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Video Headline: Crisis at a Glance

It's time for another sackcloth-rending edition of, Crisis at a Glance! In which we hurl various mainland economic developments in your general direction. Orders for durable goods, the big ticket items that involve a lot of labor and materials, are FLAT! General Mills, blaming commodities madness, reports profits down 17%. The attorney general of California files a lawsuit against Countrywide for all those dumb subprime mortgages! Illinois's attorney general plans a suit, too. That sounds dire, but maybe someone OUGHT to go after the subprime apostles. Anyway, the mainland story that will affect Hawaii the most is what the Fed does after its interest rate meeting today. And what the Fed is expected to do is nothing. No more rate cuts. Now, some on the mainland are ready for this, because falling interest rates weakened the dollar and made oil cost more. But rates cuts and the weak dollar have made Hawaii a bargain for Japanese, Canadian and European visitors. So we've done better than the mainland under recent Fed policy, but steady rates probably won't hurt us. And on that unexpectedly soothing note, we come gliding in to the end of another Crisis at a Glance -- crisis does not entirely apply in Hawaii.

Other Headlines:

Hawaii state government department heads have gotten a memo from Governor Lingle - in the new fiscal year starting next week, cut discretionary spending 4%. State tax revenues are falling short of inflation and this one move could offset as much as a quarter of the shortfall by saving roughly 33 million dollars.

Hilton Hotels, which reacquired its long-separate international division in 2006, plans an aggressive expansion in Asia. India first, where 75 Hiltons will open over the next four years. But the company says it wants to add 300 hotels in China. That's seven times as many hotels as Hilton has in all of Asia right now.

The governor has signed Senate Bill 2838. It allows people who e-file their tax returns to designate up to three accounts for their tax refunds.

McGraw-Hill has updated its engineering division's list of top 100 U-S green design firms. The Honolulu architectural firm Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo made the list.

First Hawaiian Bank Foundation is giving 50 thousand dollars to YWCA of Oahu and another 50 grand to Hale Kipa, the shelter for at-risk youth in Ewa Beach.

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