Turbulence hurts 4 on Hawaii flight

Four people were injured on an inbound Northwest Airlines flight this morning because of severe turbulence, according to a state official.

Northwest Airlines Flight 22, from Narita, Japan, landed at Honolulu Airport at 8:10 a.m. today. Four people on board required medical treatment, said Tammy Mori, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

A flight attendant suffered head and neck injuries, and was taken to the Queen's Medical Center in serious but stable condition by an American Medical Response ambulance crew.

Two passengers suffered minor injuries; one had a hip injury and the other had arm and neck injuries. They were taken to Straub Clinic & Hospital, also by AMR. A third passenger also had minor injuries and was treated at the airport, Mori said.

Mori said the airport's fire and rescue crews responded.

She did not have additional details about the turbulence.

McCully Street is closed for repairs

McCully Street was to remain closed in both directions near Date Street this morning as crews repair a water main that broke on Tuesday.

“;(Motorists) should just avoid the area even through (this) morning,”; said Su Shin, Board of Water Supply spokeswoman.

Two water leaks delayed repairs yesterday to the busted 16-inch water main, keeping McCully Street closed between Date and Citron streets.

At 3 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. yesterday, crews returned water to the line but had to shut it off after the line started leaking. The leaks were near the original break, Shin said. The cause of the break, she said, might be linked to the age of the pipe, installed in 1928.

The pipe burst at about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, leaving 46 customers without water and flooding one apartment. It was the first main break in the area since 1994.

Lingle taps Dahilig as UH regent

Gov. Linda Lingle is nominating former student regent Michael A. Dahilig to fill the remaining University of Hawaii Board of Regents at-large seat, the governor's office said in a news release.

Dahilig's name will be submitted to the state Senate for confirmation.

Dahilig earned his law degree from the William S. Richardson School of Law and an undergraduate degree in geology and geophysics from the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at UH-Manoa.

Lingle named five other people to the board earlier this month after the state Supreme Court ordered the governor to fill the vacancies from a list of candidates submitted by the new Regents Candidate Advisory Council.

Lingle had held over six regents, including Dahilig, past the end of their terms. But state Senate leaders filed a challenge to the held-over regents with the Supreme Court.

Lingle had asked the court to allow her to delay the announcement of the sixth regent to give the advisory council time to find replacement nominations. Two of the three candidates withdrew their names from consideration.

The court denied the motion, leaving Dahilig as the remaining candidate.

Dredging is suspected in fish kill

LIHUE » Thousands of small deep-water fish washed up in Nawiliwili Harbor over the weekend, prompting a state Department of Land and Natural Resources investigation.

Don Heacock, a DLNR aquatic biologist, said it is the third time in 15 years that lantern fish have washed up on Kauai beaches. Lantern fish are a baitfish from a half-inch to 4 inches in length.

The first two fish kills were caused by the dumping of dredging material about four miles offshore, and it was the likely culprit here as well, Heacock said.