Be vigilant at upcoming events, Honolulu police urge public

In light of the Manchester, England, concert bombing, the Honolulu Police Department is asking the public to be vigilant when attending any large upcoming events.

If anyone sees something suspicious, inform security personnel, a police officer if one is nearby, or call 911, the police chief urges.

“We want to reassure the public that although we have several events over the next several weeks, there is a security plan in place for all those events,” HPD Assistant Chief Alan Bluemke said Tuesday. “We’ll be prepared.”

Police will be working with state, federal and other city agencies and partners.

However, police would not provide details on whether they will be beefing up security at any of these events. Police will monitor these events and might adjust plans where they see fit.

Such large events include Memorial Day gatherings such as the lantern floating at Ala Moana Beach Park, and the 50th State Fair beginning Friday at Aloha Stadium.

Mumps outbreak grows by 4 Oahu cases

Four more mumps cases were reported Tuesday by the state Department of Health, bringing the total this year to 55.

All were Oahu children, and two of them were linked to an earlier case in an adult, the department said. None required hospitalization.

The ailment is easily spread through coughing, sneezing or by touch, including sharing cups or utensils. The department recommends people get the MMR vaccine, which protects against mumps, measles and rubella, also called German measles.

Kauai

Health professionals ask Ige to ban pesticide after bills fail

LIHUE >> Kauai health care professionals have urged Gov. David Ige to ban a chemical from agricultural use in Hawaii.

Seventeen physicians and psychologists sent the governor a letter April 17 asking that he ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos, the Garden Island reported Monday.

Dr. Lee Evslin, a Kauai pediatrician who has been practicing for more than 30 years, had said he signed on because Ige’s interest in the matter is the state”s “last hope.”

Concerns arose when Scott Pruitt, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, overrode the recommendation of the EPA’s scientific committee and backed down from banning chlorpyrifos. Those concerns grew when measures aimed at banning the pesticide, as well as buffer zone and disclosure bills, failed in the state Legislature.

“The science clearly shows that chlorpyrifos may cause irreversible, adverse changes to the unborn child’s brain,” Evslin said. “The federal government is apparently not going to protect our keiki, and the state Legislature failed to pass any meaningful legislation concerning pesticides.

“Our last hope in this state is that the governor would take an interest and work to ban this dangerous and toxic substance.”

Ige has been urged to ban the chemical in the past. Members of Hawaii SEED, including the group’s president, Jeri Di Pietro, and a few others from Kauai and Maui met with Ige in March and expressed their concerns about the chemical.

“We stand behind precaution and urge a ban on the widespread, undisclosed spraying of insecticidal neurotoxins, like chlorpyrifos,” Di Pietro said. “It is extremely harmful to children’s development, worker safety and ecosystem habitats.”

The group hadn’t heard back from Ige’s office as of last week.

“We ask that the governor take our strong concerns and recommendations into consideration,” the health care professionals’ letter stated. “Beginning this year, chlorpyrifos should be prohibited for agricultural use in Hawaii.”