Local

» Mitt Romney won Hawaii’s first-ever Republican presidential caucuses Tuesday, taking 45 percent of the 10,239 votes cast. Rick Santorum got 25 percent, Ron Paul 18 percent and Newt Gingrich 11 percent. A preliminary tally had Romney taking nine delegates, Santorum five and Paul three.

» The state will pay $100,000 to activists Mitch Kahle and Kevin Hughes, who were roughed up by Capitol security personnel in 2010 after Kahle protested the use of prayer to open state Senate proceedings. The out-of-court settlement was announced Monday.

» Police asked the public for leads Monday after the dried remains of a child’s fingers were found in a trash bin Feb. 2 in the Kukui Gardens public housing complex in Liliha. Police said they have had no reports of a child with maimed fingers.

» Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Alapaki Nahale-a announced Friday that he will resign in May at the end of the legislative session, saying his family is his top priority.

» A 49-year-old Kauai man was being treated for a case of flesh-eating bacteria after falling ill March 10. Health officials advised people to keep wounds clean and take precautions in dirty, wet conditions.

» Members of the City Council Budget Committee asked the city rail transit authority Thursday to hold off the start of construction for six or seven months until the federal government locks in its $1.55 billion funding share. A rail official replied it would be cheaper to start construction now and tear down the structures later in the unlikely event that the federal funding does not come through.

» Charles Maxwell, a Hawaiian cultural expert who fought the exhumation of Hawaiian burials and supported the occupation of Kahoolawe, died Thursday at age 74.

» Kauai Police Chief Darryl Perry was reinstated Monday, after being placed on leave Feb. 8 by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. following an employee complaint of an alleged hostile work environment.

» The state said Thursday it was deciding whether it would continue to feed students hamburger containing a ground-beef product made from meat trimmings known derisively as "pink slime." Officials stressed the product is safe.

Mainland

» Rick Santorum prevailed Tuesday in Alabama and Mississippi and claimed the right to go head to head with Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich, confronted with intensifying pressure to get out of the Republican presidential race, tried a new argument for continuing his campaign: Conservatives cannot block Mitt Romney’s path to the nomination without him.

» A former Rutgers University student was convicted Friday on all 15 charges he had faced for using a webcam to spy on his roommate having sex with another man. The student, Dharun Ravi, 20, had sent Twitter and text messages encouraging others to watch. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge three days after the webcam viewing, three weeks into their freshman year in September 2010.

World

» A lone U.S. soldier allegedly snuck out of his combat outpost in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province in Afghanistan early Sunday morning, walked into two nearby villages and slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children. The killings drew severe criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai and sparked political backlash against U.S. President Barack Obama, who insisted plans for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan would stay on track.

THIS WEEK

Local

>> Monday: The Office of Hawaiian Affairs offers free tax assistance to Native Hawaiian residents of Waimanalo, 3 to 7 p.m., Blanche Pope Elementary School.
>> Tuesday: The state Board of Education discusses assessments based on common core standards and charter school governance, 1:30 p.m., 1390 Miller St., room 404.
>> Tuesday: Hawaii Foodbank, in partnership with dentist Dr. Cecile Sebastian, holds a food drive from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tamarind Park in downtown Honolulu.
>> Friday: The state Board of Land and Natural Resources discusses funding for various projects, 9 a.m., 1151 Punchbowl St., room 132.
>> Friday: The state Department of Agriculture holds a meeting on the status of honeybees, 5:30 p.m., Maui Community College, Ka Lama 103.

Mainland

>> Tuesday: Illinois holds its Republican presidential primary.