Missile range cancels fireworks

The traditional Fourth of July fireworks show at Kauai’s Pacific Missile Range has become another victim of federal budget cuts, the Garden Island newspaper reported Wednesday.

Already, federal budget cuts forced Pearl Harbor to cancel its fireworks show and the Marine Corps, its annual Bayfest event at Kaneohe Bay.

Capt. Nicholas Mongillo, commanding officer of the Barking Sands missile facility, said he hopes to reinstate the event next year. The Kauai base’s July 3 observance at Barking Sands will not be open to the public, Mongillo said, since it will be an event only for Department of Defense employees and families.

Navy Region Hawaii earlier this month said its observance this year will now be a daytime celebration ending at 5 p.m., featuring the Pacific Fleet Band and the Air Force Band of the Pacific and other activities. Marine Corps Base Hawaii has said that its summer festival was canceled this year because of automatic federal budget cuts and other financial constraints.

Puna man faces murder charge in shooting

A Puna man was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder and other offenses in connection with a fatal shooting Monday in Nanawale Estates.

Sean Keoni Aki, 43, is accused of killing Mateo D. Balin­bin Jr., 40. Both men are of Nanawale Estates.

Police found Balin­bin shot in the head in his Maui Street home after being called at 2:19 p.m. Monday to investigate a report of a shooting.

Acting on a tip that a man was seen leaving the house in a dark pickup truck, police arrested Aki at 4:41 p.m. at a Hawaiian Paradise Park home.

Aki also is charged with using a firearm while committing a felony, unlawful ownership of a gun and ammunition, keeping a firearm in an unlawful place and first-degree terroristic threatening.

He was being held at the Hilo cellblock in lieu of $370,000 bail. A court appearance is scheduled for today.

Assistant head appointed for KS-Hawaii

M. Kahealani Nae‘ole-Wong has been named assistant head of the Kamehameha Schools Hawaii campus.

Nae‘ole-Wong, principal at the Keaau campus’ elementary school, begins her new duties in the 2013-14 school year.

She has worked at KS-Hawaii since 2003, first as high school career academy coordinator and for the past eight years as elementary principal.

Before joining Kamehameha, she served as vice principal of Waiakea Elementary, Mountain View Elementary and Waiakea High School and in various capacities with Ke Kula Kaiapuni Hawaii, a Hawaiian-language immersion school.