Something for endangered species to crow about

Due largely to aggressive alien plant and pest species and our isolation in the mid-Pacific, Hawaii leads the nation in endangered species listings. So it’s heartening to see the clever Hawaiian crow — extinct in the wild since 2002 — poised for release in Puu Makaala Natural Area Reserve near Hilo.

Five alala will be fitted with radio and GPS transmitters and monitored every day. The reintroduction follows recovery efforts spanning four decades. The crow’s population was decimated by predators such as the Hawaiian hawk, or io, and diseases such as avian malaria.

Some lawsuit settlements shouldn’t be sealed

Lawsuit settlements sometimes involve sealing certain documents that otherwise might be public record. While these settlements can be necessary, it shouldn’t be so easy to conceal information of public interest.

For example, some residents of a 2,500-unit housing development at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe have safety concerns about contamination at the site, which they say was not disclosed before units were leased. One lawsuit on the situation was settled in February, but terms have been kept secret.

There have been efforts in Congress to raise the bar for sealing such records in the past. Perhaps it’s time to try again to get that passed.