Bill would strip tax breaks from ag firms
LIHUE » Large agriculture companies and landowners on Kauai could pay higher property taxes under a County Council bill that would create a new tax class for crop research land.
The Garden Island newspaper reported Thursday that Councilman Tim Bynum, the bill’s sponsor, said the current law was never meant for large agriculture.
He said the companies "should never have been eligible" for the tax incentives they are currently receiving.
The Hawaii Crop Improvement Association said the bill singles out a subset of local agriculture. The trade group representing Hawaii’s agricultural seed industry says it would send a negative signal to any industry relying on innovation to create jobs and support the local economy.
Panel decries lack of search for remains
The Oahu Burial Council is questioning the decision to allow redevelopment of the Honolulu Advertiser building on Kapiolani Boulevard without an archaeological study.
Outgoing council Vice Chairman Jonathan Likelike Scheuer says he doesn’t understand how the decision was made when the site is a few blocks from Kawaiaha’o Church, where ancient Hawaiian remains were disinterred.
Hawaii News Now reports that the council at a meeting earlier this week said the State Historic Preservation Division removed the project from its oversight by not requiring the developer to conduct an archaeological inventory.
The Preservation Division’s lead archaeologist, Susan Lebo, says the developer’s consultant convinced her there’s a low potential of finding human remains.
The developers of 801 South St. say they have complied with state historic preservation requirements.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Husband held after his wife reports gunfire
A Puna man was charged Thursday with several offenses in connection with the discharge of a firearm in his home.
On Tuesday police officers responded to a 4:32 p.m. dropped 911 call. When they arrived at the home on Orchid Drive in the Aina?loa subdivision, police found a 50-year-old woman who reported that her husband had brandished a .22-caliber rifle and fired shots next to her head while she was lying in bed, police said.
Police arrested Leighton Kaai Jr., 48, and took him to the Hilo police cellblock.
Detectives charged Kaai on Thursday with first-degree reckless endangering, first-degree terroristic threatening and two firearm offenses. Bail was set at $6,000.
Plea deal made in bank robbery
A 37-year-old Kauai man pleaded no contest Tuesday in Kauai Circuit Court to robbing the Kapaa Bank of Hawaii in January.
As part of the plea deal, Joshua Carlsen agreed to a 10-year prison term with a mandatory minimum sentence of six years and eight months before he is eligible for parole, the Garden Island newspaper reported. He also accepted a $25,000 fine.
Carlsen will be sentenced Sept. 18 and remains in custody at Kauai Community Correctional Center, unable to post $250,000 bail.
Carlsen was arrested Jan. 29 on suspicion of robbing the Kapaa bank earlier that day. Carlsen allegedly entered the bank while wearing a hood and presented a note demanding money.
He was arrested along Kuhio Highway just blocks from his Hau?aala Road home, where police discovered $5,074 of the $7,988 reportedly stolen from the bank.
