A blockage in a sewer line caused a 4,350-gallon wastewater spill in the Porter Housing community at Schofield Barracks on Sunday, according to the Army’s Directorate of Public Works.
The spill occurred at about 4:30 p.m. and was stopped at about 9:20 p.m. Army crews had the area cleaned and disinfected by 12:40 a.m. Monday.
According to the DPW, the spill originated from a residential drain and a manhole at the intersection of Nakae Avenue and McCornack Road, and flowed into a storm drain inlet leading to a nearby ravine.
Anti-GMO laws to go before appeals court
Three county laws in Hawaii restricting the cultivation of genetically modified crops that were invalidated by a federal judge are set to go before the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in Honolulu.
The federal appeals court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the cases Wednesday from attorneys representing Hawaii, Maui and Kauai counties, West Hawaii Today reported Saturday.
“All three counties’ cases are being argued back to back to back,” said Honolulu attorney Paul Alston, who represents biotechnology concerns.
The judges who oversaw the federal District Court cases had invalidated the county bans on GMOs and ruled that state law pre-empts county law on the issue. Hawaii and Kauai counties had their anti-GMO laws struck down in 2014, while Maui’s ban was thrown out in 2015.
Man breaks leg in trying to leap off waterfall
A man slipped and fell as he was preparing to jump off a 30-foot waterfall, breaking his leg Sunday on the Bamboo Forest Trail in Kailua on Maui, firefighters said.
Firefighters from the Paia station hiked up the trail at about 1:56 p.m. and found the 41-year-old Haiku man at the base of the second waterfall on the trail.
The Fire Department helicopter airlifted the man to a nearby pasture, where paramedics treated his injuries. The man went by ambulance to the Maui Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, a Fire Department spokesman said.
