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.