Hawaiian halts Kauai flights due to weather

Hawaiian Airlines canceled multiple flights Tuesday night into and out of Lihue Airport as Kauai bore the brunt of a weather front.

Nearly 3 inches of rain fell on parts of Kauai, with Waimea recording 2.9 inches during a 12-hour period on Tuesday.

The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative reported "four or five small pockets of outages" including Hanapepe, Eleele and Kalaheo.

HomeStreet Bank supports isle nonprofits

HomeStreet Bank contributed $34,000 in recent weeks to seven nonprofits in Hawaii. The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity Hilo, Maui and Honolulu affiliates, the Hawai‘i Home Ownership Center, Family Programs Hawaii and Na Hale O Maui each received contributions from HomeStreet Bank.

"These organizations are doing tremendous work to support Hawaii individuals and families achieve their goal of homeownership," said Gerald Tanaka, vice president and regional manager of HomeStreet’s Hawaii mortgage team. "We are proud to support their missions, clients and communities."

Matson Foundation helps Damien School

The Matson Navigation Foundation donated $20,000 to Damien Memorial School last month and pledged to donate another $30,000 in the next two years to support new construction at the school.

Damien has a five-year master plan to build a new athletic building, band building, library, student services building, a resurfaced football practice field and track, and additional parking spaces.

"Matson’s gift will help our current and future students to excel in their pursuit of academic excellence and physical development," said Damien President and CEO Bernard Ho.

Workers’ productivity rate actually higher

WASHINGTON » U.S. workers were more productive during the summer of 2012 than initially thought, while costing their companies less.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that productivity grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent from July through September. That’s the fastest pace in two years and higher than the initial estimate of 1.9 percent. Labor costs dropped at a rate of 1.9 percent, more than the 0.1 percent dip initially estimated.

Productivity was revised higher because economic growth was faster in the third quarter than first estimated, while hours worked were unchanged. Productivity is the amount of output per hour of work.

Mining firm buys producers of oil and gas

NEW YORK » Mining company Freeport-McMoRan is buying a pair of oil and gas producers for $9 billion, creating a natural resources conglomerate with assets ranging from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to a huge copper mine in Indonesia.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., based in Phoenix, said Wednesday it is paying $6.9 billion in cash and stock for Plains Exploration & Production Co. and $2.1 billion for McMoRan Exploration Co. The miner also will assume $11 billion in debt in the deal.

Plains Exploration, based in Houston, produces oil in California, Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, along with natural gas in Louisiana. McMoRan Exploration, based in New Orleans, is developing natural gas resources that lie deep below shallow-water regions of the Gulf of Mexico.

Restaurant chain workers to stay full time

NEW YORK »The owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants says it won’t bump any full-time workers down to part-time status, after its tests aimed at limiting health care costs resulted in a publicity backlash that took a bite out of sales.

At the same time, Darden Restaurants Inc. isn’t ruling out relying more heavily on part-timers over the long haul.

The company, based in Orlando, Fla., is set to announce today that none of its current full-time employees will have their status changed as a result of the new regulations. The move will come just two days after the company lowered its profit outlook for the year, citing failed promotions and negative publicity from its tests that used more part-time employees.

The tests were aimed at keeping down costs tied to new health care regulations, which will require large companies to provide insurance to full-time workers starting in 2014.

SHIFTING GEARS

FTC settles fraud allegations with car loan modification firm

WASHINGTON » The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that it reached a settlement with the owner of an auto loan modification operation that falsely promised consumers it could get their vehicle loans modified and stop their cars from being repossessed.

Patrick Freeman, owner of California-based Hope for Car Owners, agreed to a settlement with the FTC that bans him from marketing auto loan modifications and any other debt relief services.

According to the FTC, Hope for Car Owners LLC and Freeman charged hundreds of dollars in upfront fees and told the consumers to stop paying their auto lenders, which often left them in worse financial shape and increased the risk that their vehicles would be repossessed. The company then did nothing to get the promised loan modifications, and consumers who tried to get refunds were denied, the FTC said.

Under the settlement, Freeman is barred from making misrepresentations about financial products, along with any other product or service. The settlement also imposes a $362,388 judgment, which will be suspended because Freeman’s company is in default and he is unable to pay, the FTC said.

Slip in international tensions clips Honda’s Chinese sales dip

Honda Motor Co. joined Toyota Motor Corp. in narrowing its drop in China sales in November, showing that Japan’s automakers are recovering from the impact of the territorial dispute between the two nations.

Deliveries last month declined 29 percent from a year earlier to 41,205 vehicles, said Honda spokesman Tomoko Takemori. Sales in the first 11 months of 2012 fell 0.8 percent to 535,313 units.

While sales fell for a third straight month, Honda follows bigger rival Toyota in reporting a smaller drop in the world’s biggest auto market. Still, Honda has said it may take until the Lunar New Year in February for sales to normalize. Japanese automakers will probably miss out on sales of about 200,000 units in the fourth quarter as the political stalemate persists, according to industry researcher IHS Automotive.

Honda’s China sales plunged 41 percent in September and by 53.5 percent in October, according to the company. The October decline was the worst monthly drop on record, based on available company figures dating back to 2007.

Toyota, Asia’s largest car manufacturer, reported that November deliveries declined 22 percent from a year earlier to 63,800 vehicles, compared with a 49 percent drop in September.

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Star-Advertiser news services

ON THE MOVE

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has announced the addition of two new specialists:

» Dr. Christopher Lind is a specialist in psychiatry. He is practicing at Kaiser Permanente’s Ala Moana Clinic and Waipio Clinic.

» Dr. Tigist Mammo is a specialist in internal medicine. She is practicing at Kaiser Permanente’s Honolulu Clinic.

RevoluSun has hired Zachary McNish as legal counsel. Before joining the company, he served as an associate attorney at Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing as well as an associate corporate counsel for Hoku Scientific. He also founded the nonprofit Native Future.