The pandemic clock is ticking toward the end of the moratoriums on utility shut-offs due to nonpayment. But the Honolulu Board of Water Supply thinks folks may need time to arrange a payment plan and so will extend its own suspension of shut-offs through July 31, an additional month.

Those affected should pursue guidance already (see boardofwatersupply.com/customer-service/support). And the water board has a scam alert: Don’t trust anyone demanding confidential information or payment on the spot.

Busy holiday foreshadows summer

The ecosystem that sustains Hawaii’s tourism industry was robustly tested this Memorial Day weekend, the isles’ busiest travel period since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic virtually shut down the state. Hawaii and Las Vegas were among the top U.S. destinations this weekend, the traditional start of summer, with pent-up travel being realized due to lowering COVID fears amid solid vaccination rates. Hawaii hotels and restaurants saw increases in reservations; an advisory was issued about the rental-car shortage here.

All this portends, as one top hotel exec said, “a slamming summer” for Hawaii tourism. Keeping up vaccinations, plus protocols such as masking, will be needed — but seeing the travel hubbub is a welcome sight.