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The University of Hawaii has received a $5 million donation for its planned culinary institute at Diamond Head, which has been stalled several years due to a lack of money.

UH said the multimillion-dollar gift from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation brings private funding for its Culinary Institute of the Pacific to a halfway point.

UH had said previously it wanted to raise at least $14 million for the $20 million project from private contributors.

The school is planned for the site of the old Cannon Club, which for years has sat in ruins on the slopes of Diamond Head on the grounds of a former U.S. Army base.

The Army closed the social club in 1997 and sold the property to the state in 2001.

UH wants to build the school to take its culinary arts programs beyond the current two-year degrees offered at its community colleges, including Kapiolani Community College, which is only a short distance from the Cannon Club site.

The university's regents approved a 65-year lease for the 7.9 acre property in 2003, and the state released $3 million in planning and design funds in 2006.

UH said a news conference is scheduled Aug. 7 at 8:45 a.m. at the Hawaii Convention Center to provide more details on the donation and project.

North Hawaii Community Hospital officials said late Tuesday they are laying off 59 employees in an effort to stem operating losses that could reach $7.4 million this year.

The hospital notified 45 full- and part-time employees Tuesday that they were out of a job. Another 14 employees at the Waimea Women's Center, on the North Hawaii Community campus, also are losing their jobs.

The layoffs take effect immediately and the employees were spread across multiple departments, according to North Hawaii Community Hospital CEO Jeff Comer.

"This is one specific part of it and we need to have a more concerted focus on communicating to the public and getting the message out that the hospital is in a serious situation," Comer told PBN. "There is a cash flow problem and because of that we are forced to take this difficult and painful action…"

The hospital has approximately 460 employees.

The Waimea hospital, which came under new management in late 2007 and hired Comer as its new chief executive in May, has implemented what it calls the "Get Well Plan," which is designed to ensure financial viability.

North Hawaii officials called the layoffs an "unfortunate but necessary action" because the hospital lost $7.5 million last year and stands to lose an estimated $7.4 million this year.

North Hawaii Community Hospital is a 40-bed, privately funded facility. It was established in 1996 and serves some 30,000 Big Island residents.

A new state law establishes fines for unlicensed health care facilities that defy court orders to close and for health care providers who knowingly refer patients to unlicensed facilities.

The new law gives the Alabama Department of Human Resources authority to protect and represent residents of an unlicensed facility that is closed by court order. Fines collected will be used to create a fund to pay for the expense of relocating residents to a licensed health care facility.

"The health, welfare and safety of Alabama’s vulnerable seniors and disabled citizens have always been our number one concern," Alabama Nursing Home Association Executive Director Louis Cottrell said.

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Hawaii residents can breathe easier — their lawmakers are on the case.

The Hawaii House of Representatives has formed a special committee to study the effects of air pollution from the Kilauea volcano.

House Speaker Calvin Say on Wednesday named eight lawmakers to the committee, most of them from the Big Island, where Kilauea has been erupting steadily since 1983.

In recent weeks the volcanic emissions, called vog, have blanketed much of the state, helped by a lack of strong trade winds. As a result, hospitals have reported an increase in respiratory problems.

The House committee will examine the vog's effects on public health and safety, agriculture, water quality, pets and other animals, and other areas.

"What is occurring is a natural disaster, but unlike a tsunami, hurricane, twister or major earthquake, it is not viewed as one," said Rep. Robert Herkes, D-Puna, N. Kona, committee chairman. "The Legislature needs to focus on the impacts on Hawaii residents such as health and safety, loss of agricultural crops or the impact on tourism and jobs, and explore all avenues of relief."

Hawaii residents should not expect immediate results from the committee, which is expected to issue a report in time for the Legislature's 2009 regular session, which begins in January.

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A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Seattle bound for Maui turned back to the airport Friday because of a loose panel on one of the wings, the second incident involving the Honolulu-based airline in a week.

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 29 turned back to Sea-Tac Airport shortly after its 10:35 a.m. departure.

"We had a flight turn around and come back because of a loose panel on one of the wings," Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner confirmed. "Shortly after departure they noticed a noise or a vibration coming from one of the wings so they turned the plane around."

The panel was on the trailing edge of the wing of the Boeing 767-300, and not a structural piece, he said.

The plane was being repaired at Sea-Tac and was scheduled to depart for Kahului at 11:45 p.m. Friday, Seattle time.

