• Police arrest mother of baby abandoned on Hawaii beach

    By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Audrey McAvoy, The Associated Press

    A day after a woman reported finding an abandoned newborn crying in the sand on a Hawaii beach, police arrested her and revealed she's the baby's mother.

    Keala Simeona, 21, of Honolulu, was arrested Tuesday evening for filing a false police report. Police don't expect to pursue additional offenses at this time. She posted $250 bail and was released.

    She had told police she was parked at Sandy Beach in east Honolulu sometime between 11:30 p.m. Sunday and midnight when she heard several people screaming. After the screaming stopped, she said, she walked toward the ocean and found the naked newborn and took her to a hospital.

    It's up to Family Court to decide whether to return the child to her family or whether parental rights will be terminated, the state Department of Human Services said in a statement. An initial hearing is scheduled for next week.

    To determine parentage, the department plans to ask the court to order the mother to submit to DNA testing. It will also seek DNA testing for the father, if a father is identified.

    Department Director Patricia McManaman said Monday that the full-term, 8-pound baby was born immediately before she was found. However, officials couldn't pinpoint an exact time of birth. The baby was doing well and drinking formula at the hospital, McManaman said, while police investigated the case as child abandonment.

    A woman who answered the phone at Simeona's home identified herself as her sister said she wasn't home.

    A spokeswoman for the human services department said officials had just learned about Simeona's arrest and didn't yet have any comment. The department had planned to file a petition this week with family court, seeking custody if no family came forward to claim the baby.

    Human services officials are informally calling her Baby Sandy.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Newborn baby girl found abandoned on Hawaii beach

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A newborn baby girl was found abandoned on a beach in Hawaii, according to reports.

    The 8-pound child was “abandoned immediately after birth,” state Department of Human Services Director Patricia McManaman said, according to the Star Advertiser newspaper. She was found just before midnight on Sunday.

    McManaman said the girl was “doing quite well” and drinking formula, HawaiiNewsNow.com reported.

    Both reports said the child was found on Sandy Beach by a 21-year-old woman, who took her to a local medical center. The woman is not a suspect, according to police.

    The mother has not been identified, HawaiiNewsNow.com said.

    Jonathan Kamai, a Sandy Beach regular, told the website that he was glad “the child had an angel that came and helped her out.”

    “It would have to be something tragic for someone to just leave their newborn here," he added. “Just as a father, how somebody could actually just do that kind of stuff – it's just crazy.”

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    Abandoned baby's mom found dead; police chief starts drive for reward money

  • Sun, surf, and spies: Hawaii a spot for clandestine agents

    Ronen Zilberman / AP file

    The submarine USS Greeneville is escorted to the submarine base at Pearl Harbor, in February 2001. A high concentration of important military commands and facilities on the island mean there's a great deal of information in Hawaii that potential adversaries want to know.

    By Audrey McAvoy, The Associated Press

    Clandestine agents. Foreign spies. Intelligence. Hawaii is better known for sunbathing on the beach or surfing than high-stakes sleuthing.

    But the case of a 59-year-old civilian defense contractor accused of giving military secrets to his much younger Chinese girlfriend is a reminder of the state's little-known identity as a prime target for espionage. A high concentration of important military commands means there's a great deal of information on the islands that potential adversaries want to know.

    Case in point: Most of the FBI's resources in Hawaii are concentrated on counterintelligence — not drug trafficking or terrorism.

    "One of the FBI's priorities in Hawaii is keeping America's secrets safe from agents of foreign powers," said Tom Simon, a special agent in Honolulu. "With the amount of military and classified material in Hawaii, it remains a top priority for the FBI."

    It helps that the state, population 1.4 million, isn't a hotbed of violent crime. That allows agents to focus much of their efforts on thwarting spooks.


    The case against Benjamin Bishop, a defense contractor working for the U.S. Pacific Command when he was arrested March 15, offers a glimpse of the information potential adversaries might be looking for.

