Staffing shortage cancels prison visits
Visits to the Women’s Community Correctional Center and Oahu Community Correctional Center were cancelled Sunday due to a staffing shortage, the Department of Public Safety said.
The department has been grappling for months with weekend staffing shortages at its prisons.
Visitation is only on weekends.
The department has started putting out visitation cancellation notices through social media in an effort to get the word out faster to people who are planning to come to the facility to visit a loved one.
To find out more about visitation schedules for each facility, go to the website dps.hawaii.gov.
2-week test reopens onramp in morning
Morning rush-hour drivers heading westbound will be able to enter the H-1 freeway from the Lunalilo Street onramp starting Monday as part of a two-week trial period, the state Department of Transportation said.
The current morning coning redirects traffic onto Vineyard Boulevard to the Punchbowl Street onramp from 5:45 to 8:30 a.m.
The department wants to see how traffic moves now that H-1 freeway has been re-striped to four lanes in each direction between Punahou Street and the vicinity of Middle Street, Interim Director Ford Fuchigami said in a statement.
If it’s smooth, the cones could go away permanently, he said.
Deadline extended on transit comments
The deadline for comments on the draft Ala Moana neighborhood transit-oriented development plan has been extended to Sept. 30.
The city Department of Planning and Permitting said the original deadline was Sept. 15, and a community workshop on the plan was held Aug. 27.
The draft plan was devised following two earlier public workshops and advisory committee meetings, and recommendations from the public, the department said in a press release.
The draft plan is available online at www.todhonolulu.org. For more information, contact Harrison Rue at hrue@honolulu.gov.
Man in crowd at race start struck by car
A 22-year-old man was charged Sunday after he allegedly drove into a crowd of people and injured a man near the Queen Kaahumanu Center on Maui.
Police said Rustyn Pajimola-Aiu of Kahului was in his 2014 Acura sedan in the parking lot of the mall when he attempted to exit via Onehee and Wakea avenues. At the time, just after 5 a.m., there was a large crowd there for the start of the Maui Marathon.
Police said Pajimola-Aiu continued to drive through the crowd and struck a 53-year-old man.
The man was dragged 30 feet and sustained minor injuries, police said. He was treated and released at the scene.
Pajimola-Aiu was arrested and charged with drunken driving and also held on an outstanding bench warrant.
His bail was set at $1,200.
Bank robber given sentence of 10 years
LIHUE » A man who pleaded no contest to robbing a Kapaa bank has been sentenced to a decade in prison.
The Garden Island newspaper reported Friday that 37-year-old Joshua Michael Carlsen will be required to serve at least six years and eight months before he can be considered for release.
Prosecutors say Carlsen entered the Bank of Hawaii in Kapaa on Jan. 29 with a hood pulled up and presented a note to a teller demanding money. The note said he had a gun, but no weapon was brandished. He was arrested that night along Kuhio Highway.
Police recovered $5,074 from Carlsen’s home. He was ordered to pay restitution for $2,914.72 that was not recovered.
