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Fire won’t halt UH operations

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HONOLULU (AP) — University of Hawaii officials say payroll and student loan functions will continue without interruption after a fire destroyed a building that stores records for the entire university system.

Honolulu firefighters continue to investigate the cause of Sunday’s fire in the university’s fiscal building. Firefighters continued putting out hot spots Monday.

UH spokeswoman Lynne Waters says the damage and loss of documentation and information is not as severe as had been reported. She says all payroll information remains on the university’s main frame computer system.

All student loan information is also stored electronically. Original student loan documents such as promissory notes were stored in a fireproof cabinet. Waters says any damaged documents won’t affect timely payments, collections and other student loan transactions.


Every student may have laptop in decade

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Department of Education officials say it will take a decade to provide a laptop for every public school student and cost about $50 million a year.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie has asked for about $1 million to provide 1,500 students with laptops as a pilot project. One laptop for every student is a goal he vowed to make progress on during his State of the State address last month.

State Department of Education Chief Information Officer David Wu said the program will need to be rolled out slowly because of intensive training for teachers.


$250M sought for rail project

HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama has requested $250 million for the Honolulu rail transit project in the coming fiscal year.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said Monday that’s the largest amount for any rail project in the country. Inouye says the Federal Transit Administration funds will help complete a project that’s needed for job creation and decreasing dependence on imported oil.


Murder-suicide is investigated

HONOLULU (AP) — Police say an 81-year-old man shot his ill wife and then turned the gun on himself in their east Oahu home.

Police say the wife, 79, was suffering from a long-term illness. Detectives are probing Sunday’s shootings as a murder-suicide. Family members and neighbors of the Hawaii Kai couple reported hearing gunshots and called police. The Honolulu medical examiner’s office identified the couple as Leighton and Julia Yasuhara.