Hawai'i briefs

Advertiser Staff

Ex-presidential aide due at GOP event

Karen Hughes, considered to be one of the most influential female White House advisers ever, will be the featured guest at a $500-a-ticket fund-raiser for the party in Waikiki on Monday night, Hawai'i Republican Party Chairman Micah Kane confirmed yesterday.

Hughes also will attend an event on Monday morning that is still being planned, he said.

Hughes is the second prominent Republican to come to Hawai'i this month. On Wednesday night, Environmental Protection Agency head Christie Whitman attended a fund-raising dinner for gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle.

Unity House backs Lingle-Aiona ticket

Unity House Inc. has endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle and running mate James "Duke" Aiona.

Unity House is a $60 million organization which benefits Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 5 members and Teamsters. Lingle is a former employee of the corporation.

Tony Rutledge, president and chief executive officer of Unity House, said both Lingle and her Democratic opponent Mazie Hirono have "excellent qualifications," but the organization believes it time to give "new people, fresh ideas and a different way of doing things a chance."

Nursing school gets $1.5 million grant

The School of Nursing & Dental Hygiene at the University of Hawai'i has been awarded a $1.5 million federal grant to establish a Nursing Center for Research on Health Disparities in a collaborative partnership with the University of Washington School of Nursing.

The five-year grant will finance research centers at each institution.

The grant comes from the National Institute for Nursing Research. The new UH-Manoa center will focus on health disparities affecting Asian and Pacific Islander populations, beginning with a study of the use of traditional Chinese medicine and treatments by Chinese Americans with Type 2 diabetes.