Voters league to hold forum on rail
A forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Honolulu on the effects of Honolulu’s rail system on city services and tax rates will be held today at 10 a.m. at Washington Middle School.
Panelists are City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, chairwoman of the Council Budget Committee; Matthew Lynch, who heads the effort to remake Kamalii Park; Natalie Iwasa, CPA and City Council activist; and Richard Ubersax, project analyst for a large industrial company.
The forum will be held in the school cafeteria. The school is at the corner of South King and Punahou streets. Parking is free.
Federal lawmakers agreed Thursday to give Honolulu’s rail project its full $250 million funding share for 2014 — the single largest grant for any new startup project in the nation.
The $5.26 billion system is planned to travel 20 miles from Ala Moana Center to East Kapolei.
Suspect faces murder charge
Hawaii County detectives have charged a 49-year-old Pahoa man with second-degree attempted murder after a man was shot with a spear gun and critically wounded.
George Robert Curnutt was charged Thursday night with second-degree attempted murder. He was being held at the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Police responded to a call at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday of a man shot with a spear gun in his torso during a confrontation on Leilani Avenue in the Leilani Estates subdivision.
The victim, a 20-year-old Pahoa man, was taken to Hilo Medical Center in critical condition. He underwent surgery.
In the same confrontation, a 61-year-old woman was hit on one of her legs by a large rock, police said. She was treated at Hilo Medical Center and released.
Drowning victim is identified
Kauai police have identified a visitor who drowned Wednesday off the Na Pali Coast as Manuel Benegas, 48, of Brentwood, Tenn.
Benegas died after being found unconscious Wednesday afternoon while snorkeling in waters off Nualolo Kai, the Kauai County Fire Department said.
He was part of charter group that had stopped in the area to allow patrons to swim and snorkel, the department said. Fellow swimmers found him in distress at about 2:40 p.m. and brought him to shore.
Benegas was taken to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
It was the 12th drowning on Kauai this year.
