Wall-to-wall coverage of utility hearings

Get the popcorn and hunker down: 84 hours of live coverage of Next-Era’s proposed purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries starts Monday.

Yes, it’s a big commitment, but Olelo Community Media knows this is a big deal — literally, $4.3 billion. So, the public will be able to watch, in its entirety, the state Public Utilities Commission’s 12-day evidentiary hearing on the proposed energy buyout. Live coverage on Olelo’s Channel 49 will run 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday; then Dec. 7 through Dec. 11; and Dec. 14 through Dec. 16.

The PUC proceedings also will be aired live on community-access TV stations on Maui and Hawaii island, and will be livestreamed on www.youtube.com/olelocm and www.olelo.org/olelo49. (For more info, see www.olelo.org.)

Did we mention that this is a big deal? Thanks, Olelo.

A rose by any other name is still a big sales day

And you thought you had to wait until Friday to take advantage of those “Black Friday” sales.

Not so.

Some clever trickery by mega-retailer Walmart enabled it to start offering its Black Friday deals at 10:01 p.m. on Wednesday (it has something to do with time zones). Not to be outdone, Best Buy started offering some of its Black Friday deals this past Sunday(!), because, you know, a Friday by any other name could be a Wednesday or a Sunday or whatever. And other retailers also have burst out of the gate early.

But however you want to slice it (turkey, anyone?), retail sales across the U.S. are expected to be booming this Thanksgiving holiday and through Christmas. For that we probably ought to be thankful.