Gov. David Ige has nominated Keith K. Hiraoka to serve on the state Intermediate Court of Appeals.

Hiraoka, currently a Honolulu Circuit Court judge, has practiced law in Hawaii since 1983. His primary areas of practice in recent years have been insurance coverage and representing attorneys, accountants, Realtors and other professionals in legal matters, Ige’s office said in a news release.

He is a 1980 graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 1983.

Ige selected Hiraoka from a list of six nominees provided by the Judicial Selection Commission. Ige interviewed the nominees and sought input and guidance from former state Supreme Court Justice James Duffy and the legal community before making a selection, his office said.

If the state Senate confirms Hiraoka, he will fill the position that has been vacant since Associate Judge Lisa M. Ginoza was elevated to chief judge of the appeals court.

Pearl Harbor casualty to be laid to rest

BOURNE, Mass. >> A sailor from Connecticut who died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is returning to New England.

Water Tender 1st Class Stephen Pepe, of Bridgeport, is scheduled to be buried Monday at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.

Pepe was a crew member on the U.S.S. Oklahoma, which sustained multiple torpedo hits during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack. The battleship quickly capsized, taking with it the lives of 429 crewmen.

Pepe’s remains were originally classified as non-identifiable and were buried in Hawaii with the remains of other non-identifiable sailors.

His remains were disinterred in 2015 and through the use of advanced mitochondrial DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence they were positively identified earlier this year.