Forecasters keeping eye on storm group

Forecasters in Honolulu are watching a cluster of thunderstorms near the equator on the off chance the weather system could coalesce into a tropical cyclone.

“;We're still looking at it,”; Tim Craig, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said yesterday morning. “;We still think that there is a very slim chance that it would develop into a tropical cyclone.”;

The cluster of thunderstorms, 1,375 miles south of Honolulu, could just be a low-pressure trough or a “;low,”; he said. It is traveling east at 15 to 20 mph, according to the weather service Web site.

“;It hasn't got its act together,”; Craig said. “;It's still unorganized. It's still a cluster of thunderstorms. They're persistent. There's something there that's keeping them going. But it's not a tropical storm and certainly not a hurricane.”;

3-day hearing ends for accused soldier

A hearing for a Schofield Barracks soldier accused of murdering a military contractor in Iraq has finished after three days of testimony.

The Army's Article 32 hearing—the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing—for Spc. Beyshee Velez ended yesterday at Wheeler Army Airfield.

Investigating officer Lt. Col. Payton L. Sims is due to assess the charges against Velez.

The 25th Infantry Division's commanding general is to decide whether Velez will be court-martialed after reviewing the officer's recommendation.

Velez is accused of fatally shooting Lucas Vinson of Leesville, La., in September on a U.S. base near Tikrit.

The 31-year-old Velez is being held at the Ford Island brig in Pearl Harbor.

Isle-based vessel saves 2 Filipino fishermen

The Pearl Harbor-based frigate USS Reuben James rescued two Filipino fishermen in distress in an outrigger canoe near Mindanao on Saturday, the Navy said yesterday.

The pair had left the Mindanao port of San Francisco the previous day but became stranded 26 miles off the coast after their outboard motor failed.

The frigate's crew made temporary repairs to the engine and provided fuel, water and food to help the fishermen return to San Francisco. The ship also coordinated with a Philippine coast guard patrol boat, which escorted the canoe home.

“;Today, Reuben James exercised the ancient law of the mariner: our obligation to render aid to those in peril on the sea,”; said Cmdr. David E. Miller, the warship's commanding officer, in a news release.

The guided-missile frigate left Pearl Harbor on a routine deployment to the western Pacific on Jan. 15. The warship, with a crew of more than 250 sailors, is one of eight ships assigned to Destroyer Squadron 31.

Woman gets 21 months for embezzling, fraud

A Honolulu woman who embezzled nearly $85,000 and made $38,000 in fraudulent credit card transactions has been sentenced to 21 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright also ordered Cristina Hanzawa on Tuesday to pay more than $115,000 in restitution to her employer, Access Lifts Hawaii Inc., and $6,000 to Pitney Bowes Bank.

The 28-year-old Hanzawa had pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement on a credit application and four counts of credit card fraud.