$13M to boost school safety, mental health
The state Department of Education has been awarded nearly $13 million in federal grants to promote safety and address mental health issues.
The department says the funds will be spent over five years in the Nanakuli-Waianae and Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua complex areas on Oahu and the Kau-Keaau-Pahoa complex on Hawaii island.
The grants will be used to help increase awareness of mental health issues, enhance early intervention systems and connect children and families with services.
The grants are part of the White House’s "Now Is the Time" initiative to keep schools safer.
UH takes ownership of British telescope
The University of Hawaii has assumed ownership of the United Kingdom’s Infrared Telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea.
Britain’s Science and Technologies Facilities Council decided in 2012 it could no longer financially support the infrared telescope, precipitating the change in ownership.
UH said it has negotiated an agreement with the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin to provide continued scientific operation of the observatory, initially using only the large infrared camera. The operators have started to refurbish several of the telescope’s instruments.
Guenther Hasinger, director of the UH Institute for Astronomy, said with a new operator and instrumentation, the telescope can operate for at least 10 more years.
"We are delighted that UKIRT will continue to produce top-quality astronomical research," Hasinger said in a statement Friday.
Kona man pleads guilty to jailbreak role
HILO » A Kona man pleaded guilty to his role in a jailbreak that involved attacking an unarmed corrections officer, stealing his keys and then driving off in a stolen car belonging to the facility’s law librarian.
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Tuesday that Ryan James Jeffries-Hamar pleaded guilty to escape, kidnapping, auto theft and other charges.
Prosecutors say Jeffries-Hamar and Jarvis Naoki Higa escaped from Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo in 2012 by attacking the guard and stealing his keys to the facility.
Court documents say Jeffries-Hamar demanded keys from the law librarian. Police say they dumped the librarian’s car in a Hilo subdivision.
Higa was arrested two days later in a remote Kau community, while Jeffries-Hamar was captured eight days later at a Hawaiian Beaches home. Higa is awaiting trial.
3 islands identified in flood advisories
Heavy rain Tuesday prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood advisory for parts of Kauai, Maui and the Big Island.
On Kauai, heavy showers fell between Kokee State Park and Waimea, with another nearly stationary storm stretching from Kapaa to Puhi.
On Maui, heavy rain fell over the slopes of Hana, Hamoa and Ulupalakua, weather officials said.
On Hawaii island, satellite and radar imagery showed a heavy downpour near the Kona Village Resort, about 13 miles north of Kailua-Kona.
