Blog: www.kgmb9.com/howard

Video Headline: Hawaii hotel occupancy, April 27 to May 3

Statewide: 66.8%. Room rates down 1.4%.
Kauai: 62%. Rate: $197, down 6%.
Oahu: 70%. Rate: $183, up 2%.
Maui: 67%. Rate: $251, down 3%.
Big Island: 58%. Rate: $182, down 8%.
National: 63%. Rates up 4%.

Other Business News:

Hawaiian Telcom is under new management -- again. Turnaround specialist Stephen Cooper is going back to the mainland after only weeks on the job, leaving a dream team of experienced local executives in place. Former First Hawaiian Bank Chairman Walter Dods becomes chairman and Hawaiian Electric COO Eric Yeaman signs on as president. It's been two years since Hawaiian Telcom began running independently and its only moments of profitability have come when it got a lot of money back from the contractor that bungled the Verizon handoff, and later when it sold off its directory business.

New boss at a Waikiki hotel: Bill Comstock is the new general manager of the Outrigger Reef on the Beach. He used to work at the Doubletree and at hotels in Sonoma, California, and the Washington D-C area.

The State of Hawaii raised hundreds of millions of dollars for school repairs this week by selling general obligation bonds. With a strong bond ratings, the payback rate offered to investors was low, less than 5%, savings millions of tax dollars.