Starbucks to open in Windward Mall
Starbucks is joining the mix of food and beverage tenants at Windward Mall.
The popular coffee company will be at Center Court near the Food Court and is projected to open in early September.
It will be the first Starbucks at the Kaneohe mall, which is anchored by Macy’s, Sears and Sports Authority and which has a 10-screen Regal Theater. There are more than 110 stores and eateries at the mall.
AT&T invested $20M here through midyear
AT&T invested more than $20 million in its wireless and wired networks in Hawaii during the first half of this year, the company reported Tuesday.
The investments included deployment of new cellular sites and distributed antenna systems across the state to support AT&T’s Project Velocity IP, a three-year plan announced last fall to expand its broadband networks, according to a news release from the company.
AT&T also expanded its 4G LTE network, which supports high-speed mobile Internet service and Wi-Fi hot spots.
The 2013 year-to-date network investment is in addition to more than $110 million that AT&T has invested in its Hawaii wireless and wired networks from 2010 through 2012, according to the company.
Taco Bell widens test of waffle taco
NEW YORK » Taco Bell says it is expanding its small test of waffle tacos as it prepares to take its breakfast menu national sometime next year.
The fast-food chain says the waffle taco, which includes scrambled eggs, sausage and a side of syrup, was the top seller during breakfast hours at the five Southern California restaurants where it was tested earlier this year. Now the company wants to see how it would fare on a bigger scale: The waffle taco and a full breakfast menu will be expanded to about 100 restaurants in Fresno, Calif.; Omaha, Neb.; and Chattanooga, Tenn., starting Thursday.
Taco Bell already offers breakfast at about 850 locations in 10 Western states and has been tinkering with new items such as the waffle taco before rolling it out to its 6,000 U.S. locations.
Also being tested in the additional locations starting Thursday are a yogurt parfait and oatmeal.
Feds sue Bank of America over mortgage bond sale
Bank of America Corp. was sued by the U.S. for allegedly hiding risks from investors in a 2008 deal for $850 million of bonds backed by residential mortgages. Government lawsuits filed Tuesday in federal court in Charlotte, N.C., lay out a pattern of intentional acts by bank officials to disguise the mortgages’ risks in disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission and investors.
The new set of lawsuits could hinder CEO Brian Moynihan’s effort to end fallout from the 2008 credit crisis and purchases of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. The Charlotte-based bank already has spent more than $45 billion on litigation, settlements and refunds to investors tied to shoddy mortgages, servicing and foreclosures.
ON THE MOVE
Hawaii Pacific University has announced David J. Lanoue as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He was previously dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at Columbus State University in Georgia as well as chairman of the political sciences departments at the University of Alabama, Texas Tech University and University of California, Riverside.