    Bishop knows U.S. secrets on countering weapons of mass destruction, nuclear deterrence and ballistic missile defense, according to a declaration filed in court by Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield, the Pacific Command's chief of staff.

    More recently, Bishop worked on cyber security and is familiar with how the U.S. would counter adversaries in electronic warfare, air combat, undersea warfare, energy security and cyberspace, the declaration says.

    Investigators say Bishop gave his girlfriend — a 27-year-old graduate student he met at an international military conference in Hawaii— classified information on nuclear weapons, war plans and missile defense.

    Bishop hasn't been charged with outright espionage, which the law defines as giving national security secrets to someone for the purpose of helping a foreign government or harming the United States. But he has been charged with two violations of the Espionage Act: communicating defense secrets to someone not entitled to receive it and unlawful retention of defense documents.

    Prosecutors haven't said they believe the girlfriend is working for the Chinese government or that she's given anything she learned from Bishop to anyone else. But an FBI affidavit filed in support of the charges speculates she may have attended the military conference specifically to target people like Bishop who work with classified information.

    Bishop has not yet entered a plea, but his lawyer says his client wouldn't do anything to harm the U.S. The attorney, Birney Bervar, says the case isn't about espionage but about two people in love.

    History of espionage
    Spying isn't new to Hawaii.

    In the months before the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, a Japanese vice consul in Honolulu spent much of his time monitoring and reporting back home on the comings and goings of the U.S. Navy. Takeo Yoshikawa is said to have favored the view of Pearl Harbor he would get at a tea house — still in business today as the Natsunoya restaurant — in a hilly neighborhood overlooking the naval base.

    The Soviet Union kept an intelligence collecting ship off the coast of Oahu during the Cold War to monitor U.S. military communications, said Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Today, the FBI says countries from the Asia-Pacific region are the ones most likely to attempt to gather intelligence about U.S. military operations in Hawaii.

    China would have the biggest interest, followed by Russia, Cossa said. North Korea would be interested but doesn't have as many resources.

    Their targets? Pacific Command is the U.S. military's headquarters for the Asia-Pacific region. The Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps also each have their own headquarters for the Pacific on Oahu. The National Security Agency keeps an intelligence center tucked away in central Oahu.

    There's a major missile defense testing site on Kauai. A high-powered missile defense radar capable of tracking a baseball-sized object 2,500 miles away — called the Sea-Based X-band Radar — visits Pearl Harbor regularly.

    These days, computer hacking and cyber espionage — the area Bishop was working in most recently — are major spying methods.

    Eyes and ears are useful too, whether they belong to undercover agents or to businessmen, tourists and students who may share what they see with their governments.

    Honolulu has nearly 1 million residents, and the state is a mecca for sun-seeking tourists from around the world. This makes Hawaii an easier place for intelligence gatherers to blend in than, say, remote parts of Wyoming where the U.S. keeps ballistic missiles.

    Pressure to gather intelligence from the islands is likely growing as the Obama administration places a greater emphasis on the region with the military's "pivot" to the Pacific. Cossa said the policy "shines a big target" on Hawaii.

    "I'm sure every intel guy in China has been told 'Get more details. What does it really mean?,'" said Cossa, who spent 26 years in the Air Force, including three tours at Pacific Command.

    The reconnaissance goes both ways. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. is eager to gather its own intelligence on new ships, planes and other equipment China is adding to its military.

    Cossa said allegations like those against Bishop make for flashy headlines but account for a small percentage of the spying going on.

    Most of the espionage involves people trying to listen to phone conversations and hack into email and computers, he said. It's easier for people to steal information this way and it's harder to detect.

    "Obviously if you're working with classified information in the military, in Hawaii, you should expect somebody is trying to listen, someone is trying to copy," Cossa said. 

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Storms to dump snow on New England, heavy rain on Southeast, forecasters warn

    People across the Midwest are digging out from the snow after a big storm passed through, resulting in difficult commutes and school closures. NBC's John Yang reports.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Parts of New England were expected to be hit by heavy snowfalls while heavy rain was threatening to cause flash floods in parts of the Southeast, forecasters warned.

