The state Consumer Advocate wants the top executives of NextEra Energy Inc. and Hawaiian Electric Industries to testify under oath for the state agency’s review of the proposed purchase of HEI.

The Consumer Advocate asked the Public Utilities Commission in a Wednesday filing to require NextEra CEO Jim Robo and Hawaiian Electric Industries CEO Connie Lau to provide testimony about the $4.3 billion sale of HEI.

The Consumer Advocate requested that the PUC issue subpoenas to require the deposition and attendance of Robo and Lau.

The agency said it had already provided written notice to both executives.

Testimony from Lau and Robo is necessary as the two have “knowledge and information that only she(he) can know and possess concerning the circumstances, events, rationale, and reasoning that resulted in NextEra’s decision to acquire the Hawaiian Electric Companies.”

The depositions would be recorded by stenographer and video recording.

In another filing, the Consumer Advocate asked the PUC to compel a complete copy of all documents and opinions provided to the HEI board by HEI’s financial adviser, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC.

Ex-Hawaiian Airlines spokesman joins Matson

A veteran of Hawaii’s airline industry has jumped ship to take a senior management position with the state’s largest ocean cargo transportation firm.

Matson Inc. announced that former Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner is its new director of corporate communications.

Wagner succeeds Jeff Hull, who has retired after a 33-year career at Matson.

The change took effect Wednesday. Wagner was hired earlier and worked with Hull in a transition period.

Wagner, 54, worked at Hawaiian for 25 years, mainly as the company’s spokesman, before leaving in 2013. He then worked for Oakland (Calif.) International Airport as public information officer and spokesman. His new position with Matson will be at the company’s corporate office in Oakland.

Hull, who also worked out of Oakland, joined Matson in 1982 and spent his first eight years working in the company’s personnel department, including three years as editor of the company’s employee magazine. Hull, 60, had headed Matson’s public relations department since 1990.

Matt Cox, Matson president and CEO, said in a statement that Hull will be missed after a long and distinguished career. “I’d like to thank Jeff for all he’s done over the years for Matson and wish him all the best during his well-earned retirement,” Cox said.

Cox added that Wagner’s extensive communications background and deep knowledge of Hawaii and the transportation industry make him a valuable new member of Matson’s senior management team.

Hawaiian Telcom gets $26M for expansion

Hawaiian Telcom said Wednesday that the company has been awarded more than $4 million annually for six years, or $26 million in total, to expand high-speed Internet service in Hawaii’s rural areas.

The company accepted the Connect America Fund Phase II support from the Federal Communications Commission to broaden its service to more than 11,000 currently unserved locations, primarily on the neighbor islands. Hawaiian Telcom is now working on a deployment timeline for the six-year period, beginning this year and lasting through 2020.

The CAF Phase II support will replace the current annual Universal Service Fund support of approximately $1.9 million that Hawaiian Telcom receives.

With previous support of about $1.4 million, Hawaiian Telcom deployed high-speed Internet service to more than 500 locations within the Orchidland Estates subdivision in Keaau on Hawaii island, and is currently deploying service to more than 1,300 additional Hawaii island locations in the Hawaii Ocean View Estates, Honaunau, Keaau, Mountain View and Volcano communities targeted for completion by the end of this year.

Uber missed criminal records, DAs say

SAN FRANCISCO >> For more than a year, regulators in various cities have questioned whether Uber, the ride-hailing service, vets its drivers for criminal backgrounds as carefully as traditional taxi companies.

Now the district attorneys for San Francisco and Los Angeles have offered perhaps the most concrete evidence to date that people convicted of murder, sex offenses and various property crimes have driven for Uber, despite assurances from the company that it employs “industry-leading” screening.

The district attorneys said Wednesday that background checks used by Uber failed to uncover the criminal records of 25 drivers in the two cities. The charges were made in a 62-page amended complaint to a civil suit, originally filed in December, that claims Uber has continually misled consumers about the methods it uses to screen drivers.

“We are learning increasingly that a lot of the information that Uber has been presenting the consumer has been false and misleading,” said George Gascon, the district attorney in Uber’s hometown, San Francisco.

Isle resident’s car show goes global

The weekly 76 Motorsports Roundup show hosted by Hawaii resident Bill Maloney has been picked up by the American Forces Radio and Television Network (AFRTS).

The show is broadcast locally at 9 a.m. Saturdays on KHKA-AM 1500, NBC Sports Radio Honolulu, but also has been added to the AFRTS weekly sports schedule.

Maloney’s show features news and commentary by motorsports experts, road test reviews and interviews with local car clubs, as well as weekly road work reports.

AFRTS programming is beamed, by various means, to servicemembers and Department of Defense employees in some 177 countries around the world, and to more than 400 U.S. Navy ships at sea, according to an official fact sheet.

On the ‘Net: 808ne.ws/MotorsportsRoundup

GM expands headlight recall

DETROIT >> General Motors is adding 181,000 cars in the U.S. and Canada to a 2014 recall for headlights that can stop working.

The company also will have to fix thousands of cars from the 2014 recall a second time because the original repairs could fail.

The expansion covers the 2005 Buick LaCrosse, the 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix in the U.S., and the 2005 Buick Allure in Canada.

A headlight module may not work in high temperatures under the hood. That can cause the low-beam and daytime running lights to fail. Dealers will replace the module with an existing part until a permanent repair is developed and installed.

The 2014 recall affected 316,357 vehicles from 2006 through 2009 including the LaCrosse, Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender.

Ford recalling trucks to fix seat belts

DEARBORN, Mich. >> Ford is recalling just over 26,000 trucks in the U.S. and Canada because some front seat belts may not be anchored in the right position.

The recall covers F-650 and F-750 trucks from the 2011, 2013 and 2015 model years that were built in Mexico from Feb. 14, 2011, through April 28, 2015.

Ford says the front passenger and center seat belts may not be anchored in the correct spot relative to the seat. The problem could increase the risk of injury in a crash.

The company says it knows of no crashes or injuries from the problem. Ford says engineers are developing repair procedures.

On The Move

>> Hawaii Resort Homes announced that Norm Stuard has joined its team as a licensed Realtor. Prior to joining the company, he developed the Palamanui campus for six years for the University of Hawaii, and also developed the Ke Kailani community within Mauna Lani Resort.

>> The Kahala Hotel & Resort has appointed Hiroshi Inoue as chef de cuisine of Hoku’s. Inoue has nearly 20 years of culinary experience, including serving as an executive sous chef who supervised all the banquets and restaurants at the Grand XIV Karuizawa in Nagano, Japan. Prior to that, he also worked at Shinkirou in Suzhou, China, L’Osier in Tokyo, the Ritz-Carlton Osaka and the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta, and JOEL Brasserie, a French restaurant in Atlanta.

Ship Ahoy!

Thursday’s ship arrivals and departures: