Federal cuts may cost Hawaii housing, jobs
Hawaii may lose federal housing and community development funding that could provide affordable housing for 1,000 families and create 400 jobs, according to a local official.Gordan Furutani, senior community builder with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said Hawaii stands to lose more than $8 million in budget cuts Congress is considering.
The reduction could impact the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii by deleting $2.5 million earmarked for rehabilitation of public housing units, according to a HUD release.
Also threatened is housing assistance for more than 50 homeless families, as well as AIDS victims and funding for mental health counseling, job training and drug treatment.
The House Appropriations Committee voted against funding new Section 8 housing vouchers. Furutani said there are long waiting lists in Hawaii for Section 8 vouchers, and housing agencies stopped taking new applications in recent years.
Rain ends forced water restrictions on Maui
WAILUKU -- Maui County water officials have lifted mandatory water restrictions along the western slopes of Haleakala.Water officials yesterday said more water is now flowing in and out of the system that services Makawao and lower Kula as a result of rainfall.
The water department previously had required residents to reduce water consumption by 25 percent.
The lifting of the mandatory cutback, though, came with a note of caution. While water is filling many of the mountain reservoirs, the forecast is for continuing dry summer weather, officials said.
They are asking residents from Kanaio to Haiku to voluntarily reduce water use by 5 percent. The voluntary reduction does not apply to agricultural users.
Man who caught lobsters banned from snorkeling
WAILUKU -- State conservation officials on Maui say they're pleased with a judge's decision to prohibit a man from fishing, snorkeling or scuba diving for six months as punishment for being caught illegally taking spiny lobsters on two separate occasions.Wailuku District Court Judge Barclay McDonald imposed the sentence on John Panela, 25, who also was fined $1,075.
Panela pleaded no contest on Aug. 27 to five counts of illegally catching and possessing the lobsters.
Conservation officials said he was caught with 17 spiny lobsters during May through August, when taking lobsters is prohibited .
Officials say he also violated state law by catching lobsters with eggs, and four that were undersized.
Traffic issues is topic of Palisades meeting
City Councilman Mufi Hannemann has called for a community meeting at Pacific Palisades in Pearl City to discuss traffic issues, such as the effectiveness of safety measures installed on Auhuhu Street.The meeting will be 7 p.m. Tuesday at Palisades Elementary School.
Reflectors, medians, berms and "bump-outs" to slow traffic were added to Auhuhu Street in recent months, following a pedestrian fatality.
Corrections
Herman Wedemeyer was in a photograph accompanying a "100 Who Made a Difference" article about Jack Lord, not James MacArthur, as incorrectly reported in a photo caption yesterday.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Seen a green Pathfinder with a military sticker?
Police are asking for the public to write down the license plate number of any green Nissan Pathfinder with a military sticker on the windshield and report it to CrimeStoppers.The vehicle is believed to be the one used by the man who was last seen with Evelyn Luka.
Luka, 20, was found Monday severely beaten and dumped near the Ka Uka Boulevard exit next to the H-2 Freeway.
She was last seen leaving the Venus Night Club on Kapiolani Boulevard at 1 a.m. Monday with a man police are still searching for.
He is described as a black man in his 30s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, 185 pounds with clean-cut hair. Police say he possibly is in the military.
CrimeStoppers can be reached at 955-8300.
Woman screams until burglar returns items
A 62-year-old woman yesterday screamed at a man who allegedly burglarized her Waikiki hotel room until he returned the items he stole, police said.According to police, the woman left her purse at the beach when she returned to the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. She got an extra room key, and found the suspect digging through her suitcase when she entered her room at 1:40 p.m.
The woman started screaming in Japanese, and the suspect immediately left the room carrying some of her belongings, police said. She followed the man, yelling at him.
He gave her back the items before hotel security detained him. The suspect, 20, was arrested by police for first-degree burglary.
Boy accused of making bomb threat to school
Police yesterday arrested a boy at Wheeler Army Airfield for allegedly making a bomb threat from a school pay phone.Two calls came into 911 from the same phone, police said. The first reported a suspicious male wearing a black trench coat walking around the area. The second call was the bomb threat to the school. Officers arrested the youth at 11:26 a.m.
Man sexually assaulted ex-girlfriend, police say
Police yesterday charged a Waikiki man for breaking into his former girlfriend's home while she was asleep and sexually assaulting her.Steven Earl Young, 40, was charged with first-degree and third-degree sexual assault and first-degree burglary, police said. He is being held on $75,000 bail.
Young allegedly entered his former girlfriend's Seaside Avenue apartment in Waikiki Thursday night, police said. He reportedly threw something at the 33-year-old woman, injuring her right eye, then sexually assaulted her.
