Hawaii

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation on Tuesday released renderings of three proposed rail station designs, and it plans to hold a series of public meetings next week to gather input on the designs. HART officials, including Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas and Board Chairwoman Carrie Okinaga, along with Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Honolulu City Councilman Breene Harimoto, unveiled a model of the West Loch station at a news conference in Waipahu, where the meeting to discuss that…

by Larry Geller Daniel Ellsberg is widely quoted for his praise of the way whistleblower Edward Snowden handled his blockbuster leaks about NSA surveillance: "In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release of NSA material—and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago." Indeed, government spying on ordinary citizens has

MEDIA RELEASE Police have initiated a public accident case in connection with a shark attack Tuesday afternoon in waters off a Kona beach. A 29-year-old Kailua-Kona man was swimming about 100 feet off shore shortly before 1 p.m. when he spotted a shark in waters off Kekaha Kai State Park, also known as Kona Coast [...] - visit Hawaii 24/7 to read the full story -

Hawaiian Airlines has named Takaya Shishido to the airline’s newly-created position of country director for Japan, with the responsibility for leading the company’s Japan sales team and overseeing all sales initiatives in Japan, the airline announced Tuesday. The creation of the position coincides with the addition of Hawaiian Airlines’ fifth gateway in Japan, with the launch of service to Sendai on June 25. “We are pleased to have Takaya Shishido join our international sales team, given…

The highly competitive Hawaii solar photovoltaic industry has caused some contractors to make it easier for homeowners to see how much money they can save. Take for instance, Honolulu-based Alternate Energy, one of the largest solar PV contractors in the state, which created several useful graphics that explain the federal and state tax credits. And once you’re done getting educated about tax credits and statistics about how much you’ll save, you can then check out a nice timeline Alternate…

Celebrity designer Angelo Surmelis is on Oahu this week, setting up galleries featuring products from his home decor brand angelo:HOME at the Pearlridge and Honolulu HomeWorld furniture stores. Surmelis is best known for starring on HGTV’s “Rate My Space with Angelo Surmelis” and “24 Hour Design,” and TLC’s “Clean Sweep.” HomeWorld, a division of C.S. Wo & Sons Ltd., has partnered with Surmelis to be the exclusive retailer carrying angelo:HOME furniture and home decor products in…

The Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation has given $150,000 in college scholarships and grants to 72 Hawaii athletes and nonprofits, the foundation said Tuesday. Of the $150,000 donation, $110,000 was given to college-bound athletes in the form of scholarships for the upcoming school year; $40,000 in grants went to people who compete in water sports and to nonprofits that provide water sports and youth development programs. The Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation’s mission is committed to financially…

The special committee should reject Murdock's offer of $12.00/share. Dole has previously highlighted $500mm ($5.56/share) of non-core assets, and there have been three consecutive weak years in the core banana business. 46% of Murdock's takeout price consists of things that can be sold without affecting the earnings prospects of the core business in any way. The key question for Dole following the divestiture of its Asia segment has been whether a private owner or the public markets should preside over the disposition and related cash distribution of this $5.56/share.The company announced a planned buyback of $175mm on 5/9/13 with proceeds from the sale of land in Hawaii, and so it seemed that a big part of the overriding non-core asset question had been answered. Then, three weeks later on 5/28/13, Dole cancelled the buyback in favor of purchasing ships. Concurrent with the cancellation of the buyback was news that

A Hawaii energy expert says that he’s surprised that Houston-based Par Petroleum is buying Tesoro Hawaii LLC’s operations instead of Chevron Hawaii, the smaller of the two refineries in the state. “The best buyer for Tesoro is Chevron, but we always knew that they are not necessarily interested in expanding their business in Hawaii,” said Iman Nasseri, an energy economist and research assistant at the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. “[But] they would turn into a monopoly…

by Larry Geller Even if you have no US passport, but if you have a driver’s license or perhaps a state ID in Hawaii, your photo is likely available to federal agents using face recognition software. A Washington Post article (State photo-ID databases become troves for police, Washington Post, 6/16/2013) indicates that Hawaii stores 912,000 face images in total. These are images of ordinary