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Federal grants help firefighters

The Honolulu and Hawaii County fire departments have been awarded $708,106 in federal grants for training and equipment, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie announced .

The grants were awarded by the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Domestic Preparedness. The Honolulu Fire Department will get $407,106, while Hilo firefighters will get $301,000.

"These grants are extremely helpful to our first responders," said Abercrombie (D, urban Honolulu). "We must do all we can to make sure that firefighters ... have all the necessary training and equipment to keep us and themselves safe and secure."

Hurricane expected to bypass islands

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa » A hurricane warning for Swains Island was canceled yesterday as the threat from Hurricane Percy eased, the National Weather Service said.

Swains was placed under a less-severe storm warning and a high surf warning as the hurricane churned through the South Pacific, 103 miles north of the island and 241 miles north of the Manua Islands, officials said.

The storm, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph and gusts to 130 mph, was moving east-southeast at 13 mph, they said.

The U.S. territory about 2,300 miles south of Hawaii is still recovering from the Feb. 16 passage of Hurricane Olaf, which had sustained winds of 160 mph and gusts up to 190 mph.

In the aftermath of Olaf, President Bush declared American Samoa a major disaster area.

Marcos' former nanny defeats deportation

SAN FRANCISCO » A nanny for a former Philippine military commander won her right to remain in the United States, her attorney said Friday.

Teresita Huppanda, now 56, fled the Philippines in 1986 with former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his wife, Imelda and about 100 others who were airlifted in U.S. military aircraft to Hawaii. She eventually settled in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova, where she works as a Wal-Mart cashier.

The U.S. government has been trying for years to deport her. Her attorney, James Mayock of San Francisco, said Huppanda has challenged the deportation because of promises by the Reagan administration that those who fled with Marcos to avoid a civil war could remain in the United States permanently.

After Ferdinand Marcos' death in 1989 and his wife's return to the Philippines, the government notified Huppanda that she had to leave. She obtained a number of reprieves while fighting a 1992 deportation order.

On Friday, the government and Huppanda settled a lawsuit she had brought challenging the order, Mayock said. The settlement allows her to remain in the country.

Huppanda was nanny for the children of the Filipino presidential guard's commander.

A spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department declined to comment on the case.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

HONOLULU

Pedestrian dies after being hit on H-1

A 25-year-old Honolulu man died Friday night after he was struck by a car while trying to cross the H-1 freeway, police said.

The traffic fatality is the 11th this year, compared to 16 at the same time in 2004.

Police said the accident happened about 9:15 p.m. in the westbound lanes near the Houghtailing Street onramp when the victim and another man were trying to cross the freeway.

Alcohol was likely a factor with both men, police said.

The 25-year-old, who was wearing dark clothing, was struck while in the second lane from the highway median. The two men had already crossed the eastbound lanes without incident.

A 32-year-old man was driving the car, a 2005 four-door silver Lexus. He and his passengers -- a 32-year-old woman and 1-year-old girl, all of the same Kaneohe address -- were uninjured.

The adults were wearing seat belts and the child was in an infant seat.

The victim was taken to the Queen's Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:49 p.m. No other injuries were reported.

Alcohol and speed did not appear to be factors on the part of the driver, police said.

CENTRAL OAHU

Man critically injured in motorcycle crash

A 54-year-old Ewa Beach man was taken to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition early yesterday after a motorcycle accident in Wahiawa, police said.

The accident happened about 1 a.m. when the man was driving a 2001 Harley-Davidson east on Wilikina Drive, about 157 feet west of Kunia Road. The motorcycle apparently fell over, slid onto its side and hit a raised concrete curb, police said.

Speed and alcohol were probable factors in the crash, they said. The man was not wearing a helmet.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Suspected home arson does $90,000 damage

Big Island fire officials are investigating a "suspicious" blaze that destroyed a Puna home early yesterday.

The fire was reported about 8:39 a.m. at 13-0958 Malama St., located in Leilani Estates.

It took 13 firefighters about 19 minutes to bring the fire under control.

No one was at home when the fire started, and no injuries were reported. Damage to the home and its contents was estimated at $90,000.

Fire inspectors said the fire appears to have been deliberately set.