Visitor numbers grow in August ADVERTISING Visitor numbers grow in August HONOLULU (AP) — The number of visitors to Hawaii climbed nearly 5 percent last month compared with the same month last year. The Hawaii Tourism Authority said Thursday more
Visitor numbers grow in August
HONOLULU (AP) — The number of visitors to Hawaii climbed nearly 5 percent last month compared with the same month last year.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority said Thursday more than 800,000 travelers came to the islands in August. Increased numbers arrived from the U.S. mainland, Japan and Canada.
Spending rose more than 6 percent to $1.4 billion.
The agency says increased airplane seats from Minneapolis, Dallas and Chicago boosted travelers. So did the addition of flights from Tokyo to Honolulu and Kailua-Kona.
Two men charged with bribery
HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii man and a South Korean national were charged with the soliciting of $2.8 million in bribes to steer more than $400 million worth of Army engineering and construction work to a South Korea-based company.
Duane Nishiie, 58, a former contracting officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Hawaii, facing counts of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, money laundering and lying.
South Korean national Seung-Ju Lee faces the same charges. Nishiie pleaded not guilty Friday. Lee has yet to enter a plea.
Authorities say the charges involve the awarding of two contracts in 2008 and 2010 as part of a massive U.S. Army relocation project in South Korea.
Lee was an officer in the procurement arm of the Korean Ministry of Defense, which is working with the U.S. government on the Army relocation project.
The indictment does not name the company. No one connected with it has been charged.
The indictment accuses Nishiie of hiding the bribe money by purchasing real estate and putting it in bank accounts in the names of others, including two girlfriends.
Nishiie quit his job with the Army Corps of Engineers in 2012 and started lobbying Defense Department officials for construction projects on behalf of the company that paid the bribes, according to the indictment.
Auditor criticizes city’s homelessness initiatives
HONOLULU (AP) — A report by city Auditor Edwin Young criticized Honolulu’s initiatives to combat homelessness, saying Mayor Kirk Caldwell and his administration are lacking benchmarks and mismanaging programs aimed at sheltering people.
The 75-page audit submitted to the City Council on Tuesday also pointed to “a disconnect between the homelessness priority for city leaders and the resources allocated” to the Department of Community Services, which oversees housing programs.
The audit praised the city’s investment of more than $7.5 million in general fund dollars to support three programs, but questioned whether that can continue using general funds.
Critters hitchhiked across Pacific on tsunami debris
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 300 species of fish, mussels and other sea critters hitchhiked across the Pacific Ocean on debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, washing ashore alive in the United States, researchers reported Thursday.
It is the largest and longest marine migration ever documented, outside experts and the researchers said.
The scientists and colleagues combed the beaches of Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii and tracked the species to their Japanese origins. Their arrival could be a problem if the critters take root, pushing out native species, the study authors said in Thursday’s journal Science.
“It’s a bit of what we call ecological roulette,” said lead author James Carlton, a marine sciences professor at Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
It will be years before scientists know if the 289 Japanese species thrive in their new homes and crowd out natives.
The researchers roughly estimated a million creatures traveled 4,800 miles across the Pacific Ocean to reach the West Coast. Most hit Oregon and Washington.
