Appeals over Kakaako projects rejected

The Hawaii Community Development Authority has rejected two attempts at appealing condominium project permit approvals the agency made several months ago.

The board of the state agency, which regulates development in Kakaako, voted 8-0 Wednesday to deny appeals brought by a Kakaako resident and an association of apartment owners who challenged separate projects planned next to where they live.

Eddie Johnson, an Imperial Plaza condo owner, appealed the January approval of a seven-story condo called 803 Waimanu planned by developer Franco Mola of MJF Development Corp.

The other appeal was filed by the association of owners at Royal Capitol Plaza challenging a December approval of a 46-story condo called 801 South St. Building B led by developer Marshall Hung of Downtown Capital LLC.

HCDA generally ruled that both parties had no grounds to challenge the agency’s decision since they did not request to participate in public hearings as contested-case parties.

The association of Royal Capitol Plaza owners filed a lawsuit in state court to challenge HCDA’s approval of 801 South B. In May, a judge issued a preliminary injunction to halt construction after ruling that the State Historic Preservation Division should have required an archaeological inventory survey of the tower site.

A hearing in court has yet to be held to consider other allegations in the lawsuit.

New Android watches have few advances

NEW YORK » New Android wristwatches from Samsung and LG make a few evolutionary advances, though neither are anything spectacular.

Samsung’s Gear Live and LG’s G Watch are good products and will appeal to those who like to be among the first to own new gadgets.

The watches serve as pedometers and let you catch up on email, texts and Facebook notifications while your phone is in your pocket or charging in the bedroom. Even with the phone in your hand, you can check messages on the watch and keep playing video on the phone.

Both smartwatches try to keep things simple through voice commands rather than touch. They use Google’s Android Wear system.

Facebook’s experiment on users probed

LONDON » British data protection authorities are investigating revelations that Facebook conducted a psychological experiment on its users.

The Information Commissioner’s Office said Wednesday that it wants to learn more about the circumstances of the experiment carried out by two U.S. universities and the social network.

The commissioner’s office is working with authorities in Ireland, where Facebook has headquarters for its European operations. French authorities are also reviewing the matter.

The researchers manipulated the news feeds of about 700,000 randomly selected users to study the impact of "emotional contagion," or how emotional states are transferred to others.

The researchers said the evidence showed that emotional contagion occurs without direct interaction between people and "in the complete absence of nonverbal cues."

Fed chief sees no need to increase rates

WASHINGTON » Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that she doesn’t see a need for the Fed to start raising interest rates to defuse the risk that extremely low rates could destabilize the financial system.

Yellen said she does see "pockets" of increased risk-taking. But she said those threats could be addressed through greater use of regulatory tools. Many of those tools, such as higher capital standards for banks, were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, which triggered the Great Recession.

In her remarks at a conference sponsored by the International Monetary Fund, Yellen disputed criticism that the Fed had contributed to the 2008 crisis by keeping rates too low earlier in the decade.

ON THE MOVE

Lyons, Brandt, Cook & Hiramatsu has announced Malia Emerson Schreck as director and shareholder of the firm. She joined the firm as a law clerk in 2004 and an associate attorney in 2005. Schreck will continue practicing in civil litigation with a concentration in medical, employment and insurance defense matters.

The board of directors of Parents And Children Together has announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Ruthann Quitiquit will retire after 26 years of working at the agency. She joined the company in 1988 as the director of special projects and became president and CEO in 1995. Under Quitiquit’s leadership, PACT has grown from a small single-site agency at Kuhio Park Terrace on Oahu to an agency that provides 16 programs to families and individuals in communities across the state in more than 50 program locations. Ryan Kiyoshi Kusumoto will succeed Quitiquit after she retires this fall.