A recent string of robberies would be disturbing enough, but raising the worry is the use of firearms. The Honolulu Police Department says while there hadn’t been a significant increase in Oahu crime overall, based on statistics going back to 2017, there had been about a 20% increase in crimes involving firearms.

On Monday, there was an armed robbery of six people playing mahjong in an Aiea residence’s garage. Last week, when two armed men grabbed a visitor’s purse in Waikiki, her son intervened and was struck in the forehead with the butt of a pistol. Visitors and residents alike: be aware of your surroundings and look out for one another.

Halemaumau Crater still a wonder

For every tourist who has peered across the yawning caldera, for every hula halau that has paid a requisite visit in advance of the Merrie Monarch Festival, Halemaumau Crater has been an unchanging presence.

Unchanging, until Pele had her say. Last year’s Kilauea eruption shifted the geology of that particular feature, and now the underground water table is feeding a new lake. There’s some cause for worry about magma producing an explosion later — but cause for wonder at nature, as well.