    The National Weather Service  issued a winter storm watch at about 10 p.m. ET Friday for southern New Hampshire, northern Rhode Island, and much of central, northern and eastern Massachusetts, including Boston.

    It said the area could be hit by up to 8 inches of snow, which some parts potentially getting nearly 10 inches.

    Read more from weather.com

    “Snow will overspread the region tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon. The heaviest snow will occur tomorrow night into Sunday morning, when 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates will be possible,” the NWS said.

    “The biggest concern is that this will be a heavy wet snow. This will bring the potential for downed tree limbs and scattered power outages. Untreated roads are also expected to become snow covered and slippery,” the weather service said.

    Temperatures were expected to be in the lower 30s with winds of 5-10 mph.

    “Anyone traveling in the next 24 to 36 hours should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to modify travel plans should winter weather develop,” the NWS notice added.

    NBC.Connecticut.com meteorologist Bob Maxon said the state would also see snow and rain from the weekend storm. He expected up to 4 inches of snow or more in the Litchfield Hills and northeast Connecticut.

    South of Connecticut, rain was expected to be the problem.

    "Days of heavy rainfall could lead to river flooding and flash flooding in the Southeast," the NWS said.

    At 5:20 a.m. ET, the weather service issued a flash flood warning for Geneva and Houston counties in southeast Alabama, saying heavy showers and thunderstorms had been detected.

    Weather.com reported that it expected that an areas from New York City to Philadelphia would “primarily” see rain.

    Record snowfall in Wichita, Kansas, creates havoc at the airport where crews had to dig out a plane stuck on the tarmac. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    It said it expected 2 to 5 inches of snow in Boston, adding “the amount of rain versus snow that falls will dictate whether snowfall amounts are on the higher or lower end of this range.”

    The storm hit parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan on Friday.

    In Minnesota alone, the State Patrol said there were 124 crashes during the morning commute, killing one driver and injuring 23, NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis reported.

    Pacific Northwest storm
    Meanwhile, a storm in the Pacific Northwest was expected to bring strong winds through Saturday and dump 2 to 3 feet of snow on the Cascade Mountains through Monday, the NWS said.

    Much of the Midwest is covered in a blanket of white as a massive winter storm has covered parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas with over a foot of snow. NBC's John Yang reports.

    “Considerable blowing and drifting snow and an increased avalanche risk are expected in the high terrain for portions of the region,” it said.

    The NWS issued winter storm warnings for parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah.

    "Periods of heavy snowfall" were also expected Saturday in parts of Hawaii, according to another winter storm warning notice.

    Up to 12 inches were possible at high altitudes in an area including Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, with temperatures in the mid-20s to mid-30s.

    Related:

    PhotoBlog: Winter whiteout slams central US


    This story was originally published on Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:14 AM EST

  • Toxic mice airdrop aims to wipe out Guam's venomous snakes

    Eric Talmadge / AP

    A brown tree snake is held by U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist Tony Salas outside his office on Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. There may be 2 million of the reptiles on the island.

    By Eric Talmadge, The Associated Press

    ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on Guam's jungle canopy. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake.

    Most of Guam's native bird species are extinct because of the snake, which reached the island's thick jungles by hitching rides from the South Pacific on U.S. military ships shortly after World War II.

    There may be 2 million of the reptiles on Guam now, decimating wildlife, biting residents and even knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines.

    More than 3,000 miles away, environmental officials in Hawaii have long feared a similar invasion — which in their case likely would be a "snakes on a plane" scenario.

    That would cost the state many vulnerable species and billions of dollars, but the risk will fall if Guam's airdrop strategy succeeds.

    "We are taking this to a new phase," said Daniel Vice, assistant state director of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Islands. "There really is no other place in the world with a snake problem like Guam."

    Brown tree snakes are generally a few feet long but can grow to be more than 10 feet in length.

