A federal judge Thursday moved the bank fraud trial of retired Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his former deputy prosecutor wife, Katherine Kealoha, to June 18.
That means the Kealohas will stand trial first on conspiracy and obstruction with four former members of the Honolulu Police Department’s elite Criminal Intelligence Unit. That trial is scheduled for March 19.
The Kealohas’ bank fraud trail was scheduled for next month, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi canceled that date Tuesday after determining that Katherine Kealoha will not be able to stand trial next month or assist in her defense because of a medical issue. He made that determination after reviewing 43 pages of confidential medical records that Kealoha had submitted to him under seal.
DOE payment system partly up and running
The Department of Education has begun catching up on payments to vendors after partly restoring a computer system that crashed Oct. 6, officials announced today.
The department processed and mailed out checks worth $320,000 over the weekend and is sending out another 2,000 checks that total $15 million.
The Financial Management System handles a range of vendor payments, from school supplies to construction contracts. Employee payroll and school food service were not affected when the system failed during an upgrade.
Administrators are prioritizing payments for school facilities, workers’ compensation claims and special-education services, she said. They will then phase in access for schools for purchase orders and payments.
“As part of our effort to modernize the department’s systems, including FMS, we have been working to upgrade our programs,” said Brook Conner, assistant superintendent for information technology. “This is a complex initiative due in part to the age of some of these platforms. Our goal is to enhance these systems to better serve our students, schools and community partners to minimize this type of disruption.”
