Additional details revealed in mall finger-biting case ADVERTISING Additional details revealed in mall finger-biting case WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — A Maui security guard says she was shielding her face from blows when a homeless man who refused to leave a
Additional details revealed in mall finger-biting case
WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — A Maui security guard says she was shielding her face from blows when a homeless man who refused to leave a fast-food restaurant bit off her finger.
Allied Universal Security Guard Janine Carroll testified Monday during a preliminary hearing that she was working at Maui Mall on Feb. 20 before the attack occurred.
“He bit right through the bone,” she said. “And they weren’t able to reattach it.”
After Carroll’s testimony, Judge Blaine Kobayashi ruled there was sufficient evidence to charge Alex Hand with assault.
He is being detained in lieu of $20,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday (March 7).
Carroll said she asked Hand to leave the Kahului Wendy’s multiple times before the altercation. Wendy’s workers called security because Hand had his cellphone plugged in to an outlet and refused to leave. Workers said he was intoxicated at the time of the incident.
Survey shows lack of electric vehicle charging stations
HONOLULU (AP) — A survey conducted by a renewable energy nonprofit shows a majority of parking lot owners on Oahu have evaded a law regarding electric vehicle charging stations.
The law requires parking lots with 100 stalls or more to have at least one electric vehicle charging station. Blue Planet Foundation’s study found 70 percent of Oahu properties are not in compliance with the regulation.
The law, which doesn’t assign an agency to keep the properties accountable, mostly has been ignored since it passed in 2009. There also is no penalty if a lot owner fails to install a charging station.
A bill to address those issues didn’t make it out of committee hearings this legislative session.
Blue Planet says the survey included about half of the number of parking lots on Oahu with 100 or more spaces.
Visitor spending jumps 10 percent in January
HONOLULU (AP) — Spending by visitors to Hawaii jumped 10 percent in January compared with the same time a year earlier.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority said Tuesday visitor spending hit $1.6 billion in the first month of 2017.
The number of visitors to Hawaii rose nearly 5 percent to more than 750,000.
Spending by Japanese travelers surged more than 26 percent. Spending by U.S. western region visitors climbed nearly 20 percent.
Tourism authority CEO George Szigeti said Hawaiian Airlines’ new nonstop route from Tokyo to Kailua-Kona has provided a tremendous boost to the Big Island. The agency says Japanese travel to the Big Island rose more than 30 percent in January.