    Defenseless birds
    Most of Guam's native birds were defenseless against the nocturnal, tree-based predators, and within a few decades of the reptile's arrival, nearly all of them were wiped out.

    The snakes can also climb power poles and wires, causing blackouts, or slither into homes and bite people, including babies.

    They use venom on their prey, but it is not lethal to humans.

    The infestation and the toll it has taken on native wildlife have tarnished Guam's image as a tourism haven, though the snakes are rarely seen outside their jungle habitat.

    The solution to this headache, fittingly enough, is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in painkillers including Tylenol.

    The strategy takes advantage of the snake's two big weaknesses. Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn't kill themselves, and they are highly vulnerable to acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans.

    The upcoming mice drop is targeted to hit snakes near Guam's sprawling Andersen Air Force Base, which is surrounded by heavy foliage and if compromised would offer the snakes a potential ticket off the island. Using helicopters, the dead neonatal mice will be dropped by hand, one by one.

    U.S. government scientists have been perfecting the mice-drop strategy for more than a decade with support from the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior.

    Streamers
    To keep the mice bait from dropping all the way to the ground, where it could be eaten by other animals or attract insects as they rot, researchers have developed a device with streamers designed to catch in the branches of the forest foliage, where the snakes live and feed.

    Experts say the impact on other species will be minimal, particularly since the snakes have themselves wiped out the birds that might have been most at risk.

    "One concern was that crows may eat mice with the toxicant," said William Pitt, of the U.S. National Wildlife Research Center's Hawaii Field Station. "However, there are no longer wild crows on Guam."

    The mouse drop is set to start in April or May.

    A 2010 study conducted by the National Wildlife Research Center found brown tree snakes would cause between $593 million and $2.14 billion in economic damage each year if they became established in Hawaii like they are on Guam.

    Power outages would cause the most damage, followed by a projected decline in tourism. The cost of treating snake bites would account for a small share.

    Native Hawaiian birds "literally don't know what to do when they see a snake coming," said Christy Martin, a spokeswoman for the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, a partnership of Hawaii government agencies and private organizations.

    "Once we get snakes here, we're never going to be able to fix the situation," Martin said. 

    Related:

    Full environment coverage from NBC News 

    Full technology and science coverage from NBC News

  • Diver who saved dolphin: 'He swam right up to me'

    A wild bottlenose dolphin, tangled in a fishing line, swims up to a diver in Hawaii and waits while the diver cuts the line free.

    By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

    When a dolphin needed help off the coast of Hawaii, he was determined to let a scuba instructor know.


    Keller Laros was leading a group of divers on a tour of the waters off of Kona, Hawaii, on Jan. 11. He often goes on his dives with professional underwater videographers and this night was no exception.

    But as Laros, his camerawoman and the rest of the group began their dive, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. 

    "All of a sudden I heard a loud squeak, and I turned around, and the dolphin was literally three feet behind me," Laros said. "He swam right up to me."

    The bottlenose dolphin slowly swam around Laros, the other divers, and manta rays -- which were what the divers had been gone down to see in the first place -- when they heard the squeak.

    What struck Laros immediately about the dolphin was that he was alone.

    "We've seen five of those dolphins at this dive site at the night dive before. They're very curious and intelligent animals," he said. "Dolphins are really social animals. In the past we've seen at least two [at this site]."

    Laros, who has done more than 10,000 dives, quickly knew something was wrong. When the dolphin circled by him again, Laros noticed he had a fishing line hooked onto his fin.

    As camerawoman Martina Wing's underwater video rolled, Laros gestured with his hand for the dolphin to come close.

    "I said, 'come here,' and he swam right up to me," he said. "I put my hand out and I was able to get the fishing hook out of his left pectoral fin. The fishing line came from his mouth down through the hook in the left pectoral fin, and then was wrapped all the way around the pectoral fin and it trailed off down the side of the animal."

