Lawmakers: Help homeless, congressional candidates face off, Haiti in islanders' thoughts, more

Lawmakers yesterday said more needs to be done to move the chronically homeless out of parks and off the streets and said opening a "homeless campground" could be one solution, especially for those who don't want to move into shelters.

Former Congressman Ed Case, state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou, the three candidates in a special election for Congress, began to differentiate themselves for voters yesterday in the first public event of the campaign.

Former Rep. Ed Case says Senate President Colleen Hanabusa cannot run for Congress while she is leading the state Senate. He called on her to pick one or the other.

Forty-four agricultural workers from Thailand were forced to work on Aloun Farm for wages lower than what they were promised and required by law, said Kevonne Small, trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

A triple-digit increase in December foreclosures transformed Hawaii into a top 10 state for foreclosure activity and pushed monthly and year-end totals to their highest level since 2005

Collective bargaining, civil service contracts and unions provided the theme that united a number of the priorities set out by three Big Island legislators for the upcoming session.

The devastation in Haiti is causing Secretary of State to cancel her Asia-Pacific tour. She made the announcement Wednesday, while still in Hawaii. Secretary Clinton says she will return to Washington to coordinate the relief efforts.

The pictures are hard to take for Patrick Elie and Mark Benoit -- who are still waiting to hear from loved ones in Haiti.

State Attorney General Mark Bennett was three for four in state court Wednesday, prevailing on all but one defense pre-trial motion in the James Pflueger manslaughter case.

Limiting hiring and equipment purchases has generated a $7.4 million windfall for Hawaii County, which still needs to sell land and possibly raise taxes to avoid a looming shortfall, Mayor Billy Kenoi said.

Driving through a blackened landscape on a 35-foot-wide path dug up by bulldozers, Bill Bergin pointed out koa trees and ohia trees. Some were charred to a crisp, others remained, tall and proud.

At the last minute, Archie Kalepa decided to go right on a wave instead of left at the Jaws surf spot in Peahi. Then, he knew he was in trouble with "the Big Kahuna."