HTH: Big Island hurting for employment

Michelle Conrey, Big Island regional manager of Altres Staffing, said she can almost pinpoint the day when the job market turned for the worse in Hawaii County.
"Basically, when Aloha Airlines was closing and Altres helped sponsor a job fair for the employees, from that moment on, it completely shifted. It was like the whistle was blown, and you could feel the difference," Conrey said Friday.

HTH: Home construction off by half over past year

Only 190 permits were issued in Hawaii County from October through December, compared to 304 permits from July through September.  Compared to the same quarter of 2007, the numbers look even worse. The island's home construction activity fell 57 percent, from 450 permits.

PBN: US-China Center scales back, moves forward

Bridgecreek International, based in Huntington Beach, Calif., had planned to build a $200 million complex that would include dormitories for 1,200 University of Hawaii at Hilo students on state land in exchange for rights to also develop a hotel and retail center on the property.  The project, called the U.S.-China Center, has been scaled back to $74 million and will house approximately 800 students, according to John Carlson, Bridgecreek’s president of development.

WHT: Mayor, council aim to coordinate on budget

Council Chairman J Yoshimoto and Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong, who chairs the council's Finance Committee, said Friday they recently met with the Finance Department in an effort to get everyone on the same page with the budget this time around.  "We want to avoid a veto situation," he said. "We realize this will be a tougher budget, the mayor realizes this is a tougher budget."

WHT: Isle foreclosures double

There were 86 filings on the Big Island, 214 on Oahu, 19 on Kauai and 74 on Maui. Of the Big Island total, 13 were in Hilo, 10 in Waikoloa, 34 in Kailua-Kona, five in Waimea, seven in Keaau, 12 in Pahoa and one in Volcano.