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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff
and wire service
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Today is the 18th day of 2006. There are 347 days left in the year.
» 1778: English navigator Captain James Cook reached the Hawaiian Islands, which he dubbed the "Sandwich Islands."
Isles get federal funds for flu preparations
Hawaii will receive $803,669 in federal funding to prepare for an influenza pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced.
"Pandemics happen globally but must be managed at the state and local level, and these funds will help communities throughout Hawaii meet that responsibility," said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt in a statement released last week.
A total of $350 million will be released nationwide, with every state receiving at least $500,000, the department said. Funds are to be used to accelerate plans to deal with influenza with practical, community-based procedures.
More information is available at www.pandemicflu.gov.
Panel looks at Asian women stereotypes
In a Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii program Jan. 24, panelists will discuss whether gender and racial stereotypes of Asian women in movies affect women and their careers.
Center officials say the question has come up recently with the opening of the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha."
The program will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the cultural center's Ewa Ballroom.
Panelists will be former KGMB news anchor Jade Moon; Barbara Tanabe, public affairs strategist and former television journalist; Kathleen "Kati" Kuroda, actress and director; and Alicia Michioka-Jones, actress and former Miss Hawaii USA. Christine Yano, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, will be the moderator.
Kalihi-Palama library reopens after repairs
Kalihi-Palama Public Library reopened this week after nearly a month of renovations, and will add Saturday to its service hours.
Its new schedule is:
» Monday and Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
» Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The library is an official Passport Acceptance Facility, although hours for that service are shorter than its general public service hours.
While it was closed, the library upgraded its parking lot and restrooms to make them accessible to the disabled.
Restaurants sought for annual fundraiser
The Life Foundation is seeking restaurants to participate in its Oahu Dines 2006, a fundraiser for the AIDS organization.
Boots and Kimo's Homestyle Kitchen, Tiki's Grill and Bar, and Big City Diner have signed up again for this year's event, which will be on March 1.
People interested in the event can visit www.oahudines.org online.
For more information, call the Life Foundation's event coordinator Cathy Pudwill at 521-2437, ext. 250, or e-mail her at cpudwill@lifefoundation.org.
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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HONOLULU
Motorcyclist injured after crashing into car
A 36-year-old Honolulu man was critically injured yesterday morning when the motorcycle he was driving slammed into a car on Isenberg Street.
Witnesses said the motorcyclist was speeding, and police said that may have played a part in the accident.
A 79-year-old Honolulu man driving a white 1999 Lexus ES 300 was heading makai on Isenberg Street and had begun turning left into the First Hawaiian Bank parking lot near South King Street about 10:25 a.m. when the accident occurred, police said.
The motorcycle, a 2004 Honda CBR, collided with the Lexus, police said.
The motorcyclist, who was wearing a helmet, was transported to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition with possible internal injuries, police said.
Driver sought following hit-and-run fatality
Police are looking for the driver of a white Dodge Stratus involved in a hit-and-run accident on Nimitz Highway yesterday morning in which an 86-year-old Wahiawa woman was killed.
The Medical Examiner's Office identified the woman as Betty Santiago.
Santiago was crossing North Nimitz Highway at Sumner Street in a marked crosswalk at 10:22 a.m., police said.
Cars in the right and middle lane had stopped to let her cross, police said. The driver of a car in the middle lane, however, moved to the left lane and tried to go around the stopped cars when he allegedly hit Santiago, police said.
The suspect, described as a man in his 20s, drove off in the Ewa direction on Nimitz.
The car he was driving is described as a white 2000 four-door Dodge Stratus, with the license plate number HZM 572.
Anyone with information about this person is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or *CRIME on a cell phone.
NORTH SHORE
Police take shotgun from intoxicated man
Police arrested a 60-year-old man in Kahuku for having a sawed-off shotgun Monday night.
Police officers were called to the scene at about 8:40 p.m. and reported that the man appeared intoxicated. He voluntarily turned over his weapon, police said.
He was arrested for possession of a prohibited weapon and for having an unregistered weapon, according to police.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Passenger dies after driver runs off road
A 77-year-old Kau man died Monday when his wife tried to pass a cement truck and ran off the Hawaii Belt Road near their Hawaiian Ocean View Estates home, police said.
Joseph A. Jensen, a passenger in a Nissan sedan driven by his wife, Gloria, was pronounced dead at Kona Community Hospital, according to Sgt. Christopher Gali of Hawaii County's Traffic Enforcement Unit.
Police have opened a negligent homicide investigation into the accident.
Gloria Jensen, 74, sideswiped a cement truck at 9 a.m. when she tried to pass it in a no-passing zone while heading west on Hawaii Belt Road, Route 11, Gali said. The truck was about to make a left turn onto Kona Kai Boulevard.
Jensen's car ran off the left side of the road and hit a tree. Neither she nor the truck driver, 50-year-old James Todd, was injured, Gali said.
It was the second traffic fatality this year on the Big Island, compared with two at this time last year, he said.
