LOCAL

» Oahu residents would see their water bill increase by 70 percent over the next four years, under proposed rate increases sought by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. A typical household that uses 13,000 gallons a month would pay $66.72 in July 2015, up from $39.19 now. The water agency said the increases are needed to pay for upgrades to pipes and other infrastructure.

» The East-West Center’s future was placed in doubt when the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a bill Thursday that would repeal the 1960 law that created the center on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus. The center receives about $21 million in federal funding a year.

» The Board of Education voted Tuesday to increase bus fares and slightly change meal prices. An annual school bus pass will cost $270, up from $225.

» The Hawaii teachers union filed a motion Monday with the Hawaii Labor Relations Board seeking relief from pay cuts, furloughs and higher health insurance premiums unilaterally imposed by the state July 1. The HSTA motion also asks the board to force the state to return to the bargaining table.

» More than $3,500 in reward money was offered after vandals chopped down 10 acres of papaya trees sometime between Monday and Tuesday near Tangering Acres, makai of Pahoa, on Hawaii island.

» A Japanese grand tea master conducted a formal tea ceremony aboard the USS Arizona Memorial Tuesday as an act of reconciliation and a symbol of hopes for peace.

» Castle & Cooke’s plans to build 5,000 homes, a hotel, medical campus, two schools, parks and commercial space between Waipio and Mililani suffered a major setback on Tuesday. A Circuit Court judge sided with the Sierra Club, ruling that a state Land Use Commission decision in favor of the Koa Ridge development was invalid.

MAINLAND

» The space shuttle era officially ended early Thursday morning as Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis’ return put a cap on 135 shuttle missions spanning 30 years.

»The White House and congressional leaders struggled to avert an unprecedented government default on Aug. 2, desperate to strike a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, currently $14.3 trillion.

» A heat wave scorched much of the mainland, exposing millions to dangerously high temperatures and straining the power grid. Several deaths were blamed on the heat and officials feared the toll would rise.

WORLD

» Norway was left in a state of shock when a right-wing extremist set off a bomb near government buildings in Oslo and then attacked a summer camp attended by youths affiliated with the ruling party. The bombing and the shooting rampage on an island near Oslo killed at least 92 people and left the Nordic nation searching for answers.

»British Prime Minister David Cameron dragged his political foes into Britain’s phone-hacking scandal at a raucous session of Parliament, distancing himself from a former aide at the heart of the allegations and denying his staff tried to thwart police investigations. Cameron’s maneuvering came as media baron Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. stands accused in the scandal, struggled to right the ship.

THE NEXT WEEK: JULY 24-30

Local

» Monday: State Department of Transportation community workshop on possible modifications to Kahekili Highway from Haiku Road to Kamehameha Highway, 6 to 9 p.m., Windward Community College Campus Center. Information: 587-1835.

» Also this week: June visitor arrival numbers could be released as early as Tuesday. Hawaii’s visitor industry is hoping for a strong summer to counter the effect the March 11 disaster had on Japanese arrivals.

Mainland

» Tuesday: The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Gen. Martin Dempsey to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

» Wednesday: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on emergency communications 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.