Kaiser Permanente Hawaii said Tuesday it has approved a $50,000 grant to the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice for the formation and development of the Hawaii Budget and Policy Center. The center will work with lawmakers and community partners to develop and advocate for policies that help alleviate poverty in the community.

About 200,000 people in Hawaii — 15 percent of the population — live in poverty, while 48 percent of the state’s population lives paycheck to paycheck. The HBPC will conduct research, provide analysis of policy issues, issue state poverty reports, and support the advocacy efforts of community partners to address and lower poverty rates in the state.

“Poverty has a tremendous impact on the health of an individual and our community as a whole,” said Garret Sugai, Kaiser’s vice president of health plan service and administration. “Working together to understand the underlying causes of poverty and using that knowledge to create systemic policy-driven solutions will help everyone in our community thrive.”

Venezuela makes move into digital currency

CARACAS, Venezuela >> Cash-strapped Venezuela on Tuesday became the first country to launch its own version of bitcoin, a move President Nicolas Maduro celebrated as putting his country on the world’s technological forefront.

In its first hours on the market, the so-called petro racked in $735 million worth in purchases, Maduro said without providing details.

The petro is backed by Venezuela’s crude oil reserves, the largest in the world, yet it hit the market as the socialist country sinks deeper into an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and food shortages that put residents in lines for hours to buy common products.

“We have taken a giant step into the 21st century,” Maduro said in a nationally broadcast show. “We are on the world’s technological vanguard.”