Caldwell off to Washington for conference
Mayor Kirk Caldwell left Monday to attend the United States Conference of Mayors annual winter meeting in Washington, D.C., and to meet with federal officials on homelessness and the Honolulu rail project.
Caldwell is the U.S. Conference of Mayors vice chairman for trade and international travel. He is also scheduled to meet with top officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday to discuss homelessness and housing.
Caldwell will return Saturday.
Agencies to look at helicopter incident
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of Sunday’s hard landing of a tour helicopter on Kauai in which four visitors suffered back injuries and a fifth suffered minor injuries.
Updates on their conditions were not available. The pilot and a sixth passenger were uninjured.
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters removed its Airbus EC130 T2 helicopter from Kalalau Beach on Monday afternoon and transported it by truck to the company’s terminal at Lihue Airport.
Gregg Lundberg, president of Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, said, “We’re fully cooperating with the NTSB, FAA and DLNR (state Department of Land and Natural Resources).”
Lundberg declined to comment on the incident due to the investigation.
Highway bypass due to be pau by September
KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii >> The Mamalahoa Highway bypass and new intersection at Napoopoo Road on Hawaii isle are expected to be finished by September.
West Hawaii Today reports county officials hoped the bypass would be done by early 2016, but work on the project was delayed for weeks due to heavy summer rain as well as waiting on state approval for an archaeological study.
Hawaii County Public Works Director Warren Lee says the $28 million project is about 60 percent complete and should be done after August.
The bypass is intended to improve traffic conditions in congested areas such as Honalo, Kainaliu and Konawaena.