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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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9 will advise on land conservation
City Council Chairwoman Barbara Marshall appointed a nine-member commission last week to advise the Council on the spending of a new fund dedicated to land conservation.
The commissioners, a mix of environmentalists and scientists, will give recommendations to the City Council on how to spend the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund. The fund was created after voters in 2006 approved setting aside 0.5 percent of property taxes to acquire lands to preserve the environment, which includes protecting beaches, forests and agricultural lands.
The commission's meeting will be scheduled next month.
The commissioners are Glenn Bauer, geologist; Greg Knob, botanist; Marjorie Ziegler, executive director of Conservation Council of Hawaii; Alan Takemoto, executive director of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation; Hans Krock, author of "Water Quality Standards for Hawaii"; Mitch D'Olier, founder of Malama Maunalua; Denise Antolini, University of Hawaii environmental law professor; Alice Hewett, Outdoor Recreation and Education; and Jody Kaulukukui, the Nature Conservancy.
Nobel winner to talk about climate
Stanford University professor Stephen M. Schneider, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, will give a public lecture titled "Is the Science of Global Warning Settled?" at 7 p.m. April 1 at St. Andrew's Cathedral Tenney Theatre.
Hawaii Pacific University is hosting Schneider.
Schneider is a professor of interdisciplinary environmental studies, biological sciences and civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. He also is a senior fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment.
He has been involved with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and he and four generations of IPCC authors received a Nobel Peace Prize last year for their efforts.
Schneider is founder and editor of the journal Climate Change, and editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather.
Work will block view of blowhole
The city will close the parking lot and viewing area of Halona Blowhole beginning April 14 until September while it completes renovations.
The renovations, intended to make the area safer and more attractive, include demolition and restoration of the lower platform, reconstruction of the upper platform, the building of an access way for disabled persons from the parking lot, and reconfiguring the parking lot for pedestrian safety while keeping the same number of stalls.
Construction, which will be completed by Kaikor Construction at a cost of $824,000, is expected to finish before the start of the next whale-watching season.
Meeting will cover sewer repair
The city has scheduled a public meeting next week for information about an upcoming $16.9 million sewer repair project in the Wilhelmina Rise area.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow in Liliuokalani Elementary School's cafeteria, 3633 Waialae Ave., a city news release said.
Repair crews will replace about 600 feet of defective sewer line by excavation and rehabilitate 40,000 feet of sewer line by installing a liner, not requiring major excavation.
Various streets near Wilhelmina Rise will be affected. Work should begin in April and finish within 30 months.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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HONOLULU
Video helps solve seafood burglaries
Two men were arrested Saturday after allegedly burglarizing two seafood restaurants last week and being caught on surveillance videos.
Police located two men, ages 18 and 27 with no local addresses, after watching videos of them allegedly burglarizing two seafood restaurants, including one at 930 Kekaulike St., at about 4 a.m. March 16.
The two were arrested at Nuuanu Avenue and Nimitz Highway on Saturday on suspicion of second-degree burglary. The 18-year-old also was arrested on suspicion of geographical restriction, meaning he was allegedly not allowed in the area.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Infant dies after rescue from pond
A 15-month-old girl died Saturday after she was found in a pond outside her house in Pahoa on the Big Island, officials said.
Big Island firefighters were called to a home on Popaa Street at about 3 p.m. Saturday and found the family performing CPR on the toddler. The family told firefighters they found her in the pond in the back yard, firefighters said.
The girl was transported to Hilo Medical Center, where she died about two hours later, Big Island police said. Police did not release her name.
WINDWARD OAHU
Blaze scorches brush near BYU
Firefighters put out a hard-to-reach brush fire yesterday that burned about 1.5 acres near Brigham Young University Hawaii, a fire official said.
At about 3:50 p.m., Kahuku firefighters first noticed the wildfire in the mountains above Kulanui Street, said Honolulu fire Capt. James Todd.
Two engines and two tankers responded as fire helicopter Air One dropped water on the blaze. The deep-seated fire burned "like a smoldering pit" in 1 1/2 feet of pine needles, Todd said.
The fire was extinguished by 7:30 p.m. No one was injured and the cause was under investigation.