Top Hawaii Headlines: Wednesday morning edition

Gov. Linda Lingle is warning public employee unions that those who bargain with the state now will get a better settlement than those who stall.

Gov. Linda Lingle accused majority Democrats yesterday of giving government labor unions a "false sense of hope" that the tax increases they have approved would help soften wage and benefit cuts in collective bargaining.

Healthcare costs are taking up an increasing share of people's budgets in Hawai'i, with 262,000 residents now paying more than 10 percent of their income for healthcare.

The fate of a lawsuit that challenged the state's title to lands once held by the Hawaiian monarchy now rests with Gov. Linda Lingle, who took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the state on Tuesday announced an agreement over the sale of ceded lands.

From slamming the Hawaii Superferry exemption law to revealing debt-management counselors' deceptive practices, a new report provides a round-up of all the recommendations made last year by the state Office of the Auditor.

Third Circuit Court Senior Administrative Judge Ronald Ibarra entered his third 10-year
term as a Circuit Court judge Monday evening.

The state has identified 39 individuals and businesses who could help solve its budget crisis -- by simply paying millions in overdue taxes.

State health leaders are investigating the sudden death of Kurt Sonoda, a teacher and golf coach at Pearl City High School who contracted a flesh-eating bacteria. Officials say the 45-year-old was sent home from work on Thursday because he felt sick

The Maui Fire Department’s Air One helicopter lifted firefighters into an inaccessible area of Huelo on Monday afternoon to recover the body of a young woman found at the base of a 180-foot waterfall.

It's called the "greatest game of all time" by Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. Tetris was born in Russia, but a local man gave life to it, making it an international phenomenon.

Top Hawaii Headlines: Wednesday morning edition

"A handful" of people in the Islands — including one arriving from Mexico — are being tested for swine flu, state health officials said yesterday. None of the cases has been confirmed, state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park emphasized yesterday at a Capitol press conference.

The Lingle administration is giving public employee unions until Friday to accept furloughs of up to 37.5 days a year or face unilateral action by the state, according to state union leaders.

Hawaii's visitor arrivals plummeted 16.6 percent in March, which marked a full year of declines for the state's lead tourism industry, according to preliminary research released today by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

Puna Rep. Faye Hanohano has mailed 1,200 newsletters accusing the University of Hawaii of desecrating Mauna Kea by allowing telescope development on the sacred summit.

A federal judge has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Washington who police said was the head of a conspiracy to distribute cocaine on the Big Island.

Clear Channel Radio Hawaii on Tuesday announced it is changing some of its radio personality teams and letting go some others.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has put Lanai City on its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The old section of Lanai City, built for pineapple workers in the 1920s, is described as "the last remaining intact plantation town in Hawaii," by Richard Moe, president of the National Trust.

The Maui County Council Budget and Finance Committee on Monday voted 7-0 to recommend a $549.7 million budget for 2010, with cuts in spending that reflect the county's tight economy.

The prospect of using sugar cane to produce ethanol and electricity remains uncertain for Gay & Robinson Inc. as financial concerns force the historic Westside company to seek out a different crop. Corn is in.

Top Hawaii Headlines: Wednesday morning edition

Honolulu residents have been registering guns this year at a blistering pace that, if kept up, would result in 18,900 firearms registered this year, a possible 13.5 percent jump from last year, reflecting national trends.

Gov. Linda Lingle will sign a bill today allowing married couples and others to live in the same residential care facility. Currently, two non-Medicaid patients cannot live in the same adult residential foster home, even if the two people are married. But the bill will allow married couples, reciprocal beneficiaries, siblings, the parents of a child or best friends to do so.

Hononulu tries online voting. The Neighborhood Commission Office has entered into a contract with San Diego-based Everyone Counts, Inc. for online voting services in the 2009 Neighborhood Board elections, the city announced yesterday.

The House and Senate are expected to vote this afternoon on Senate Bill 1111, which would raise the state's 7.25 percent Transient Accommodations Tax 1 percentage point this year and an additional 2 percentage points next year to 10.25 percent.

Hawaii County must have really hated parting with a landfill bulldozer it sold as surplus in 2000. Hated it so much, in fact, the county's been leasing it back for almost $15,000 a month.

Just days after announcing in no uncertain terms that his office won't tolerate employees politicking on the Internet, Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi found himself defending the use of his own county address, e-mail address and telephone number to register his campaign Web site for mayor.

A bill in the state Legislature that would have banned pit bull dogs or puppies in Hawaii appears dead -- at least for this session.

The University of Hawaii Warrior football team is in their final week of spring practice, and so far, head coach Greg McMackin is pleased with the overall progression of the entire squad, including the secondary unit who entered spring with a big question mark.

If you are seriously delinquent in paying your taxes, look out. On Friday, the state Department of Taxation will post the names of the biggest tax delinquents in the state on the Internet.

Second Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza has ruled there's no constitutional right to engage in recreational dancing, dismissing a lawsuit by a group that has challenged a Maui County Department of Liquor Control rule on dancing in bars. Maui Dance Advocates and its president, Ramoda Anand, filed the lawsuit over the rule that prohibits dancing in businesses that serve alcohol, unless there's a designated dance floor in an area where alcohol isn't consumed.

James Pflueger made his first physical appearance in a Kaua‘i courtroom Tuesday, sitting in the gallery alongside family and friends as a handful of his attorneys argued a pair of motions in the manslaughter case stemming from the Ka Loko Reservoir Dam breach three years ago.