The so-called ‘corpse’ flower, which emits a fragrance that smells of rotting flesh, will bloom this week at Honolulu’s Foster Botanical Garden.

Our Landblog reports:

Exciting news from Honolulu’s botanical garden …

The endangered Amorhophallus titanium plant, which has a “horrific odor of rotted flesh” is expected to bloom in Honolulu’s Foster Botanical Garden on Thursday, according to a press release from the Dept. of Parks and Recreation. 

The plant’s name means “misshapen penis” in Greek.

The flower only blooms once every three to five years and is a native of Sumatra Indonesia. 

According to Scot Mitamura, a Honolulu Botanical Garden horticulturalist, the Amorphophallus titanum is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom. Contributing to this plants’ exotic allure is its horrific odor of rotted flesh, which serves to attract the carrion beetles that pollinate the flower.

If you want to see, or smell, the plant, it can be found at Foster Botanical Garden: 50 North Vineyard Blvd., Honolulu.  

Good news on the pension front today.

Our Moneyblog reports:

The value of Hawaii’s public pension fund was up to $11.5 billion at the end of March — up more than 8 percent from the previous quarter, according to the latest performance report.

The Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System posted a gain of $814.4 million for the three months ending March 31, thanks to strong returns on its equity investments.

“Equity markets soared in the first quarter of 2012, turning in the strongest quarter since the initial rebound from the credit crisis in med-2009,” the report said. “The ERS portfolio produced positive absolute results in four of the last five 12-month periods ending March 31.”

The fund’s quarterly performance placed Hawaii in the 33rd percentile among comparable public funds with assets of more than $1 billion, the report said.

Here are a few pages from the report, which should be posted to the ERS website this week.

News that University of Hawaii at Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw will be paid $287,400 for a 10-month sabbatical once she steps down from her position this summer has gotten UH faculty and students in an uproar. 

Hawaii News Now reports:

While UH President M.R.C. Greenwood defended the move, it was criticized by UH students, the faculty union and others.

…

In a deal approved by the UH Board of Regents at their Jan. 19 meeting at Kauai Community College, once Hinshaw completes her sabbatical next year, she’ll go to work at UH’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.   

The medical school will pay Hinshaw $292,188 a year to fill a tenured faculty position she was awarded by a previous Board of Regents when she was hired for the chancellor’s job in 2007. 

Read the complete story.

That’s one expensive dog run!

Our partners at KITV had a great report this morning on the more than $41,000 in taxpayer money spent on improvements to the governor’s residence in the last year:

According to records obtained by KITV4 from the Department of Accounting and General Services, part of the expenditures at Hale Kia’aina includes installing a dog run for the couple’s Shetland sheepdog at a cost of $12,482.

The dog run is simply another fenced in area where first pooch Kanoa can get her exercise unsupervised.

Abercrombie defended the dog run as part of improvements needed to make the governor’s residence livable.

Many of the expenses are par for the course for a couple renovating an older house — a new dishwasher and refrigerator for $3,050, new carpet in the master bedroom and second-floor hallway for $5,892. But the $12,482 dog run really stands out.

Read the full story at KITV. And don’t miss the PDF showing a breakdown of the renovation expenses. 

The recent spate of suspicious monk seal deaths has spurred the feds to give Hawaii a new grant to help with the protection of the endangered seals, as well as green sea turtles. There’s still a $40,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those behind the seal killings.

Our Landblog reports:

Hawaii will receive a $128,585 grant to aid in the protection of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal and green sea turtle, according to a Monday press release from Sen. Daniel Inouye and Sen. Daniel Akaka. 

The funding is in part spurred by the recent deaths of four monk seals, which died under suspicious circumstances. It will be used for public education efforts and documenting the disturbance of the marine animals.

From the press release: 

“Protecting the monk seal, the most endangered fin-footed marine mammal in U.S. waters, the green sea turtle and the hawksbill turtle will require a concerted effort by all who use the ocean.  The alleged killing of four monk seals during the last six months highlights the immediate need for a combination of intervention and culturally sensitive education and outreach.  This grant will continue the process of correcting misinformation about the monk seal while also addressing the challenges facing the green sea and hawksbill turtles.  We must be diligent stewards of the ocean and I am very pleased the administration recognizes the need to invest in the protection of these marine animals,” said Senator Inouye.

 “The monk seal and honu are among Hawaii’s most treasured native species.  We must do all we can to protect these important marine animals so that our keiki and future generations can learn from and enjoy them like we do,” said Senator Akaka.

 

Photo credit: NOAA

A flower shortage caused by Thai flooding and growing popularity of lei on the mainland means that some local producers have resorted to mixing plastic flowers in with real ones to satisfy demand this graduation season. 

Hawaii News Now reports: 

Watanabe Floral makes the lei we found at Costco.  They say the “plastic floral design spacers” as they are called are used because of a flower shortage.  Flooding in Thailand last year destroyed 60 percent of the supply and there aren’t enough flowers in Hawaii to make up for the loss.

DPCI Co. is the company that made the lei from Longs Drugs.  They too have tried to supplement with local growers but realize people aren’t happy with plastic but the shortage left them with no choice.

… Watanabe Floral says an orchid used to be just 2 cents per flower head.  Now it’s more than 12 cents.  And orchids need time to grow so the shortage could last for another year and a half or longer.

