Agriculture expert sets Nov. 10 talk at UH
An international expert in sustainable agriculture will speak at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on Nov. 10.
Thomas Lumpkin, UH-Manoa’s 2014 College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Outstanding Alumnus of the Year, will discuss "Global Food Security by 2050: Challenges and Opportunities" in a free public talk at 4 p.m. in the Architecture Auditorium, Room 205.
With the global population expected to approach 9 billion by 2050 and climate change altering agricultural conditions, the world is "entering a perfect storm of challenges to global food security," Lumpkin maintains.
Since 2008 Lumpkin has been director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, an organization based in Mexico City that is dedicated to sustainably increasing agricultural productivity.
He attended UH-Manoa as an East-West Center grantee, earning his master’s degree and doctorate in agronomy.
State praised for after-school programs
The state Department of Education is touting a new national study that says the state is in the top 10 for after-school programs.
The department announced Friday that the Afterschool Alliance’s "America After 3 p.m." study found that a vast majority of parents in Hawaii are satisfied with their child’s after-school program.
The top 10 places from highest to lowest are California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Vermont, Massachusetts, Arizona, Oregon, Nebraska, Tennessee and Hawaii.
Forty percent of Hawaii’s children in kindergarten through fifth grade participate in an after-school program. For sixth- through eighth-graders, the figure is 16 percent. It’s 10 percent for those in high school.
The department says the study also reveals that the demand for after-school programs exceeds availability.
Coast Guard closes harbor
The Coast Guard closed Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai on Sunday due to a possible water obstruction.
On Friday evening the tug Moana Holo and its deck barge, Maka Ala, ran aground near the entrance to the harbor.
During dive operations Sunday a 30-by-15-foot skeg was discovered missing. A skeg, similar to a rudder, is a fixed extension to the stern of a barge that helps with steering.
Out of "an abundance of caution," the port was closed to all traffic until the skeg is located, the Coast Guard said. The operating company is working with contractors to locate and mark the skeg.
For more information, call 842-2600.
Maui police make 25 arrests
Maui police made 25 arrests for traffic violations on Halloween as part of a crackdown on drunken driving.
Nine of the arrests were for impaired driving, police said.
The department set up checkpoints over the course of 10 hours Friday.
"Halloween rivals St. Patrick’s Day and New Year’s as the busiest night for the Traffic Section’s Vehicle Homicide Unit and DUI Task Force Unit," the department said in a release Sunday. "While large numbers of people were out on our streets trick-or-treating, others were out drinking and driving."
Police also issued five tickets for no insurance, three for no driver’s license, three for not using seat belts, two for no child restraints and six for unspecified offenses.
Seven of the nine impaired-driving arrests and 13 of the traffic citations issued were in Lahaina. The average age of the nine arrested was 39, police said.
