Rail contractor financials expected soon

An update on financials of Ansaldo Honolulu, a key contractor for the planned $5.3 billion rail system, should be coming "any time soon," said the interim executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

The rail board’s audit/legal matters and project oversight committees received an update on the procurement process for the design, construction, operations and maintenance contract during a meeting Thursday.

Ansaldo Honolulu was selected for the contract. But the procurement process has been embroiled in controversy, as the two losing bidders have filed protests and appeals.

Bombardier Transportation has filed a lawsuit over the process, and Sumitomo Corp. of America is likely to follow suit. Both were denied appeals by a state agency.

City attorneys updated the board on why Sumitomo was rejected. And Toru Hamayasu, HART’s interim executive director, said he has asked Ansaldo about its financial ability to complete the contract after its parent company, Finmeccanica, announced intentions to sell or restructure the firm.

Nonresidents skew redistricting efforts

Increased privacy concerns have led to changes in the way military and colleges report data, making it more difficult to separate nonresidents from residents in crafting new voting districts, officials with the state Reapportionment Commission reported.

The commission previously voted 8-1 to include nonresident members of the military and their dependents along with nonresident students and incarcerated felons in the state’s population base for the purposes of redrawing political boundaries, with some members citing the inability to accurately extract nonresidents from the population base as their primary reason for including them.

Inclusion of those nonresident groups, unlike in recent years, maintains a greater population base on Oahu, negating gains made on neighbor islands that would have shifted a state Senate seat to Hawaii island from Oahu.

Meanwhile, the proposed redistricting maps are scheduled to go to public hearings beginning Aug. 30. More details can be found at hawaii.gov/elections/reapportionment.

Police pursue leads in burglary

Hawaii County police are asking the public for leads into a burglary at a ranch in Naalehu in June in which the burglars stole a pickup truck, an all-terrain vehicle and other equipment.

The burglary happened between June 15 and 19 at a ranch off South Point Road, police said.

Items stolen include a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck without a bed, license plate MAD259; a red-and-white Honda XR250 dirt bike and a red Honda XR100 dirt bike; a tan Honda Four Trax 400 all-terrain vehicle with a heavy-duty steel rack; a green 2,500-gallon plastic water tank with white lettering spray-painted on the side; and an aluminum truck bed toolbox with a silver diamond pattern.

Police ask that anyone with information call the police nonemergency line at 935-3311 or CrimeStoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona.

Injured Kauai hiker rescued from trail

Coast Guard rescue personnel used a helicopter to airlift an injured woman Wednesday night from the Kalalau Trail area on Kauai’s Na Pali Coast.

The Coast Guard dispatched a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Barbers Point Air Station after being notified by the Kauai Fire Department that a 25-year-old woman suffered a severe head injury. There was no information on how the woman was injured.

The helicopter left about 8:50 pm., reached the area at 10:40 p.m. and lowered a rescue worker as it hovered over a beach. He hiked to the woman’s location with others and carried the woman to a location where she could be hoisted up to the helicopter at 11:16 p.m.

The crew flew to Lihue and transferred the patient to medical personnel.