Newswatch
School administrators main target of layoffs
About half of the 437 state employees targeted for layoffs in the Senate's proposed budget are working in the Department of Education's administrative and support services, says Senate Ways and Means Co-Chairwoman Carol Fukunaga.The committee focused on reducing "administrative overhead" and decided to spare classroom instructors, who are essential to the department's mission, Fukunaga (D, Makiki) said Friday.
In other departments, deputy directors, special assistants, executive assistants and information officers are the ones likely to be laid off, Fukunaga added. Each department would decide who goes and who stays.
"It's a matter of each department determining how best to flatten their administrative overhead and to reduce the size of their management layer," she said.
Baby false killer whale rescued off Kona Coast
A false killer whale calf was taken to Sea Life Park for rehabilitative care Friday after becoming separated from its mother off the Kona Coast.Rescuers first transferred the whale, which is 2 to 3 months old, to a large pool at Kona. It then was loaded aboard a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft and flown to Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe and later taken to Sea Life Park.
The calf had been seen off and on since Tuesday off Kahaluu and Magic Sands Beach, according to Bob Braun, a veterinarian with the National Marine Fisheries Service and Sea Life Park's veterinarian.
Rescuers administered some antibiotics and fluids and took the whale to a laboratory pool. There, they gave it more fluids.
"And then she's actually nursed on a bottle," Braun said.
He estimated the calf's weight at 90 to 100 pounds and its length at just over five feet.
"I think that rehabilitating any newborn is a very difficult task," Braun said. "We're looking at feedings every two hours for quite some time."
New police chief to be announced Monday
The Honolulu Police Commission expected to make the final selection of a new police chief by Saturday afternoon.Commission Chairman Ronald Taketa said all news media reports of the selection of chief have been "just speculation" and nothing has been confirmed or announced by him or any other commissioner.
The successor to retired chief Michael Nakamura will be announced 9 a.m. Monday as scheduled, he said.
The four finalists are Acting Chief Lee Donohue, Deputy Chief William Clark, Major John Kerr of the Specialized Services Division and Major Robert Prasser in the Research and Development Division.
"(The selection process) is going without a hitch," said Taketa. "We're very pleased. It's just more accurate, more efficient and fair."
He noted the entire process took 31/2 months, compared to the eight months it took to select Nakamura.
Man is stabbed to death in Waianae
Police arrested a woman yesterday after witnesses identified her as the person they said fatally stabbed a man with a large knife during an argument in Waianae.The man died in Queen's Hospital at 3:17 p.m. yesterday.
Police did not release names but said the victim was 44 years old and the suspect was 34. The relationship between the two and the nature of the argument were unclear as a homicide investigation continued.
The stabbing took place near Jade and Hanalei streets sometime yesterday before 11:20 a.m.
Police said neighbors heard a woman yelling at a man. When they looked out the window, they saw a woman on top of a man, and she appeared to be punching him.
The victim turned east on Lahaina and collapsed, and the suspect fled in a red vehicle, police said.
Neighbors found the man with wounds to the chest and neck.
The woman, who has no address, showed up at the Waianae Comprehensive Center and asked about the victim. Police arrested her there without incident after witnesses identified her.
She faces second-degree murder charges.
Man killed in single-car accident
A 25-year-old Waianae man was killed in a one-car accident Saturday morning on the H-1 freeway just east of the Makakilo Drive overpass.The driver was heading Ewa in his 1991 Honda Accord when he lost control during a lane changing, strike a guardrail and some trees at 2:14 a.m., traffic investigators said.