A lawyer from Hawaii will become the first person of Native Hawaiian ancestry to serve as a law clerk for a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

The University of Hawaii law school announced Monday that Justice Sonia Sotomayor has selected Kamaile Turcan to be her clerk this summer.

The law school says this is the first time one of its graduates has been invited to be a Supreme Court justice’s clerk.

Turcan is a 1998 graduate and valedictorian of Kamehameha Schools. She earned a bachelor’s degree in integrative biology in 2001 from the University of California at Berkeley.

She’s currently an attorney for the Pacific Islands section of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As a clerk, Turcan’s duties will include helping Sotomayor prepare for oral arguments and helping justices decide emergency applications to the court.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Officials close Waipio Valley due to dengue

Hawaii island’s Waipio Valley area is now closed as a precaution amid the ongoing dengue fever outbreak.

Hawaii County Civil Defense officials halted traffic along Waipio Valley Access Road starting at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Until further notice, access will be limited to Waipio Valley residents, according to a news release.

Also, Milolii Beach Park remains closed. In addition, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has closed areas in the vicinity of Milolii and Honomalino to all people except essential personnel and residents.

Since Friday, the state Department of Health has identified five new cases of locally acquired dengue fever, bringing Wednesday’s total to 215 cases.

Two people are potentially infectious, becoming symptomatic between Jan. 3 and 8, according to the Health Department. The remaining 213 cases are no longer infectious.

Of the confirmed Hawaii island cases, 195 are island residents and 20 are visitors.

While dengue is not endemic to Hawaii, it is intermittently brought in from endemic areas by infected travelers.

The cases mark the first cluster of locally acquired dengue fever since the 2011 outbreak on Oahu, where four cases were confirmed.

Dengue is a viral infection spread via mosquitoes that bite an infected person and then carry the virus to the next person.