    Laros was able to remove the hook from dolphin's fin, but still needed to get him untangled from the line. As the dolphin patiently floated inches in front of him, Laros took out dive tools that he carries in his suit, including a pair of small scissors.

    He was able to clip the line off of the dolphin's mouth and fin, but there was still a little left. The dolphin went up for a breath of air and came back down.

    Then Laros and another dive guide removed as much line from under the fin as they could. 

    "I guess the dolphin was happy with our work. He swam away and we never saw him again," he said.

    During the three minutes that Laros was face-to-face with the dolphin, and the eight minutes in total that he estimated they interacted, he was worried he might scare the animal.

    "The dolphin was big -- maybe up to ten feet long," he said. "I was worried when I was removing the fishing line if I hurt him, he could inadvertently be startled and hurt me. I was concerned, but not frightened."

    Laros, the founder of the Manta Pacific Research Foundation, has removed many fishing hooks from manta rays and turtles that have swallowed bait, but said he had never helped a dolphin.

    "It's a huge thrill to be able to help an animal that clearly knows what's going on," he said. "He made the effort to come to us... The dolphin is really intelligent. It's a relationship. He came to us because he had a problem."

    The original eight-minute video of Laros' interaction with the dolphin had gotten over half a million views by Wednesday afternoon. Click below to see Laros' abridged version, with audio.

    Also check out:


  • Missing Coast Guardsman who spurred massive Hawaii search turns up 4 months later

    By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

    When Coast Guardsman Russell Matthews’ car was found by police abandoned at a Kaena Point parking lot in a remote area of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, the fire department as well as the Coast Guard launched an all-out search.

    U.S. Coast Guard

    Petty Officer First Class Russell Matthews, 36.

    Searchers scoured the north and south shores of the point. The fire department sent out helicopters and the Coast Guard deployed MH-65 Dolphin helicopters of its own. The Coast Guard Cutter Galveston Island, an HC-130 airplane and even a Navy P3 Orion aircraft joined in the effort for the missing 36-year-old man. Some 1,200 square miles of the tropical island and its surrounding waters were searched.

    Police told a local TV station the aviation survival technician, a petty officer first class from Air Station Barbers Point, was emotionally distraught. 

    On Sunday, the 15-year Coast Guard veteran and father of two showed up at his wife’s Oahu home after nearly four months away. But nobody was home.

    Matthews was incoherent and taken to a hospital for observation, Honolulu police said Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. And, as it turns out, Matthews was being investigated for illegal marijuana use at the time of his disappearance, Coast Guard spokesman Chief Warrant Officer Gene Maestas told the Honolulu Star Advertiser.


    Military investigators will talk to him when he gets out of the hospital.

    Maestas has said the Coast Guard doesn't know where Matthews had been or what he'd been doing since his wife reported him missing Oct. 9, the AP reported. Coast Guard investigators confirmed his identity after he called his command from Castle Medical Center in the Honolulu suburb of Kailua.

    He's now being evaluated at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, according to the AP.

    Maestas told the Advertiser that illegal drug use is an offense that could result in a Coast Guard member’s discharge.

    Contacted by NBC News on Wednesday, Honolulu police spokesman Capt. Andrew Lum said he could only confirm that Matthews was “no longer a missing person.”

    A person in the public affairs office for the Coast Guard in Honolulu said a request by NBC News for information would be forwarded to a superior officer.

     

  • 'Aloha': Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii dies at 88

    Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, a member of the Watergate investigating committee, questions witness James McCord during the hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 19, 1973. Inouye, the influential Democrat who broke racial barriers on Capitol Hill and played key roles in congressional investigations of the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals, died of respiratory complications, on Dec. 17. He was 88.

    By Isolde Raftery, NBC News

    Daniel Inouye, a World War II combat veteran and the most senior senator in the U.S. Senate, died Monday of respiratory complications. He was 88.

    His last words were "Aloha," Hawaiian for hello and goodbye.

    Inouye, a Democrat from Hawaii, was hospitalized a week and a half ago at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he said he was working with doctors to regulate his oxygen intake. Around the Capitol, Inouye had been seen with a portable oxygen supply.

