Jean King honored folk hero Seeger

The late folk-music great, Pete Seeger, had an international reputation for serving as the voice of liberal causes. So it makes sense that one of his biggest fans in Hawaii was Jean King, the former lieutenant governor who died Nov. 24.

King, who was out in front herself among Hawaii progressive activists, was one of the forces behind a series of concerts sponsored nationwide to mark the singer-songwriter’s 86th birthday, May 3, 2005.

Hawaii hosted four of them, at a private home and at campuses in the University of Hawaii system.

Among the conditions settled on by King and other organizers was that the concerts had to be free and that at some point, everyone would sing Seeger "Happy Birthday."

King said at the time: "We just said it would be great if there could be this outpouring throughout the country of appreciation and affection." And that feeling was demonstrated again, full force, upon Seeger’s death Monday at age 94.

Job seekers get a statistical boost

Hawaii’s rising unemployment rate has a silver lining.

Economists say the uptick to 4.5 percent in December from 4.4 percent in November signals that people who had given up looking for work and therefore fallen out of the labor statistics are back on the hunt, resuming their job searches with renewed confidence.

That’s a lot better than the alternative reason: more people being laid off.