Prepare for every emergency, including zombies

The state has dispatched the living dead to make Hawaii wake up and tend to emergency preparedness. Sounds like a movie? It is: The Department of Health has produced a 18-minute flick and posted it on YouTube, under the title "Stop the Zombie Apocalypse."

And it’s not just Hawaii riding the zombie fiction craze. After having to scuttle rumors about a "zombie apocalypse" arising from a couple of grisly crimes nationally, the Centers for Disease Control turned the headache into a message about pandemic and bioterrorism awareness.

Now the DOH has posted to the CDC zombie blog and added a video. Go to prepare.hawaii.gov and click the "emergency preparedness banner" when it appears near the top. The survival of humanity, or at least some of us, may depend on it.

On the bright side, rail project got $100 million

The Republican-controlled U.S. House Appropriations Committee has approved only $100 million in federal funding for Honolulu’s 20-mile project in the next fiscal year instead of the Obama administration’s proposed $250 million. Still, Honolulu rail officials have reason to remain optimistic because the equivalent Senate committee is chaired by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

The fact that GOP House leadership would authorize a dime in federal New Starts funding for Honolulu’s rail might even be regarded as an endorsement.