    He is survived by his wife, Irene Hirano, and son, Daniel "Kenny" Inouye. Kenny is his son with Margaret Shinobu Awamura, to whom he was married for 56 years until her death in 2006.

    Inouye had served in the Senate for 49 years, since 1963. At the time of his death, he was the longest-living serving member of the Senate. The late Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia is the only senator who has served longer, for 51 years.

    Hawaii became a state in 1959, and Inouye was the state's first Congressman. He also became the country's first Japanese-American Congressman.  

    He was also hospitalized on Nov. 15 after falling and cutting the back of his head. A statement released by his office spoke to the senator’s apparent dislike of being hospitalized: “The U.S. Army Captain and World War II combat veteran wanted to put a bandage on and come to work but his family insisted he get it checked out.”

    Medal of Honor recipient Dan Inouye became the longest-serving senator, having served nine terms after first being elected in 1962. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    He was hospitalized the day before Pearl Harbor Day. Although ailing, he honored the day as he does every year, this time through a press release remembering his time as a Japanese-American teenager in Hawaii. He wrote:

    In 1941, the date December 7th was a day that evoked anger, fierce patriotism and dangerous racism. Soon after that day, I suddenly found myself, pursuant to a decision by the government and along with thousands of Japanese Americans declared 4C, enemy aliens. It was a difficult time. I was 17.

    Born to working class parents, Hyotaro, a jewelry clerk, and Kame, a homemaker, Inouye dreamed of being a doctor, according to the Washington Post, plans that were sidelined by the war. He was a second-generation Japanese-American, or nisei, and he wrote that it pained him that those who dropped bombs on Hawaii looked like him.

    Inouye was 17 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served with the 442 Regimental Combat Team, according to a statement on his website. He lost part of his right arm while he was charging a series of machine gun nests in San Terenzo, Italy.

    "I looked at it, stunned and disbelieving. It dangled there by a few bloody shreds of tissue, my grenade still clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore," Inouye wrote in his 1967 autobiography, "Journey to Washington," according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

    After the war, he was nominated for the Medal of Honor but did not receive it. President Bill Clinton later bestowed the honor on him and 21 other Japanese-Americans for their courage during World War II, according to the Star-Advertiser.

    He attended the University of Hawaii and received a law degree from Georgetown University.

    As a lawmaker in D.C. in 1973, Inouye sat on the panel that investigated the Watergate scandal, according to the Post. He was apparently so frustrated by the testimony of a top White House aide that he whispered, “What a liar!” into a microphone that turned out to be hot.

    Later, the aide’s lawyer referred to Inouye as, “that little Jap,” a comment that generated outrage, according to the Post.

    Throughout his tenure, D.C., Inouye allied himself with the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican, and proudly proclaimed himself the "No. 1 earmarks guy," in Congress, according to The Associated Press. He championed an older tradition of politics -- one that embraced bipartisanship and compromise.

    Responding to his death Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement: "No matter what barrier was in his way, Danny shattered it. ... Danny was an icon in his native state of Hawaii and a tireless advocate for the disenfranchised, minorities and women throughout the country. He spent his life working for a brighter future, and we are all better off for it."

    Former Sen. Bob Dole wrote touchingly about a man he called one of the Senate's "giants."

    "Never once do I recall his being critical of another colleague - Republican or Democrat," Dole wrote. "Danny and I saw service in World War II where he lost an arm and where I had other difficulties. When we left the hospital, we eventually became United States Senators and he was always telling his friends that I talked him into it. I don't recall it, but if Danny said it was true, that was good enough for me."

    NBC's Kelly O'Donnell contributed reporting.

  • Lava flows to the ocean in Hawaii, creating rare natural show

    Hugh Gentry / Reuters

    Waves crash over lava as it flows into the ocean near Volcanoes National Park in Kalapana, Hawaii on November 27, 2012.

