Asian Pacific Americans step to fore

It’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, providing a nonpolitical context for at least one politician’s spotlight. As in previous years, the CBS network has been running brief public-service announcements touting the APA community, as it’s called, under the "CBS Cares" banner. Look for Julie Chen, host of "The Talk," giving a televised shout-out to Sen. Daniel Inouye, among others.

The observance has a presence on the Web, too (asianpacificheritage.gov). There are details about numerous events, mostly in D.C., including the "Celebrate Hawai‘i Festival: Healing and Aloha" next weekend at the National Museum of the American Indian. Don’t forget: Native Americans have Asian genetic roots.

That site also links to a special curriculum for educators, "Picturing Hawai‘i," from the Honolulu Museum of Art. Part of the Picturing America project, it uses fine arts to give a special insight into the islands’ history. The images are worth downloading — and then viewing for real at the museum.

Warren Buffett really likes newspapers

As most of us know, including many in Hawaii personally, the newspaper business has taken quite a financial beating over the years.

So it was heartening to see that one of the world’s smartest investors — Omaha-based billionaire Warren Buffett — this week agreed to buy 63 newspapers from Media General Inc., for $1.42 billion. He also bought part of Media General itself, which will still own 18 TV stations and some websites, such as DealTaker.com.

Already the owner of the Buffalo News of New York and the Omaha World-Herald, Buffett said he believes newspapers have a decent future if they continue delivering information that can’t be found elsewhere, and also start charging for their online content, according to news reports.

Can’t say we disagree with him.