Making mopeds a little less noisy

Listen up, Hawaii moped owners: Starting January, you’ll need to pay annually for a $27 registration fee and for a yet-to-be-determined inspection fee on your trusty two-wheeler. A key impetus for the new state law is the curbing of noise from illegally modified mopeds, which many residents complain has gotten out of hand. The new law would require plates for mopeds, akin to those for cars, trucks and motorcycles. The annual inspection fee is expected to be $13.24, the same as for motorcycles, though that’s yet to be confirmed. There’s concern that scofflaws might still retrofit noisy mopeds illegally — but the new law might deter some from doing so.

UH grad makes it to the All-Star show

Congratulations to former University of Hawaii pitcher Steven Wright for becoming the first UH Rainbow Warrior to be named to a Major League Baseball All-Star Game roster. He joins four others from Hawaii similarly tapped — Sid Fernandez, Shane Victorino, Brandon League and Kurt Suzuki — though none of them were UH grads. Wright is ranked fifth-best among AL starting pitchers and tops among starters for the team that he joined in 2012, the Boston Red Sox. Anyone near a TV — or at Petco Park in San Diego — on July 12, will see Wright take the mound.