Surveillance state has its benefits

Witness accounts, as it turns out, are not the only "eyes" that help determine whether a stabbing death resulted from another person’s criminal action.

City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro says surveillance video at a concession stand near Waikiki’s Queen’s Beach helped determine that the Jan. 22 stabbing of 20-year-old Brycen Iona by a 42-year-old homeless man was an act of self-defense against Iona and two other men.  

Police had wrongfully arrested another man on the basis of statements by Iona’s friends, calling their credibility into question, Kaneshiro said. The street-cam video of incidents leading up to the stabbing revealed the homeless man and showed he had acted in self-defense.

CORRECTION: The surveillance video that aided the city prosecutor’s decision to not pursue charges in the Waikiki stabbing death of Brycen Iona did not show the actual stabbing, as stated in an version of this story. The video showed events leading up to the stabbing, which was determined to be self-defense.

Charity infighting bypasses Hawaii

The big brouhaha between the breast-cancer foundation Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood — the former no longer wants to give any money to the latter, a clash arising over the abortion issue — hasn’t left a mark on the nonprofits’ relations in Hawaii, at least not yet.

Planned Parenthood Hawaii hasn’t received a Komen grant since its last one in 2005, about $15,000, said Katie Polidoro, director of public relations and governmental affairs for Planned Parenthood Hawaii. That means breast screenings for lower-income women in Hawaii won’t be affected by the policy change at the national level.

Some measure of aloha is being maintained. Planned Parenthood still will hand out Komen brochures, she said, and Planned Parenthood Hawaii might again enter a team at the Komen Race for the Cure in October.

At the very least, Polidoro will be there.

"I’m a runner. And my mother died of cancer," she said. "So that’s not going to change."