Another round of state budget cuts -- this time about $60 million -- appears inevitable. $60 million loss
forecast for stateThe Council on Revenues is poised to lower its tax revenue forecast for the current fiscal year to minus 1 percent from 1.2 percent, which would mean a loss of about $60 million for the state.
Because the current fiscal year ends June 30, that means the $60 million will have to be taken from the $11.8 billion operating budget for the following two years.
During a workshop yesterday, council economists agreed that they should seriously consider taking action next week to lower their revenue projection for the current fiscal year.
That's because tax collections for the first 10 months of the fiscal year are 0.9 percent behind what was collected in the year-earlier period.
Last week, when it was announced that tax collections for April had plummeted 11 percent, Gov. Ben Cayetano said he was planning to restrict spending and freeze vacant positions. He declined to provide more details.
A union official is suggesting that the Pearl Harbor Shipyard absorb the work of a nearby naval facility to stave off layoffs. Shipyard may assume
work of repair facilityKevin Liborio, president of the Metal Trades Council, says the shipyard, with 2,700 civilian employees, could absorb the work of the Naval Intermediate Maintenance Facility, one of eight regional repair facilities, on Kuahua peninsula in Pearl Harbor.
Don Rochon, Pearl Harbor spokesman, said a preliminary meeting was held May 11 between commanders of the two facilities and was initiated by the Navy "because both are here on the same island and both do the same types of work."
"It's just in the infancy of the process," Rochon said. "They don't know if it's going to be some or all of it that would be combined.... They want to see if it will be cost-effective to do this."
Combined, the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and the Naval Intermediate Maintenance Facility represent a significant effect on the state's economy, expending more than $250 million annually.
"If the Navy did the right thing," Liborio said, "it would bring more work to the shipyard and it would raise the level of employment to 3,200."
The state Department of Human Services is caught between two lawsuits -- one to stop new QUEST health care contracts, the other to force their implementation. Human Services caught
between rival lawsuitsKapi'olani HealthHawai'i filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court Monday to spur implementation of the contracts.
It was one of five providers winning state contracts for QUEST health plans during a recent bidding process.
The Hawaii Medical Service Association earlier this month sought a court injunction to halt the QUEST contract awards. HMSA appealed the process used to award contracts after losing a bid to continue covering about 50,000 QUEST clients on Oahu, Kauai and Maui. It asked the court to halt the contract awards until the appeal is heard.
The new contracts were to take effect July 1, but the Department of Human Services has extended the current contracts until August.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffA Waiakea fire rescue crew found pilot Tetsuro Sugiyama's body beyond the scattered debris of a tour helicopter that crashed on the eastern slope of Mauna Kea. 'Copter pilot's body
recovered on Mauna Kea"He was face down and curled up," said rescue specialist Richard Fong, who was airlifted to the scene with two other fighters yesterday to retrieve Sugiyama's remains. "It looks like he got ejected and was cut by the rotor."
The body was taken to Hilo Hospital, and an autopsy will be performed to determine cause of death, Big Island police said.
Sugiyama, 33, who began working for Kenai Helicopters in February and became a full-time pilot in April, was transporting one of the company's three helicopters from Kona to Hilo Sunday.
Sugiyama was flying by visual flight rules, says Tom Rea of the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the cause of the crash.
The bludgeoning of a 44-year-old Manoa man outside the University Avenue Burger King may have begun with a shove, a witness said. Suspect to stand trial
in hammer-slayingChi Chung Leung, 23, identified Monte L. Young yesterday as the man he saw pushing Paul Ulbrich about 7 a.m. May 10 as the University of Hawaii student drove by looking for a place to park. He said he didn't see Ulbrich pushing back.
Leung, who said he'd been awake all night working on a school project, testified that after he turned away for several seconds to make a turn, he saw the suspect standing over a prone body, clutching a hammer with two hands and "striking the man's head."
"The sound was really loud," said Leung, who told District Court Judge L. Norman Lewis he saw the hammer strike twice but heard it hit seven times.
Police have said the attack was apparently unprovoked.
Lewis found probable cause to try Young and ordered him held without bail over the challenge of defense attorney Edward Harada. Young, a 33-year-old former California resident, is to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. June 2 in Circuit Court.
HILO -- A Big Island man killed in a shootout with police Monday night intended to kill himself, police said. Big Isle gunman
wanted to dieMiguel A. Viera, 29, of Glenwood died of a bullet wound to the heart, one of 20 shots fired by three police officers after Viera attacked them, Capt. Morton Carter said in a news conference yesterday.
"An investigation so far has determined that Mr. Viera was angry with his girlfriend and told her, her father, and a friend he telephoned just before the incident that he wanted to 'kill myself' and 'take someone with me,'" Carter said.
Viera told his friend to call police, Carter said.
Viera had been drinking, Carter said. On arriving outside the home rented by James Pihana, the girlfriend's father, Viera fired a single shot into his own Jeep using a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol.
When officer Lance Ambrose, 37, arrived on the scene on Kapiolani Street, one block from the Hilo police station, Viera punched him in the head.
As Ambrose fell, Viera fired several shots at him from a distance of 4 to 6 feet, Carter said.
One bullet struck Ambrose in the lower back above the right buttock, he said.
With other officers arriving, a full-scale shootout took place, with Viera firing five rounds and the officers firing 20, Carter said.
Other Police/Fire headlines
in today’s Star-Bulletin:
- Police seek suspect in Waikiki blaze
- Husband accused of ramming car
- California man dies after snorkeling
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Info] section for subscription information.
