Federal officials decided not to punish United Airlines over an infamous incident in which a passenger was dragged off an overcrowded plane.
The Transportation Department said it found no evidence that United violated David Dao’s civil rights in the April 9 incident in Chicago. There was also not enough evidence that the airline violated rules regarding bumping passengers to take the case further, the department said.
A Transportation Department lawyer told United about the decision in a May 12 letter but didn’t make the matter public. An advocacy group, Flyers Rights, released the letter on Wednesday.
Fed loses another board member
WASHINGTON >> Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will resign next month for personal reasons, leaving a fourth vacancy on the seven-member Fed governing board.
Fischer is a widely respected economist who taught at MIT and was head of the Bank of Israel for eight years. Fischer, 73, is a close confidant of Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen, whose own term ends in February. His term as vice chairman was set to expire next June. In a letter to President Donald Trump, he said his resignation would occur on or around Oct. 13.
ON THE MOVE
The University of Hawaii Foundation has welcomed to its board of trustees:
>> Christine Chee-Ruiter, co-founder and chief financial officer of Pronk Technologies Inc. Pronk designs and manufactures vital signs simulators as well as other test equipment for medical devices.
>> Susan Murray, senior vice president, The Queen’s Health Systems, West Oahu Region, and chief operating officer of The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu.
>> Sean Sugai, president and CEO of Ronald N.S. Ho & Associates Inc., an electrical engineering consulting firm in Honolulu, founded in 1978.