Girlfriend released in man’s homicide
Hawaii County police have released the 37-year-old Hilo woman who was arrested Monday on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder in the stabbing death of Lloyd Rubio, 38, of Hilo.
Police said the woman, Rubio’s girlfriend, was in the house along with his children at the time of the stabbing.
Police released the woman Wednesday pending further investigation after conferring with county prosecutors. Detectives are continuing to investigate the murder.
USDA declares 2 counties disaster areas
KAILUA-KONA » The U.S. Agriculture Department has designated Hawaii and Maui counties as disaster areas because of at least eight straight weeks of severe drought.
The designation announced Wednesday means farmers in those areas qualify for low-interest emergency loans.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack included the two Hawaii counties in a list of nearly 600 counties in 14 states also declared disaster zones.
The designations are the first this year. Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui and Kauai counties all made the list last year.
The U.S. Drought Monitor shows portions of Hawaii island and Maui with extreme drought as of New Year’s Day.
General tapped for second star, new post
Air Force Brig. Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, deputy director for operations at the U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, has been nominated for his second star and will become commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Afghanistan in Kabul, the Air Force reports.
The new post also means Wilsbach will serve as deputy commander for air, U.S. Forces Afghanistan; and deputy chief of staff, air, at the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, Kabul.
He has been at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters since June 2011. From May 1996 to July 1997, then-Maj. Wilsbach served as the aide to Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, then commander-in-chief of U.S. Pacific forces.
Wilsbach has commanded a fighter squadron, an operations group and two wings. He is a command pilot with more than 3,800 hours in multiple aircraft, primarily in the F-15C, and he flew 31 combat missions over Iraq in operations Northern Watch and Southern Watch.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Runway repair options in flux
The runway overhaul project at Maui’s main airport is moving forward, but the state remains undecided on which of three repair options to choose.
Kahului Airport’s 7,000-foot main runway is 71 years old. DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter told the Maui News in an email that the repair project is progressing.
Options range in cost from $34 million to $134 million and entail different scenarios for lengthening the runway and how long it would be closed.
Sluyter said the department is working on starting an environmental impact statement for the project, which likely will take 18 to 24 months. She said the project is expected to be put out to bid in 2016.
Haleakala park gets new chief
The National Park Service has named Dr. Natalie Gates as the new superintendent of Haleakala National Park.Gates, chief of natural resource management at Point Reyes National Seashore in California, will begin in March.
"It will be an absolute privilege to work with the staff of Haleakala National Park and local communities around it," Gates said in a news release.
Gates graduated from Harvard College with a degree in biology. She earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Cornell University and a master’s degree in wildland resource management from the University of California, Berkeley.
She has been acting superintendent of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area in eastern Washington. In 2009, she was awarded the Pacific West Regional Director’s Award for Natural Resource Management.
