Police yesterday for the first time were able to interview a taxi driver who was shot and robbed Friday night in Pearlridge.

Yu Kyu Kim, 52, is recovering at The Queen's Medical Center and his condition has stabilized enough for police to talk to him. HPD spokesman Capt. Frank Fujii confirmed that the taxi driver was interviewed but declined further comment.

Police have not made any arrests in the attempted murder and first-degree robbery investigation.

DEVELOPER MAKES $50,000 DONATION

Ocean Pointe developer Haseko donated $25,000 each to 'Ewa Beach Elementary and the new Keone'ula Elementary schools for use in their respective education missions.

Keone'ula is being built on 12 acres of land donated by Haseko, and construction is slated for completion in December.

HI-5 FUNDRAISER FOR PROJECT GRAD

Mililani High School's Project Graduation 2007 committee will hold a HI 5¢ can and bottle drive Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the school's parking lot. The group will accept donations of redeemable aluminum cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles.

Project Graduation is a post-commencement celebration that is alcohol- and substance-free. Future can and bottle drives will be held at the same time and place on the first Saturday of each month through May 2007. For information, call 625-9876.

BOTANICAL AWARD FOR UH PROFESSOR

Isabella Abbott, a leading world expert on limu and University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College program author, has been honored by the Botanical Society of America with its centennial award for her outstanding contributions to botanical sciences, service to the society and past recognition of excellence.

Abbott, named a Living Treasure of Hawai'i in 2005, is the Wilder professor of botany, emerita at UH and also a professor emerita at Stanford University. She is well known in Hawai'i for her work to heighten cultural awareness for traditional uses of seaweed.

TEEN CAR CRASH VICTIM IDENTIFIED

WAIKOLOA — Big Island police yesterday identified the boy killed in a car crash Saturday as Caleb Mahi, 17, of Waikoloa.

Investigators said Mahi was traveling north on Route 190 when his car crossed the centerline and ran off the left side of the roadway. Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have initiated a coroner's inquest case and ordered an autopsy to determine cause of death.

This is the 20th traffic fatality on the Big Island this year, compared with 19 at this time last year.

FEDERAL FUNDS FOR HIGHWAY REPAIR

The state will get $11.5 million in federal money to repair Kuhio Highway on Kaua'i and other roads on O'ahu damaged by 42 consecutive days of rain in February and March.

In a news release announcing Hawai'i's portion of an emergency supplemental appropriations bill, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye said most of the major work on Kuhio Highway has already been completed and only minor pavement work still needs to be done.

BALDWIN BEACH STILL CLOSED

PA'IA — Baldwin Beach Park is expected to remain closed until late in the week while crews chop up and remove remnants of a dozen ironwood trees that were cut down because of safety concerns.

The park was closed Wednesday after high surf eroded the trees' root structures, leaving one tree uprooted and two others leaning precipitously at the Pa'ia end of the beach. The county hired a contractor to fell the 60-foot trees, originally planted to serve as windbreaks.

County arborist David Sakoda said because the trees are located in a sandy area, access has been difficult. A crane will be brought in this week to move the larger pieces off the beach and out of the ocean, he said.