Health care purveyor will stop selling tobacco

Health care is a growth industry. With medical coverage expanding under Obamacare and the U.S. population aging, drugstores that broaden their scope are making a smart business move.

CVS Pathmark, the parent company of Hawaii’s Longs Drug Stores, has capitalized on this trend with its MinuteClinics, where customers can walk in for treatment of minor illnesses and get preventive care. What’s for sale in the rest of the store, however, sometimes clashes with this health-conscious atmosphere. So CVS has rightly decided to stop selling tobacco products, blamed for 480,000 U.S. deaths each year, at its stores by Oct. 1.

Good for them. It will be interesting to see if CVS stops at tobacco.

Looking for the keys to the House

Hawaii is loaded with residents who couldn’t be bothered with political engagement, judging by our voter turnout stats. Now there’s one, a Republican, who seemingly can’t get enough of politics.

His name is Allan Levene, and he’s not a resident — yet. Levene is running for Congress in four states: Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan and Hawaii. If he wins the GOP primary here, he says on his website (leveneforcongresshawaii.com/), he’s ready to move here.

Hawaii needs to be seen as someplace more than a vacation spot, he wrote on the blog.

"It’s clear that you need a noisy, loud congressional mouthpiece," he said. Hmm, wonder how that will play here?