Congratulations to Maui News reporter Ilima Loomis, whose recent story about a local nonprofit (“Maui nonprofit questioned after financial review shows high amount of unspent grants“) was picked up by Investigative Reporters & Editors in its listing of the latest investigative reporting around the country (Extra! Extra!).

I also credit Jim Dooley and Hawaii Reporter for catching the story of a mainland company that allegedly ripped off as much as $800,000 in city payments on a loan for a Kaneohe affordable housing project. The company, which processed loan payments and was supposed to distribute the proceeds to investors in several mortgage pools, has been accused in several lawsuits of embezzling funds. The issue became public here when the Honolulu City Council approved funding to hire an attorney to pursue claims in the case.

Good story. I checked Google for other local reporting of the case. So far, none turned up. Have to wonder why not.

Al Jazeera delivers a collection of citizen videos from the revolt in Syria, a good example of how the work of diverse individuals can be woven together.

While checking those videos, I noticed Al Jazeera’s report on a project crowdsourcing Japan’s radiation levels via Safecast.org.

Meanwhile, here in Kaaawa, the young man who we believe burglarized our house two years ago (and was captured by my security camera) is back after 18 months on the mainland. Actually, we were told by HPD that he confessed to the crime. He was spotted last week in Kaaawa and, at that time, tried to pretend that he was someone else. Today, though, his grandfather confirmed he is back.

Perhaps by coincidence, we were stopped during our walk this morning by a young couple visiting from Florida. Their vacation rental house was broken into yesterday while they were visiting Pearl Harbor. The burglars broke in through an upper window after failing to kick in a door and lower window. Laptops, camera equipment, and other things taken. It has ruined their Hawaii vacation.

Although I hope it is a coincidence, for practical purposes we’re assumming it isn’t, and are alerting friends in different parts of Kaaawa to keep things locked and be alert. Not a good feeling in our relatively tight little community.