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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, September 12, 2008

BUSINESS BRIEFS
Hawaiian Air stock at 52-week high

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Shares of Hawaiian Holdings Inc., the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, closed at a 52-week high of $10.45 yesterday.

The company, which earned $54.3 million in the second quarter, has seen its shares rise more than 100 percent since the start of the year.

Along with this week's game in Kansas City, Hawaiian is flying the NFL Oakland Raiders to road games in Buffalo, New Orleans, Baltimore, Miami, Denver, San Diego and Tampa Bay. In addition, Hawaiian has the first option to fly the Raiders to any road playoff games, including Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay.

During the flights, players will be treated to meals featuring extra-large portions, fresh fruit, snacks and beverages, and other special requests to help them prepare for the game.

Hawaiian Airlines announced last week that it also will provide charter service this season for the Seattle Seahawks.


SCHOLARSHIP GOES TO BUSINESS COLLEGE

A University of Hawai'i graduate and her family have established a $50,000 endowed scholarship at the UH's Shidler College of Business in honor of their parents.

The Eiro and Alice Yamada Endowed Scholarship was created by a $25,000 gift from the Yamada Scott Family Foundation and will be matched by Shidler's Matching Gift Funds. The scholarship will be available to students majoring in any area of business and those who wish to pursue entrepreneurial studies at the Shidler College of Business.

Susan Yamada Scott, president of the foundation and a 1982 UH graduate, said the scholarship was a way to pay tribute to her parents, Alice and Eiro, who made education their life's passion. Since 2000, the Yamada Scott Family Foundation has awarded $250,000 to students and community organizations.


GRANTS HELP STATE ENERGY PROJECTS

The state said it has received $1.75 million in grants for increased use of renewable energy that will go along with $350,000 of other funding to study electric vehicle policy issues and undersea transmission cables.

"These grant projects will help study ways to modernize our electrical grids," said state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism director Ted Liu in a press statement.

"This will be the first step in our renewable energy program for supply O'ahu with electrical energy from other islands."

The state said the projects will focus on deploying an undersea transmission line to deliver solar and wind-generated electricity from Lana'i and Moloka'i, upgrading and expanding of O'ahu's transmission lines, evaluating integration of electric vehicle storage and deploying a suite of energy storage systems to study grid stability and bulk power issues.

The state said the grants came from the U.S. Department of Energy, private-sector in-kind funding and the National Governors Association.


HAWAII PACIFIC HEALTH GENERATES $1B

Hawaii Pacific Health, owner of Straub Clinic & Hospital and Kapi'olani Medical Center, said its nonprofit medical centers and clinics generated $1.10 billion in direct and indirect economic activity last year.

An economic impact analysis conducted by researcher Tripp Umbach found Hawaii Pacific Health generated the activity through payroll, the purchase of goods and services, construction work and spending by employees and visitors.

Hawaii Pacific Health is the largest private operator of hospitals in the state. It admitted more than 33,600 patients last year, and cared for almost 103,000 people in its emergency rooms. The nonprofit said it supports the equivalent of more than 9,200 full-time employees directly and indirectly within the state.