Mayor Mufi Hannemann has given final approval to a legal settlement designed to preserve the scenic and historic Waimea Valley on O'ahu's North Shore.

Under that agreement, a group of government and public interest organizations will pay $14 million to landowner Christian Wolffer for the 1,875-acre valley. The settlement ensures that the valley will be preserved and that the area will have limited development.

The City Council approved the settlement in mid-March, months after a plan to develop part of the valley rallied hundreds in the community to call for an out of court settlement.

WAIAKEA TEAM WINS BOTBALL TITLE

Waiakea High School's team 2 has won this year's Hawai'i Botball championship.

The team from the Big Island defeated Mid-Pacific Institute in the final match of the robot competition Saturday at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

Twenty-four teams from Hawai'i and one from Nagoya, Japan, competed in the regional championships.

The team from Punahou School was given a national award for finishing second in the country in the Research and Development Website Challenge. Last year, Punahou won first place nationally in the challenge.

Next year's national Botball championship will be in July at the Hawai'i Convention Center, said organizer Art Kimura. He said the four-day 2007 event will include exhibits, workshops and a robot competition open to the public.

In Botball, students design, build and program their own robots to compete head-to-head on specially designed tables. Waiakea team 2's winning strategy was for one robot to collect balls and other objects on its side of the table while its second robot dumped obstacles on the opponents' side.

IDENTITY THEFT TOPIC OF TALK

Heidi Sparks, senior investigator with Safeway-Hawai'i, will speak on identity awareness at 11:15 a.m. today at the Waikiki Community Center.

The workshop, titled "Advanced Fee Scams and Identity Theft Awareness," will help senior citizens understand how these scams occur and to be more aware of them.

The center is at 310 Paoakalani Ave. Call Jeff Apaka at 923-1802.

ACCIDENT VICTIM DIES FROM INJURIES

A Big Island man who was injured in a traffic accident in Ka'u on March 25 died Sunday at The Queen's Medical Center.

Gary L. Avery of Hawaiian Ocean View Estates was injured last month when the 1979 Toyota pick-up truck he was driving south on Princess Ka'iulani Boulevard near Hawai'i Boulevard ran off the left side of the road and hit a tree. Avery was taken to Kona Community Hospital, and later flown to Queen's.

Alcohol was believed to be a factor in the crash, and police have ordered an autopsy.

STABBING INJURES MAN CRITICALLY

A 33-year-old man was critically injured when he was stabbed repeatedly in the back at the Coconut Grove Marketplace in Kailua, Kona, early Saturday morning, police said.

Police were called to the marketplace at 1:05 a.m. and found the man, who was taken to Kona Community Hospital.

Police have launched an attempted murder investigation, and ask that anyone with information about the incident contact Detective Nancy Haitsuka at 326-4646, extension 281, or the nonemergency telephone number at 935-3311.

Callers who want to remain anonymous can call Crime- Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona. All Crime- Stoppers information is kept strictly confidential.

SPECIAL FORUM ON ACCESS ROAD

A second access road from Whitmore via Wahiawa to the H-2 Freeway and a Wahiawa transit center and improved bus service will be among the topics to be discussed tomorrow at a special forum on the 2030 O'ahu Regional Transportation Plan at Wahiawa Recreation Center, 1139 Kilani Ave., from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Panelists will include representatives from the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, state Department of Transportation and city Transportation Services.

AREA'S GROWTH TO BE DISCUSSED

Two Mililani Neighborhood Boards are sponsoring a community forum on the impacts on new development and lack of accommodating infrastructure in Central O'ahu today at Mililani Ike Elementary School cafeteria, 95-1330 Lehiwa Drive, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Among the issues to be discussed are the implementation of the Central O'ahu Sustainable Communities Plan, adopted in 2002, which could result in 22,000 housing units and 55,000-plus residents in Central O'ahu by 2025.

MAN, 21, MISSING SINCE FRIDAY

Police are asking for the public's help in finding an O'ahu man who was last seen Friday on Ohaha Street in Kane'ohe. Liam P.K. Gray, 21, suffers from schizophrenia and left his home after an emotional episode.

Gray is 5 feet 11 and 145 pounds, brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing black soccer shorts and a shirt.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call 911, or police missing persons investigator Phil Camero at 529-3394, or criminal investigations at 529-3115.