Boulders, overhangs set for removal

Work begins today to reduce the threat from three boulders and two rock overhangs from land above Kalihi Valley Homes housing, according to the Board of Water Supply, which owns the land.

A geotechnical engineering firm the board hired completed a field assessment of the area above the housing complex where two boulders fell Jan. 22.  Several families were evacuated after the boulders fell. The boulders have since been broken apart and removed.

The firm identified five areas on the hillside to stabilize.

Royal Contracting Co. will begin work to break apart three boulders, and another contractor, Janod, will use a helicopter to stage its equipment and to secure netting on the rock overhangs, the board said in a news release. The work is expected to take about 16 days.

A board spokeswoman estimated the cost at $350,000 to $400,000.

Bill to move up election approved

A state House committee has approved legislation that would move up the state's primary election from Sept. 18 to Aug. 10.

The bill is moving through the Legislature in case Hawaii does not win a waiver from a federal law that requires states to transmit absentee ballots to military and overseas voters no later than 45 days before a presidential or congressional election.

The current primary election date would violate the law.

The state Office of Elections is seeking the waiver.

The measure, HB 2397, was approved yesterday by the House Judiciary Committee. It still has several legislative steps before reaching Gov. Linda Lingle's desk.

Rep. Bertram declares bankruptcy

WAILUKU >> State Rep. Joe Bertram is declaring bankruptcy because he says he cannot afford medical expenses from an illness that hospitalized him last year.

The Maui Democrat says in his Jan. 28 bankruptcy filing that he owes more than $51,000 to creditors and has only $1,600 in assets.

Bertram was hospitalized in May 2009 with toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease he may have caught while cleaning his cat's litter box. His bankruptcy filing says the illness left with him more than $30,000 in medical bills.

Bertram says he did not have health insurance at the time of his illness because he had not signed up for medical coverage the state provides to legislators.

Bertram was diagnosed with HIV more than a decade ago.