Reopening of Arizona Memorial moves closer
HONOLULU — Twelve new synthetic straps are anchoring the USS Arizona Memorial’s boat landing dock in place, and a contractor has 30 days to adjust the tension, leaving the National Park Service optimistic that the reopening of the memorial to walk-on traffic is getting closer.
“We are pleased with the progress that’s being made, and as I said, we do expect to be open, as we have informed the public, no later than October of this year,” said Jay Blount, chief of interpretation and education at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.
The walkway over the sunken battleship and grave for more than 900 men has been closed to foot traffic since May 2018 after the anchoring system for the adjacent 105-foot floating concrete dock was found to be failing.
Chains attached to concrete blocks that sat in sediment and might have been dislodged during king tides were replaced by helical pilings screwed into the seafloor that are expected to provide a stronger anchor.
While the tension is adjusted, the park service is using the time to conduct maintenance on the memorial, including fixing its terrazzo tile floor and doing some painting.
Caldwell in DC to talk climate change
HONOLULU — Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell testified before a Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Caldwell was expected to talk about the impacts climate change and sea level rise are having on Oahu, and the steps he’s taking to mitigate their impacts. The committee is chaired by Hawaii Democrat Sen. Brian Schatz.
The mayor established a Honolulu Climate Change Commission last year to begin exploring ways the city should navigate the changing environment. On June 30, he released Honolulu’s Resiliency Strategy, which includes 44 strategy directives to help Oahu residents deal with climate change, sea level rise and resilience in Oahu’s communities.
Last month he hosted the U.S. Climate Mayors Summit.
Caldwell is slated to return to Honolulu today. Managing Director Roy Amemiya is serving as acting mayor in Caldwell’s absence.
4 charged in Zippy’s data theft
HONOLULU — Credit and debit card information stolen in a 2017 and 2018 Zippy’s data breach was used to make fraudulent purchases in 17 foreign countries and 28 states, including 595 in Hawaii, said Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday charging four people with crimes in connection with fraudulent purchases made in Hawaii using the stolen credit and debit card information of Zippy’s customers.
The indictment charges Sean Vincent Kim, Shamika S. Ramirez, Joselyn A. Llanesa and Lilia V. Fontanilla with unauthorized possession of confidential personal information, theft and identity theft. Kim is additionally charged with conspiracy to commit identity theft, computer fraud, fraudulent encoding of a credit card and possession of unauthorized credit card machinery.
State Circuit Judge Shirley Kawamura set bail for Kim at $50,000. She set bail for the other three defendants Tuesday at $11,000.
Van Marter told Kawamura that a cybercriminal group known to law enforcement as FIN7, Carbanak Group and the Navigator Group hacked into the computer system Zippy’s used to process customer credit card and debit card payments and stole account numbers, expiration dates and security codes between Nov. 23, 2017, and March 29, 2018.
Van Marter said FIN7 sold the Zippy’s customer credit and debit card information on the dark web, where Kim purchased it with bitcoin. He said Kim then used the information to manufacture counterfeit credit cards and made fraudulent transactions with them.
He said Ramirez, Llanesa and Fontanilla also used credit and debit card profiles stolen in the Zippy’s data breach to make fraudulent transactions.
Zippy’s in January settled a class-action lawsuit over the data breach. Affected customers had until last month to submit a claim.