Who can replace Cynthia Thielen?

The first 2020 campaign for the state House of Representatives may have just begun, with Kailua’s Rep. Cynthia Thielen announcing she would not seek re-election.

Thielen’s party has not fared well at the Capitol lately — she is one of only five Republicans remaining in the chamber, with one more in the Senate — but she herself has had a solid following since her arrival there in 1990.

Democrats have tried to unseat her, and now there are sure to be hopefuls mulling the race — from the GOP, too.

Preparing to move wind tubines

This morning’s scheduled closure of a North Shore stretch of Kamehameha Highway is meant as a dry run to test the transport of wind turbine equipment for the Na Pua Makani wind farm project.

Theoretically, though, the project is still being contested. Kahuku neighbors of the project, as well as the environmental group Life of the Land, are challenging the 2013 power purchase agreement enabling it. Perhaps the test closure also conveys confidence that the equipment will be transported — eventually.