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A rubber duck that kept him company in the bathtub was the only thing Devin Nakasone could pour out his heart to when he was stricken with leukemia at 11.

Dallas Schmidt, 10, worked silently at the table, carefully painting red, green and yellow stripes on a white rubber duck.

All he wanted was some American-made boots. An Air Force noncommissioned officer who complained to Congress, military investigators and the media that he was issued Chinese-made boots for an Afghanistan deployment now says he is being retaliated against by his command for his stand.

Former Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said Saturday that he has not decided whether to run for governor next year but indicated that his only political aspiration remains Washington Place.

When Congress approved a sweeping welfare reform law in 1996, a small but important provision cost Hawaii millions of dollars a year.

A 56-year-old woman was found dead in her cell Saturday at Oahu Community Correctional Center.

A man on the run from the law since he was charged in 2010 with cultivating more than 1,000 marijuana plants in a Maui home is in federal custody.

A Florida man who says he repressed memories of his childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest while growing up on Oahu has reached a $362,500 settlement with the priest and the North Dakota diocese that had been in charge of him.

State boating officials on Maui worked Saturday to try to remove debris from three boats that broke up after they were torn from their moorings Friday and ran aground near Mala Wharf.

Staff Sgt. Billy Caviness is on patrol — not in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, where he was wounded in battle, but in his tree-lined neighborhood in Schofield Barracks.

Academics, athletics and politics collided in Manoa as we "flASHback" on the week's news that amused and confused:

Each Sunday, the Star-Advertiser publishes Oahu vital statistics for marriage licenses, civil unions and birth certificates filed with the state Department of Health's Vital Statistics System. They cover the five-business-day period ending the Thursday of the previous week.

Stabbing in Wahiawa prompts questioning at area businesses • Arson suspect sought after fire damages vacant house • Woman airlifted to safety after fall off Koko Crater trail • Man is arrested and charged in string of vehicle break-ins

Park plan aims to eliminate alien animals • Pig hunting on Kauai open to archers

RUK, Pakistan — Resplendent in his gleaming white uniform and peaked cap, jacket buttons tugging his plump girth, the stationmaster stood at the platform, waiting for a train that would never come. "Cutbacks," Nisar Ahmed Abro said with a resigned shrug.

NEW YORK — Only 10 floors have been completed in what is intended to be the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere — a slender, 84-story tower on Park Avenue at 56th Street in Manhattan.

A Star-Advertiser ambulance ride-along this week showed the hazards created by drivers who don't move over or who dart ahead, slam the brakes, tailgate and otherwise engage in dangerous driving habits as Emergency Medical Services personnel try to help the critically ill or seriously injured.

The entire human resources staff at Kapiolani Community College has left the school, and recruitment is underway to fill the five-person office.

The 29-year-old University of Hawaii graduate student who was attacked this week by a man out on bail for attempting to set another man on fire is fearful that the suspect will do more harm to others if he is allowed to go free again while awaiting trial.

As promised, the Hawaii State Teachers Association has dropped its prohibited-practice complaint against the state over the "last, best and final offer" contract imposed on teachers in July 2011.