Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, June 29, 1999
ILWU workers get Hamakua money
ILWU officials said union members hurt by the shutdown of Hamakua Sugar Co. expect to receive a total of $180,000 in the next few days, from the final distribution of the bankrupt Big Island sugar company's assets.The union said Judge Lloyd King, in the federal bankruptcy court in Honolulu, last week approved distribution of the last $380,000 of Hamakua's assets and 47.5 percent of that was earmarked for the ILWU.
The sugar workers' union received $1.3 million from the bankruptcy estate in May 1998. Some 540 former ILWU bargaining unit members have been seeking severance pay, vacation pay and other unpaid income since Hamakua filed for bankruptcy in August 1992.
Conference to focus on partnerships
Private businesses can learn how to form partnerships with community groups and government agencies at the "Partners in Economic Development Conference" Aug. 30-31 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Tapa Ballroom in Waikiki.The conference is targeted toward small business owners, community development organizations, government leaders and individuals in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands.
They will learn how to get technical, managerial and financial help.
Conference sponsors are the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture--Rural Development Hawaii office, and the Pacific Business Center Program at the University of Hawaii.
Registration fee is $125 per person before Aug. 1 or $150 after. For more information, call the university at 956-6286, or fax to 956-6278. Email is ldang@ busadm.cba.hawaii.edu, or visit the program website: www/cba.hawaii.edu/pbcp.
Boyd Gaming buys Indiana casino
LAS VEGAS -- Boyd Gaming Corp., owner of the Stardust in Las Vegas and 10 other casinos, has agreed to buy the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Ind., for $273.5 million in cash.Boyd will pay $255 million for the riverboat casino and another $18.5 million for a hotel and parking facility under construction that's attached to the casino complex.
Closely held Blue Chip is one of five riverboats operating in Indiana along Lake Michigan.