United adds daily flight for Kona-S.F. service

United Airlines will add a second daily direct flight between San Francisco and Kona on June 7. The service will use Boeing 757-200 aircraft, offering about 180 seats a day.

United already has three direct West Coast-Kona flights each day, two from Los Angeles and one from San Francisco.

With the recent resumption of two canceled West Coast-Honolulu flights and the addition of two flights a week between Honolulu and Denver, United's Hawaii frequency already is back to its pre-Sept. 11 level. The airline now has 121 flights a week between the mainland and Hawaii and on June 7 that will rise to 122. There is also one United flight a day between Honolulu and Tokyo.

Hilo firm to restructure 3 companies into 1 name

Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii Inc. in Hilo is to undergo a corporate restructuring as of May 1 to bring three sister companies under one name -- Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii LLP. In addition to Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii Inc., other operations have been known as CLH Labs LLC and CKS Joint Venture, according to Director of Human Resources William Watkins. The company has informed the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of its intention to transfer all 171 employees to the new entity as of that date.

World Wide Web forum set for May in Waikiki

The 11th International World Wide Web Conference, or WWW2002, will be held May 7-11 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. The event, started in 1994, is being organized by the University of Hawaii and the Pacific Telecommunications Council along with the International World Wide Web Conference Committee based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Some 1,500 industry and academia participants are expected to attend the event to discuss the latest ideas and developments in Web technologies and applications.

Regular registration costs $1,295 for the entire five-day event, though early bird rates ranging up to $1,095 are available until March 15. More information is available at www2002.org.

Dave & Buster's stock up 13.2% after 'Net article

DES MOINES, Iowa >> Shares of "eatertainment" chain Dave & Buster's Inc. has now surged 13.2 percent over the past two days following a favorable article about the company that appeared on an investors' Web site. A story on TheStreet.com said the company "can still be a very big stock," adding that "if management can execute, this stock can trade north of $50 a share in the next few years."

Dave & Buster's opened an outlet last October in the Ward Entertainment Center complex.

The company, which shot up 92 cents yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, rose an additional 29 cents to $10.41 today. In the past 12 months, the company earned $8.62 million on revenue of $350.85 million.

UH business plan contest will award $50,000

The University of Hawaii Business Plan Competition will award a total of $50,000 in cash prizes this year.

The competition now in its second year is sponsored by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business at the UH College of Business Administration. This year the competition attracted about 70 teams from throughout the UH system. About 45 of those teams will now be eligible to move to the next level of competition. Finalists will be judged in front of an audience on May 11 with the winning team receiving $25,000. Second place winners will receive $15,000 and third place winners will receive $10,000.

The goal of the competition is to get business professionals involved as coaches, create new companies and retain talented individuals in Hawaii to help build an entrepreneurial economy. A business plan competition kick-off reception will be held on March 11. For more information, call 956-5083.