Caldwell on visit to South Korea

Mayor Kirk Caldwell is on a five-day visit to South Korea, a trip that includes a stop at the Asian Games, which features 13,000 participants from 45 nations.

"Our Korean community is a vital and dynamic part of the City and County of Honolulu," Caldwell said in a statement last week."Starting with the arrival of the first Korean immigrants aboard the RMS Gaelic in 1903, to the fostering of the Korean independence movement in the 1920s, through the establishment of InHa University (Incheon-Hawaii University), our Korean community contributes greatly to Oahu. It’s important to recognize, enhance, and preserve this great cultural legacy."

Caldwell is meeting with the mayors of Seoul and Incheon and key business leaders, and his agenda includes visits to the Seoul Emergency Operations Center, Gachon University Gil Hospital and InHa University.

Managing Director Ember Shinn is acting mayor until Caldwell returns Monday.

Isle grad named to top Army staff

Debra Wada, a St. Andrew’s Priory graduate and former aide to U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday as assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs.

Since 1999, Wada has served as a staff member on the Subcommittee on Military Personnel. She served as the lead staff member for the subcommittee from 2007 to 2010, and briefly served as deputy staff director for the full House Armed Services Committee in 2011.

From 1987 to 1990, she was a legislative assistant for Akaka, first in the House and then in the Senate, acting as his principal aide on national defense, veterans affairs, maritime issues, education, Social Security and welfare.

Speed, alcohol believed factors in fatal crash

Excessive speed and alcohol are believed to have been factors in a crash that left a 23-year-old Kihei woman dead early Saturday morning.

According to Maui police, Taryn Kiyota was a passenger in a 2009 Toyota driven by a 24-year-old Kihei man that was traveling south on the Lahaina Bypass around 12:45 a.m.

The driver apparently lost control of the vehicle, which went off the road and spun across a grass shoulder. The vehicle continued back onto the road and hit a guardrail.

Kiyota died at the scene.

The driver, who was uninjured, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and released pending further investigation.

It has not yet been determined if drugs were involved in the crash, which was Maui’s 18th traffic fatality of the year, compared to 11 at the same point last year.

5 displaced after fire hits Maui building

Fire destroyed a 20-by-20-foot structure and left five people displaced in Haiku on Saturday.

The fire was first reported at 2:37 p.m. in an area off Hahana Road.

When firefighters arrived, the building, which was in a gulch, was engulfed by flames. The fire was brought under control at 3:30 p.m.

The blaze displaced two adults and three children who are being aided by the American Red Cross.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. No injuries were reported. Damage is estimated at $60,000 to the structure and $50,000 to its contents.