Construction starts on ONE Ala Moana

Construction began Wednesday on ONE Ala Moana, a 23-story condominium being built on top of the Nordstrom parking structure at Ala Moana Center.

The tower is being built by HHMK Development LLC, a partnership of The MacNaughton Group, Kobayashi Group and The Howard Hughes Corp., the landowner.

The 206-unit tower sold out in December at an average unit price of $1.6 million. The companies said they expected to complete the project in late 2014.

The first three floors of the parking garage will remain open during construction, said Joyce Timpson, a spokeswoman for the project. Those three floors of parking will also be open for shoppers to use after the condo is completed; the fourth and fifth floors will be reserved for residents, Timpson said.

6 student teams to test auto skills

Six student teams from four Hawaii high schools will compete in this year’s Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition on April 20.

The hands-on competition tests students’ ability to diagnose purposely, uniformly “bugged” vehicles.

Of the six teams to compete starting at 10:30 a.m. at Leeward Community College, five are from Maui and one is from Oahu.

King Kekaulike High School is fielding two teams: Bryan M. Johnson and Tiana Miguel under the direction of instructor Matt Doty, and Ben Kinney and Tyler Kronowski under the tutelage of Petar Kovacic. Maui High School’s two teams are Kelly Takushi and Fritz Acorda under teacher Neill Nakamura, and Mitchell Borge and Lawrence Paet, whose teacher is Shannon Rowe. Lahainaluna’s Aaron Arconado and Cassidy Sumibcay will compete under the direction of Dennis Sasai, and the sole Oahu team, Richard Dalere and Deven Oshiro of Aiea High School, will be there with Edmund Okada.

The winning two-member team will represent the state at the national finals in June in Dearborn, Mich., where students from around the country will compete for the national crown as well as scholarships and prizes valued at $11 million.

More than 13,000 students took online state qualifying exams, which makes 2013 the most competitive year for the competition to date.

Mustang Madness set for Sunday

The 21st Mustang Madness All Ford Show will be held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at McKenna’s Windward Ford in Kailua. The event, annually sponsored by The Aloha Mustang and Shelby Club of Hawaii, is held this year as a benefit for the Hawaiian Humane Society.

The club says the event is “Hawaii’s largest and longest running all Ford show.”

For more information, see www.alohamustang.com.

Stocks rise sharply, led by gains in technology

NEW YORK >> Technology stocks roared back Wednesday, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Dow Jones industrial average to record highs.

The industry has lagged behind the broader market this year, but surged after network communication company Adtran reported earnings that were double what Wall Street analysts expected. That boosted optimism that businesses will increase spending on technology equipment.

Chipmakers Micron and Intel jumped, as did other network equipment makers like Cisco and JDS Uniphase. Stocks were also up on an optimistic reading of the Federal Reserve Bank’s latest minutes.

Minutes show Fed supports stimulus

WASHINGTON » A majority of Federal Reserve policymakers want to continue extraordinary bond purchases to help boost the U.S. economy at least through the middle of the year, according to minutes from the Fed’s most recent meeting, released Wednesday.

But many members indicated they want to slow and eventually end the program before the end of the year, as long as the job market and economy show sustained improvement. The Fed’s purchases of about $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds are intended to lower long-term interest rates and encourage more borrowing and spending.

The minutes of the Fed’s March 19-20 meeting were released at 9 a.m. Eastern time — five hours earlier than planned — after the Fed inadvertently sent them a day earlier to congressional staffers and lobbyists.

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops

NEW YORK » Microsoft’s Windows 8 software appears to be driving buyers away from PCs and toward smartphones and tablets, research firm IDC said Wednesday. That’s leading to the fastest drop in PC sales the firm has ever seen.

Global shipments of PCs fell 14 percent in the first three months this year, IDC said. That’s the sharpest plunge since the firm started tracking the industry in 1994.

The report comes after a year of bad news for the PC. Consumers, especially in wealthy countries like the U.S., are steering their dollars toward tablets and smartphones rather than upgrading their home PCs. It’s the biggest challenge to the personal computer since the IBM PC was released in 1981.

ConocoPhillips delays 2014 Arctic drilling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska » ConocoPhillips Alaska announced Wednesday it will not drill in Arctic waters off Alaska’s northwest shore in 2014.

Environmental groups hailed the decision and said the experience of Royal Dutch Shell PLC in 2012 demonstrated that oil companies are not prepared to drill in the fragile Arctic environment.

ConocoPhillips said uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements are the reason for backing off.

February jobless rates fell in most cities

WASHINGTON » Unemployment rates fell in more than 80 percent of large U.S. cities in February from January, suggesting that strong hiring that month benefited the vast majority of the country.

The Labor Department says rates fell in 311 of the nation’s 372 largest metro areas. They rose in 45 and were unchanged in 16.

Nationwide, employers added 268,000 jobs in February, the most in a year. That pushed down the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent. But hiring slowed sharply last month, when employers added only 88,000 jobs.

ON THE MOVE

Hawaii Opera Theatre has appointed Simon Crookall as executive director, effective May 13. He was previously president and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Before moving to the United States, Crookall was a chief executive and general manager of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow from 1995 to 2005 and held various posts with symphonic and dramatic organizations between 1996 to 1983.

The Bank of Hawaii Foundation will present a check for $100,000 on Friday to the Kapi‘olani Health Foundation. The award will support the Campaign for Hawai‘i’s Children. The campaign has raised more than $25 million toward a $30 million goal, which will go toward the cost to complete the first phase of a multiyear master plan to rebuild Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children.

Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club and Kauai Lagoons hosted the third annual Kapi‘olani Children’s Miracle Network Golf Tournament at Kauai Lagoons Golf Club last month and raised $12,000. All proceeds of the tournament, which is a fundraiser for Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children, will support sick and injured children from Kauai and islands statewide.