For Awana, pay and try again

Hawaii voters are a forgiving sort. But you have to wonder when or whether state Rep. Karen Awana’s constituents are going to decide their lawmaker has crossed the line one time too many.

The state Campaign Spending Commission has ordered the Leeward Oahu state representative to pay her fourth fine for campaign spending violations. This one cited her for filing false or inaccurate disclosure reports, untimely deposits of campaign contributions and failure to keep campaign finance records.

There is a reason for requiring these reports, representative: It’s so the public can check to see that everything is on the up and up. Bad record-keeping also sows seeds of doubt about a lawmaker’s legislative work.

Awana apologized and vowed to do better. Fifth time’s a charm? We’ll just have to wait and see.

From bassoon to Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Thomas Sudhof credits his power of concentration to learning to play a musical instrument as a child.

The Stanford University scientist, who shares this year’s prize in medicine for breakthroughs illuminating how substances move within cells, told the medical journal Lancet in 2010 that his most influential teacher was his bassoon instructor, “who taught me that the only way to do something right is to practice and listen and practice and listen, hours, and hours and hours.”

Music teachers, take heart. Budget-crunched schools, take note. The precision that learning music demands helps students develop habits of mind that serve them well for a lifetime.