Newswatch

Water main break slows Nimitz traffic

Morning eastbound motorists heading into town are advised to check online news sites, TV morning news shows and radio stations before starting their drives today to see if the Zipper Lane is clear all the way to Pacific Street.

A 16-inch water main break on Nimitz Highway between Pacific and Alakawa streets backed up traffic Wednesday.

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply and state Department of Transportation are hoping to avoid a repeat today.

At evening rush hour Wednesday, two right westbound lanes of Nimitz were open between Pacific and Alakawa. To help ease westbound traffic, officials used the far-left eastbound lane of Nimitz as a contraflow lane. All other eastbound lanes were clear.

The key today will be whether the far-left lane westbound on Nimitz will be fixed and cleared by early this morning, DOT spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said. The far-left westbound lane is the one used by DOT to create the eastbound contraflow lane that connects with the Zipper Lane in the morning and runs to Pacific Street.

If the Nimitz work is unfinished, vehicles in the Zipper Lane will again need to be diverted back onto H-1 freeway as they were Wednesday morning, Meisenzahl said.

Board of Water Supply spokesman Damian Racoma said the agency was hoping to get the main fixed overnight "but the road itself might not be repaired until after 7 a.m."

Woman gets jail term for bilking fiance

A Maui woman who defrauded her former fiance by faking her mother’s death has been sentenced to seven days in jail.

Maui Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo also sentenced Beverly Lupton of Kihei on Friday to five years’ probation and called her a cruel con artist.

Court records show Lupton had reunited with her former fiance, Donald Reyes, and that he paid for her and her 4-year-old son to fly to California to live with him in 2010, the Maui News reported Wednesday. She later told him her mother had died and that she needed to return to Maui. He paid for airline tickets and gave her money for funeral expenses.

But court records say he later discovered Lupton’s mother was alive and well.

Loo says Lupton’s brother, her co-defendant, backed up the fake death story. They must pay nearly $2,000 in restitution.

Kauai man admits setting truck ablaze

A Kauai man pleaded guilty to arson Monday for setting fire to his pickup truck at Kapaa Beach Park, endangering people nearby, the Kauai Prosecutor’s Office said.

Samiuela Moala, 41, faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced May 24 on the second-degree arson conviction.

Moala admitted in court that on Oct. 24 he doused his Toyota truck with gasoline and set it on fire. The truck was parked near an occupied vehicle, endangering people inside as well as others, the prosecutor’s office said.

County firefighters put out the blaze and turned the investigation over to police.