Doggy Determination

CRAIG T. KOJIMA CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
The state's plant quarantine inspection corps has gained a few new recruits. Nari, a 1 1/2-year-old beagle, gave birth Feb. 21 to four puppies that will be raised by foster families to be eventually trained as detector dogs like their mother. With them yesterday was Cindy Nakamura, left, and Carrie Itoman, both plant quarantine inspectors. Foster parents were selected though a screening process and will work to socialize the puppies to situations they could encounter on the job. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture's Detector Dog program has four human inspectors and 10 working detector dogs. The program staff will monitor the puppies over the next year or two to determine whether they are suitable to train for the program. CLICK FOR LARGE

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
A mo-ped rider tooled along a road near the parking structure on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus yesterday. CLICK FOR LARGE