Hawaii's Future. Counties “should have the authority to look at existing laws and reform them as necessary to provide for the public good.”

Courtney Lazo, a real estate agent who is part of Lahaina Strong, the group occupying Kaanapali Beach, said tourists can stay in her hometown now but many locals can't.

“How do you expect a community to recover and heal and move forward when the people who make Lahaina, Lahaina, aren’t even there anymore?” she said at a recent news conference as her voice quivered. “They’re moving away.”

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This art print displays sharp, vivid images with a high degree of color accuracy. A member of the versatile family of art prints, this high-quality reproduction represents the best of both worlds: quality and affordability. Art prints are created using a digital or offset lithography press.

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Product ID: 17132627

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Visit Postbac Poster Day, May 1-2

NIH Postbaccalaureate Poster Day will take place on May 1-2 in Natcher Conference Center, Bldg. 45. Intramural postbacs will share the research they have been conducting. Posters will be judged by teams of graduate students, postdocs and staff scientists/clinicians. Authors of the top 20 percent will be acknowledged with a letter. Investigators, staff scientists and scientific administrators make a particularly important contribution by visiting posters and engaging authors in discussion. For details, visit https://www.training.nih.gov/me/ppd/ .

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Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson pledged $10M for Maui wildfire survivors. They gave much more

FILE - Dwayne Johnson attends the world premiere of “Black Adam” in New York on Oct. 12, 2022, left, and Oprah Winfrey appears at the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans on June 30, 2023. The nonprofit Entertainment Industry Foundation says the People’s Fund of Maui, which was started by Winfrey and Johnson to benefit survivors of the wildfires last summer, has given away almost $60 million over six months to 8,100 adults. (AP Photo)

FILE - Wilted palm trees line a destroyed property, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The nonprofit Entertainment Industry Foundation says the People’s Fund of Maui, which was started by Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson to benefit survivors of the wildfires last summer, has given away almost $60 million over six months to 8,100 adults. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

FILE - The aftermath of a wildfire is visible in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 17, 2023. The nonprofit Entertainment Industry Foundation says the People’s Fund of Maui, which was started by Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson to benefit survivors of the wildfires last summer, has given away almost $60 million over six months to 8,100 adults. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

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Lana Vierra misses the swing set at her Lahaina home, which was reduced to ashes in the wildfires that swept through her community last summer.

“Multiple generations went through there playing in my front yard,” she said. “Just with the animals and the turtles and the deer and goats that we once had in that little tiny yard.”

A grandmother of four and a mother of five, Vierra had lived in the home on a corner lot since 1991. She and ten family members, including a baby less than one year old, were displaced in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. In the weeks that followed, she and her adult children applied for and received many different kinds of assistance, including from the People’s Fund of Maui, an initiative set up by Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson .

All of them, except one adult son, have since received six monthly payments of $1,200 directly in their bank accounts from the People’s Fund. Vierra credits the payments with helping them stay current on their mortgage, which they had to pay even though the house was destroyed. When she learned she would receive direct payments, she said, “That was in the back of my head that if I had to use it, I had it. And it would probably save my house.”

AP AUDIO: Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson pledged $10M for Maui wildfire survivors. They gave much more.

AP correspondent Norman Hall reports on Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson’s large donations to Maui wildfire survivors.

When Winfrey and Johnson launched the People’s Fund for Maui, which benefitted people who lost their homes in the wildfires, they committed $10 million and asked others to join them. At the time, the request was met with some criticism, given especially Winfrey’s wealth and extensive estate in Maui.

In the end, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a longtime nonprofit that helps celebrities administer charitable work and that managed the distribution of the funds, said it raised almost $60 million. That money was dispersed between September and February to some 8,100 adults — a significant portion of the 12,000 people the state of Hawaii estimates were displaced.

The foundation wouldn’t say exactly how much Winfrey and Johnson gave in total, but a list of other contributors indicates the bulk came from them. EIF said more than 20,000 individuals and companies donated to the fund.

In September, Winfrey posted a video on social media thanking supporters, saying, “Your generosity, I guarantee you, is going to touch the lives of many families.”

Over many years, the disaster response community has grown to trust direct cash transfers like these as a very useful tool, said Shannon Doocy, a professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Despite initial fears of misuse, she said, research has shown cash transfers overwhelmingly benefit the intended recipients who spend it on essentials like housing and food.

The aftermath of a wildfire is visible in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

“Generally, there’s the idea that cash provides dignity and choice, that it’s a more cost effective use of assistance, ” said Doocy. “Because not every household has the exact same needs, and households know their needs better than outside organizations.”

Many nonprofits and government programs now use direct cash transfers, including others in Maui, following disasters.

Vierra’s family has tried to save all the money they’ve received, including from a GoFundMe that family members set up, direct gifts strangers sent to her daughter’s Venmo account and a gift from a fundraiser Fox News host Will Cain started. They will need that money — and more — to rebuild, though those plans are still very distant.

