Newswatch
King of controversy Michael Jackson will bring the "HIStory" tour to Hawaii - his first performance here for the general public - at Aloha Stadium in January. According to sources in the Jackson camp, His-Michaelness will perform here Friday, Jan. 3, finishing his current tour of Asia.
Hawaii promoter Tom Moffatt, who last year brought the Eagles to Aloha Stadium, will announce the Jackson concert at a news conference tomorrow. Moffatt declined comment on the Jackson concert.
Ticket prices have not been announced.
Instead of the present route through town with two lights, the 2.2-mile bypass will have at least three, state officials said in a recent presentation. Critics expect a fourth will be needed.
"It's total idiocy," said David Taylor, president of the Puna Traffic Safety Council.
"It's a $12 million albatross that the taxpayers are going to suffer from. To create another road that has more stoplights than we have now is absolutely absurd," he said.
Four east Hawaii legislators aren't happy either. Sens. Andrew Levin and Richard Matsuura and Reps. Robert Herkes and Eric Hamakawa wrote to Gov. Ben Cayetano asking him to consider a left-turn overpass where the bypass will meet Volcano Highway.
Bruce McClure, state Highways Division district engineer, said the new route won't be as bad as some critics think.
There will be no traffic light at Volcano Highway to slow morning commuters from lower Puna, he said.
A year later, in early August, the 20-year-old arrived in Honolulu, opened a bank account, rented a storage locker and disappeared.
Efforts to locate him have been unsuccessful and family members are worried he may be suicidal. They're offering a $500 reward to anyone with information that will lead them to him.
"It's terrible," said his mother, Susan Branston, calling from California yesterday. "You have no idea what we've been through."
Steven Branston is 6-feet, about 175 pounds. He has light brown, very kinky hair that he normally wore in a ponytail. He probably has a beard.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call police at 529-3111 or 529-3394.
The boy was pronounced dead at 4:21 a.m.
The boy, who lived on Au Street, was struck just east of Olohio Street at about 12:45 p.m.
The driver of the pickup truck is a 26-year-old Pearl Harbor man. Speed may have been a factor but not alcohol, police said.
Early yesterday morning, a woman in her early 20s was stabbed to death inside an apartment at Hale Brigitte Vacation Rentals at 439 Nahua Street in Waikiki.
A maintenance man discovered the body around 10 a.m. after hearing screams earlier in the morning.
The Caucasian woman had a puncture wound to her neck.
Landlord Brigitte Riedl said the woman's partially clad body was sprawled in the living room.
Police recovered a six-inch butterfly knife from the kitchen.
Riedl also said she saw a bloody pair of pants in the kitchen sink.
Police said there appeared to have been a struggle.
She was last seen alive around 5 a.m. by her roommate, said Lt. Allen Napoleon.
Police are looking for witnesses who may have seen anything suspicious in the area between 5 and 10 a.m. yesterday.
Riedl said she has evicted prostitutes from the 14-unit building before but added that she doesn't pry into tenants' private lives.
Neighbor Andrew Whitlock, who lives in an adjacent complex, said activities at the apartment building attract police "at least twice a week."
He said last weekend a man threw a lawn chair out the window of one of the units.
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