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[ FAST FACTS HAWAII ]

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3 more 7-Elevens planned for Oahu

Three new 7-Eleven stores will open on Oahu later this year and early next year in Makiki, Niu Valley and Kapahulu, and will have gasoline pumps.

One store will open at the site of the former Wisteria restaurant at Piikoi and South King streets by the end of the year. Two other stores will open at Niu Valley Shopping Center and the Union 76 site at Kapahulu Avenue and Castle Street in the first few months of next year.

Seven-Eleven Hawaii Inc. said it will arrange with Mid Pac Petroleum LLC to supply the gasoline at the three new stores. The company owns and operates 53 convenience stores throughout Hawaii.

Yard House to open Waikiki eatery

A private mainland restaurant company said it is finalizing a lease to open a Yard House restaurant in early 2007 at the new entertainment complex being built as part of the Waikiki Beach Walk redevelopment.

Yard House USA LLC said it is ready to sign a lease for a 10,000- to 11,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of Outrigger Enterprises' Waikiki entertainment complex.

Yard House restaurants have more than 100 beers on tap and have menu items ranging from cheeseburgers to seared ahi to orange peel chicken. The Waikiki location is among several new restaurants the 9-year-old chain plans to open in the next couple of years.

Yard House, based in Irvine, Calif., has seven restaurants in Southern California and one each in Colorado and Illinois. Yard House restaurants usually play classic rock, though the Waikiki location will play Hawaiian music on Sundays, according to the company's chief executive, Steele Platt, a former Oahu resident.

325 isle students get scholarships

USA Funds, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit guarantor of federal students loans, has awarded $473,250 in scholarships to 325 students in Hawaii for the 2005-2006 academic year.

The total includes $191,250 in scholarships for 129 first-time recipients and $282,000 in renewed scholarships to 196 Hawaii students. The scholarships are available to students from households with incomes of $35,000 or less. Students can receive annual scholarships of up to $1,500.

Company has success with vaccine

Hawaii Biotech Inc. announced yesterday that a third study showed its West Nile virus vaccine protected all hamsters in a test from illness and death. By contrast, 53 percent of hamsters not given the vaccine died and all showed signs of illness after being exposed to the disease.

Hawaii Biotech is preparing to conduct clinical trials on humans.