Deep-sea water bottler Koyo will pay the state millions to settle a health violation case with the state.

Our Moneyblog reports:

The state says it has agreed to settle health violation fines against Koyo USA Corp., a Big Island producer of bottled water made from deep-sea water.

Koyo USA, which is based at Kailua-Kona’s Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, will pay the state Department of Health a total of $2 million in fines. The state had fined the company $5 million last September.

The health department had issued a notice and order against Koyo for using an unapproved manufacturing process for its bottled water between 2006 and 2011. The company had a permit to filter ocean water, but was required to follow a specific filtration process. The company’s products did not have to be recalled. 

Koyo has already paid $1 million to the state, and a second payment is due by August 2013, the state said.

The venue is Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar. The suggested donation is $4,000.

The list of event co-chairs is a who’s who of union leadership including Randy Perreira of HGEA, Dayton Nakanelua of UPW, Tenari Ma’afala of SHOPO, Donna Domingo of ILWU, Bobby Lee of the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, Damien Kim of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, among others.

Inside Honolulu reports:

Hawaii labor unions expect some serious change from supporters of mayoral candidate Kirk Caldwell. But not in the sense of doing something different. 

A fundraiser is scheduled for this evening with a $4,000 suggested contribution per person.

Not sure how many “working families” will be having tapas and wine at the event that is supposed to benefit them.

— Nathan Eagle

Last September, Honolulu city officials closed a lane of Waialae Ave near 10th Avenue for three days to simulate a bike lane. They’re at it again this week, conducting another traffic study this week to study the issue.

This week’s study poses a minor inconvenience to motorists — no left turns allowed into Sacred Hearts Academy and 5th Avenue from 7 to 8 a.m.

Don’t miss our past coverage of efforts to add a bike lane to Waialae: 

- Honolulu Test Drives Bike Lanes on Waialae

- Waialae Avenue Latest Battleground In Making Honolulu Bike-Friendly

Incidentally, the city also announced this morning that anyone who bikes to the Honolulu Zoo today can get in for free. 

(Photo by Flickr user Pentops)

Hawaii Department of Health officials are warning people to avoid eating shellfish imported from Korea. 

The federal Food and Drug Administration reports that “all fresh and frozen shellfish, and many products made from these shellfish, imported from Korea to the United States may be contaminated and unsafe for human consumption.”

That covers clams, oysters or mussels, of the frozen and fresh variety. 

The Department of Health says they’ve not had any reported illnesses in Hawaii related to shellfish, but they’re spreading the word to local markets and restaurants as a precaution. 

Just yesterday, the department sent out another blast warning consumers to wash basil carefully after several Oahu farms were found using illegal pesticides.

Flickr image courtesy of Benson Kua.

The Guinness World Record has recognized a 44-year-old Hawaii pro surfer for catching the biggest wave ever ridden.

In November, McNamara, of Haleiwa, caught a 78-foot wave off the coast of Portugal, beating the 2008 record of biggest ridden by more than a foot. 

The AP reports:

He said he originally didn’t want to attempt the waves that day after wiping out numerous times on even bigger swells in the same spot, above an undersea canyon known as one of the biggest wave-generators on the planet.

“I was really beat-up that morning,” he said. “This day, I did not want to get out of bed.”

Here’s a look at the ride again:

Geothermal companies are lining up to get a piece of the Big Island.

Our Landblog reports:

It’s starting to look a bit like the California gold rush. 

About 20 companies are interested in developing geothermal on the Big Island, Pacific Business News reports. 

Hawaii Electric Light Co. just received PUC approval to issue a 50 megawatt RFP for geothermal energy. 

This is a sharp contrast to the 1980s when there were only two companies vying to tap the resource.

Read the full story here. 

Ewa residents could see their neighborhood hospital reopen.

Queen’s Health Systems is in talks with St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii to buy the former Hawaii Medical Center-West hospital and reopen it, KITV reports. The two have signed a letter of intent allowing Queens to explore the feasibility of such a move.

HMC West filed for bankruptcy in June 2011 and was closed by the end of the year. 

This session, lawamkers agreed on a bill that would authorize the state’s Hawaii Health Systems Corp. to acquire the Hawaii Medical Center-East in Li­liha.

The U.S. Navy is considering expanding its sonar and explosives training in Hawaiian waters, KHON reports. There will be a public meeting at McKinley High School on June 15, 5 p.m., to discuss the proposal.

The Associated Press report digs deeper into the new draft environmental impact statement: 

The Navy estimates its use of explosives and sonar may unintentionally cause more than 1,600 instances of hearing loss or other injury to marine mammals each year, according to a draft environmental impact statement that covers training and testing planned from 2014 to 2019. The Navy calculates the explosives could potentially kill more than 200 marine mammals a year. 

…

The Navy isn’t saying it will injure whales and dolphins as it trains sailors and tests equipment. It’s telling the public and environmental regulators that its actions have the potential to harm or otherwise prompt a reaction in the animals.

Mayor Peter Carlisle has signed a plastic bag ban for Honolulu into law. 

The Honolulu City Council passed the bill 7-1 last month. A recent Civil Beat poll found that people were actually split on whether any restrictions should be put on plastic bags. 

Regardless, Honolulu’s bag ban goes into effect in July 2015. Honolulu was the last Hawaii county to pass a bag ban or fee.