Off the News: We don’t want snakes on a plane

In a move to prevent brown tree snakes from slithering into Hawaii by plane, ship or cargo carrier, plans are in the works to teach dogs to detect the invasive species, which has decimated bird species on Guam. For the training, the state is importing four sterile tree snakes that will be fitted with radio transmitters.

All involved should take care to double-check safeguards to keep the reptiles in check as we’d like to keep the state’s snake-free status intact. The South Pacific native is believed to have been accidentally introduced to Guam in the 1940s, hidden in cargo. In addition to ecological hits, the snake regularly wriggles into that island’s electrical apparatus, causing costly power outages.

Those handbags were expensive

The typical fire report goes like this: Losses are estimated at X-times-Y for the structure, and just X for the contents. Scan some of the history of recent Honolulu Fire Department cases: “$245,000 for the structure and $30,000 for the contents” — that kind of thing.

That’s because most folks don’t have fancy Italian leather goods in their collection.

Unfortunately for luxury retailer Bottega Veneta, the Ala Moana shop did. Damage to the boutique structure was set at $2,000 for the structure and $5.7 million for the contents. A lot of people really liked these bags, apparently.