BUSINESS BRIEFS
Gas prices ease to a $4.208 average
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Statewide gasoline prices have declined for a 10th week, though Hawai'i remains only one of two states in the country where a gallon of regular costs more than $4.00.
Figures from AAA's Weekend Gas Watch show the average price dropped 7 cents in the latest week to $4.208 a gallon.
"This marks the tenth week of gasoline price reductions," said AAA Hawaii regional manager Richard Velazquez in a press statement.
"The declines this week were more than the few cents a week that we saw previously over the past two months."
Prices have also been coming down nationwide, with the national average falling to $3.576.
Stations in Honolulu charged an average of $4.087, 8 cents less than a week earlier.
The average price was $4.51 in Wailuku, down 7 cents. Hilo's price was $4.24, 9 cents a gallon lower than a week earlier.
AAA gets its data from a service that monitors fleet vehicle credit card transactions. That service does not monitor prices on Kaua'i.
The only state with higher gasoline prices was Alaska, where a gallon of regular averaged $4.23.
SUA INSURANCE NOW IN HAWAI'I
SUA Insurance Co. has entered the Hawai'i market with commercial and property casualty coverage tailored to customer groups that include general artisan contractors, roofing contractors, towing and recovery, trucking and transportation, and workers' compensation.
State insurance commissioner J.P. Schmidt said SUA, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Specialty Underwriters' Alliance Inc., will be a welcome addition to the insurance business here because coverage in the specialty market has traditionally been slim.
"The addition of SUA will bring more choices in coverage for building, transportation and other industries in our state," Schmidt said in a press statement.
MEHANA FINED FOR LATE PAYMENTS
Mehana Brewing Co. in Hilo has paid a $4,340 penalty assessed by the state Department of Health for late payments and late reporting of beverage container fees and deposits.
Mehana was cited for late payments and reports for three months in 2007 and three in 2008.
In 2006, Mehana also paid $1,479 for late deposit beverage container reporting and payments, the department said.
Hawai'i law requires that deposit beverage distributors submit monthly reports and payments of container fees and deposits to the Department of Health. Those are due no later than 15 days after the end of a month.
ISLE STOCKS FEEL WALL STREET'S PAIN
Hawai'i stocks had another down day as Wall Street endured another sell-off, this one driven by worries that the $700 billion financial rescue won't overcome problems in the U.S. economy.
Seven of the 11 stocks in the Honolulu Advertiser-Bloomberg Hawai'i Index fell yesterday, led by a 10 percent drop in the share price of Hawaiian Airlines' parent company. The index dipped 1.78 points to 89.38.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was off 1.5 percent to 10,325.38, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 1.35 percent to 1,099.23.
Hawaiian Holdings fell 87 cents to $7.79 in leading the local index lower. Also off was Central Pacific Financial, down 4 percent at $17.66 after declining 75 cents.Three stocks in the index rose and one remained unchanged. Among gainers, Cyanotech Corp. charted a 6.6 percent increase.
