Lambda Legal yesterday announced it intends to sue the University of Hawai'i on behalf of a gay couple it says was not allowed to move back into family housing on the Manoa campus after living there for one year.

Joseph O'Leary was working toward a history degree during the 2006-2007 school year and lived in family housing with Phil Ngo, according to Brian Chase, Lambda Legal senior staff attorney. When they reapplied for family housing for the 2007-2008 school year, Chase said, their request was denied in a letter that says family housing is reserved for different-sex couples.

Ngo and O'Leary now live in a more expensive off-campus apartment that requires O'Leary to pay for "significant" commuting expenses, Chase said. O'Leary also had to give up his subsidized student meal plan, Chase said.

The extra costs amount to "several thousand dollars per year," Chase said.

UH spokesman Gregg Takayama said he would have no comment until UH lawyers have seen the lawsuit.

WIKIWIKI SHUTTLE WIRING INSPECTED

Four electric WikiWiki shuttles at Honolulu International Airport were taken out of service yesterday for inspection following a fire Sunday night that destroyed one of the vehicles in the fleet, the state Transportation Department said.

The fire was caused by a short circuit in the electrical generator wiring, DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said. Officials were to inspect the remaining four vehicles to see if there is a problem with the wiring.

The $165,000 electric shuttle destroyed was about five years old, said Ishikawa.

The state recently bought three clean-diesel powered shuttle buses that are already being used, Ishikawa said.

HILO NEWSPAPER VIOLATED LABOR LAW

HILO, Hawai'i — A judge for the National Labor Relations Board has found the Hawaii Tribune-Herald newspaper in Hilo guilty of violations of federal labor law in the firing of one longtime reporter in 2005 and another in 2006.

The 41-page ruling by administrative Judge John J. McCarrick found the Tribune-Herald management illegally suspended and fired reporters Dave Smith and Hunter Bishop, and illegally suspended reporter Peter Sur for engaging in union activism protected under federal law.

Bishop was the Hawaii Newspaper Guild's Hilo unit chairman from 2000 to 2004, was a member of the union's bargaining committee, and was a shop steward until he was fired in 2005.

Smith was a union steward from 2004 until he was fired in 2006, and was also a member of the Guild bargaining committee.

The company alleged Bishop was fired for insubordination and low productivity, and Smith was fired for secretly tape-recording a meeting with Tribune-Herald Editor David Bock. McCarrick rejected those arguments, and found both reporters were suspended and fired for legally protected union activities.

McCarrick also found the newspaper discriminated against unionized employees by banning workers from wearing arm bands or buttons in support of the two fired employees.

The March 6 ruling orders newspaper owner Stephens Media LLC to offer both Bishop and Smith their jobs back, and to "make them whole" for any loss of earnings and other benefits.

MORIOKA NOW DOT CHIEF

The state Senate voted unanimously Friday to confirm Brennon Morioka as the director of the state Department of Transportation.

Morioka, a former state GOP chairman, was the department's deputy director for highways. He replaces Barry Fukunaga as director. Fukunaga is Gov. Linda Lingle's chief-of-staff.

State Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), chairman of the Senate Transportation and International Affairs Committee, said senators have had a good working relationship with Morioka.

State Sen. Gordon Trimble, R-12th (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Downtown), described Morioka as "capable, hardworking and dedicated."

The Senate vote was 22-0 with three senators excused.