$7.9M available for Hawaii foreclosure help
$7.9M available for Hawaii foreclosure help
HONOLULU — Organizations interested in receiving funding to help distressed Hawaii homeowners can apply for a foreclosure assistance program.
The funding comes from a $7.9 million settlement between the state of Hawaii and Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., CitiGroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc.
The state attorney general’s office said the money will help organizations on the front lines of fighting the foreclosure crisis. Examples for the funding include housing and financial counseling, public education and mediation.
Funding applications must be received by July 13.
Man shot, wounded during argument
HONOLULU — Police were looking for a gunman who shot and seriously wounded a man during an argument in a parking lot on Kalakaua Avenue, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported Sunday.
The two men were involved in an argument around 5:30 a.m. Saturday, when one of the men shot the other in the head, the newspaper said.
The victim, who has not been named by police, was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery and was in serious condition. The gunman fled the scene.
The shooting and the victim’s cries for help frightened some residents on Kalauokalani Way, where there is a back entrance to the parking lot where the shooting took place, the newspaper said.
A dried pool of blood marked the spot behind where the man was shot.
“I heard, ‘Help! Help!’ I called police,” said Eliazar Valades, 35, who awoke to the sound of a single gunshot. “My wife scared. My kid (6 years old), everybody scared.”
Jackie Uahinui, 59, who lives nearby told the Star Advertiser that she hear the shooting as well.
“I had to make sure it was a gunshot and not a backfire. Then I heard a guy screaming,’” she told the newspaper.
Man convicted of Kauai killing to serve 45 years
LIHUE, Kauia — A man convicted of killing his girlfriend’s father on Kauai in 2000 must serve at least 45 years of his life sentence.
The Hawaii Paroling Authority last week issued an order setting Matthew Blankswade’s minimum term to expire on June 26, 2045.
Blankswade pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. Prosecutors say he broke into Jeffrey Brisebois’ Wainiha home and used a stolen shotgun to kill him as he slept.
He initially denied any involvement but confessed after failing a polygraph test. He told police his girlfriend planned the murder and watched him shot her father. Blankswade said his girlfriend wanted Brisebois dead so she and her friends could live in his house.
Since he was 21 at the time of the murder, Blankswade would be 66 years old before he’s eligible for release.
At a parole hearing last month, Blankswade appeared by video from Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, where he’s incarcerated. Kauai Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho argued before the board that the murder was premeditated. She said he prepared himself by stealing guns and practicing shooting in the days leading up to the killing. Then, dressed in camouflage during the early morning, he broke into the victim’s remote home and shot him in the head at close range, she said.
Court-appointed attorney Don Wilkerson said his client was remorseful.
By wire sources