Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Saturday, March 17, 2001
Judge resets hearing on Campbell Estate
A state judge has reset a hearing on a request by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and KITV-4 to open up legal proceedings involving the Estate of James Campbell.Probate Judge Colleen Hirai yesterday rescheduled the hearing to May 11 at the request of the estate's attorney, Ed Case. Earlier this week, Case filed court papers to seal a hearing on a legal dispute between the estate and its former law firm.
The $2 billion estate is also asking Hirai to reconsider a December ruling by then-Probate Judge Kevin Chang, who found that the estate's trustees mishandled a multimillion dollar legal dispute with its former law firm Ashford & Wriston.
The Star-Bulletin and KITV Thursday filed court papers seeking to open up the proceeding, arguing it involves matters of widespread public interest. The news organizations said the Campbell Estate's petition to seal court proceedings was itself filed under seal.
No challenge to airline merger
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department announced yesterday it will not challenge American Airlines' proposed acquisition of TWA, a decision that effectively retires one of most storied names in the annals of U.S. aviation.The department's Antitrust Division put out a brief statement saying it had decided to let the transaction go forward after investigating the merger and taking into account TWA's bankrupt condition.
Under the proposed deal, American would pay $742 million for most of TWA's assets, including up to 190 planes and the St. Louis hub. In a separate deal, it also would pay $82 million for a 49 percent stake in DC Air, a minority-owned start-up of United and US Airways that would serve 44 markets out of Washington's Reagan National Airport. The Justice Department has not yet given an opinion on the DC Air deal.
Tax cuts aimed at small businesses
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's Treasury Department estimated yesterday that at least 17 million small businesses would benefit from his proposed income tax cuts. Democrats argue the cuts are too small at the start to help the faltering economy.At a White House small business conference, Bush said dropping the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent "serves as a stimulus to small business growth in America." The $958 billion in income tax cuts passed by the House, which drop the lowest 15 percent rate to 12 percent retroactive to Jan. 1, would provide just $5.6 billion in 2001 and $49.1 billion in 2002 -- but would give $124.7 billion in tax cuts in 2011.