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[ FAST FACTS HAWAII ]

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HAWAII
The state tax man cometh on Wednesday

Wednesday is the deadline to file state individual income tax returns.

The returns can be submitted electronically through the state Tax Department's Web site at www.state.hi.us/tax, or by regular mail, so long as they are postmarked no later than April 20.

They also can be submitted to any district tax office during business hours, with taxpayers on Oahu able to use a drop box outside the department's downtown Honolulu offices.

After 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the department will have volunteers accepting the documents curbside outside its Honolulu office until midnight.

Individuals who can't make that deadline will get an automatic extension until Aug. 20, but any money owed will be subject to a late-payment penalty and interest, unless the taxpayers have filed Form N-101A (Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Hawaii Individual Income Tax Return) by Wednesday.

That and other tax forms are available from any district tax office during business hours, and also on the department's Web site.

The department's Honolulu office is in the Princess Ruth Ke'elikolani Building at the corner of Punchbowl and Halekauwila streets.

On Wednesday evening, the curbside volunteers will be accepting the tax forms from last-minute filers from both those streets.

Liu named to national committee

Theodore E. Liu, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, has been named one of 17 national and regional experts to serve on the U.S. Commerce Department's Secretarial Advisory Committee.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said the newly appointed committee will "give us their insight and recommendations to help develop a comprehensive plan to meet (President Bush's) goal of strengthening America's communities most in need."

Chairman of the committee is Mark Drabenstott, vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and director of the Center for the Study of Rural America.

The group held its first meeting on Friday in Fresno, Calif.

Its first written report of recommendations is expected to be received by the U.S. Commerce Department in late May.

Maryknoll teacher wins award

Lance Suzuki, a teacher at Maryknoll High School in Honolulu, has been named one of five finalists in the 2005 Nasdaq National Teaching Awards Competition.

The national winner of the competition will be announced today, and as a regional winner, Suzuki will receive $10,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to New York to attend tomorrow's Teaching Awards ceremony and the opening of the Nasdaq exchange.

The awards were created through a grant from the Nasdaq Educational Foundation to the National Council on Economic Education, which is presenting the award.