Business Briefs
Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Wednesday, May 1, 1996
Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Wednesday, May 1, 1996
Japanese attendees will be hear about the state's economic environment and opportunities for business and investment. They also will get tips about starting a Hawaii business.
Ushijima said the 11-person delegation, including a Hawaii Visitors Bureau representative, also will present information about Hawaii's tourism market.
Lawmakers on Monday gave final approval to a measure authorizing the issuance of up to $12.5 million in revenue bonds meant to stimulate the use of photovoltaic energy systems in Hawaii, Maui and Kauai counties.
Photovoltaic systems use silicon cells to capture solar energy that is then fed into a battery storage unit and used as power.
Gov. Ben Cayetano is expected to sign the measure.
The bonds are to be used by PowerLight Corp. of Berkeley, Calif., which installed the first
commercial photovoltaic system in Hawaii at the Kailua-Kona gymnasium.
Dan Shugar, executive vice president of PowerLight Corp., said the company still must get an underwriter to sell the bonds and meet criteria acceptable by the bond market.
The measure authorizes PowerLight, formed in 1991, to participate in a joint venture or be the hardware supplier, as it was for the Kailua-Kona project.
After four years, a federal agency has quietly ended its investigation of the Hooters restaurant chain for refusing to hire waiters to work alongside scantily clad waitresses.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told Rep. Harris Fawell, R-Ill., recently that it will not intervene in a sex discrimination suit that sought to force Hooters to hire men as waiters.
Since a private class-action lawsuit has been filed, "it is wiser for the EEOC to devote its scarce litigation resources to other cases," Chairman Gilbert F. Casellas said in a letter.