    Hugh Gentry / Reuters

    Reuters reports — A volcano on Hawaii's largest island is spilling lava into the ocean, creating a rare and spectacular fusion of steam and waves that officials said could attract thrill-seeking visitors if it continues.

    Lava from a vent in Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii began flowing into the ocean 7 miles away on Saturday. The volcano has been erupting continuously from its Pu'u O'o vent since 1983.

    Hugh Gentry / Reuters

    A plume of smoke rises from the volcanic activity in Kilauea crater on November 27, 2012.

    Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, warned of potentially deadly risks and urged visitors to stay a safe distance away and respect barriers placed around the lava flow.

    "Ocean entries can be quite beautiful but also quite dangerous," Babb said. Read the full story.

    Hugh Gentry / Reuters

    Hugh Gentry / Reuters

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    Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano is sending lava into the ocean for the first time in 11 months. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

     

  • Billionaire Ellison books Hawaiian getaway, buys island of Lanai

    Getty Images

    A county of nearby Maui, Lanai is known as "The Pineapple Island." The majority of the land there was once owned by James Dole of Dole Food Co. Inc., who bought it in 1922.

    By msnbc.com staff

    The rich really are different from you and me. We go to Hawaii. They buy Hawaii.

    Billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is buying 98 percent of the island of Lanai, the so-called “Pineapple Island.”

    The land’s current owner, Castle & Cooke Inc., filed a transfer application Wednesday with the state’s public utilities commission, which regulates utilities on the island that serve its two resorts.

    The deal involves 88,000 acres of land, plus two resorts, two golf courses, a stable and various residential and commercial buildings, lawyers for Murdock told the utilities commission in its application. Ellison plans to pay cash according to the documents and reinvigorate the local tourism industry.

    Unfortunately the documents didn’t say how much Ellison is paying. The Maui News reported the asking price was $500 million to $600 million. What’s $100 million when you’re buying an island, anyway? Especially since Ellison has had no qualms about buying toys. Including a 454-foot yacht, McClaren F1 supercar, a bunch of planes and a tennis tournament. To start.

    An Oracle spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on Ellison’s personal business.

    Ellison doesn’t always get what he wants. His repeated attempts to buy an NBA team have failed. Most recently when he lost our a bidding war for his hometown Golden State Warriors in 2010.

    Self-made billionaire David Murdock, who owns Castle & Cooke, said he would keep his home on Lanai and the right to build a wind farm, a contentious project that would place windmills on as many as 20 square miles of the island and deliver power to Oahu through an undersea cable.

    The 2 percent Ellison isn’t buying is owned by the state, county and private residents.

    With nearly 50 miles of coastline, two resorts and zero traffic lights, Lanai boasts plenty of unspoiled charm. Tourism officials tout the luxury at its Four Seasons hotels and rugged rural areas that can only be reached by vehicles with four-wheel drive. About 2,000 people live there. The majority of the island was once owned by James Dole of Dole Food Co. Inc., who bought it in 1922.

    Ellison, 67, was No. 6 on Forbes list of richest humans -- the third American-- this year with an estimated net worth of $36 billion.

    Below, KHNL’s Jim Mendoza talks with Lanai residents about the purchase. Their overriding sentiment: Who is Larry Ellison?

     

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

     

     

     

  • Reports: FBI probes death threats against 'Dog the Bounty Hunter'

    Jason LaVeris / FilmMagic via Getty Images, file

    Duane "Dog" Chapman and his wife Beth Smith said in a statement that they were "taking these threats seriously."

    By Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

    Death threats against TV bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman and his family are being probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to reports.

    The threats were emailed to the Chapmans over a four-day period, sources close to the family told Hawaii News Now.

    The emails, which were published in full by Radar Online, contain graphic and disturbing content involving sexual violence aimed at Chapman’s daughters.

    'In cold blood'
    The site said Hawaii-based Chapman, who is known as "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and stars in a reality show on A&E, received an email on April 30 which read: "I'm going to murder you. I'm going to come to Hawaii and murder you and your family in cold blood. You are next on my list and are the bane of society. I will deliver you to God."


