Waimea air service gets reprieve

HILO >> Air service at a small airport on the Big Island will continue this year after officials and community partners raised the amount required in matching funds.

The County Council approved the remaining amount in matching funds last week for the Waimea-Kohala Airport, accepting contributions from residents and groups to support the funding from the county, West Hawaii Today reported.

The U.S. Department of Transportation had threatened to cancel a subsidy to Mokulele Airlines, citing federal rules that require 5 percent in matching funds from the community for the $400,000 contract.

The federal subsidy is intended to support small communities whose nearest airport is 40 miles away from the closest hub airport. The airport on the island’s north side is about 39 miles from Kona International Airport.

To meet the funding requirement, the Council took $10,673 from contingency funds allocated among Council members and $8,000 from the county Department of Research and Development, the agency that promotes tourism. The rest of the funding came from the Waimea community.

“Had we allowed this to lapse, it would have taken literally an act of Congress to bring it back,” Councilman Tim Richards said.

The state Department of Transportation had planned to cover the matching funds, but federal rules prevented it, a spokesman said.

Metal box explodes, injures worker on Kauai

Kauai firefighters are investigating what caused a metal box to explode and injure a recycling facility employee Friday morning in Puhi.

The man, 38, was operating an excavator with a shearer attachment on a metal box at Puhi Metals Recycling Facility when the box exploded at about 8:30 a.m., a Kauai Fire Department news release said. The man jumped off the excavator but sustained severe burns to his arms and torso. He was taken to Wilcox Medical Center in serious condition.

After the injury the recycling plant was closed for the day, and a decision will be made this morning on whether it will return to normal hours.

Employees at the scene brought the fire under control with chemical extinguishers, and firefighters extinguished the fire shortly afterward, firefighters said. The box that exploded was described as 5 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall.

Man drives truck into police SUV on Maui

Maui police arrested a 35-year-old man after he allegedly rammed into a police vehicle in Kula.

Patrol officers responded to a report of domestic abuse in the area of 50 Calasa Road at about 1 p.m. Wednesday. At some point the suspect fled the area in a blue Toyota pickup truck.

As officers traveled southbound in Kula Highway in search of the suspect, police said, the perpetrator approached the officers on the highway from the opposite direction, crossed the centerline and rammed into a police sport utility vehicle in proximity to Lower Kula Road, also known as Skid Row.

The pickup truck then went up an embankment and crashed into a tractor-trailer truck that had pulled to the shoulder of the highway.

The police officer in the SUV was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center where he was treated and released.

The suspect, who also sustained injuries in the crash, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.