Hawai'i briefs
Advertiser Staff
HONOLULU
Device to speed airport checks
The long lines at Honolulu International Airport could be eased with an $8.25 million federal appropriation announced yesterday by U.S. Sen. Dan K. Inouye.
State Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the money, along with $7.85 million obtained earlier, would be used for automation of explosive-detection machines at two checkpoints in the main terminal and all checkpoints in the Neighbor Island terminal.
Federal Transportation Security Administration officials currently pick up luggage in security clearance and carry it to baggage conveyor belts. "This will allow us to shift TSA workers to existing and planned airport checkpoints," Ishikawa said.
Airport officials hope to double security lanes by next spring, Ishikawa said.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Teen badly hurt in Maui crash
WAILUKU, Maui — A 19-year-old Wailuku man was in critical condition at Maui Memorial Medical Center after apparently losing control of his vehicle early yesterday and hitting a tree off Kahekili Highway.
Police said William Stanton's 1991 Nissan Pathfinder was northbound when it crashed on the east shoulder, two miles south of Waiehu Beach Road, at 12:49 a.m.
Historic church getting face-lift
Historic Huialoha Church in remote Kaupo, Maui, is getting a makeover this summer through a $5,000 grant from Persis Corp. to the Historic Hawai'i Foundation.
Volunteers are rebuilding window frames and replacing flooring, steeple siding and shingles. The 1890 stucco structure on the rugged East Maui coast will be painted inside and out.
The private nonprofit Historic Hawai'i Foundation is dedicated to preserving historic sites, buildings, objects, communities and cultural traditions.
LEEWARD O'AHU
Nurses ratify contract in 'Ewa
The 137 registered nurses at St. Francis Medical Center-West overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract yesterday.
The nurses and management at the facility on Fort Weaver Road reached a tentative contract agreement Thursday that was similar to a deal that covers nurses at St. Francis in Liliha.
The contract calls for wage increases of 19.5 percent over three years, with longevity pay of $1 an hour for nurses with seven years of service and $2 for nurses with 15 years at the hospital.
Ma'ili brushfire burns eight acres
Firefighters fought a brush fire yesterday in Ma'ili near Pa'akea and Ma'ili'ili roads that burned about eight acres and briefly threatened two homes.
Eight engines, two tankers and two battalion chiefs responded to the 12:26 p.m. call. The fire was under control by 1:39 p.m., said Fire Department spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada.
CENTRAL O'AHU
Wahiawa school supplies needed
The Wahiawa Lions Club will be accepting donations of school supplies and money at the Wahiawa Shopping Center and Tamura's Market Aug. 23 to help Wahiawa schoolchildren.
Supplies needed include No. 2 pencils, red and black ballpoint pens, erasers, glue, marble composition books, portfolios with inside pockets, paper towels, crayons, colored pencils and markers.
Call Jack Kampfer at 621-5109, ext. 226, for details.
