Newswatch

Water pipe fails on Ala Moana Boulevard

A broken water pipe shut down a lane of Ala Moana Boulevard for much of the day Saturday on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The break to an 8-inch pipe, which shut down the left Ewa-bound lane between Atkinson Drive and Piikoi Street about 7:30 a.m., was repaired just before 6 p.m., the city Board of Water Supply said. Parts of Ala Moana Beach Park were without water, but service to other areas was not affected. Motorists were advised to allow for extra travel time and to avoid the area if possible.

It was the second Saturday this month there has been a water pipe break along the corridor. On Dec. 10, an 8-inch pipe broke on the makai side of Ala Moana Boulevard between Atkinson Drive and Piikoi Street, shutting down all lanes of traffic heading east the day before the Honolulu Marathon. Repairs were done in time for runners to move through the area the following day.

Water agency spokesman Dymian Racoma said the pipe that broke Saturday was installed in 1970 and that the one that broke two weeks ago was placed in the 1930s.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Snow adorns upper reaches of Mauna Kea

It’s not exactly a winter wonderland, but people in Hawaii have a chance to see snow on Christmas Day.

After a dusting of snow Friday night, officials at the University of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Weather Center reported patchy areas of snow on upper elevations of Mauna Kea on Saturday.

Forecasters didn’t expect more snow this weekend, but with the temperatures expected to hit only the 30s during the day, they expect the snow that did fall to remain.

District borders altered after public meetings

The Hawaii County Redistricting Commission ended its work Thursday, but only after changing the line between two Hilo districts after the "final draft" map had gone out to its last round of public hearings.

The change moved a 1.1-mile-by-0.7-mile rectangle that contains incumbent Hilo Councilman J Yoshimoto’s Pukana Street house out of District 3, separating him from incumbent Hilo Councilman Dennis Onishi, and put it into District 2, where Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda is term-limited and can’t run for re-election, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

The move followed a Nov. 17 email from Onishi to about 50 local union officials and others, pointing out that he now shared a district with Yoshimoto and asking the recipients to lobby the commission to change it.

Commission Chairwoman Rene Siracusa called the district change "a fluke," not a purposeful action to benefit an incumbent.

The map creates two districts for growing Puna, trims one of Hilo’s three districts and creates districts for Kau/South Kona, Central Kona, North Kona and Kohala.