Obamas headed to Hawaii next week

The first family is scheduled to leave Washington, D.C., for Honolulu on Friday and their seventh straight Christmas vacation in the isles, the White House press office said.

Last year, President Barack Obama and the rest of the first family arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and spent 17 days at a beachside rental in the same Kailua neighborhood where they’ve stayed during their previous Hawaii vacations.

Fishing briefly returns to Nuuanu Reservoir

For the first time since 2009, anglers will get the chance to cast their lines Saturday at the Nuuanu Reservoir to try to hook catfish. Some 120 people, ranging in age from 14 months old to 78, were randomly chosen from nearly 1,400 applicants in a lottery drawing.

Fishing hours will be from 7 to 11 a.m. and noon to 4 p.m.

The Board of Water Supply, which owns the reservoir, is preparing for an improvement project that will begin in mid-2015, and the public will help by removing fish. Due to overwhelming interest, the BWS will consider hosting additional fishing days at Nuuanu Reservoir No. 4.

Kapolei hosts annual holiday parade

Kapolei City Lights will celebrate its 14th year of holiday festivities Saturday with the lighting of a 45-foot tree at Kapolei Hale. The annual Electric Light Parade will start at 6 p.m. at Kapolei Fire Station on Kapolei Parkway and continue to the west end of Kamaaha Avenue.

Leading the parade will be 25 community keiki art contest winners whose works were chosen from more than 3,500 entries. The event will include live entertainment, displays, keiki activities in Santa’s Village and food trucks that will open at 5 p.m.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Police captain gets promoted

Maui Police Capt. John D. Jakubczak, commander of the criminal investigation division, will be promoted to assistant chief and assigned to the support services bureau effective on Tuesday.

Jakubczak joined the Maui Police Department in November 1987. He has been assigned to the communications section, Internal Affairs Division and Wailuku Patrol District; and has led the Lahaina Patrol District, Molokai Patrol District and Criminal Investigation Division.

Jakubczak is an instructor for the Maui Police Department’s arrest defense tactics training course and a member of the California Homicide Investigators Association, the International Homicide Investigators Association and the FBI National Academy Associates. He graduated from the FBI National Academy in December 2009.

Fire destroys shed, not home

A large shed was fully engulfed by fire Thursday when Hawaii County firefighters arrived at a Paradise Park subdivision home.

The shed was destroyed, causing an estimated $24,000 in damage, but the house was spared. Fire officials said one person was home at the time of the blaze, but no one was injured. 

The first alarm was sounded at 2:11 p.m., and the first company was on the scene at 2:19 p.m. The fire was brought under control at 2:24 p.m. and was extinguished by 2:30 p.m. Fire investigators had not yet found the cause of the blaze Thursday.