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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff
and wire service
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Gas price data due next month
The first reports on oil industry pricing from the Public Utilities Commission are scheduled to be posted online by Sept. 5.
Beginning this week, participants in Hawaii's oil industry were required to begin turning over information under "transparency" rules adopted in recent years by the state Legislature.
Participants are required to report on a variety of operational factors, such as the volume of fuel imported and exported, the costs of the fuel at various points in the supply chain and their weekly gross margins.
The PUC has not yet decided what information will be posted.
Lisa Kikuta, chief researcher at the PUC, said four analysts will be analyzing the data and determining what information is made public. The PUC also is charged with ensuring that proprietary, competitive information remains confidential.
Reports are to be posted at www.hawaii.gov/budget/puc/pimar, with updates to follow on a weekly basis.
NOAA says ship fished unlawfully
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has charged the owner and operator of a U.S. vessel, the ASTARA, with unlawfully fishing in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
The case is the first federal enforcement action taken since President Bush declared the area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a marine national monument on June 15, 2006, a NOAA news release said.
Longline fishing vessel owner ASTARA Co. LLC and operator Robert Flores are charged with:
» Three counts of entering the monument and unlawfully harvesting monument resources.
» Possessing fishing gear that was not stowed or unavailable for use, as required when passing through the monument.
» Not having a valid Hawaii longline license.
The ship faces a $61,000 civil penalty, which it may appeal, NOAA said.
A limited amount of commercial bottom-fishing is allowed in the monument until 2011. But longlining is not allowed in the 1,200-mile-long monument surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Public school enrollment holds
Hawaii's public school enrollment dropped less than 1 percent this school year compared with last school year, the Department of Education said yesterday.
The 2007-08 school year saw 172,364 students enrolled at 258 schools, a decrease of 1,192, or 0.7 percent, the department said.
The enrollment figure does not include the state's 27 public charter schools. Their classes opened later, and they have not completed their counts.
Last year, island charter schools had 5,678 students, and the figure is projected to climb to 6,021 this year, educators said.
The largest public school in Hawaii is Waipahu High School, with 2,564 students. The smallest is Niihau. It has 23 students in kindergarten through the 12th grade.
After Waipahu the largest public high schools are Farrington (2,530), Campbell (2,491), Mililani (2,472) and Kapolei (2,285).
The largest intermediate/middle schools are Mililani (1,814, grades 6-8), Kapolei (1,616, 6-8), Waipahu (1,267, 7-8), Ilima (1,212, 7-8) and Waianae (1,056, 7-8).
Holomua is the largest elementary school, with 1,444, students in grades K-6, followed by August Ahrens (1,277, K-6), Kapolei (1,065, K-5), Mililani Ike (1,059, K-5) and Lihikai (1,006, K-5).
There are 118,524 public school students on Oahu, 24,094 on the Big Island, 20,267 on Maui and 9,392 on Kauai.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Father and son allegedly grew pot
Big Island authorities charged a Puna man and his son Wednesday with commercial promotion of marijuana.
Mark Anthony Heuer, 48, of Kalapana Seaview Estates was charged with two counts of first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia. His bail was set at $1 million.
Sequoia Orion Heuer, 24, of Hawaiian Paradise Park was charged with three counts of first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, one count of second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana and three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia. His bail was set at $500,000.
Vice officers searched a ranch above the Kalapana Blacksands subdivision and found 869 marijuana plants from two separate indoor growing operations, police said.
The evidence led to the search warrants in the Hawaiian Paradise Park and Kalapana Seaview Estates subdivisions, yielding 8.45 pounds of dried marijuana, packaged for distribution in 1-ounce and half-pound quantities, police said.
Police also seized for forfeiture proceedings two pickup trucks, a sedan, a personal water craft and an all-terrain vehicle.
HONOLULU
Tow yard tip leads to ID theft arrest
Police said a woman is charged with theft and identity theft after she was allegedly caught with forged checks and other stolen items.
Police said they received a tip on June 20 that stolen items from a burglary were at the Stoneridge Recovery towing yard on Kaihikapu Street in Mapaunapuna. The officer found Sarah Lindsey in a car parked outside the yard, and recognized her from previous arrests.
Lindsey had a Coach-brand purse identified as being stolen in a burglary, police said. Inside the purse were a Social Security card and three blank checks with a man's name on them, as well as a packet believed to contain drugs, police said.
Lindsey was charged yesterday with unauthorized possession of confidential information, detaining stolen property, promoting dangerous drugs, forgery, identity theft and theft.
WINDWARD OAHU
Pair escape jail, are soon caught
Two teenage boys were captured yesterday after allegedly attempting to escape from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.
Police said the two detainees, ages 15 and 17, were asked to assist in unloading a food delivery to the facility at about 3 p.m. Police said the boys fled through a gate that was left open.
Corrections officers searched the area and found the two nearby, who were returned to the facility without incident.
