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Business / In Brief • Jan. 10, 2013

HONOLULU - A Honolulu woman has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to mortgage fraud and money laundering.Federal prosecutors say 62-year-old Estrellita Garo Miguel operated a business called "Easy Mortgage."Prosecutors say she hired and trained multiple loan officers who then submitted loan applications to lenders with false information. Miguel and the other loan officers also sought to deceive lenders by providing false documentation to support the false information contained in the loan applications.Miguel was sentenced Tuesday. Prosecutors ...

Tesoro will close Hawaii refinery, convert facility

HONOLULU (AP) - Tesoro Corp. plans to close an oil refinery in Hawaii in April, converting the facility to a distribution and storage terminal while hoping for a buyer, company officials said Tuesday.The San Antonio-based oil company said it will maintain the distribution system at the Kapolei facility in west Oahu to fulfill its supply commitments.It's not clear exactly how many jobs will be lost when the facility stops its refining operations. Tesoro said it expects to save $300 million to $350 million in 2013 from the shutdown because of reduced working capital needs.News of the ...

Business / In Brief • Jan. 9, 2012

Pacific Whale Foundation adds new vesselPacific Whale Foundation has added a 38-foot rigid-hull inflatable raft to its fleet of whale watch and ecotour vessels.The vessel, named Ocean Adventurer, will carry up to 30 people and will operate out of Lahaina Harbor. The whale watch tours on Ocean Adventurer will be offered four times daily, including trips at sunrise and sunset. On Sundays, Ocean Adventurer will also host Pacific Whale Foundation's Whale Photo Safari cruises led by local nature photographer David Fleetham.Ocean Adventurer is Pacific Whale Foundation's second raft. It joins ...

Business / In Brief • Jan. 8, 2013

HONOLULU - Home sale prices in Honolulu were down slightly in December, but condominium sale prices were up by double digits.The Honolulu Board of Realtors said Monday that the median price for a condominium in December was $335,000. That's up 17.5 percent over the median price in December 2011.Single-family homes on Oahu were sold at a median price of $600,000 in December, down 0.8 percent from $605,000 in December 2011.Board President Kevin Miyama says the number of overall sales increased during a typically slower time in the market. He says that's a good indicator of continued ...

The Chamber View: ‘Fiscal cliff’ deal finally made, but is it a happy new year?

We expected it to come down to the wire and it certainly did! With the president and members of Congress working over the holidays, a deal was finally made to avoid the "fiscal cliff" - sort of. The long and drawn-out battle averted devastating tax increases and budget cuts, but taxes were raised and bigger budget challenges loom.Although this battle ended, the war rages on as we have again hit the nation's debt ceiling, $16.394 trillion. Now, "extraordinary measures" will be taken to ensure we do not exceed the debt limit in the next couple of months.Because the "fiscal cliff" deal did ...

Business / In Brief • Jan. 4, 2013

Verizon's '4G LTE' improves coverageNew cellphone sites in Maui County have upgraded telecommunications for Verizon Wireless customers, the company reported.Having improved "4G LTE" coverage, the cell sites were installed last year in Paia and Haiku on Maui; at Manele Bay and Lanai City on Lanai; and at Molokai Airport, Hoolehua and Maunaloa on Molokai, according to an announcement.The upgraded facilities make calling, downloading apps and surfing the Web easier and faster for Verizon customers, the company said. The improvements are part of the company's investment in improving and ...