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.
Sunday’s killings, along with the three other recent cases, underscore the need for more awareness about domestic violence and more resources to mitigate the affects of such violence on individuals, families and communities, experts say. Read more
Honolulu police said a Manoa man fatally stabbed his wife and their three children in their home Sunday morning before killing himself in Hawaii’s worst mass homicide since the Xerox shooting in 1999. Read more
Five major airport runway projects totaling more than $520.7 million are moving forward at Hawaii airports this year due to an increase in federal dollars made possible by new types of grant programs, some of which provide multiple awards for a single project. Read more
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. Best of all, it's FREE to sign up!
Visitor arrivals to Hawaii are not expected to fully recover until 2027, according to the latest economic forecast from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Read more
The Hawai‘i Convention Center completed a $225,000 exterior camera installation project just in time to catch footage linked to the shattering of one of its soaring glass windows, worth about $25,000. Read more
TableOne Hospitality, a company that creates exclusive hotel restaurant concepts by world-class chefs, is cooking up at least 12 new restaurants in Hawaii, including its Hawaii flagship restaurant MARA, which opens in April at the Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa. Read more
Honolulu Ocean Safety, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Honolulu Fire Department and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources responded to the incident. Read more
It was the second time in two days that an HPD officer was allegedly assaulted. Read more
Visitors from Japan are expected to double for this year’s Honolulu Festival, a cultural exchange celebrating Japan and the Pacific Rim that kicks off Friday and runs through March 10. Read more
Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at peak times looked like a Disneyland-like labyrinth of lines earlier this week at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. Read more
On any given day in Hawaii there were 242,700 visitors in January, down 6.5% from the 259,514 that were here in January 2023 and a decline of 7.4% from 262,235 visitors in January 2019. Read more
The Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa, across from Ala Moana Center, opens today after a $505 million from-the-ground-up investment that is expected to enliven the district and fill gaps in Oahu’s hotel market, which is mainly located in resorts. Read more
Michael and Merle Ross, first-time visitors from Canada celebrating their fifth anniversary, were in the middle of a tour when they got a text telling them to shelter in place because the Honolulu Police Department was dealing with a barricaded suspect at the Aston Waikiki Sunset, where they were staying. Read more
The Honolulu Fire Department rescued a 43-year-old injured female hiker from Waimano Pool Trail in Pearl City this afternoon by airlift. Read more
The Boeing 787-9s are more fuel-efficient, capable of traveling greater distances. Read more
While the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization is forecasting a slowdown, its latest first-quarter forecast was more optimistic than previous forecasts. Read more
The Hawaii Tourism Authority has launched a new public service campaign, “Makaukau Maui,” which seeks to tell visitors that while historic Lahaina remains closed after the deadly Aug. 8 wildfires, accommodations on West Maui are open and residents are ready to welcome them back. Read more
Honolulu police opened their second murder investigation in two days on Sunday following the fatal stabbing of a 28-year-old man and the injuries of two others early that morning on Makaloa Street in the area of Keeaumoku Street. Read more
The full recovery of visitor arrivals from Japan, one of Hawaii’s most coveted source markets, continues to fall short, and a complete return to 2019 levels could take until 2026. Read more
Firefighters hiked to the woman, who was approximately 20 minutes into the trail. Read more
The airlines now must focus on obtaining needed approval from competition authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general. Read more
73