Off the News: Counting all mayoral hopefuls, so far

It’s already apparent that ahead of the Aug. 8 primary election — the debut of statewide vote-by-mail — Oahu voters will be sifting through a flurry of city-focused campaign pitches from candidates seeking to succeed the termed-out Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

Last week, Rick Blangiardi, president and general manager of Hawaii News Now, said he’s poised to join the crowd in the nonpartisan race. Hopefuls already announced or holding fundraisers include: former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, incumbent City Council members Ron Menor and Kymberly Pine, businessman Keith Amemiya and former state Sen. John Carroll.

Online shopping challenges military

It used to be that base shopping was a key military perk. The fact that the feds are scouting for new customers is a mark of how competitive the supermarket business has become. More military customers are shopping Amazon and other online and off-base merchants.

A new law now qualifies veterans with a service-related disability — more than 27,000 in Hawaii — to shop at commissaries and exchanges. It’s still a good deal, so a lot of vets will be examining their records to see if they make the cut.