Free Republic

<p>State public safety director Ted Sakai said he has strong reservations about allowing a private company to operate a new jail planned for Halawa Valley, but that the facility is sorely needed to replace the O'ahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi.</p>

Unionized hotel workers voted 2,045 to 501 yesterday to authorize a strike against Hilton and Sheraton hotels in Waikiki, while hotels still struggle to bring in revenue in the aftermath of Sept. 11. "The members have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike," said Eric Gill, Local 5 financial secretary-treasurer. "I'm overjoyed with that." The vote, taken at the Hawai'i Convention Center, covers 4,000 workers at Hilton Hawaiian Village and Sheraton's four Waikiki hotels. A strike authorization vote does not mean there will be a strike. That's up to union officials to decide. Gill said the union will attempt to reach...

<p>The third of eight Honolulu Liquor Commission inspectors or supervisors indicted in May on federal racketeering charges has pleaded guilty to taking bribes.</p> <p>William B. Richardson, 48, told federal Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren on Tuesday that he "took money not to do my job."</p>

<p>Two of the Honolulu companies whose officials have been subpoenaed to testify before an O'ahu grand jury next month were awarded numerous non-bid city design contracts worth millions of dollars during Mayor Jeremy Harris' tenure, city purchasing records show.</p> <p>R.M. Towill Corp. and Park Engineering/Paren Inc. employees and their relatives also donated a total of more than $120,000 to Harris' 2000 re-election campaign, state Campaign Spending Commission records show, and the agency has long been investigating whether those donations were improper.</p>

<p>Key witnesses who were subpoenaed Monday to testify before an O'ahu grand jury next month include current and former members of Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration who oversaw city finances and the awarding of city contracts.</p> <p>Prosecutors have been investigating Harris' campaign fund-raising practices since January, including allegations that campaign officials circumvented contribution limits by attributing donations to people who never made them. Investigators also want to know whether city contracts were awarded in exchange for campaign contributions.</p>

<p>For a year now, hundreds of volunteers have been chipping away quietly at the $640 million backlog of repair and maintenance work at Hawai'i's public schools.</p> <p>Using paintbrushes, shovels and sweat, the Hawai'i 3Rs program has introduced volunteers to those with professional know-how to do $2.15 million worth of repairs for less than $350,000 in actual cost to the state — a saving of $1.8 million.</p>

<p>Frustrated by their failure to find out more about a city employee's complaints of corruption and mismanagement, a majority of the City Council yesterday called for broad subpoena powers so they can find out more about the rising costs of Central O'ahu Regional Park.</p>

<p>The city — which has extended the period for public comment on the Waimanalo Gulch landfill issue nine times — got an earful at a public hearing at Kapolei High School last night.</p> <p>Except that no one from the city showed up to listen, a fact missed by few of the more than 100 people who showed up to have their say.</p>