Stories by Allan Parachini

PARACHINI: Life won’t be normal any time soon

After President Trump’s chief of staff told the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration he’d be fired Friday if the agency didn’t approve the first COVID-19 vaccine for distribution that very day, it appears that the distorted political process of developing immunizations for the virus is running its course.

Princeville residents at odds with association

PRINCEVILLE — The Princeville homeowners association on Friday sought resident reaction to a controversial proposal by Starwood Capital Group, owner of the former Princeville Resort and two nearby golf courses, to build a 50-unit, luxury camping resort on what is now three golf holes.

Ige should approve Kawakami’s proposals

Gov. David Ige may be on the cusp of making one of the worst political and public health mistakes of his entire term in office, with officials on Kauai concerned the governor has still failed to act on Mayor Derek Kawakami’s latest proposals to control COVID-19 on our island.

PARACHINI: Do everything we can to protect ourselves

Today is the day. At 6:44 a.m., Hawaiian Airlines flight 123 will arrive from Honolulu, presumably bringing the first tourists to enter Kauai under Gov. David Ige’s new policy of allowing people who have had a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours to avoid quarantine.

Pro-Trump rally infiltrated

Black Lives Matter counter-protesters — one dressed in Ku Klux Klan garb and another as a Boogaloo Boi wearing an aloha shirt and mask of President Donald Trump — infiltrated a pro-Trump rally in Kapa‘a Friday afternoon and briefly baffled several hundred people who drove by on Kuhio Highway.

Kawakami asks Ige to approve post-travel program

Kauai County inched closer on Thursday to a two-test system to detect COVID-19 infections once the state opens further to tourism on Oct. 15 as Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami formally asked the governor’s office to approve a program to require a second test for the virus after visitors arrive on the island.

‘Glamping’ plan has Princeville residents up in arms

A proposal by the Miami investment firm redeveloping the former Princeville resort and adjoining Makai Golf Club has stirred new controversy by proposing a 50-unit luxury camping resort that would be built, to open in 2022, on three holes of one of the property’s two golf courses.

COVID scammers target Kauai residents, KPD issues warning

LIHU‘E — The COVID scammers are trying to strengthen their grip on Kaua‘i. That was the word Tuesday from the Kaua‘i Police Department, with investigators saying several new fraud schemes have cropped up in recent days.

Coco Palms status hearing ‘ignominious’

In the history of the Kaua‘i County Planning Commission, its meeting this past Tuesday to hear a status report on the derelict former Coco Palms Resort in Wailua may rank as one of the most ignominious gatherings it has ever held.

Traveler quarantine extended until Sept. 1

LIHU‘E — State officials will postpone a plan to permit tourists to travel to Hawai‘i if they obtain a negative test for COVID-19 within 72 hours of departure for at least 30 days, until Sept. 1.

Reservations about reopening

LIHU‘E — Gov. David Ige and Hawai‘i’s four county mayors met Thursday for the third time this week to try to address the increasingly urgent question of whether the state can safely reopen to tourists on Aug. 1. But the group adjourned late in the afternoon without making any final decision.

Don’t reopen state to westbound visitors August 1

Gov. David Ige is expected to videoconference again with the state’s four mayors today, and a key topic in the discussion, according to sources familiar with the situation, is whether Hawai‘i can safely reopen to tourism on August 1 as previously announced.

Group wants double testing

LIHU‘E — A committee of doctors and community leaders is considering a proposal to Gov. David Ige to test a tourist-entry system that would require visitors to Kauai to be tested for COVID-19 before they depart and again after they arrive, with a five- or six-day quarantine in between.

Let’s not repeat folly of drug-treatment center

A little less than two years ago, I was writing a story on how Kaua‘i, which had managed to lag behind the opioid crisis that has so decimated mainland communities, was finally experiencing inevitable incursions of drugs like Fentanyl and Oxycontin.

Valenciano to rule on Coco Palms foreclosure case

LIHU‘E — A state Circuit Court judge on Tuesday allowed one of the would-be Honolulu redevelopers of the iconic Coco Palms Resort in Wailua to lodge a last-minute objection to a proposed agreement that would send the troubled hotel to the foreclosure auction block.

DOH targets Malama Meals

LIHU‘E —The state Department of Health on Monday issued a cease-and-desist order shutting down a program that flew hot, prepared meals from Honolulu to Kaua‘i, concluding that the organization violated six food safety standards.