Hawaii financially friendly to women, mostly

The latest national ranking from the finance social network WalletHub coincides with Women’s History Month. In honor of that occasion, it’s nice to see Hawaii ranks eighth in the nation as a good state for women.

The interplay of factors seems clear, mostly. We’re among the top 10 for our low unemployment rate for women, low percentage living in poverty, high percentage of women-owned businesses, low uninsured rate and high for having top-ranked women’s hospital care. We’re actually No. 1 for women’s life expectancy at birth. Oddly, for women’s preventive health care, Hawaii’s just in the middle of the pack. Do we have the opportunity for healthy living but don’t always take it?

Malaekahana would stay ‘country’ a little longer

Keeping the country country has been the long-cherished ideal for Koolau Loa on Oahu’s north side.

The City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee acted Thursday to protect this treasure when it declined to include any reference to development at Malaekahana in the draft Koolau Loa Sustainable Communities Plan. The decision was a major setback for Hawaii Reserves Inc., which wants to build a large-scale residential housing development on agricultural land in Malaekahana. Such a development would be unprecedented and permanent and, no doubt, not the last one.

So the committee’s decision was a prudent one, for this generation and those that follow.