The 245 passengers were offered hotel accommodations and meals, Wagner said.

On Wednesday, a Hawaiian Airlines 767-300 that took off from Honolulu bound for Portland, Ore., had to turn around mid-flight after losing power in one of its engines. The plane was rerouted to Kahului, Maui, where the engine was repaired, Wagner said. That plane is scheduled to go back into service Saturday morning, he said.

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A day after Senate leaders threw their weight behind a regional tax to combat congestion in metro Atlanta, their counterparts in the House said they would prefer a statewide approach.

Under legislation filed Friday by House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain), the entire state would vote in November on a penny sales tax for transportation.

If it passes, Smith's proposal would guarantee that 90 percent of the revenue collected in a given region — such as the 10-county metro Atlanta area — would be spent on projects within that region.

The remaining 10 percent could be used elsewhere in the state on everything from highways to local roads.

The Georgia Department of Transportation would control all funding and would work with individual regions to decide which projects to fund.

However, voters would not necessarily know which specific projects the money would be spent on before being asked to approve the tax, which would begin in 2009 and sunset after seven years.

"There are projects on a list right now that have never been accomplished," Smith said. "That's how we got into this mess. But we'll make sure people will know where their dollars will be spent."

The Senate plan introduced Thursday by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to the cheers of business leaders outlined a regional penny sales tax that Atlanta residents could vote on without involving the rest of Georgia — although 20 percent of the money collected would go to the state.

The two concepts — statewide and regional — dueled it out over the summer as lawmakers tried to figure out how to take the edge off a multibillion-dollar shortfall in the state road budget that has helped make Atlanta's traffic the second-worst in the nation.

But neither plan emerged supreme.

Now, with the Senate formally behind the regional approach and the House supporting the statewide option — and either version needing a two-thirds majority in both chambers to pass — the two may have to find common ground.

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Canada's annual inflation rate minus volatile items such as gasoline was the lowest in two years in December, giving central bankers more room to cut interest rates.

Core prices rose 1.5 percent in December, slowing for the sixth straight month and below the central bank's target for a third month, from 1.6 percent in November. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the rate would accelerate to 1.7 percent, the median of 21 estimates. The all-items index slowed to 2.4 percent from 2.5 in November, as economists expected.

Today's report shows that core inflation is slowing even earlier than Bank of Canada policy makers predicted yesterday, two days after cutting their benchmark rate for a second month. Central bankers said prices would drop throughout 2008, and that they would likely cut rates again to shield the economy from a possible U.S. recession.

“This report gives the Bank of Canada maximum flexibility to respond to growth risks over the coming months, and is one reason why we see the bank cutting rates by'' 50 basis points on March 4, Meny Grauman, an economist with CIBC World Markets in Toronto, said in a note to clients. The numbers also “put downward pressure on the Canadian dollar,'' Grauman said.

The currency weakened 0.4 percent to C$1.0081 per U.S. dollar at 8:31 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0038.

March Decision

Other economists also say the central bank will cut borrowing costs by 50 basis points at its March meeting, instead of the conventional 25 basis points, to reduce the gap with U.S. borrowing costs, which the Federal Reserve this week lowered by 75 basis points to 3.5 percent.

Governor David Dodge said yesterday in his last press conference before retiring that inflation would slow to 1.5 percent by the middle of the year, giving his successor Mark Carney more room to lower rates. The central bank alters interest rates to keep inflation at or near a target of 2 percent, and uses the core rate as a gauge of future trends.

Consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in December and the core index fell 0.3 percent. Economists correctly predicted the overall index's gain and said the core gauge would drop 0.1 percent in the month.

Prices have been pushed down by a Canadian dollar that rose 15 percent over the past 12 months, central bankers said this week. The currency, which had dropped since reaching a record 90.58 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar on Nov. 7, rose this week after the Fed's move.

Books, Cars

Statistics Canada attributed December's slowdown in annual core inflation to a 7.7 percent drop in prices for books and other printed material. The cost of buying or leasing a car fell 4.1 percent in December from a year earlier, the biggest drop since August 1961, the agency said. Lower prices also were recorded for computers, which cost 14 percent less than a year earlier on cheaper liquid-crystal screens and laptops.

Gasoline prices were 15 percent higher than in December 2006, and the cost of shelter rose 4 percent, as mortgages gained 7.3 percent, the statistics agency said.

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