Maney estate gives $667,170 to UH library

A $667,170 donation from the estate of Joseph and Florence Maney will help support the library at the University of Hawaii at Hilo in perpetuity, the UH Foundation said in a news release.

The bequest through the Florence Maney Trust will form an endowment to pay for new books, periodicals, online databases and other additions to the library collection.

The couple came to Hawaii during World War II to work as nurses at the Queen's Hospital. Florence Maney attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa and received her Bachelor of Arts in 1947. She later completed her master's degree and taught English at UH-Manoa.

Joseph Maney worked at the state Labor Department.

The couple moved to Vermont after their retirement, but later moved back and settled in Hilo.

Both Maneys loved books, the university said.

$1.7M set aside for cleaner diesel vehicles

A $1.7 million federal effort to fund cleaner diesel vehicles for schools and communities has been announced at the University of Hawaii.

State and federal officials said last week that the funding will go toward replacing five buses from the state Department of Education's fleet in Kona on the Big Island and five other DOE diesel trucks. In addition, two diesel refuse trucks and a diesel truck owned by the university will be replaced.

The officials said the diesel vehicle replacements will reduce nitrogen oxides and particulate matter by more than 2.3 tons per year.

The state Department of Health said other clean-diesel funding will be used to retrofit 15 Honolulu Board of Water Supply vehicles.

Ship makeover starts with sandblasting work

With the battleship Missouri fully encased in about 6 acres of plastic in a Pearl Harbor dry dock, workers this week will begin sandblasting the ship's 336,000 square feet of steel hull.

Renovation work on the battleship, now a floating museum, is being done by BAE Systems Hawaii Shipyards and the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

By the fourth week of November, sandblasting will have stripped portions of the ship's hull down to bare metal, readying the hull for repairs, repainting and protection.

The Battleship Missouri Memorial plans to return the warship to its Ford Island berth on Battleship Row on Jan. 7 following the $18 million renovation.