Big Island Mayor-elect Mitch Roth; Hawaii County Issues Recap; Reality Check: Worker's Covid Comp Denied; Malama Maunalua; Naming the Nihoa Snail
Big Island Mayor-elect Mitch Roth
Voters on the Big Island have chosen their next Mayor. Former prosecuting attorney Mitch Roth secured 57% of the county’s vote to edge out his opponent, businessman Ikaika Marzo. Roth will face a number of challenges as he prepares to assume the Mayoral seat including a battered economy, worsening homelessness, and questions over public land use - not to mention the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. He spoke with The Conversation’s Harrison Patino about what he hopes to achieve in office.
Hawaii County Issues Recap
We continue to talk post election on the Big Island. Joining us is our regular contributor Sherry Bracken.
Reality Check: Hawaii Sherriffs on Track for National Accreditation
It’s now time for the Reality Check with our partners at Honolulu Civil Beat reporter Blaze Lovell has a story about progress being made in training our state sheriffs.
Malama Maunalua
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, you’ve heard stories of sea life returning to Hawaii’s nearshore waters as fewer humans play in the water. One example is Oahu’s Hanauma Bay, where researchers have seen fish return.
But Maunalua results may be different at nextdoor Maunalua Bay, which stretches 6 miles from Portlock to Black Point. Above the bay is home to 60,000 people - and their runoff ends up in the bay. Doug Harper is the executive director of Malama Maunalua. The group was founded in 2005 by longtime community members who had seen the bay degrade during their lifetimes. Harper spoke with The Conversation’s Jason Ubay about the study.
Naming the Nihoa Snail
Today we throw the spotlight on a Native Hawaiian snail that was previously thought to be extinct. It turns out that the family of mollusks didn’t even have a name. But scientists at the Bishop Museum worked to fix that naming the snail for someone who has long studied them. We talked to Norine Yeung, the mollusk curator at the Bishop Museum as well as Kenneth Hayes head of the Pacific Center for Mollusk Biodiversity which stores genetic material for specimens found across the Pacific.