    Another email reportedly said: "I have a rather nasty vendetta against you and your family."

    Hawaii News Now reported the Los Angeles FBI field office referred the case to the Honolulu FBI field office. However, authorities said they were unable to confirm or deny the existence of any investigation unless or until any charges were filed.

    In a statement, the Chapman family said they were "taking these threats seriously."

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  • Hawaii first state to ban plastic bags at checkout


    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    By now, it’s hardly news when a city bans plastic bags at checkout counters -- but an entire state? That’s happened in Hawaii, where Honolulu County has joined the state’s three other counties to give Hawaii a first-in-the-nation title.

    "Passing the bans did take an effort -- change always does -- but people seemed to understand the need for such an effort," Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club's Hawaii chapter, told msnbc.com of the two-year campaign across the islands.

    The Honolulu County Council approved the ban late last month and Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, who is also the county executive, initially held back his support, saying he wanted to collect more public input due to enforcement and cost concerns.

    But when he signed the ban on Thursday, Carlisle was fully committed, especially since retailers were given three years to comply.

    "This is groundbreaking. By signing this environmentally friendly bill, Honolulu joined our neighbor island counties," Carlisle said. "Hawaii has become the only state in the United States where every county has plastic bag legislation."

    One man's trash is another man's treasure. Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang are harvesting the plastic refuse littered on California's Kehoe Beach and turning it into beautiful, unique works of art. NBC's Mike Leonard reports.

    The county law bans non-biodegradable plastic bags at checkout as well as paper bags that are not at least 40 percent recycled. Retailers in Honolulu County have until July 1, 2015, to make the change.

    That date "gives us plenty of time to get ready," Carlisle told msnbc.com. "Retailers will be able to use up their inventory of bags and make arrangements to educate the public on the importance of bringing their own bag."

    Kauai and Maui counties already enforce bans, while Hawaii County's ban takes effect on Jan. 17, 2013. 

    The Sierra Club organized rallies to support the bans, said Harris. "We also lobbied extensively for statewide legislation, which failed, but it helped direct attention to the issue and eventually got the last county to take action."

    "Being a marine state, perhaps, we are exposed more directly to the impacts of plastic pollution and the damage it does to our environment," Harris said in explaining the support in all four counties. "People in Hawaii are more likely to be in the water or in the outdoors and see the modern day tumbleweed -- plastic bags -- in the environment."

    Getting shoppers to switch to reusable bags is another matter.

    Island supermarkets, which said they would prefer to charge a nickel or dime for plastic bags rather than live with a ban, argued that most shoppers have shifted to paper bags, which have their own environmental impact and increase store costs. 

    The Surfrider Foundation, which also lobbied for the bans as part of its mission to protect beaches and oceans, acknowledged the challenge ahead.

    Interactive: The paper or plastic debate

    "While we are excited that the plastic bag bans have been enacted, there has been a reported increase in paper bag use from locals," Bill Hickman, the nonprofit's point man in Hawaii for plastics, said in a blogpost Monday. He added that his group might even lobby for a fee on paper bags at some point.

    The state-level legislation, which would have charged users 10 cents per plastic bag, died a quiet death earlier this month, just two weeks after being introduced. A statewide ban also recently failed in California, noted Harris. 

    Ted Duboise, publisher of PlasticBagBanReport.com, said he doesn't think any state is close to a ban enforced at the state level. "Too much political hem haw," he told msnbc.com.

    As for a national ban, don't hold your breath, said Duboise, citing "labor, lobbyist and plastic industry interests."

    Still, the number of areas with bans or bag fees has grown across the U.S. and the globe. Dozens of areas on every continent but Antarctica are listed on an interactive map at PlasticBagBanReport.com.

    So is the lesson here that it's easier to get bans at the local level?

    "In Hawaii, yes," said Harris. "And looking to the mainland, I would suspect the same."

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