Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Monday, August 13, 2001

NASA's flying wing takes off, trying to set record

BARKING SANDS, Kauai >> NASA launched a giant, solar-powered flying wing from Kauai this morning in an attempt to achieve a world altitude record by a nonrocket powered aircraft.

The Helios Prototype is designed to fly three times higher than a commercial jet. The remote-controlled aircraft is believed capable of reaching an altitude of 103,000 feet in ideal weather, NASA said.

Depending on the rate of climb, the record could be broken in about eight to nine hours from takeoff, said NASA program manager John Hicks.

2 part-time judges earn reappointments

Patricia McManaman and Philip Doi were reappointed as per-diem judges for Honolulu District Court for four-year terms.

McManaman's term runs Aug. 1 through July 17, 2005. McManaman, chief executive officer of Na Loio -- Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center, was first appointed a per-diem judge in 1991.

Doi, a sole practitioner, focuses on civil cases involving consumer bankruptcies. He has served as a per-diem judge since 1997.

Dobelle marks $50,000 for new UH film school

University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle has put some money where his mouth is, earmarking $50,000 toward starting a film school.

Dobelle said yesterday that he gave funding to Manoa Chancellor Deane Neubauer to put together a committee to explore starting a four-year program in film and television arts.

The university already offers noncredit film courses, but Dobelle announced earlier that he would like to have a degree program that would empower Hawaii people to create quality film and television programs and contribute to a growing state industry.

Dobelle said he reallocated the funds "in the hopeful result of having a film school."

Roadwork to close freeway ramps until Wednesday

The state Department of Transportation is advising motorists of H-1 freeway ramp closures scheduled to start today and continue through Wednesday.

The westbound Wilder Avenue offramp and eastbound University Avenue on- and offramps will be closed for guardrail work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., transportation officials said.

Meanwhile, two of three lanes of the Punahou Street offramp will be closed for concrete paving of the ramp, the Transportation Department said. The Piikoi Street onramp to H-1 eastbound will be closed from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. as a safety precaution for traffic approaching the Punahou offramp.

Motorists are advised to anticipate delays, to use caution while driving through the work areas and to allow for extra travel time.

Hawaii prison population grows 3.1%

The number of inmates in state prisons fell in the second half of last year, the first such decline since the United States' prison boom began in 1972, according to a Justice Department report released yesterday.

But while the overall number of inmates declined in the second half of last year, most states, including Hawaii, reported an increase in the number of people incarcerated in state and federal prisons, local jails and juvenile detention centers for the year.

Hawaii's prison population rose by 3.1 percent in 2000 to 5,053 people, 150 more than the previous year, the report said.

Nationwide, 34 states saw an increase in their prison populations, led by North Dakota and Idaho both with 14.1 percent increases.

Overall, the decline over the last six months of 2000 was modest, a drop of 6,200 inmates in state prisons, or 0.5 percent of the total, the report said. But it comes after the number of state prisoners rose 500 percent over the last three decades, even growing each year in the 1990s as crime dropped. The total number of people incarcerated was 2,071,686 at the end of 2000, the report said.

"I think it is a very significant development," said Alfred Blumstein, a professor of criminology at Carnegie Mellon University and one of the nation's most respected experts on prisons. "It is really the first change in direction in 30 years in the march toward incarceration."

Experts attributed the drop to several factors: the continuing decline in crime, which began in 1992; new attitudes about offering drug offenders treatment instead of locking them up; and a greater willingness by parole officers to help parolees instead of sending them back to prison for minor infractions.

At the end of 2000, there were 1,236,476 people in state prisons and 145,416 in federal prisons.

Corrections and clarifications

>> A front-page story Saturday about a Big Island lava-flow road wrongly implied that some hikers used the path without permission. The road was open to hikers during the week but was closed late Friday. Hawaii County will reveal further plans for the road tomorrow

Corrections and clarifications The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Publisher and Editor in Chief John Flanagan at 529-4748 or email him at jflanagan@starbulletin.com.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

HONOLULU

Body found off Kahala identified as diver, 49

The body of a missing diver was recovered yesterday in Kahala, fire officials said.

The man was identified as Laki Fai, 49, of Waipahu.

Fai had been diving with two friends who reported him missing at 11:21 p.m. Saturday, said Capt. Kenison Tejada of the Honolulu Fire Department.

The men had been diving near the public entrance to the beach at Kahala Avenue and Hunakai Street when they got separated, Tejada said.

Search and rescue crews looked for about two hours Saturday night. The search resumed yesterday. A helicopter crew saw the body at 7:15 a.m., about three-quarters of a mile toward Diamond Head from where the men had been diving, Tejada said.

LEEWARD OAHU

2 men rob jewelry store at Pearl Kai Center

Police are looking for two men who robbed a jewelry store at Pearl Kai Shopping Center at gunpoint yesterday.

Police said the robbers entered J T Jewelry and Watch about 3 p.m. and waited until the store was empty. The police said a man with a pistol ordered the employees to the floor. Another filled a backpack with jewelry; then both fled.

The robber who had the gun is described as in his 30s, 5-foot-4, 140 pounds with a tan complexion. He was wearing a white and green baseball cap, a gray long sleeve shirt, black jeans and black sneakers. The other robber is described as in his 30s, 5-foot-5, and 150 pounds. He was wearing a black baseball cap, a gray short sleeve shirt under a black short sleeve button-front shirt, red shorts and white sneakers.