The Future of Dole Ag Land; Rock and Roll Pioneer June Millington; Taxing Air BnB; Novelist Cecily Wong

State Should Buy Dole Ag Lands On Oahu: Senator Gil Riviere

For years now, Hawaii has wrestled with how it will feed itself. The high percentage of imports greets us in supermarkets in every aisle...but in the produce section locally grown items have made inroads. Several senators would like to see more and are backing a plan to have the state purchase Dole agriculture lands on Oahu for later lease to farmers.

Intro Music: Blind Alley by Fanny

Outro Music: Should I Stay? by Indigenous

Rock and Roll Pioneer: June Millington

  June Millington, singer-guitarist and lifelong rock ‘n’ roller, has run into just about any boneheaded assumption there is about women in music down through the years. Girls, in the rock world of the Sixties and Seventies, weren’t expected to play their own instruments, but Fanny, the all-female band she and her sister June led, could hold its own with any of its contemporaries, quickly blowing past any preconceptions the audience might have with sheer musicality. It wasn’t always easy, but June has always been sustained by her music. She’s in Hawaii for a weekend concert on the Big Island, and we spoke about those early days.

Intro Music: Special Care by Fanny

Outro Music: You're The One by Fanny

HB1850, Relating to Taxation; Air BnB: Laura Thielen

By now, you know the sharing economy is in full swing in many cities and towns across America and around the world, but the opening of new ways to get rides or a play to stay has come with a cost. For those cities and towns that often means tax revenue lost. In Hawaii, a bill to allow transient accommodation brokers to act as tax collection agents heads to conference tomorrow. It is now in its fifth version which is some indication of the controversy surrounding the bill...which has grown in recent days with a focus on listings for campsites. Senator Laura Thielen joins us now to look at why.

Intro Music: Sleeping By Myself by Pearl Jam

Outro Music: Truth (Helios Remix) by Balmorhea

Diamond Head (Novel): Cecily Wong

  The creator of an epic story faces a special set of challenges; telling a story that spans generations calls for a broad historical understanding -- not just of individuals but of the events that affect them. In her debut novel Diamond Head, Cecily Wong looks at the life of a Chinese family that settled in Hawaii at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and the destiny that pursues it here

Intro Music: Diamond in the Sun by Headshine, Big B

Outro Music: Erhu Music by Chinese Traditional Erhu Music