Plan to move Oahu boulders Plan to move Oahu boulders ADVERTISING HONOLULU (AP) — State lawmakers who represent the Honolulu mountainside neighborhood where boulders rolled down and crashed into houses are trying to secure money to remove loose boulders that
Plan to move Oahu boulders
HONOLULU (AP) — State lawmakers who represent the Honolulu mountainside neighborhood where boulders rolled down and crashed into houses are trying to secure money to remove loose boulders that remain perched above.
State Rep. John Mizuno made a deal with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to use $250,000 from its budget to remove the loose Kalihi boulders.
In turn, Mizuno promises to replenish that money from somewhere else in the state budget.
Mizuno hopes the money can be released this week. No one was injured when boulders damaged homes Thursday.
Owners of property where the rocks fell include a small church. Department of Emergency Management spokesman John Cummings III says church representatives don’t have the money to move the boulders.
Doctor indicted on drug charges
HONOLULU (AP) — A Honolulu psychiatrist is accused of improperly prescribing large quantities of powerful pain medication and other drugs to law enforcement officers.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Dr. Shepard Ginandes.
He’s charged with 22 counts of distributing methadone, morphine, oxycodone and other drugs outside the course of professional medical practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.
The Drug Enforcement Administration says he did not take officers’ medical histories, did not require them to fill out any paperwork and did not conduct physical examinations.
The DEA says his office didn’t even have an exam room or medical equipment and officers simply had to write down their names, addresses and drugs they were seeking.
Akaka suffers from dehydration
HONOLULU (AP) — A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii says he’s doing well after being diagnosed with dehydration.
Akaka was expected back at work today after his family took him to see a doctor on Saturday. He was diagnosed with dehydration and cleared to fly from Honolulu, where he had been for the past two weeks holding field hearings while the Senate was in recess. Akaka and his wife arrived in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
The 87-year-old Democrat will be retiring when his term ends this year.
West Oahu homeless encampment to be cleared
WAIANAE, Hawaii (AP) — City crews are scheduled to clear out the remaining people who have been living on undeveloped land near a West Oahu beach park.
Many of them began packing up a day before city crews arrive at Keaau Beach Park to clear out the homeless encampments in a section known as “the bush.”
Shina Gonzalez says there’s nowhere else for them to go.
City spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy tells the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (http://bit.ly/IUoB3o ) the city began talking to human services providers and planning for the clearing six months ago. She says an annual homeless count shows 180 adults and 22 children living at Keaau in January.
Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Al Tufono tells Hawaii News Now (http://bit.ly/HDQgAY ) officials want them to transition into places that are more sanitary and safer.
