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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Honolulu grows 3.3% in 5 years
Honolulu's population has grown 3.3 percent in the first five years of the new century, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Monday. A Census estimate of Honolulu's population in July 2005 puts Honolulu's population at 905,266, up from the 2000 count of 876,156. Despite the increase, Honolulu fell to 53rd place, from 54th last year, in the Census population ranking of 361 metropolitan areas. The report can be viewed at www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/ Estimates%20pages_final.html.
Grant helps airport with foreign security
Honolulu Airport will get an enclosed corridor to handle arriving international travelers under part of a Federal Aviation Administration grant announced by Sen. Daniel Inouye.
The $10 million corridor will "improve the movement and processing of arriving passengers through immigration and customs, and ... enhance safety and security," Inouye said.
Cleaning of tunnels to close lanes on Pali
The state Department of Transportation will close the Kailua-bound lanes of Pali Highway between Waokanaka Street and Kamehameha Highway this weekend for tunnel cleaning.
The lanes will be closed from 7 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday.
On vacation
June Watanabe is on vacation. Her "Kokua Line" column returns Sept. 6.
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SHINING STARS
Grants endow 2 chairs at UH medical school
Drs. Elizabeth Tam and
Marjorie Mau were selected to fill two new endowed chairs in the
John A. Burns School of Medicine, the school has announced.
Tam, chair of the school's Department of Medicine, was appointed to a respiratory-health chair created through gifts of $500,000 each from the American Lung Association of Hawaii and Hawaii Community Foundation's Leahi Fund.
She will use the funding to further research on causes of high numbers of respiratory ailments among Hawaii residents and whether they are aggravated by Big Island volcanic air pollution. Unusually high concentrations of mold, pollen or dust mites may be other causes, according to a medical school news release.
Sterling Yee, lung association president, said, "We're proud to support Dr. Tam's outstanding scientific research because it greatly advances our understanding of how to prevent lung disease."
Mau, who chairs the school's Department of Native Hawaiian Health, was appointed to the Myron P. Thompson Endowed Chair for Research in Native Hawaiian Health, established through a National Institutes of Health grant.
Her endowed position will enable her to increase research into health disparities that affect native Hawaiians disproportionately, especially in areas such as diabetes and obesity, the school reported.
The research being done by the two professors is "critically important" in fulfilling the school's goal of improving the health of Hawaii's people, said Dr. T. Samuel Shomaker, the medical school's outgoing interim dean.
Jazmine Richter, an eighth-grader at Parker School on the Big Island, is the $1,000 grand-prize winner of the 2006 Hawaii Pizza Hut and Hawaii State Public Library System Young Adult Summer Reading Shopping Spree Sweepstakes. She participated in the program at the Thelma Parker Memorial Public & School Library. She and a family member will be flown to Honolulu to participate in her shopping spree at Pearlridge Center.
Allstate agent Renee Hicks has received the "Agency Hands in the Community" award and a $500 grant from The Allstate Foundation to be used at the Rotary Club of Kapaa Foundation, where she does her volunteer work.
"Shining Stars" runs Sunday through Thursday.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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WINDWARD OAHU
Man held for alleged threats with handgun
Police arrested a 24-year-old man who allegedly brandished a handgun during a traffic incident in Kaneohe about 6:10 p.m. Monday.
Details of the incident were not released, but the suspect fled afterward, according to police.
Police said a 23-year-old man, who was also involved in the traffic incident, followed the suspect in his car while he was on the phone with police dispatch.
Officers stopped the suspect's vehicle and arrested the man for investigation of first-degree terroristic threatening.
Officers did not find a handgun and the suspect refused to allow officers to search his car, police said. Police then seized the car as evidence.
NORTH SHORE
Store clerk catches man with fake money
Police arrested a 32-year-old man who allegedly used counterfeit money to try to buy items at a North Shore retail outlet.
The clerk recognized that the money was fake and notified the store manager, who then notified police.
Officers arrested the man Monday afternoon for investigation of first-degree forgery.
HONOLULU
Disturbance leads to meat-cleaver toss
Police arrested a 19-year-old man who allegedly threw a meat cleaver at another man.
Police said the suspect was drinking with friends in Kalihi about 12:20 a.m. Monday when an 18-year-old man asked him to go home because he was creating a disturbance.
The suspect left, but returned five minutes later with a large meat cleaver and started chasing the man who had asked him to leave.
The younger man grabbed a baseball bat and that's when the suspect threw the meat cleaver at him from about 15 feet away, but missed, police said.
The suspect fled but was later found and arrested for investigation of second-degree attempted murder. The case was being reclassified as a first-degree terroristic threatening, police said.
LEEWARD OAHU
Male gunman sought in Pearl City robbery
Police were looking for a man who robbed a Pearl City business at gunpoint Sunday night.
Police said the man walked into the store at about 9:45 p.m., brandished a handgun, and ordered the only two employees on duty at the time into a back room.
Police said the gunman told the employees not to turn around for a specific amount of time. The suspect then fled with cash.
The suspect was described as in his 20s, 5 foot 6, 160 pounds, wearing dark clothing and sunglasses.
Police are investigating the case as a first-degree robbery and kidnapping.
WEST OAHU
Kitchen fire results in $60,000 in damage
Firefighters extinguished a kitchen fire at a home on Hapaki Street in Newtown on Sunday afternoon.
Firefighters were called to 98-1941 Hapaki St. at 5:28 p.m., a Fire Department spokesman said.
No one was home at the time of the fire. It was reported under control at 5:42 p.m. and extinguished at 6:12 p.m.
Damage is estimated at $60,000. The cause is under investigation.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Help sought in theft of $100,000 in jewelry
Kona police want help in the investigation of a burglary in the Kona Sunset subdivision that netted the thief or thieves $100,000 worth of jewelry.
Also taken were a Kamaka koa ukulele valued at $600 and a second koa ukulele valued at $300. The stolen jewelry includes six Ming bracelets and one diamond bangle bracelet.
Police said the burglary occurred Saturday between 7:35 a.m. and 4 p.m. when the owners were not home.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona.