The 2005 Core technology development program is affiliated with the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority with funding through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Since 1993, the annual program has funded 174 projects in Hawai'i for over $65.75 million.

Navatek Ltd. of Honolulu was selected for the largest grant of $640,698 to design and test a propulsion pod. For a complete list see the CEROS web page, www.ceros.org.

Central Pacific to buy Hawaii HomeLoans

Central Pacific Financial Corp. agreed to purchase Hawaii HomeLoans Inc. to become the No. 3 mortgage lender in the state.

Terms weren't disclosed. Hawaii HomeLoans has two branches and 80 employees, Central Pacific said in a statement distributed by PR Newswire.

Hawaii HomeLoans Chairman and Chief Executive Ron Schmid will retire at the completion of the transaction, expected by August, Central Pacific said in the statement.

HPD order Taser stun guns

Taser International Inc., the world's largest maker of electric stun guns, received four orders for the weapons valued at a total of about $1 million and said revenue this quarter will exceed the preceding period.

Orders for the company's X26 models were placed by the Calgary Police Department, the Honolulu Police Department, the Houston Police Department and an unnamed law-enforcement agency, Taser said in a statement.

Taser's first-quarter sales fell 22 percent to $10.2 million after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in January it was conducting an informal inquiry into claims about the safety of guns, and an order at the end of last year. Taser is seeing a "stabilization in revenue" and second-quarter sales will be "slightly higher" than the first quarter, the statement said.