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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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Passengers get food poisoning
Ten people aboard an Australian airline flight en route to Honolulu from Melbourne suffered food poisoning yesterday.
Jetstar Flight No. JQ-001 arrived at Honolulu Airport at 8:45 a.m. yesterday after the pilot reported that several people were ill. The plane was assigned to Gate 33 at the end of the airport.
All had symptoms of food poisoning, but no one suffered from fever, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman of the Department of Transportation.
Assigning a flight to an end gate is considered standard when a flight reports of a number of ill passengers, in case a quarantine is needed.
One of the passengers -- a 49-year-old woman -- was taken to Hawaii Medical Center East, where she was treated intravenously, while the other nine passengers were treated and released at the scene, Ishikawa said. The remaining 243 passengers were allowed to leave the aircraft about an hour after the flight's arrival, Ishikawa said.
It was unclear whether the food was from the plane or elsewhere, he added. Jetstar is a subsidiary of Qantas.
School board seeks extra funds
Hawaii public schools would receive an additional $246.6 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year under a supplemental budget request approved by a Board of Education committee.
At a meeting last week, the school board's Committee on Budget and Fiscal Accountability approved $47.6 million for operating expenses and $199 million for construction.
The additional funds would be used to adjust the Weighted Student Formula to reduce class size in third grade, give more money to preschool special-education students and provide additional funds for gifted and talented programs. About $5 million would go toward competitive grants for middle schools with an emphasis on math, according to the Department of Education.
The request, which goes before the full board on Oct. 4, also includes $75 million for re-roofing, painting, repaving, restroom renovations and fire alarms.
Embezzler gets probation, big bill
A former bookkeeper whose theft of $354,000 nearly put ABC Music out of business was put on five years' probation yesterday with the condition that he makes full restitution.
Ronald Ching, 42, has repaid $200,000 and agreed to pay the remaining $154,000 while on probation.
Ching pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree theft for the embezzlement, which took place between 2000 and 2004. While working for ABC Music, he wrote 57 company checks to pay off personal credit card debts he incurred at strip clubs.
Circuit Judge Richard Pollack denied Ching's request yesterday for deferred acceptance of the plea, which would wipe the charge from his record after the sentence is served.
The city prosecutor's office agreed not to seek a prison term because a substantial amount of restitution was made and ABC Music was able to remain in business, according to spokesman Jim Fulton.
City wants ideas for transit stops
The city will hold a meeting 7 p.m. today at Waipahu Intermediate School to get community input on two planned transit stations for the city's fixed guideway in Waipahu.
City officials will seek comment from community residents, businesses and leaders on what kind of development they would like around the transit stations. The two stations planned in Waipahu are located at Farrington Highway and Leoku Street and close to Farrington Highway and Mokuola Street.
The workshop will also offer ideas on pedestrian walkways, bikeways and employment and housing opportunities as a result of the transit station.
Call Boland at 545-6003 or Bruce Bottorff at 545-6006.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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CENTRAL OAHU
Boys, 14, arrested on burglary charge
Police arrested two 14-year-old boys Sunday after they allegedly tried to break into an office in Mililani.
Police said that at about 6 p.m. a man was passing by when he confronted the boys as they tried to force their way into an office.
The boys ran but returned to the scene and were arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary. They were later released pending investigation.
LEEWARD OAHU
Driver is arrested in alleged ramming
Police arrested a 33-year-old Nanakuli woman who allegedly rammed a car driven by another woman and her boyfriend Sunday.
Police said the incident began at about 6:30 a.m. After the first bump, the suspect's boyfriend, who was in the passenger seat of the victim's car, moved into the driver's seat and tried to get away, police said.
The girlfriend then rammed the car three more times before leaving, police said. She was later arrested at her mother's house on Mokiawe Street on suspicion of first-degree criminal property damage.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Inmates take smoking break
HILO » Two inmates at Kulani Correctional Facility escaped just after midnight yesterday by walking outside the prison fence, then ran back inside when they saw a guard coming, administrator Beryl Iramina said.
The inmates said they went outside to smoke a cigarette, she said.
The inmates were charged with escape and placed in isolation while the case is being investigated, she said.
Kulani is a minimum-security prison on the east side of Mauna Loa, 19 miles from the nearest highway.
Inmates are locked in their dormitories at night, but a fire escape route out of each building is left unlocked for safety reasons, Iramina said.