Castle & Cooke Aviation gets long Van Nuys lease

A 30-year lease has been approved for Castle & Cooke Aviation at California's Van Nuys Airport, where it has been confirmed as a full-service fixed base operation.

Chief Executive Officer David Murdock has operated from the airport since 1975, and his Lear 25 was the seventh jet to be based at the airport two years later.

The company has operated a corporate hangar and fuel farm at the airport since 1980 and has expanded its presence into more than 120,000 square feet of hangars and offices. As part of its new lease, Castle & Cooke, which also operates an FBO at Honolulu Airport, will build a new, 50,000-square-foot hangar, office building and customer service lobby and will pour concrete for a 75,000-square-foot aircraft apron.

Late filings raise state bankruptcies by 1.9%

Hawaii bankruptcies did not decrease after all for the first time in more than three years.

A flurry of late electronic filings last night put November's total at 219, just four more — or 1.9 percent greater — than the 215 filed in the year-earlier quarter. Until the late filings, preliminary data indicated that Hawaii would see its first month-over-month decrease in bankruptcy filings for the first time since October 2006.

Short-term rentals net tax sentence

Oahu resident Marlene Roth has been ordered to pay $11,479, perform 600 hours of community service and to be compliant with tax laws for failing to file general excise and transient accommodation tax returns for 2003, 2004 and 2005.

District Judge Fay Koyanagi granted a one-year deferred acceptance of Roth's guilty plea after she initially pleaded guilty to six counts. An interim proof of compliance hearing is set for April 1.

Unpaid leave enforced at many Gannett papers

Gannett Co. will enforce five days of unpaid leave for many of its U.S. newspaper employees in the first three months of 2010 because of concerns about the economy.

But the furloughs don't include the Honolulu Advertiser, according to Wayne Cahill, administrative officer of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild.

The company's community publishing unit announced the unpaid leave yesterday in a memo to staff from Bob Dickey, president of the division. The unit doesn't include USA Today. The McLean, Va.-based company implemented two weeks of unpaid leave earlier this year.

ON THE MOVE

  » Diamond Head Theatre announced the following elected officers for their 2009-2010 board of directors: Hugh C. Damon, chairman and president; Rick Ching, vice president; Vernon Wong, vice president/treasurer; Alan Hoffman, secretary; and Gabriel Lee, immediate past chairman.

Their new directors on the board are Susan K. Eichor and Thomas McCarthy.

» Hawaiian Electric Co. has contributed $10,000 to the McKinley High School Robotics Team to support its participation in the VEX and first Robotics Team Competitions for the 2009-2010 season.

» PBR Hawaii & Associates has announced that Russell Y.J. Chung and Grant Murakami have obtained their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional designation by the U.S. Green Building Council.

» The American Society of Interior Designer's 2009 Design Excellence Awards have honored Philip K. White & Associates with an Award of Excellence. The award for the company's work on their silver LEED-certified 40 S. School St. offices was one of three to be awarded this year, which featured a three-way tie for the first time.