Newswatch
By Star-Bulletin Staff
Tuesday, April 23, 1996
The positions would include four attorneys, an investigator, a counselor and clerical staff.
Budget Chairman Duke Bainum says arresting people for domestic violence is useless without prosecution.
Aside from those additions, Bainum's proposed city budget spares police, fire and civil defense. But most other city agencies would be asked to trim an extra 3 percent from their budgets.
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for May 10.
House Consumer Protection Chairman Ron Menor and Senate Consumer Protection Chairman Milton Holt last night resolved a key hang-up after Menor abandoned a plan to shift the cost of treating accident victims to the state's prepaid health care system.
Menor (D, Mililani) also floated a proposal for a "verbal threshold" that would allow accident victims to sue in cases of serious injuries or death.
That, said Holt, shows the House wants to control litigation costs: the Senate's key goal. "We're moving the ball," said Holt (D, Alewa Heights).
By a 36-13 vote, with eight in favor voicing reservations, the representatives approved an amended Senate resolution asking the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism to examine shipboard casinos and parimutuel horse racing and report back before the next legislative session.
Proponents said it would provide data needed to make decisions on gambling. Opponents, including all seven Republicans, noted the tourism and airline industries would be involved and said the study will be biased in favor of legalization.
The resolution now heads back to the Senate.
Police said the man had removed several copper conductors when he came in contact with a 12-kilovolt circuit breaker. Neighbors called 911 to report hearing an explosion around 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The man was found nearby with burns over most of his body.
The fence had been cut and at least $100 worth of copper wire had been taken, police said.
Thirty-one break-ins to various substations since February 1995 have resulted in the theft of items worth $77,000, Heco said.
Thieves are mostly after copper but in one case, a backhoe was stolen.
During the break-ins, vandals damaged equipment or tampered with equipment while stealing copper wire, contributing to 14 outages since September 1995 which affected 47,000 customers, said Heco spokeswoman Jane Inouye. The cost of repairs are normally passed on to customers.
"These vandals are affecting the lives of their friends and neighbors as well as our customers," Inouye said.
The company is asking the public to report anything suspicious at substations by calling 548-7961. Company officials will contact police.