7A WEST HAWAII TODAY | FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016 Big Island lands major funds HONOLULU – Big Island legislators secured more than $389.3 million in Capital Improvement Project (CIP) funding for various projects across the island in the recently passed House proposed budget. The proposed budget includes funding for various airport and highway improvements, Hawaii Community Correctional Center, Big Island facilities for Hawaii Army National Guard, monies for Big Island schools and Hawaii Community College, and regional community centers. DOE still investigating 37 employees for misconduct HONOLULU (AP) — Dozens of public school employees remain under investigation by the Hawaii Department of Education over allegations of misconduct, with some cases having been open for longer than a year. KHON-TV reports that the department has open cases against 37 employees. Eight of those cases are over a year old, which is an improvement from January when there were 12. Data from the department also shows that there are 24 cases that have taken up to six months to complete, an increase from January when there were 21. Vice Chairman of the Board of Education, Brian De Lima, says having several cases open while employees are still being paid is a concern for the board. But he says it appears that the investigations are moving along “in a timely manner.” Hit-and-run driver can have conviction erased An 18-year-old Hilo man who pleaded no contest to an alcohol-related hit-and-run collision last year that injured a moped rider will spend no additional time in jail and will have his conviction erased from the record if he stays out of trouble for four years. Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara on Thursday granted Kayin Kekaimalu Wilson a deferred acceptance of his no contest plea for first-degree negligent injury, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. A 30-day jail term also was part of the sentence, but Wilson already has served that time. In return for his plea, prosecutors dropped charges of DUI, inattention to driving and violating the terms of a provisional driver’s license, and reduced a charge of leaving the scene of an accident from a felony to a misdemeanor. Wilson also will have to make $3,515.59 in restitution to the victim, Leighton AhNee, and do 100 hours of community service. The judge also revoked Wilson’s driver’s license for a year and banned him from using drugs or alcohol during the deferral period. On June 28, 2015, Wilson was turning from Kalanianaole Avenue into Richardson Ocean Park in Keaukaha when the car he was driving struck the moped ridden by AhNee, breaking the thighbone of the then 43-year-old Hilo man. Wilson drove away and was stopped by police about four miles away on Pauahi Street in Hilo. Hawaii grad student seriously injured in lab explosion HONOLULU (AP) — Fire officials say an explosion inside in a University of Hawaii at Manoa laboratory seriously injured a graduate student doing an experiment. Officials say the 29-year-old woman was alone and mixing gases Wednesday night when the blast happened. Authorities didn’t identify the substances, but Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Geoff Chang says the blast appeared to be from a compressed gas cylinder. Chang called it “a pretty big explosion” that broke walls, damaged tables and dismantled ceiling tiles. Officials say the woman sustained injuries to an arm and possible facial burns, but she was able to walk out of the building. Shark attack victim aims to resume surfing soon TIVERTON, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man who lost much of his left leg in a shark attack while surfing off Hawaii five months ago has returned to the water and hopes to resume surfing soon. Colin Cook tells WJAR-TVhe started using a new prosthetic leg three weeks ago and it’s like “re-learning to walk.” The Tiverton native says with the help of friends he has been paddling around on a board on his stomach, but hopes to get a surfing prosthetic soon so he can “jump right back into it.” He’s inspired by other amputees who surf. Cook moved to Oahu about four years ago and was attacked by the 13-foot tiger shark off the island’s North Shore on Oct. 10. He said he hopes to eventually move back to Hawaii. Hawaii Air Force unit getting own power grid that uses trash JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Oahu (AP) — The Air Force unit that defends Hawaii skies will get experimental energy technology that uses trash to generate power and relies on its own small electrical grid. The aim is to keep the unit operating if a bomb, cyberattack or natural disaster knocks out the local utility. The Air Force Research Laboratory is spending $6.8 million on the facility that will produce electricity for the Hawaii Air National Guard unit that flies F-22s, the nation’s most advanced fighter jet. Under the plan, the facility and accompanying microgrid would be able to break off and operate independently from the local utility. The project will mark one of the first such uses of a microgrid on an Air Force base and the largest test yet of the trash-to-power system being eyed by the Hawaii facility. The trash system is being tested on a small scale in Illinois. By West Hawaii Today staff and wire sources. IN BRIEF | BIG ISLAND & STATE Stan Osserman, director of the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies, speaks in front of a new waste to energy facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. AUDREY MCAVOY/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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