Life without Deedy trial coming soon

It’s hard to believe that the murder trial of federal special agent Christopher Deedy has entered its final phase — jury deliberations — at last. We’ve been living with this thing for a long time.

How long? Opening arguments took place July 8, and that was two months after the jury was selected. At jury selection, Mohamed Morsi was still in office as Egyptian president; at trial start, federal civilian workers here were starting their furloughs and this paper had a story about how a park in Maili still had no restrooms.

Some things have changed; others, not so much.

More Hawaii talent to watch on replay

This week brought great news for anybody who likes to see Hawaii sports talent make it to the "bigs" — in this case Major League Baseball: Kolten Wong, a former second baseman for the University of Hawaii Rainbows, was called up by the St. Louis Cardinals and played his first game Friday against the Chicago Cubs.

Meanwhile, the league appears ready to expand its use of instant replay, pending some final approvals, to start next year. It will remove the frustration of blown calls and could speed up the games a little — though not everybody minds long baseball games, especially if they feature Hawaii talent like Wong.