Even at No. 2, Hawaii’s still very healthy

Thanks in part to plentiful fitness opportunities in year-round T-shirt weather, and in part to a high level of health insurance coverage and high spending on public health, Hawaii is again on the podium with the nation’s healthiest states.

Since the annual America’s Health Rankings report by the United Health Foundation started in 1990, the Aloha State has always landed among the top six. This time around we took the No. 2 ranking, ending a five-year run in the top spot. Among our strengths in the 2017 report: effective preventable hospitalizations practices and clinical care — easy access to dentists and primary care physicians.

Building more than rock walls from lava

That request for proposals to assess whether Hawaii island production of a lava-derived high-strength building material seems promising. After all, the entirety of the Big Island — the whole archipelago — is volcanic.

There is one small wrinkle: Beyond the legal bar against removing lava from the national park, let’s not forget there’s cultural sensitivity about this rock — wherever on the island it is.

But in theory, creating “basalt fiber” out of the stuff of rock walls sounds potentially lucrative. That is, if the volcano goddess, Pele, is on board with it.