Gov hopefuls set sights on general

Now that the primary election has settled each party’s slate, the general-election race for Hawaii governor kicks off in formidable fashion.

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is hosting a forum Friday featuring the candidates from all four parties on the ballot: Democrat David Ige, Republican James "Duke" Aiona, Independent Mufi Hannemann and Libertarian Jeff Davis.

It’s noteworthy that a libertarian think tank is the first to bring all the candidates to the table, side by side.

This isn’t a debate, so we don’t expect fireworks, but we do look forward to begin hearing the candidates’ positions on the tough issues most important to Hawaii voters.

Made in Hawaii makes out fine

It was great that, in its 20th year, the Made In Hawaii Festival hosted a record 450-plus vendors, drawing some 40,000 attendees.

"It seemed like people were carrying out more bags" than last year, event producer Amy Hammond said about the weekend festival. "We calculate that about $10 million (was) transacted over the course of the weekend."

That’s what we like to hear, especially since the previous weekend of Tropical Storm Iselle surely made logistics difficult for artisans from Hawaii island and Maui bringing over wares to the Blaisdell Center.

Speaking of Iselle, which caused much damage in Puna by toppling albizia trees: Among the festival’s many creative vendors was one woodworker who uses the invasive albizia to fashion surfboards, bookmarks and jewelry. Nifty.