NextEra donates AC units to Molokai schools

NextEra Energy Hawaii has donated 33 hybrid solar air-conditioning units to Kaunakakai Elementary and Kilohana Elementary schools on Molokai.

The company announced Friday it donated the devices to the schools. It installed the devices last month. The installation doubled the amount of AC at Kaunakakai Elementary, with 14 classrooms benefiting from the units.

Kilohana Elementary had one classroom with AC prior to the additional four installed by NextEra Energy Hawaii.

Greenpath Technologies Inc., a Honolulu-based renewable energy installer, performed the installations.

NextEra Energy Hawaii said it partnered with the state Department of Education to identify the cooling solutions.

U.S., Goldman Sachs OK $5B settlement

WASHINGTON >> The Justice Department on Monday announced a roughly $5 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs over the sale of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.

The government accused the bank of misleading investors about the quality of its loans.

The $5.06 billion deal resolves state and federal probes into the sale of shoddy mortgages in the run-up to the housing bubble and subsequent economic meltdown.

It requires the bank to pay a $2.39 billion civil penalty and an additional $1.8 billion in relief to underwater homeowners and distressed borrowers, along with $875 million in other claims.

Major railroad merger appears dead

OMAHA, Neb. >> A major railroad merger appears that much more unlikely after Canadian Pacific dropped its roughly $30 billion bid for Norfolk Southern on Monday.

The ill-fated deal would have been the first to test tough rules for railroad mergers that were drafted in 2001. But Canadian Pacific’s proposal faced strong opposition from Norfolk Southern, politicians and rail customers along the route, and other railroads.

Canadian Pacific dropped the deal before the federal Surface Transportation Board could rule on its proposed structure. The Justice Department’s opposition to the deal’s structure, announced Friday, might have sealed the decision.

UnitedHealth pares ACA exchange business

The nation’s biggest health insurer has decided to stop selling coverage on public insurance exchanges in two states for next year, but consumers shouldn’t take this as an early warning that a mass exodus is brewing from a key element of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion.

Analysts say these exchanges might be improving for insurers after a difficult start. However, they also expect insurers to continue leaving some unprofitable markets as the coverage expansion heads toward its fourth year.

New strain of ransomware emerging

An unusual strain of viruslike hacker software that exploits computer server vulnerabilities without requiring human interaction is a leading example of a new generation of “ransomware,” according to a new report by Cisco Systems Inc. Hackers use such software to target large-scale networks and hold data hostage in exchange for payment. In such attacks, hackers target backup files and records, encrypting them to make them unreadable. To regain access, users without additional safe backups who don’t want to lose critical files often pay the ransom, typically $10,000 to $15,000 for an entire network or hundreds of dollars for a single computer.

FDA OKs drug for tough type of leukemia

TRENTON, N.J. >> The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug targeting a subset of leukemia patients with a genetic abnormality that makes the cancer harder to treat. It approved sales of Venclexta for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who relapsed or weren’t helped by a prior treatment and are missing the part of chromosome 17 that kills cancer cells. That allows the blood cancer to worsen.

On the Move

David Luedtke is an RME (Responsible Managing Employee) at Mali Bella Co., a growing company specializing in residential and commercial construction and retail facility maintenance. Luedtke was previously an RME for Outrigger Hotels Hawaii.

Carlsmith Ball has announced that Nancy H. Zhao is the firm’s associate attorney, a resident in their Maui office. Prior to joining Carlsmith Ball, Zhao served as legal counsel for EDF Renewable Energy in San Diego.

Bank of the Orient, Honolulu, has named Nick L. Sutton vice president and district manager. He has 36 years of banking and lending experience.