Cars of the future get their test drives here

Do Hawaii’s relatively short driving distances create an ideal field-testing location for the auto industry?

In November, General Motors will bring 20 hydrogen-powered Chevrolets to Oahu in partnership with the Gas Co., which plans to install the first nonmilitary fueling station in Kakaako.

Two months later, Nissan will bring 300 of the company’s Leaf electric car here in partnership with the state.

"This is Hawaii’s future," says Gov. Linda Lingle, "and what a perfect relationship."

Mistakes happen, and so do complaints that follow

Everyone makes mistakes, but if the folks at the elections office had their druthers, they probably would have picked any place other than District 25 for leaving candidates off about 1,600 mailed absentee ballots.

That’s the bailiwick that extends from Kailua, through Waimanalo to Hawaii Kai — none of those neighborhoods known to suffer indignities in silence. And there’s a relatively even spread of Democrats and Republicans, too.

Was election chief Scott Nago busy putting out bipartisan flames coming over the phone lines?

"You can say that," he said, with a grim chuckle.