Hula Planet:What To Do In Hawaii

Drum beats echoed from the sacred dancing circle and onto the banks of Waiakea Pond on Saturday. Total bankruptcy filings jumped 34.4 percent in May over the year-earlier period. Hundreds turned out for the Governor’s Memorial Day Ceremony at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe Monday afternoon. With a peach-colored sunset as a backdrop and aided by gentle trade winds, more than 2,000 candle-lit lanterns representing the souls of the departed made their way from the Magic Island end of Ala Moana Beach Park into the Pacific. More than 40,000 people watched some 2,000 floating lanterns drift to sea last night from Ala Moana Beach, ferrying wishes of healing and peace and honoring those who have died under hardships. Five battle-tested political veterans are already at the starting gate for the special election to replace Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who announced last week that he will resign July 20 to run for governor. The Honolulu City Council is expected to pick the next member for Hawaii Kai as early as Thursday if five of the eight members can agree on the right person. With Democrat Ed Case out of the September primary election, the challenge for Hawaii Democrats is to get Case’s supporters to back Colleen Hanabusa. With the departure of Ed Case