IN HAWAII

Small Business agency touts watchdog board

The federal Small Business Administration is touting enactment of a measure to keep alive a program aimed at getting rid of burdensome rules.

The SBA said Gov. Ben Cayetano's signature on an act to make permanent the "Small Business Regulatory Review Board" means a watchdog for small business within the state government will be able to continue its advocacy role on regulations.

Establishing the review board "guaranteed small business a seat at the table when regulations are being written," said Michael T. Hull, regional head of the SBA's office of advocacy.

Nextel Partners opens new retail location

Nextel Partners Inc., which sells wireless-telephone service in smaller U.S. markets, has opened its first Hawaii retail store, an 800-square-foot unit in the Westridge Center in Aiea.

It is only the second retail outlet for Kirkland, Wash., company which opened its first in Louisville, Ky. in March.

Nextel says there is strong local demand for its "four-in-one" wireless service, which combines digital cellular, digital two-way radio, wireless Internet access and text/numeric messaging in one phone.

At the new store, customers can try Nextel wireless Web services, look over a variety of phones, buy accessories and get technical help.

ON THE MAINLAND

Martha Stewart says she will be exonerated

NEW YORK >> An exasperated Martha Stewart told television viewers today she hoped her entanglement in an insider trading scandal would be resolved soon and she would "be exonerated of any ridiculousness."

Stewart, during a regularly scheduled appearance on CBS' "The Early Show," chopped cabbage while answering questions about her sale of shares of biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc.

Stewart's shares were sold a day before ImClone's stock plummeted on news its experimental cancer drug was rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The embattled chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

"I'm just not at liberty at this time to make any comments whatsoever," she said to Early Show host Jane Clayson. "I certainly hope that the matter is resolved in the very near future."

Bidding war for TRW continues to heat up

NEW YORK >> The bidding war for defense and auto parts maker TRW Inc heated up on today with Northrop Grumman Corp. raising an earlier offer to about $7.2 billion and three other companies bidding for its defense assets, sources familiar with the talks said.

The competition for TRW comes at time the U.S. government and some of its allies are raising defense budgets in the wake of attacks on U.S. soil on Sept. 11. Cleveland-based TRW so far has resisted the suitors' overtures, saying the offers undervalue the company.

Northrop, which in February made its first takeover offer for TRW, has raised its bid for the second time, sources told Reuters.

Northrop now is willing to pay about $7.2 billion in stock, they said.

Northrop's bid is competing with offers made by British defense company BAE Systems Plc and U.S. companies general Dynamics and Raytheon Co.

These three firms have bid for TRW's core satellite and missile defense systems but not for the auto parts operations.

In other news ...

>> Home prices in California soared to a new record in May, increasing 25.5 percent from a year earlier during a flurry of buying and selling activity. The median price of a single-family home in the state hit $321,130, up from $255,860 in May 2001.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

New jobs

>> Marjorie Kubota has been hired as manager at Musashi Restaurant.

She is responsible for hiring, supervising, scheduling and training all service personnel, customer relations, monitoring marketability and competition, and creating menus for three types of Japanese cuisine: teishoku (complete meal) dining, teppanyaki (open grill) and the sushi bar. She's won management awards at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel, and worked as a manager at Momoyama Japanese Restaurant and Pikake Terrace.

Recognition

>> CPA Richard A. Coons was named honorary member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

He served as partner-in-charge of Touche Ross and its successor firm, Deloitte & Touche LLP, from 1974 to 1995. He is currently an appointee on the Office of Disciplinary Council.