U.S. Army women honor Duckworth

Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary of veterans affairs, will be inducted into the U.S. Army Women's Foundation Hall of Fame on March 17 in Washington, D.C.

Also to be inducted is retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, president of the board of directors of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation Inc.

Duckworth, a McKinley High School and University of Hawaii graduate, was the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs before accepting an appointment as VA assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs.

In 2004, she deployed as a member of the Illinois National Guard to Iraq, where her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. She lost both her legs and partial use of one arm.

The Army Women's Foundation launched its Hall of Fame on March 24, 2009, with the first two inductees: retired Brig. Gen. Evelyn “;Pat”; Foote and Command Sgt. Maj. Cynthia Pritchett.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Settlement ends Big Isle abuse case

HILO » An 11th-hour settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed on behalf of an abused Big Island girl who suffered stab wounds, burns and a maggot-infested head wound.

The lawsuit was filed by the girl's father and paternal grandfather.

The girl's caregiver, Hyacinth Poouahi, was named in the lawsuit along with the girl's mother, Crystal McGrath, who left her daughter in Poouahi's care, and the state departments of Education and Human Services.

The lawsuit had been slated to go to trial Tuesday. Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.

Poouahi was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2009 after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a minor, assault, unlawful imprisonment and terroristic threatening.

The girl was 9 when the abuse began in 2004.