And they’re off! It’s just three weeks into spring, but the election debate season has already started, with Hawaii’s main gubernatorial candidates taking on Native Hawaiian issues.

Friday’s forum sponsored by Hawaiian groups covered topics ranging from the Thirty Meter Telescope, to the backlog of federal-money spending by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Expect to hear more, much more, on myriad issues in coming months from the candidates.

Your attention as voters should help inform ballot decisions in the primary election on Aug. 11, then the general election on Nov. 6.

Keep an eye on your credit cards

Technology is awesome — until it isn’t.

Witness what happened to 13 customers at Choi’s Garden restaurant, who unwittingly fell victim to credit-card theft. Last week an Oahu grand jury indicted Randy Z. Tuley, who allegedly worked there and used a “card-skimming” device to lift the identifying information from cards; and Shaun S. Hart, indicted on suspicion of using the account information and encoding it onto cards with magnetic strips, used to spend on more than $20,000 in purchases.

Lots of shoppers now might be more inclined to walk their credit cards up to the cash register, rather hand them off, out of sight.