StarBulletin.com

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POSTED: Saturday, December 05, 2009

Space station will be visible in sky tomorrow

If skies are clear, the International Space Station can be seen high over Hawaii just before dawn tomorrow.

The space station will rise in the southwest, under the constellation Canis Major, just after 6 a.m. and will arch across the top of the sky, passing between Mars and the moon just before 6:06 a.m.

It will descend toward the northeast, passing through the handle of the Big Dipper before setting at about 6:10 a.m.

The space station, at an altitude of about 220 miles, circles Earth at 17,000 mph and is visible in the hours before dawn and after sunset when it is illuminated by the sun. It moves quickly and quietly and does not have blinking lights like a plane.

 

Chinatown vendor cleans after rat footage

;[Preview]    Rats infest Chinatown market
  ;[Preview]
 
 

Watch ]

 

Department of Health inspectors returned yesterday to Pacing Market in Chinatown and found owners corrected violations after a video was taken of rats crawling across fresh produce.

Janice Okubo, Health Department spokeswoman, said the business owner purchased sealable containers to store produce and protect it from rats. A health inspector will check conditions again next month, she said.

The video raised concerns about budget cuts that forced the Health Department to freeze inspector vacancies at the sanitation branch.

Gov. Linda Lingle said at a press conference yesterday that food establishments must police themselves because the state could never have enough inspectors.

 

2 storms might bring high surf over weekend

The National Weather Service is urging oceangoers to use extreme caution over the next week because of two large storms expected to produce high surf in the islands.

The first northwest swell was to arrive last night and peak today, bringing open ocean swells of 12 to 15 feet and surf with 20- to 30-foot faces.

The second swell is expected to arrive tomorrow night. It is forecast to generate open ocean swells of 18 to 20 feet. Surf with 30-40-foot faces is expected to hit early Monday through Tuesday.

 

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Meeting will discuss coastal path

Kauai residents are invited to a public information meeting Monday on phase three of a multiuse coastal path from Lydgate Park to Lihi Park.

The meeting on the coastal path, Ke Ala Hele Makalae, will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall.

Consultant KSF Inc. will provide an update on the project and answer questions.

To access the final environmental assessment, go to hsblinks.com/1ga. For more information about the meeting, call Roxanne MacDougall at 822-5798 or e-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Anyone requiring aid such as a sign language interpreter or materials in an alternate format should call ahead to the Parks and Recreation Department at 241-4460.