States in tsunami debris’ path to get $50K

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday it will provide $250,000 in grants to five states affected by debris from last year’s tsunami in Japan.

The agency said Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California will each receive up to $50,000 toward debris removal. Money could be made available as early as this month.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska quickly deemed the amount "woefully inadequate." The Demo­crat said $50,000 isn’t enough to clean up even one beach.

Begich said the tsunami created a "slow-motion environmental disaster that will unfold over several years."

He has requested at least $45 million in funding.

Health center hit with lawsuits from ex-workers

The former nursing director of an East Hawaii community health center claims in a lawsuit that she was fired for pumping breast milk for her infant.

Amanda Opoku-Boachie’s wrongful-termination lawsuit claims she was fired from Bay Clinic for expressing breast milk at work, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Monday.

Opoku-Boachie had filed a complaint with the state Civil Rights Commission, which closed the case due to insufficient evidence. She said she wasn’t explicitly told pumping was the reason for her firing, but that it was for "unprofessional behavior."

The clinic’s former medical director is also suing over wrongful termination. Dr. Fatima Philips claims she was forced to resign after reporting physicians were overprescribing painkillers. Her suit claims she told the human resources director that firing Opoku-Boachie violated state law allowing mothers to pump at work.

$2.9M sought for culling deer, surveying plants

Organizations trying to control or eradicate invasive species asked the Hawaii Invasive Species Council on Monday for $2.9 million in funding for the current fiscal year. But budget cuts have left the state-government council with only $1.8 million to distribute.

The Maui and Hawaii island invasive species committees requested a total of $260,000 to eradicate axis deer.

The team fighting invasive species on Hawaii island is asking for nearly $400,000 to survey and control 11 plant species including mangrove. It submitted a separate request for more than $160,000 to eradicate axis deer.