UH students set to graduate

Nearly 1,100 University of Hawaii-Manoa students are eligible to participate in the midyear commencement exercises Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at Stan Sheriff Center. More than 800 students will receive bachelor’s degrees, and more than 300 will receive master’s and doctorate degrees, and post-baccalaureate certificates in secondary education. The commencement speaker will be Samuel C.C. Ting, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

HPD officer to be tried in theft

A veteran Honolulu police officer accused of shoplifting at Walmart in Pearl City will stand trial on a charge of fourth-degree theft in February.

The lawyer for John F. Rapozo entered a plea of not guilty yesterday for his client. Rapozo was not in court. The judge set trial for Feb. 22 in Ewa District Court.

Rapozo, 56, a 25-year police veteran, was arrested Sept. 10.

He was a member of HPD’s Narcotics/Vice Division but has been reassigned to duties that do not require full police powers. The department required him to turn in his badge and firearm pending the outcome of his criminal case.

Fourth-degree theft is a petty misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and $1,000 fine. According to state law, if the theft involved shoplifting, the minimum fine shall be twice the value of the merchandise or services involved.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Mayor picks chief of Maui transportation

Maui Mayor-elect Alan Arakawa has named a new chief for the county Transportation Department, yesterday tapping County Councilwoman JoAnne Johnson for the post.

Johnson has chaired two council committees that oversee parks, economic development, agriculture and recreation.

Arakawa also named Marc Takamori as deputy director of the transportation agency. Takamori is a network administrator for Oceanit Laboratories in Honolulu.