Bill cracks down on cigarettes, kids Bill cracks down on cigarettes, kids ADVERTISING HONOLULU (AP) — State lawmakers are looking at ways to make it harder for minors to smoke cigarettes in Hawaii. A bill before a House committee today
Bill cracks down on cigarettes, kids
HONOLULU (AP) — State lawmakers are looking at ways to make it harder for minors to smoke cigarettes in Hawaii.
A bill before a House committee today would allow police officers to confiscate tobacco products used by those under age 18.
An earlier version of the bill would have penalized minors caught smoking. However senators reviewing the measure thought it would be better to focus enforcement efforts on the tobacco industry for making tobacco products appealing to children.
The bill now makes it illegal for a minor to use tobacco in any form, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco and snuff.
The bill does not punish youth for possession of tobacco, other than allowing it to be taken away.
Minors caught purchasing tobacco products can be fined $10 to $50.
Construction outlook improves
HONOLULU (AP) —Honolulu’s planned rail line and new high-rise condos will help boost Hawaii’s construction industry, according to a report released Friday by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization.
“Single-family home construction languishes, but new high-rise condos, retail and resort-related development will boost non-residential building,” the report summarized, while noting that the construction industry made almost no progress toward recovery last year. And, legal challenges aside, “rail construction is poised to begin in earnest as this year progresses,” the report said.
It forecast that construction jobs, which averaged 28,500 last year, will rise to about 29,000 this year and to nearly 36,000 by 2015, thanks to rail and a the next housing upswing.
It will take a while before building improve outside Oahu.
“As we noted last year, this looks to be a construction expansion that, for now, will mostly be limited to Oahu,” the report said. “The neighbor island economies, which saw a home building bubble in the 2000s, face an excess inventory of homes and more severe foreclosure problems that will retard a quick recovery or residential construction.”
Kailua beach to be repaired
KAILUA, Oahu (AP) — Honolulu is planning to take sand from a Kailua stream and spread it out along part of Kailua Beach that has been eroding in recent years.
The beach will be closed from the boat ramp to Kaelepulu Stream from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday for the project.
It’s not clear why this section of Kailua Beach has been eroding.
A change in wind patterns, high surf, and other factors can lead to erosion.
Sand being pushed into the mouth of Kaelepulu Stream by ocean waves may also be a factor.
The stream can carry sand back out to the ocean when there’s heavy runoff, but a dike built in the 1980s has been diverting some of the stream’s water to another canal.
