Off the News

Attack of the zombie trash

Really, can anything else possibly go wrong with the trash-shipping enterprise? Even now, months after the city gave up on the whole Hawaiian Waste Systems thing, disaster keeps striking, like a recurring nightmare.

The baled trash that went up in smoke in last week's warehouse fire was awaiting transfer to HPOWER. Also torched: old mattresses that piled up because of a city rule limiting how many could go to the landfill.

Instead of electricity, the rubbish produced nuisances for the Campbell Industrial Park neighbors, fire-fighting costs and critical damage to the HWS facility.

City Council member Ann Kobayashi wants to formally sever ties with HWS, but it seems a little late to be slamming the barn door. 

Enjoy tuna while you can

A giant bluefin tuna has brought a record price at this year's first auction at the world's biggest wholesale fish market in Tokyo. The fish weighed in at 754 pounds and gaveled at nearly $398,000.

That is the equivalent of $526 a pound and anybody's guess about the cost of a mere bite of sushi. The upscale Kyubey restaurant in Tokyo and the more casual Hong Kong-based Itamae Sushi chain were the winning co-bidders for the top fish for the second year in a row.

While the world record was being celebrated, a more somber gathering began testifying before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in favor of listing the Atlantic bluefin tuna as an endangered species.

The record fish was caught off the coast of northern Japan.