Coming soon to a mailbox near you, a Hawaii stamp

A vision of a tropical paradise will be delivered to mailboxes around the country soon. A Hawaiian rain forest — home to plants and species found nowhere else on the planet — is colorfully depicted in the final stamp of the U.S. Postal Service’s Nature of America series. The work of Hilo artist John Dawson, it is a homegrown endeavor of sorts, and will be unveiled Sept. 1 at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

More debates ahead

Only a small audience saw this week’s Hawaii Publishers Association-sponsored gubernatorial debate between the leading Democratic candidates, but there will be rematches ahead on television that all can watch.

And they will be worth watching; the two contenders are known to show flashes of style and wit.

But for policy specifics, voters might do better to spend some face time with the candidates at community forums. Few so-called debates allow for follow-up questions, thus yielding more campaign talking points than real answers.