State revenue collections through the first nine months of this fiscal year have increased 3.6 percent over last year, according to the state Department of Taxation.

The state said it brought in $327.6 million in March —including $217.7 million in general excise and use taxes, $19.4 million in hotel room taxes, $68.2 million in individual income taxes and $4.8 million in corporate income taxes.

Total state revenue for the first nine months of the fiscal year was $3.41 billion, compared with $3.29 billion for the same period last year. The fiscal year ends June 30.

MAN CHARGED IN ATTACK ON WOMAN

Big Island police yesterday charged a 47-year-old man with attempted first-degree sexual assault for allegedly attacking a woman on Mamalahoa Highway in Kona on Jan. 18.

Jose Zepeda Anguiano was arrested Wednesday evening at the Kona airport after security personnel detained him as he was about to depart on a flight to California, police said.

A week ago, Big Island police asked for the public's help in identifying and locating a suspect in the case, identified by authorities only as "Jose."

Tips from the public led police to Zepeda Anguiano's workplace, but police were unable to find him. Police notified officials at the Kona airport after receiving information the man they sought was about to flee the island.

Zepeda Anguiano was charged yesterday and was being held at the Kona police cellblock in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The woman involved in the case told police she was driven to an area along highway, where the attempted assault took place.

DRIVER INDICTED IN MOTORBIKER DEATH

A grand jury on Wednesday indicted Sarah Brook Whitford for first-degree negligent homicide in connection with a 2007 accident in which a motorcyclist was killed on Hale'iwa Road.

Whitford was driving a 1992 Subaru Legacy that struck a 2006 Harley-Davidson driven by Valaile Fuiava Jr., 53, of Waialua, on March 31 at 10:21 p.m., police said.

Fuiava was thrown from his motorcycle and dragged 503 feet before Whitford's car collided with a barrier.

Speed and alcohol were factors in the fatal accident, police said.