Ka`u News Briefs June 15, 2011

First Princess Tatiana Ka'awa, Second Princess Cherrisse Calumpit, and Miss Ka'u Peaberry Rebecca Kailiawa-Escobar receive their titles. Tune in to channel 54 tonight at 6pm to watch the 2011 Miss Ka'u Coffee Pageant.

REP. BOB HERKES IS concerned that his new law to encourage mortgage holders to mediate with homeowners who are back on their payments, may be misused. Herkes successfully championed the passage of toughest mortgage foreclosure law in the country, which prohibits non-judicial foreclosures without mediation.

      Herkes and supporters expected that cost and time required to go through an already burdened court system would encourage lenders to mediate. However, the largest mortgage holder in the country, Fannie Mae, has responded to the new Hawai`i law by cancelling all non-judicial foreclosures in Hawai`i and sending them to court.

      The risk to homeowners is that a court action could make the delinquent homeowner responsible for losses taken by lenders who auction off the houses at low prices. Herkes said he would ask the Judiciary to hold mortgage holders to the standards of the non-judicial foreclosure law, which could further dissuade use of the court system.

HAWAI`I IS IN AN ECONOMIC RECOVERY if you look at the state’s excise tax income in May. It was up $230 million over last year’s collections in May. Business reporter for Hawai`i News Now, Howard Dicus, said that this is amazing, particularly following the spike in the cost of fuel, shipping cost increases, and the Japan tsunami.

Photo courtesy of Cellana.

U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY Steven Chu has announced $83 million in funding to research biofuels, bioenergy, and high-value bio-based products. The grants support clean, sustainable transportation fuels to reduce U.S. oil imports, support economic development in rural America, create clean energy jobs for U.S. workers, and protect American families and businesses from future spikes in gas prices. These advanced biofuels are also expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared to fossil fuels, he said. The project funded on this island supports algae to make biofuel. Cellana LLC in Kona, Hawai`i was awarded $5,521,173 to develop a biofuel with a bi-product of a protein supplement that could be used in livestock feed.

Photo courtesy of UH Hilo.

THE SKIES THUNDERED ABOVE KA`U ON MAUNA KEA AND MAUNA LOA in recent weeks. It signaled lightening above the volcanoes that either struck or created an electrical surge taking the University of Hawai`i telescope offline for more than a week. Technicians hope to have it back online today to resume research by U.H. students and professors. Other telescopes were unaffected by the lightening. Approximately four times as many thunderstorm days have been recorded during recent months. Accompanying rain has helped ease the drought in Ka`u.

TWELVE-TIME NA HOKU HANOHANO award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Kenneth Makuakane shares songs from his latest albums at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park today. He performs on the lanai from 10 a.m. to noon and in the auditorium from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

First Princess Jaeneise Cuison won Talent with a Tahitian hula dance.

THE MISS KA`U COFFEE PAGEANT airs on Na Leo O Hawai`i Community Television this month on channel 54. It will air today at 6 p.m.; Friday, June 17 at 2 p.m.; Sunday, June 19 at 9:30 a.m.; and Wednesday, June 22 at 6 p.m.

THE KA`U CHAMBER OF COMMERCE holds its next meeting tomorrow at 5 p.m. at the Na`ohulelua historic garden on Kama`oa Road. The Chamber will be accepting applications from potential board members, especially from people who own or operate businesses in Ka`u.