Gas price hit 16-month high

The average price for regular gasoline in the U.S. rose the most in 16 months in August, AAA said Friday.

Regular gas rose 30.8 cents, or 8.7 percent, to $3.829 a gallon. The price rose 9 percent in April 2011. The gain was the second-highest for the month of August in AAA records going back to 2000, behind August 2005. In Hawaii, August’s price of $4.321 was up 17.5 cents, or 4.2 percent, from $4.146 a month earlier.

Hawai‘i Convention Center wins award

Association Conventions & Facilities magazine has awarded the Hawai‘i Convention Center a "Distinctive Achievement Award," which also was awarded to four other convention centers nationally.

The five winners received the award due to being the most helpful in assisting professionals with their meetings and conventions, as voted by the magazine’s more than 20,500 subscribers.

Winners of the award are featured in the magazine’s August/September issue.

NBC criticized for Paralympic coverage

Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal, which broke ratings records with its extensive coverage of the London Olympics, is facing complaints from disability organizations for choosing not to air more of the Paralympic Games.

NBC Sports obtained rights for 5 1⁄2 hours of Paralympics coverage from the U.S. Olympics Committee, consisting of four 60-minute highlight segments and a 90-minute wrap-up a week after the games conclude, the company said. Stations in Britain and Australia, meanwhile, are showing hundreds of hours of live coverage, according to the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper.

"NBC is making a mistake because they are missing an opportunity to build this into a whole new medium for entertainment," said Dick Traum, president and founder of Achilles International, a New York-based organization that supports athletes with disabilities. "They could also be doing great things for the disabled community by bringing more focus on it."

NBC, controlled by Philadelphia-based Comcast, is "presenting all the coverage that our rights permit," Chris McCloskey, a spokesman for the network, said in a statement. The programming time is an increase from the 90 minutes devoted to Beijing’s Paralympics in 2008.

Like the regular Olympics, the games are held every four years. The event was started in 1948 in England to spotlight athletes with disabilities.

NBC’s broadcasts of the London Olympic Games reached 219.4 million viewers, making it the most watched U.S. television event ever. NBC aired more than 5,000 hours of Olympic events between its broadcast and cable stations this summer, the most coverage ever for the event.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac fees boosted

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S.-owned mortgage-finance companies, will raise by an average of 10 basis points the fees they charge lenders to guarantee loans, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a statement.

FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco sought the fee increase to boost fiscal stability at the government-sponsored enterprises and shrink their footprint in the mortgage market, where they own or guarantee about 60 per­cent of U.S. home loans.

"These changes will move Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pricing closer to the level one might expect to see if mortgage credit risk was borne solely by private capital," DeMarco said.

The guarantee-fee increases, which go into effect in November, probably will be passed on to borrowers in the form of higher interest rates and are small enough that they won’t stall mortgage lending, banking-industry trade groups said.

An increase of 10 basis points would cost a borrower with a $200,000 mortgage about $4,000 over a 30-year loan term.

FDA OKs advanced prostate cancer drug

Medivation Inc., a biotechnology company whose shares have jumped sixfold in the past 12 months, won approval from U.S. regulators for a late-stage prostate cancer treatment.

The drug, to be sold under the name Xtandi, was developed with Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., and the companies will split sales. The approval may increase San Francisco-based Medivation’s sales to $357 million in 2013 from $60 million last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Medivation’s therapy, approved three months before the scheduled decision date, is designed for patients whose cancer has advanced beyond the prostate even with previous treatments, the Food and Drug Administration said. Xtandi extended patients’ survival to 18.4 months, compared with 13.6 months for those on a placebo in a clinical trial.

Medivation plans to start selling the drug in mid-September. The company will join with Astellas’ U.S. sales force, and the medicine will cost $7,450 for a 30-day supply.

On the Move

Prudential Locations has promoted Chad Takesue as the firm’s newest partner. He has been with the company for seven years and started his real estate career with Abe Lee Realty in 2002.

Enterprise Honolulu has appointed Eric Tessem to the board of directors, and his appointment is for three years. He is the senior vice president and general manager of dck pacific construction, a dck worldwide company. Tessem has more than 30 years of experience in the construction industry, including as president of Construction Associates for more than 22 years.  

Accuity LLP managing partner Kent K. Tsukamoto was elected chairman of the state of Hawaii Board of Public Accountancy during their meeting last month. The board regulates and oversees more than 2,600 certified public accountants and 400 firms licensed in Hawaii, and it comprises public members as well as practicing CPAs.

The McDonald’s National Employee Scholarship was awarded to Michal “Mahea” Combs, who was one of 51 McDonald’s employees nationwide to receive $2,500 for their outstanding employee qualities, scholastic achievements and community involvement. Combs is an employee of McDonald’s of Mililani Mauka.