She said they are extremely grateful to everyone who donated and for the mutual aid efforts that were set up immediately after the fires. Those local efforts were how most people received assistance in the first weeks after the fire, said Maui-based attorney Lance Collins, who is representing some survivors.

“People felt that, in general, there was a tremendous outpouring of generosity by individuals and community groups and I think that Oprah and The Rock fell into that category,” he said.

Wilted palm trees line a destroyed property, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

Most of Vierra’s family has been staying in hotels , an initial boon to the disaster response in a community where demand for housing was already extremely high before 12,000 people lost their homes in the fires. However, uncertainty and issues with mental health have been growing among those staying in hotels, according to nonprofits working with them, said Lauren Nahme, senior vice president of the Maui Recovery Effort at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation.

In January, state and county governments along with the foundation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a $500 million commitment to build 3,000 housing units that would offer displaced people shelter for at least 18 months. The foundation committed $50 million to the effort, its single largest grant from its Maui Strong fund, which it opened immediately after the wildfires. In total, the fund raised $189 million from more than 250,000 people all over the world.

The foundation followed a disaster response plan it had crafted in 2019, in anticipation of a possible catastrophic event. It has paid out $89 million in grants so far, purposefully directing the majority of its support toward recovery and stabilization efforts which will extend over months and years. This is the work that direct cash transfers won’t address, including providing services, strengthening social support systems and rebuilding with the next potential disaster in mind.

Kaimana Brummel, who leads fundraising at Seabury Hall, a private school in Maui, was invited to offer some thoughts about the design of the People’s Fund of Maui. She said she suggested that the fund make every adult who was displaced eligible for a direct cash transfer instead of just every household.

Brummel said what she saw of Winfrey and Johnson’s approach made her feel that they were approaching this gift with the spirit of a Hawaiian word, “‘kahiau.’ And it means to give lavishly, with no expectation of getting anything in return.”

Barry Probst, a therapist whose family has lived on Lahaina for four generations, said the absolute best case scenario is that he and his wife would rebuild and move into a new home in 2026. They are lucky to stay in a second bedroom of a condo owned by good friends, who spend half the year in Hawaii. He’s used the funds he received from the People’s Fund of Maui to twice pay for repairing his car and also to complete an intensive training on trauma treatment he hopes to use to help others in the community.

“For the rest of the world, August 8th was an event that happened and they go on with the rest of their lives and rightfully so,” said Probst. “But for us that were directly impacted and live here, it’s something that we have to navigate on a daily basis.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy .

Former police officer wanted after 2 women are found dead and a child is abducted

Police in Washington state are urgently searching for a former officer suspected in the killings of his ex-wife and a girlfriend and the kidnapping of a 1-year-old boy, authorities said.

The former officer, Elias Huizar, is “armed and considered dangerous, and is likely to commit more crimes,” the West Richland Police Department said.

He was due to appear in court Monday on charges of child rape, according to NBC affiliate KNDU of the Tri-Cities area.

Police initially identified him as a person of interest after a woman was fatally shot at the end of the school day at Wiley Elementary School in West Richland.

Officers were called at 3:23 p.m. Monday and found “one adult female was pronounced deceased at the scene outside of the school,” police said in a statement. The victim was not identified.

The shooter fled the scene and the school was placed on lockdown, police said. No one else was injured in the shooting, the department added, noting that it was thought to be an isolated incident.

Later Monday, police said the body of a second woman was found at Huizar’s home after they obtained a search warrant. No information was given about the woman except that she was “a known associate of the suspect.”

Washington State Patrol issued an Amber Alert for Roman Huizar, described as 2 feet tall and 25 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Though Huizar and the missing child share the same last name, the relationship between them was not immediately clear Tuesday.

The alert also said the women killed were Huizar's ex-wife and girlfriend.

Huizar is described as 5 feet, 6 inches tall and 170 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and was driving a silver 2009 Toyota Corolla with Washington plates CBZ4745, according to the alert.

However, Portland police told West Richland authorities that Huizar was seen in the Oregon city overnight, possibly driving a black sedan. 

"All resources are following up on this lead," West Richland police said.

He previously appeared in court Feb. 15, where a lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Court documents seen by KNDU said that Huizar is alleged to have sexually assaulted a teenager while she was sleeping in his home in February this year. This was witnessed and reported by another teenager, the documents say.

No-contact orders were issued for the alleged victims in the case, who were described as teenagers, meaning Huizar can’t go within 1,000 feet of their schools, homes or workplaces, or have any contact with minors under 16.

During the February hearing, prosecuting attorney Anita Petra said that the order would ban contact between Huizar and his own child.

The Yakima Police Department said Huizar was an officer there from 2013 to 2022.

"He did serve as a school resource officer for a period of time, at a couple schools during his employment. Mr. Huizar resigned in February of 2022, immediately following discipline," a department spokesperson said.

Details on the punishment and what led to disciplinary action were not released.

The West Richland Police Department will hold a news conference regarding the latest developments in the search for Huizar at 2 p.m. local time.

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.