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2 Hale Mahaolu projects to get PV systems

Hawaii Pacific Solar, with HEA Hawaii Solar, has signed a contract to install solar photovoltaic systems on two Hale Mahaolu projects on Maui.The systems will be installed on the senior housing at Hale Mahaolu Ehiku in Kihei that has 115 units and the 35-unit Hale Mahaolu Eono in Lahaina.Construction was scheduled to begin this month, and the system should be operational at the beginning of December, a news release said.The total amount of PV installed will be 97.5 kilowatt hours, producing an estimated 143,000 kwh of electrical power annually, the news release said.The systems will be ...

Business/In Brief • Oct. 18, 2013

HONOLULU - A Honolulu personal injury lawyer has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for tax fraud.U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi also fined attorney Andrew Agard $2,500, ordered him to pay the Internal Revenue Service $61,180 in restitution and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service.The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that Agard pleaded guilty last year to lying about his 2006 income. He earned about $630,000 but reported gross income of $294,162.Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Osborne Jr. said Agard when caught was advertising himself as a tax law ...

Business/In Brief • Oct. 17, 2013

A labor law seminar will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Kahili Golf Course in Waikapu.Organized by the Maui Chamber of Commerce, the seminar will be presented by Torkildson, Katz, Moore, Hetherington & Harris, a legal firm specializing in Hawaii labor law.The cost is $295 for chamber and Society for Resource Management Maui members and $410 for nonmembers if registering by 5 p.m. Friday. The price rises $50 for members and nonmembers after that date.Registration includes a continental breakfast, lunch, a copy of the newly updated 2013-14 Chamber Desk Manual (labor ...

Names & Faces

* Kapalua Golf Course has appointed Debbie Rasar as director of sales and marketing. She will oversee salesand marketing initiatives for the Plantation and Bay courses as well as the Kapalua Golf Academy and Kapalua Tennis.Rasar most recently served as public relations and account manager for the Gilbert & Associates advertising agency. Prior to that, she was Hawaii director of Book Trust, a nonprofit agency responsible for raising money to support children's literacy programs throughout the state.* Kim Abrahamson has been named director of resource development for the Boys & ...

3Q credit, debit sales up 5.9 percent in Hawaii

HONOLULU - Hawaii residents and visitors spent more money in the third quarter on convenience store items, insurance, furniture and other goods and services, according to the bank that handles most credit and debit transactions in the state.First Hawaiian Bank says in its latest business activity report that sales were up 5.9 percent compared with the same three-month period one year ago.Money was spent across all sectors besides retail, where spending dropped 1.3 percent to $86.9 million from July through September, bank officials said.First Hawaiian said it processed nearly $760 ...

Business/In Brief • Oct. 15, 2013

Company hopes to process eucalyptusHILO - The chief executive officer of a lumber company remains optimistic that commercial eucalyptus logging could begin next year on the Hamakua Coast.Tradewinds Hawaiian Woods hopes to harvest and process logs at a sawmill operation in Ookala, the Hawaii Tribune Herald reported."We're just starting to go through a series of permit applications," CEO Don Bryan said.The company hopes to have "local plantation woods for international and local sales" within a year. Timber would be "primarily eucalyptus but other exotic woods as well," he told the Rotary ...