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Sunday, January 19, 2014

Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014

Lava flows from Ka`u to North Kona are topics at a Volcano Awareness program Wednesday. Photo from USDA Forest Service
FOLLOWING ITS ACQUISITION OF KAHU-FM from Ka`u Community Radio, Inc. in August, Hawai`i Public Radio has launched a $150,000 capital campaign to raise money needed to cover costs of bringing a new transmitter to Hilo so that more Big Island residents can hear HPR-2, according to a story in Pacific Business News.
      Acquisition of KAHU-FM allowed HPR to broadcast its HPR-2 network on Hawai`i Island, said vice president and assistant general manager Valerie Yee. KAHU-FM broadcasts HPR’s news, information, jazz and blues programs from Pahala while planning for improved transmission. 
      Areas of the Big Island have had HPR-1, the fine arts and classical music stream, since 2000. HPR-2 has been available in areas of West Hawai`i since Feb. 2013.
      “We’ve been building awareness of this campaign quietly on the ground in Hilo,” Yee told PBN. “So far, we have received 73 gifts totaling $13,408.”
      HPR also announced a matching pledge from KTA Super Stores being made in memory of Koichi and Taniyo Taniguchi, founders of KTA Super Stores and K. Taniguchi Ltd. The company will match contributions when community support amounts to $20,000.
      See bizjournals.com/pacific.
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Russell Kokubun
FORMER STATE SEN. RUSSELL KOKUBUN, a Volcano resident, is Big Island campaign chair for U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in her run for U.S. Senate, according to a story in West Hawai`i Today
      Kokubun served 10 years in the state Senate, ending as vice president under Hanabusa. He retired from his gubernatorial appointment as chair of the state Department of Agriculture in December.
      Hanabusa discussed her accomplishments and future role in Washington with reporter Nancy Cook Lauer after the candidate’s meeting with supporters in Hilo. Hanubusa said her accomplishments were numerous, including serving as president of the state Senate. She listed helping craft the Felix Consent Decree that required the state to provide services to special needs students, taking the first official legislative hearings to neighbor islands on a Hawaiian homestead issue and a  middle-school crystal meth prevention program. 
      “We need someone who can get things done,” Hanabusa said.
      Cook Lauer said Hanabusa has better statewide name recognition than opponent Sen. Brian Schatz “because of her tenure as state Senate president and a deathbed endorsement from the greatly respected” late Sen. Daniel Inouye.
      Regarding her three years in the U.S. House representing Hawai`i’s urban O`ahu 1st District, according to the story, Hanabusa said, “It’s difficult to gauge success in Congress by specific bills passed.” She noted her status as a ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, where she said she has worked to ensure Hawai`i’s role in a proposed rebalancing of military priorities.
Richard Ha
      See westhawaiitoday.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

KA`U’S STATE SEN. RUSSELL RUDERMAN should recuse himself from all discussions and votes regarding genetically modified organisms, said Richard Ha, owner of Hamakua Springs Country Farms and a supporter of GMOs in agriculture. In an opinion piece in Civil Beat, Ha said that because Ruderman owns Island Naturals, a chain of natural foods stores, “it certainly seems to be a conflict of interest for him to be supporting the Big Island’s anti-GMO movement.” 
      Ha writes, “We need to hold Sen. Ruderman to a higher standard than he’s holding himself to, because he’s our elected official and making decisions on behalf of all of us. I have asked Sen. Ruderman many times how his stance, which does not even seem to be supported by science, will help the Big Island and its food security status. How will it help the rubbah slippah folk in his district? I have never received an answer.”
      See civilbeat.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Sizes of Hawai`i's volcanoes are related to their eruption rates, according to
the latest issue of Volcano Watch. Map from USGS/HVO
VOLCANO SIZE AND ERUPTION RATE ARE RELATED, according to the latest issue of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s Volcano Watch. The issue asks whether Kilauea is a “small bump on Mauna Loa’s side” or separate volcano. This information is important, not only for understanding the evolution of Kilauea and other Hawaiian volcanoes, but also their hazard potential, the article says. 
      Kilauea has been erupting vigorously for about 100,000 years. Yet, if Kilauea is considered to be a small volcano, its eruption rate over that period must be low, since size and eruption rate are related. In this sense, the last several decades of continuous eruptive activity may be unusual (and might not continue far into the future), according to the article.
      If, on the other hand, Kilauea is considered to be a large volcano, the eruption rate over the past 100,000 years must have been high, and the current eruptive activity would be normal. 
      "The same holds true for other volcanoes of Hawai`i Island—if we know their size, we can deduce their long-term eruption rates,” the article concludes.
      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK WAIVES entrance fees tomorrow. Ka`u residents can celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by volunteering to remove invasive ginger along the summit of Kilauea from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Participants meet at Kilauea Visitor Center and should bring a hat, raingear, garden gloves, daypack, snacks and water and wear sturdy hiking shoes and long pants. No advance registration is required. Entrance is free all day.

After Dark in the Park explores Kilauea's
violent eruptions. Photo from NPS
VOLCANO AWARENESS MONTH CONTINUES at After Dark in the Park Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Using USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory logs, geologic field notes, National Park Service reports, newspaper accounts, photographs, and other records from 1924, Ben Gaddis, a long-time HVO volunteer, tells the story of Kilauea Volcano’s most violent eruption of the 20th century from the perspective of the people who lived through it. In April 1924, Kapoho residents were evacuated as hundreds of earthquakes shook their village. In the weeks that followed, huge explosions wracked the summit of Kilauea Volcano. Free; park entrance fees apply. 

FROM KA`U TO NORTH KONA, another Volcano Awareness Month program, examines the prominent lava flows and volcanic landscapes along Queen Ka`ahumanu and Mamalahoa Highways Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at NELHA Gateway Visitor Center in Kona. USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists Jim Kauahikaua and Janet Babb take attendees on a virtual road trip from Kahuku to Kapalaoa, during which they talk about the volcanic history, stories and impacts of the Mauna Loa and Hualalai lava flows visible along the highways.
      For more information, email askHVO@usgs.gov or call 967-8844.

KA`U HIGH GIRLS VARSITY BASKETBALL team won their game at Kealakehe Friday, with a final score of 57 – 40. Denisha Navarro scored 37 points. Junior Varsity, with Deisha Gascon scoring 29 points, lost 36 – 43.
      The teams host Waiakea tomorrow at 6 p.m.

KA`U HIGH BOYS JUNIOR VARSITY basketball team won their home game against Hawai`i Preparatory Academy yesterday. The final score was 57 – 43, with 
Evan Manoha scoring 19 points. Ka`u Varsity 
lost 38 – 70. 
Larry-Dan Al-Navarro scored 16
 points.
      The teams travel to Kohala Tuesday.

KA`U HOSPITAL URGES RESIDENTS to complete its Community Health Needs Assessment at surveymonkey.com/s/93HQ5MX. The deadline is Jan. 31.

SEE THE DIRECTORY from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at http://snack.to/fzpfg59c.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.