The state Department of Health plans to take two diesel buses off Hawaii roads and replace them with electric buses thanks in part to a federal grant.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it awarded $411,578 to the state agency under a diesel emission reduction program that helps improve air quality and support jobs benefiting the environment.
Dean Higuchi, an EPA spokesman in Hawaii, said the buses are expected to be from a county or state fleet, though which buses haven’t been determined yet.
The EPA grant will be combined with $274,385 from a Volkswagen emission fraud settlement fund administered by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism plus $837,870 from a participating bus fleet operator for the electric bus purchases.
Probe into State Hospital escape wraps up
The Hawaii Attorney General’s Office is wrapping up an investigation into the escape of a man committed to a psychiatric hospital after being found not guilty by reason of insanity of a woman’s 1979 killing.
The Attorney General’s Office said conclusions from an administrative investigation will be released in about two weeks.
Randall Saito was captured in Stockton, Calif., days after walking out of Hawaii State Hospital last year.
Prosecutors say he took a taxi to the airport, where he took a chartered flight to Maui. He then took a commercial flight to San Jose, Calif.
Prosecutors say when he was arrested three days later, he had driver’s licenses bearing his photo with different names.
A court hearing is scheduled for today for escape and identity theft charges against Saito.
