Police are investigating threats made this week at six schools — five in Leeward Oahu and one on the Windward side of the island.
Police declined to release details of the reported threats.
Students were locked in their classrooms for about an hour Friday morning at five schools in the Ewa-Kapolei area. The schools were Campbell High School, Ilima Intermediate and Kaimiloa, Pohakea and Ewa Beach elementary schools.
The students were kept in their classrooms from 10:15 to 11:35 a.m., just before lunch, the Department of Education reported.
Several students posted photos to social media accounts of a threat apparently written on a wall, dated March 4, that included a crude drawing of a gun firing at stick figures. The graffiti message alluded to an “m9 beretta” and warned to “Watch out, 11:05 a.m.”
The Department of Education increased security personnel and police at Castle High School in Kaneohe and nearby areas Friday morning after school officials were made aware of a reported threat Thursday.
However, no school activities were canceled Friday at the Windward Oahu school.
Senator hospitalized after floor session
State Sen. Sam Slom was taken to an emergency room from the state Capitol on Friday.
House Speaker Joseph Souki interrupted the proceedings in the state House shortly after 1:15 p.m. to announce the illness of Slom, 73, who is the lone Republican in the state Senate.
Slom had appeared ill and shaky during an earlier Senate floor session. Sen. Josh Green, who is a doctor, interrupted the session twice to check on him. Slom chose to continue on with the session’s floor vote on several dozen bills.
However, he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance shortly afterward.
Slom has served in the Senate since 1996 and represents the 9th District from Hawaii Kai to Kahala and Diamond Head.
On Friday evening, Jill Kuramoto, a Senate spokeswoman, issued a statement saying that Slom was still in the hospital.
“According to the senator, his doctors report that test results were ‘unremarkable,’” wrote Kuramoto in a press release. “However, he said he will be staying overnight to ‘sample hospital cuisine and avoid doing dishes.’”
Slom plans to be back at work at the state Capitol next week, said Kuramoto.
Toilet torching an ongoing issue at beach
Vandals struck at the North Shore’s Kaiaka Bay Beach Park on Thursday morning, torching a portable toilet for the second time in two weeks.
This time, however, they managed to set fire to a toilet-paper dispenser in one of the portables, but failed to completely burn down the unit, city spokesman Adam Lefebvre said.
The incident happened at about 6:20 a.m..
The city placed five portable toilets, one of which meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards, at the Haleiwa park earlier this week, Lefebvre said.
City officials urged anyone who witnessed the vandalism or has information to call police at 911. The Parks and Recreation Department has filed a report with the Honolulu Police Department, he said.
The five temporary units replaced four portables that were torched and destroyed the night of Feb. 22, city officials said.
Those four portables were placed there as a temporary replacement for a permanent comfort station destroyed in 2014 by fire, which fire investigators determined was caused by arson.
Man’s body found in stream
The body of a man was found Thursday partially submerged in a small stream in Waipio Valley, Hawaii County police said.
Officers found the body after receiving a report at 5:56 p.m. of an unresponsive man.
The man was pronounced dead at Hilo Medical Center. His name was not released pending notification of relatives.
An autopsy is set for today to determine cause of death.
Blaze destroys home in Pahoa
Hawaii island firefighters had to cut the lock at a gate in Pahoa to extinguish a fire that destroyed a home and a car Thursday night.
The single-family home was fully engulfed when 11 firefighters arrived at the structure on Laimana Road at 7:25 p.m. The fire was brought under control at 8 p.m.
No one was injured.
Cause of the $105,000 fire is under investigation.
Tree removal to close lanes
A portion of Hauaala Road in Kapaa, Kauai, will be subject to intermittent lane closures next week to allow for the cutting and removal of a tree hanging over the roadway near the Laipo Road junction.
The work is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, weather permitting.
Motorists should seek alternate routes, county officials said in a news release.
