Biking our way to the top

Virtually all the graphs in a recent Rutgers University study showed similar downward slopes, and that conveys a simple finding: The more people in a community walk or bike, the less problem they have with obesity, diabetes and other health concerns.

The worst obesity rates show up, according to the study, in states with the lowest level of biking, walking and public transit use: Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee. Hawaii always turns up near the top of "healthiest states" rosters, owing in part to year-round access to outdoor recreation. But as countless other reports also show, this is not the most bike- and walk-friendly place.

If the city and state do make good on their promises to boost bikeways and pedestrian facilities — and that’s a big "if" — where would Hawaii be on the health rankings? Off the charts, would be our bet.

UNIQLO duds for LPGA?

A new buyer for Kapalua Bay Golf Course for $24.1 million is a good sign, but the follow-through will be the return of an LPGA tournament to the fairways.

Seoul Broadcasting System sponsored this January’s SBS Championship, featuring all winners from the previous year’s PGA events, on Kapalua’s Plantation Course — but no LPGA sponsor has emerged to replace ADT Security Services, which backed away from the Bay Course after 2008.

The buyer of the Bay Course is TY Management Corp., founded and headed by Japanese apparels mogul Tadashi Yanai. Could sponsorship be used by Yanai’s UNIQLO clothing to reach the American market?