She joined the parent company of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2003. Earlier, Schaefers was a staff writer for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., in the Amelia Island-Fernandina Beach bureau. Schaefers also has served as news editor for the Camden County Tribune. She has worked alongside the White House Press Corps during President Barack Obama’s many Hawaii visits. Her byline has appeared in HILuxury Magazine, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.
Schaefers has been honored three times in the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW)’s national business-writing contest. She has journalistic awards from the Best of the West regional contest and more than 20 state awards from Georgia and Hawaii.
She reported abroad during several fellowship programs, including the Foreign Press Center’s Japan Fellowship Program; the Jefferson Fellowship Program at the University of Hawaii’s East West Center; and the United Nations Development Program.
Crime in most categories, including violent ones, has dropped by double digits in Waikiki since Safe & Sound Waikiki started 18 months ago to address community concerns over mounting criminal activity and increased homelessness. Read more
A consumer antitrust lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Hawaii seeks to stop the acquisition of the 95-year-old Hawaiian Airlines by Alaska Airlines on the grounds that the merger would result in higher fares, fewer flights, job losses, and cause injury to Hawaii’s economy. Read more
Volunteers are the lifeblood of many Hawaii nonprofits, and volunteering provides health benefits; yet, Hawaii has one of the worst rates of volunteerism in the United States. Read more
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Maui’s west-side commercial boating operators are getting some relief from the business impacts of the Maui wildfires with the state’s decision to lift temporary restrictions at Mala Wharf and its announcement that the rebuilding of a fueling system is underway at Lahaina Small Boat Harbor. Read more
AES Hawai‘i is launching the West Oahu solar-plus-storage project in Kapolei, which will produce enough energy to reduce Oahu’s use of fossil fuels by 750,000 barrels of oil and the associated pollution and greenhouse gases emitted over its lifetime. Read more
Total sales volume for the Hawaii investment market in 2023 declined 18.6% to $1.93 billion from $2.37 billion in 2022. Read more
State officials say that “until funding becomes available, there is no way to set a timeline for reopening (Lahaina Harbor).” Read more
Sales volume dipped for both single-family homes and condominiums in March after a two-month hiatus from the declines that accompanied rising interest rates. Read more
“Celebrate a Legacy in Tourism,” the largest fundraiser for the University of Hawaii School of Travel Industry Management at the Shidler College of Business, has set a record and is expected to support about three times the student scholarships that it did two years ago. Read more
The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a request for community comments Wednesday, while confirming receipt of proposals from Mokulele Airlines and Pacific Air Charters Inc. Read more
Forget the Easter bunny. Rigoberto Gomez and Tara Gomez were searching for a unicorn on Easter — a three bedroom, two bathroom home with solar panels at a price they could afford. Read more
It appears that all three carryover bills to upend HTA from last year have died, including House Bill 1375, Senate Bill 1522 and its companion House Bill 1376. Read more
The only thing robust about Hawaii’s spring break tourist season this year are the discounts. Read more
Visitors spent $57.1 million per day on average in February, a 2.4% decline from February 2023 but up 15.2% from February 2019. Read more
It took serious coordination for students from H.P. Baldwin High School and King Kekaulike High School to lift and carry a “mikoshi,” or portable shrine, on their shoulders through the streets of Waikiki as part of the recent Honolulu Festival’s Grand Parade. Read more
A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday in the 2021 shooting death of a former teenage gang member who as an adult worked at a nonprofit aimed at turning around high-risk youth. Read more
A female hiker in her 20s had been injured and could not return to the trailhead on her own. Read more
Investors hope to convert excess office space into residential rentals and fee-simple housing, hotels, educational space, retail, activity centers, food and beverage venues, and community services like dog parks and senior care. Read more
The event continues today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall. Read more
The full recovery of visitor arrivals from Japan continues to fall short, and tourism officials have said it could be 2026 before the Japan market is restored to its 2019 level of more than 1.5 million visitor arrivals. Read more
A bill that seeks to give the counties the power to control short-term rentals — even phase them out— is still alive after crossing over from the Senate to the House where two House committees moved the measure forward. Read more
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