Showing posts with label Thursday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thursday. Show all posts

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Top Hawaii Headlines: Thursday morning edition

Hawaii continues to have the lowest rate of gun-related deaths in the nation, which state officials and a national organization attribute to Hawaii's strict gun laws and low gun ownership.

The Army yesterday said it has given up efforts to retry 1st Lt. Ehren Watada on three charges for refusing to deploy to Iraq in 2006, but has not made up its mind about two other court-martial charges or the possibility of administrative punishment.

The state's $5-billion-a-year budget and an estimated $300 million in tax increases are to be decided in vetoes and possible overrides today and tomorrow.

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday continued to denounce tax increases approved by the Legislature when she took her message of no new taxes to the people in a live webcast. The governor's Web site was overloaded during the 4:15 p.m. time slot and many late-arriving viewers had trouble loading the page.

A bill that aims to plug a $150 million hole in the state's two-year budget also portends the demise of the state's burgeoning high-technology industry, some lawmakers say.

Two more O'ahu adults appear to have contracted swine flu, which would bring the number of Hawai'i cases to five.

One of two men who allegedly killed and ate a family's pet dog pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree animal cruelty.

Property taxes would be held steady and free bus service continued, but the county's 2 percent land fund would be suspended and prime Hamakua acreage sold under an amended budget Mayor Billy Kenoi released Tuesday.

Furloughs of nonunion county legislative and executive branch workers are off the table in Hawaii County.

As negotiations continue to lay the groundwork for a new Target and expanded Safeway store in Hilo, a final environmental assessment anticipates no significant impacts.

A jury on Wednesday found Kelii Acasia guilty of manslaughter for the beating death of a man in Waikiki last year.

Five Keanae residents launched a campaign this week to stop the state Department of Education from permanently closing the one-room schoolhouse in their remote East Maui community.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Top Hawaii Headlines: Thursday morning edition

In a compromise that could help candidates for governor in 2010 with fundraising, state House and Senate negotiators agreed yesterday to relax a limit on Mainland political contributions.

Legislative leaders are saying a plan to take the hotel room tax money from the counties might not be needed and that lawmakers might not be able to override a veto anyway.

A "handful" of suspect patients in Hawai'i have been cleared for swine flu, including one who had traveled to Mexico, state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said at a Capitol press conference yesterday.

The Caltech Institute of Technology is expected to announce on Thursday plans to decommission the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory.

Fire investigators ruled the house fire in Makiki that killed two people last week was intentionally set.

Maui County visitor traffic in March plunged 25.8 percent from the same month a year ago, to 168,546, according to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

A swarm of some 300 to 400 community members converged Wednesday at the doors to the Kaua‘i Community College One Stop Center for a job fair where pickings were slim.

Divers have begun the task of collecting, storing and relocating coral that was dislodged when a 9,600-ton warship ran aground off the reef runway in February.

It costs taxpayers more than $3 million a year. But unlike other purchases made by Hawaii County government, the leasing of private property doesn't have to go out to bid and the county can pay more than appraised value.

Kulani Correctional Facility inmates can breathe easier now -- on the taxpayer's dime.

The eighth annual Free Comic Book Day is coming Saturday, May 2 to eleven public libraries on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island.

It's a unique organization uniting island video-gamers. Members meet face-to-face instead of competing with one another online.