Environmental disaster or a sugar high?

Times certainly have changed since even just 30 years ago.

In 2013, Matson Navigation Co. spilled about 233,000 gallons of molasses (about 1,400 tons) into Honolulu Harbor, killing more than 26,000 fish and other marine life, and sparking what one state official called the “largest environment response effort ever in the state,” drawing more than 100 responders from federal and state agencies. Last week, Matson agreed to pay the state $5.9 million to atone for its mistake, plus spend $9.5 million to remove its molasses tank farm on Sand Island.

By comparison, a 500-ton molasses spill in Hilo Harbor in August 1983 merited only a small news article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, on Page A-3, which bore the headline, “Molasses Spill Has Harbor Fish ‘High’” and joked about how “much of the marine life in Hilo Harbor have been on a sugar high” since the spill, which caused “an undetermined number of sea creatures” to die as well. Apparently people back then found it humorous.

Retail shops everywhere, but none with tires

Just in time for the holidays, Ala Moana Center plans to open its $570 million expansion project at the Ewa end of the mall. What was once Sears will instead be three levels of shopping that includes Bloomingdale’s, other large retailers and restaurants. That section alone — some 650,000 square feet — will be bigger than Windward Mall, which is 515,000 square feet.

One might wonder if any portion of the expansion will include a tire service center or even a kiosk to cut a key. Sears will be a distant memory when the new wing opens Nov. 12.