No sooner had Honolulu Police set up a noon sobriety checkpoint at Ala Moana Beach Park yesterday than a dozen officers began scribbling citations.

Jerry Coffee remembers the first time he saw John McCain, a fellow Navy pilot, inside what American prisoners of war mockingly called the Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam.

Plans to build the largest wind farm in the state on Lana'i are part of a vision to make the island a model of renewable energy, but the project is encountering some headwinds in the form of community concern.

With Hurricane Gustav gaining power as it nears the Gulf Coast, Republicans scrambled yesterday to make contingency plans for changing the tone of their national convention, worried that televised images of a lavish celebration would provide a jarring contrast to the looming disaster.

Hawaiian rights activist Dennis Pu'uhonua "Bumpy" Kanahele's planned constitutional convention for Native Hawaiians won't take place next month as some had envisioned.

The front-runners emerging in the contest for Big Island mayor are a seasoned lawmaker and former mayor; a former deputy public defender who led the county's fight against methamphetamine; and a County Council member who earned his stripes as a community activist in a landmark lawsuit to block a Kona development.

Barack Obama expressed hope yesterday that the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina three years ago would help to protect the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Gustav this time. His running mate, Joe Biden, urged people to pray that the levees in New Orleans hold.

Three National Endowment of the Arts grants have been awarded in Hawai'i's 2nd Congressional District.

BONE MARROW REGISTRATION DRIVE, 12-4 p.m., Kapolei Shopping Center, next to Safeway; match being sought for bone marrow transplant candidate; simple cheek swab. 721-4370, www.sweetleilani.org.

The autumn equinox, which marks the start of fall, occurs at 5:45 a.m. in Hawai'i on Sept. 22 (the vernal equinox, marking the start of spring, occurred this year on March 19).