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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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FBI studying death of Pearl Harbor sailor
BILLINGS, Mont. » The FBI is investigating the stabbing death of a Pearl Harbor sailor while he was home on leave in Wolf Point before being sent to Iraq.
Michael Bell, 22, died at a Billings hospital Tuesday, said Yellowstone County Deputy Coroner Keith Montgomery.
FBI agents from Montana are investigating the death, along with Wolf Point area law enforcement agencies. None of the agencies returned phone calls seeking comment.
Bell's obituary said the five-year veteran was a petty officer second class attached to the Naval Special Warfare Command.
Harris donor to pay fine for illegal gifts
A businessman who made illegal campaign contributions to the campaign of former Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris has agreed to pay a $50,800 fine.
The state Campaign Spending Commission approved the agreement with Russell Figueiroa on Wednesday.
Figueiroa is president of R.M. Towill Corp., one of the largest engineering firms in the state and one of the city's largest contractors, receiving more than $30 million in nonbid work since 1996.
Figueiroa and former company Chairman Donald Kim pleaded no contest in 2004 to misdemeanor charges stemming from illegal campaign contributions. Figueiroa and Kim, a former chairman of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, were fined $4,000 apiece.
Harris has denied any link between contributions and the awarding of nonbid city contracts.
Mayor touring Chinese mass transit system
Mayor Mufi Hannemann leaves today for a week-long trip to China to spur economic development; meet with the mayors of Shanghai, Beijing and Zhongshan; and tour a mass transit system.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii is paying for the $1,953 trip.
Accompanying the mayor will be four chamber members and his wife, Gail.
Hannemann will inspect Shanghai's magnetic levitation transit system and visit the birthplace Sun Yat Sen, the Chinese political leader educated in Honolulu as a youth who is the subject of a memorial at Chinatown Gateway Park. The mayor will also meet with Chinese entrepreneurs and officials to discuss the possibility of developing a world trade center in Honolulu.
2002 physics Nobel winner to speak at UH
Masatoshi Koshiba, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize with a colleague for solar neutrino studies, will give a free public lecture at 7 p.m. Monday in the University of Hawaii Architecture Building Auditorium.
The College of Arts and Sciences is presenting the lecture as part of its Nobel Laureate Lecture Series. Koshiba will discuss "The Birth of Neutrino Astrophysics." He will discuss the neutrino -- a fundamental, invisible particle -- and explain implications of its existence in the universe.
Koshiba graduated from the University of Tokyo's physics department in 1951 and received a doctorate in physics in 1955 from the University of Rochester, N.Y. He was a professor at the University of Tokyo from 1970 to 1987 and at Tokai University from 1987 to 1997.
He has received many awards for achievements in cosmic ray physics and high-energy experiments with positron-electron colliders. For more information on his lecture, call 956-5790.
Taking Notice
» The
Hawaii Education Association received $5,000 from
First Hawaiian Foundation for HEA's Creative Writing Festival for all grade levels of public school students.
» The Kauai County Housing Agency gave $50,000 to the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii's Kauai office to expand its services for the homeless. The newly formed Homeless Legal Advocacy and Prevention Project will focus on preventing the eviction of those who live in public housing for nonpayment of rent, causing damage to rental units, or other issues.
» Hawaiian Telecom has granted Goodwill Industries of Hawaii a $15,000 Community Appreciation Grant in sponsorship of two donation centers, in the Windward City Shopping Center and the Towne Center of Mililani.
» The Ala Moana Community Tennis Association was awarded $5,000, one of 19 Community Outreach Grants, totaling $100,000, distributed throughout the nation by the U.S. Tennis Association. The grants recognize programs that include underrepresented groups in tennis. The Ala Moana association is the first in Hawaii to launch cardio and wheelchair tennis programs, and has added non-tennis activities such as mentoring and tutoring for at-risk youths.
» The Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation has donated and installed a computer lab of 16 terminals in the science department at Kailua Intermediate School. It is the second lab at the school that HOSEF, run by R. Scott Belford, donated. The computers are donated by the public or local businesses and refurbished by HOSEF, which has put more than 1,000 computers into schools and nonprofit organizations.
» Caitlin P. Godwin, Nicole Antonio and Casey Fern took first, second and third place, respectively, for their essays in the 2006 Values for Life statewide high school contest. It was sponsored by the University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Arts and Sciences and the Nisei Veterans Endowed Forum.
The winners won $500, $250 and $125, respectively. The forum also donated money to a charitable organization of the students' choice, including $250 to Ho'ala School in Fern's name, $500 to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation in Antonio's name and $1,000 to the Susannah Wesley Community Center in Godwin's name.
» Paul Anderson, a senior at the University Laboratory School, has been named a National Merit Scholar finalist. The lab school is operated by the Curriculum Research & Development Group in the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Anderson, who plans to major in physics, represents part of the top 3 to 4 percent of all high school students in the United States who took the preliminary SAT test.
» Jonathan Kuahiwi Moniz has been named the curator/program coordinator for the Nanaikapono Community-School Museum at Nanaikapono Elementary School.
» Island Insurance Foundation has nominated eight public school principals in the state for its Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School leadership Award. Tokioka was the founder of the insurance company. The winner will receive $25,000 and the semifinalists, $2,000 each.
The principals include Norman Minehira of Leilehua High School; Catherine Payne, Farrington High School; Milton Shishido, McKinley High; Robert Stevens, Radford High; August Suehiro, Olomana School; Gerald Suyama, Pearl City High; Randy Yamanuha, Maui High; and Gilmore Youn, Kapaa High (Kauai).
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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HONOLULU
Salvation Army worker is charged in theft
An employee of the Salvation Army who allegedly stole donated funds was charged with first-degree theft yesterday.
Timothy Janusz, 48, is being held at the police headquarters cellblock in lieu of $1 million bail, cash only.
According to police, Janusz allegedly diverted donated funds from the Salvation Army to his personal account on March 28 at the Salvation Army's divisional headquarters at 2950 Manoa Road.
Bus passenger dies after striking head
A 79-year-old Waipahu man struck his forehead after falling from his seat on a city bus on Piikoi Street, north of Ala Moana Boulevard, and later died.
The Medical Examiner's Office identified him as Ralph A. Martin.
The accident occurred at 2:32 p.m. Thursday.
Police said Martin might have suffered from a medical condition, but they are classifying the death as a traffic fatality until an autopsy shows otherwise.
Martin was taken by ambulance to Straub Hospital in critical condition and pronounced dead at 2:36 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
WEST OAHU
Power strip is cited as Waikele fire's cause
The cause of a Waikele fire at a nine-bedroom house on Thursday night was electrical, a fire official said.
A fire investigator believes a malfunctioning power strip inside a Waikele couple's bedroom caused the fire, said fire Capt. Terry Seelig.
The couple had seen the indicator light on the power strip flickering, Seelig said. The light should not flicker, he said, noting it is an indication that something might be wrong.
Damage was estimated at $50,000 to the structure and $10,000 to its contents.