Hawaii officials aim to help Lahaina rebuild after wildfires ravaged historic town
CBSN
Local officials in Hawaii plan to open an office that will speed up Maui County's notoriously slow processing of building permits to help the town of Lahaina to recover from last year's deadly wildfire.
Keanu Lau Hee, the county's deputy managing director, told a community meeting in Lahaina that a County Expedited Permitting Center will open in April. She said the county has selected a vendor to it help review applications.
"If any of you have had the pleasure of filing a permit with the county - we're not that quick," she said at the meeting, which was held on Wednesday and streamed online.

Another winter storm may be headed toward the East Coast of the United States this weekend, on the heels of a powerful and deadly system that blanketed huge swaths of the country in snow and ice. The effects of that original storm have lingered for many areas in its path, and will likely remain as repeated bouts of Arctic air plunge downward from Canada and drive temperatures below freezing. Nikki Nolan contributed to this report. In:

Washington — The Senate is set to take a procedural vote Thursday morning on a package to fund the remaining government agencies and programs, with less than two days to avoid a partial government shutdown. But Democrats say they won't allow the package to move forward without reforms to immigration enforcement. Caitlin Huey-Burns contributed to this report.











