Error posts Chaminade students' info

Chaminade University inadvertently posted confidential information, including Social Security numbers, of thousands of students on its Web site for months, school officials say.

The posting of a report with the information was discovered Wednesday, and the report was taken off the Web site and links disabled.

An investigation determined the report was placed on obscure — though publicly accessible — Web pages because of human error, university officials said in a news release yesterday. The information was accessible for about eight months, although there is no evidence of its use, officials said.

The university estimates that personally identifiable data for 4,500 students was in the report. Those affected include undergraduate students who attended the university from 1997 to 2006.

Chaminade officials are putting in place procedures designed to prevent a recurrence and will provide additional training to staff regarding the protection of personal information, the university said.

The university is contacting the people whose information was put online. Those affected are being asked to monitor and review their credit report.

For more information, a Chaminade e-mail address has been set up at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), as well as a Web page at www.chaminade.edu/infosecure.

All state flags to fly at half-staff

Acting Gov. James R. “;Duke”; Aiona Jr. yesterday ordered all state flags to fly at half-staff until sunset Tuesday in honor of the men and women killed at Fort Hood, Texas, Thursday.

Aiona, acting on behalf of Gov. Linda Lingle, who is traveling in China, said in a news release, “;We must always honor our service men and women, who risk their lives every day to protect the liberty and freedom we have as American citizens.”;

Earlier yesterday, President Barack Obama ordered all flags at the White House and on federal buildings to fly at half-staff through Tuesday in honor of the 13 people killed in a shooting spree by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

Help asked to find wild bee colonies

See any wild honeybee colonies?

University of Hawaii researchers are asking for the public's help to find wild bee colonies on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island through December.

The research is part of the UH Honeybee Varroa Project, a statewide study to create treatment for honeybee viruses transmitted by the bee-killing varroa mite.

Historically, Hawaii has been relatively free of pests and diseases that have spread throughout the mainland.

But since the varroa mite was discovered on Oahu and the Big Island, it has been blamed for dramatically reducing the number of wild honeybee colonies and affecting the pollination of crops grown in Hawaii.

The mites kill bees by feeding on bee larvae and adult bees.

Anyone who sees a wild honeybee colony on Maui or Kauai is asked to call the UH Honeybee Varroa Project at 956-2445 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

For bee colonies on the Big Island, call Maria Diaz-Lyke at the Kamuela extension office at 887-6183.

Visit www.hsblinks.com/18k for more information.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Lava flows from Kilauea head to ocean

VOLCANO, Big Island » Dozens of small lava flows from erupting Kilauea volcano are reaching the ocean.

Jim Kauahikaua of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said this week that recent flows have burned a structure, come close to the trail head leading to the lava viewing area and entered the ocean about 2,300 feet west of the still-active ocean entry at Waikupanaha.

Flows are also creating a new lava tube system next to, and over, the main tube that has supplied lava to the ocean since March 2008.