Business briefs

Advertiser Staff

Bill passes for secret records

A Senate bill to allow the Hawai'i Convention Center to keep secret the names of some organizations renting the public facility was passed by the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. The bill would exempt records under certain circumstances from the state sunshine law until 10 days after a convention has been held.

The proposal drew criticism from open-records proponents who say groups using the publicly financed facility should be made known while tourism officials argue secrecy is needed to bring more conventions to Hawai'i.

Gas prices hit record $2.133

The statewide average for a gallon of regular gasoline hit a new high of $2.133 yesterday, according to AAA travel club.

That's slightly higher than the previous high of $2.132 reached on Oct. 23. However, Hawai'i's average price was still slightly below California's, which had the nation's most expensive gas at $2.152.

On O'ahu, the average pump price for regular was $2.038 a gallon — less than 2 cents below a high of $2.054 set on Oct. 2.

Damage to ship cancels port call

Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Star ship has been damaged and cannot travel at the speed needed to stop at Fanning Island, so the ship will drop the call at the foreign port from its cruises this week through April 25.

Norwegian is also canceling a trans-Pacific cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver on May 2 when the ship was scheduled to leave Hawai'i. The vessel will instead be sent to a dry dock for repairs.