News of the subpoena for records on the rail project either has rolled off the backs of a weary public or has further unsettled those who are wondering what it means.

Andrew Robbins, executive director of Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, said he is not worried that the action by the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office will further delay federal funds. But officials such as Rep. Scott Saiki, speaker of the House, are not feeling so sanguine. He suggests the city make contingency plans.

Better count those at the state Capitol among the unsettled.

A bright discovery from Mauna Kea

Scientists using a telescope atop Mauna Kea have made another big discovery: a massive solar flare in the Orion Nebula, about 1,500 light-years from Earth. The find is a catalogue of astronomy on the cutting edge: The brightest and most powerful stellar flare ever seen, discovered using newly developed image analysis techniques, the first coronal flare discovered at submillimeter wavelengths.

“A discovery of this magnitude could have only happened in Hawaii,” said Steve Mairs, an astronomer with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.

Indeed. It’s a reminder of the pivotal role Hawaii plays in the field of state-of-the-art astronomy.