Kobayashi OK’d as U.S. district judge

The Senate has confirmed Leslie Kobayashi as a U.S. district judge for Hawaii.

Kobayashi will fill the vacancy created by Chief District Judge Helen Gillmor’s rise to senior status last year.

"She has built an impeccable reputation as an attorney and magistrate-judge," said U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye. "I am confident she will preside over the court with compassion and fairness."

Said U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, "I thank my colleagues for confirming Judge Kobayashi, an outstanding and well-respected jurist known for her judicial temperament and her compassion."

Kobayashi has served since 1999 as a magistrate-judge, handling misdemeanor criminal cases and assisting district judges in pretrial criminal and civil matters.

She began her undergraduate degree at the University of Hawaii and finished at Wellesley College in 1979. She earned her juris doctorate from the Boston College School of Law in 1981.

Kobayashi spent 17 years in public and private practice as a Honolulu deputy prosecuting attorney and at the law firm of Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama. She has also been an adjunct professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

UH awards language-studies Ph.D.s

The University of Hawaii at Hilo has awarded its first doctorates for studies in Hawaiian and indigenous languages.

Katarina Edmonds and Kauanoe Kamana were awarded doctorates in Hawaiian and indigenous language and culture revitalization during the university’s commencement ceremonies on Saturday.

Edmonds is a Maori educator who established a Maori education program at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Kamana is the first of native Hawaiian ancestry to receive a Ph.D. awarded by UH-Hilo’s Ka Haka ‘Ula o Ke’elikolani College of Hawaiian Language.

She is a founding member of the nonprofit ‘Aha Punana Leo, the leading language revitalization organization in the United States.

Nativity goes live

The Salvation Army’s 28th annual live Nativity re-enactment will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. tomorrow through Christmas Eve at Waioli Gardens, 2950 Manoa Road. The free 20-minute show repeats every half-hour. The Waioli Tea Room will be open for evening meals by reservation only on Thursday and Friday during performance hours. Call the Salvation Army at 988-2136.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Mayor-elect selects new housing chief

Maui Mayor-elect Alan Arakawa has appointed a new chief of the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns.

Jo-Ann Ridao, current deputy director of the agency, was named Friday to its top post. Ridao will be responsible for managing and overseeing the operations and budgets of seven divisions that handle housing, aging, immigration, grants and early childhood issues.

No furlough, but lifeguards get pay cut

Lifeguards on Kauai are wondering why the were singled out for a pay cut while firefighters have been given a raise.

"We’re working in the Fire Department together, as brothers and sisters, we’re risking our lives just like they’re doing, and it seems like we got a pay cut to pay for their raise," Ocean Safety Bureau Supervisor Kalani Vierra told the Garden Island newspaper.

When Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. unveiled his operating budget for fiscal year 2011 in March, lifeguards were scheduled to go through a two-day-per-month furlough. But after public outcry and Kauai County Council pressure, they ended up being spared from the furloughs.

"All of sudden, out of nowhere, behind some closed doors, it was decided, ‘OK, guys, you’re not getting a furlough but you’re getting a pay cut,’" Kauai Lifeguard Association President Dr. Monty Downs said Wednesday at a Council meeting in Nawiliwili.