Con artists always trying to steal your money

Water, electricity and gas fulfill basic needs. Sophisticated con artists are exploiting that fact with scams targeting Hawaii businesses and residences, scaring people into forking over cash to avoid threatened disruptions in service.

Don’t fall for this fraud. Representatives from Hawaiian Electric Co., the Board of Water Supply and Hawaii Gas all assure that this is not the way they collect bills, even overdue ones. They ask customers to alert them of any suspicious billing calls or visits.

Main thing: Trust your gut, don’t pay up.

We’re not as content here as we used to be

North Dakota? Really?

According to the 2013 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, that state is No. 1 among all 50 states in contentment, based on 178,000-plus interviews covering six sub-indexes: life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors and access to basic necessities.

Hawaii, which enjoyed the top spot the last four years, dropped to No. 8. Blame the plunge on work environment, where we ranked 42nd, that measured job satisfaction, ability to use strengths, treatment by supervisor, and having an open and trusting work environment.

Still, No. 8 in overall well-being isn’t that bad; in fact, it could be a lot worse. Just look at poor West Virginia, which again landed at No. 50, where it’s been for the last five years.