Light to moderate trade winds will continue to bring some showers for windward areas through the weekend. But there’s a First Alert as those winds will be light enough to allow afternoon sea breezes to blow over sheltered leeward sections. At the same time, an upper level disturbance will increase the chance for pop-up downpours and isolated thunderstorms late tonight into Sunday.

The chance for some rumbles of thunder will begin with Kauai and surrounding waters later in the day, Oahu tonight and the rest of the island chain Sunday. It will be difficult to say exactly where the heaviest rain will fall, but they will favor leeward areas. Basically, if you see dark clouds forming, there’s that higher chance for heavier rain.

Surf will be small Saturday but we are tracking some higher waves for Sunday. A shoft-lived small medium-period northwest swell will boost waves near head-high levels Sunday. A moderate long-period south swell will peak Sunday with the potential for some sets near the 10-foot high surf advisory level. You’ll get the First Alert here as we get more swell data.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

Floral lovers of all types recently spent a weekend learning about Hawaii’s tropical flowers and how to make them even more beautiful.

The Hawaii Floriculture Nursery Association, or HFNA, hosted a Fresh Look Expo all about designing with Hawaii-grown flowers.

The three-day event at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, held Sept. 19-21, included a nursery tour, a lei-making workshop, presentations, floral design workshops and demonstrations on making sustainable plant structures.

Canadian floral designer Hitomi Gilliam from the American Institute of Floral Designers gave a presentation about the “Principles and Elements of Design and Mechanics” before leading a hands-on workshop for attendees working on their own arrangements.

“This is the biggest workshop you’ll see. We had 60 people here today,” Gilliam said. “We have a lot of locals, people from other islands, a huge contingent from California, I’m from Canada and I had a student from Rome, Italy, come, too.”

On Saturday, Teresita D. Amore, a professor, researcher and floriculture breeder from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Department, presented a new anthurium they bred, which was named “Hitomi” after Gilliam.

“She has bred so many varieties of florals and named them for different people, and some of them are here now,” Gilliam said. “We do feel really special. It’s kind of awesome.”

When it comes to breeding floriculture, it takes a village, according to Amore. The Hitomi anthurium itself took 24 years from pollination to distribution.

Breeding begins with a lot of research and many attempts of cross-pollination until a seedling grows into something that starts to look interesting. Breeders and researchers then send photos to their cooperators, which include growers and designers, to get their opinion.

“Growers are an important component to the process. They test seedlings in larger numbers and tell us if this is something that would be feasible,” Amorea said. “If they like the seedlings, they will test 20-50 plants, ship them to other growers and designers and decide if the flower has consumer accessibility.”

To make the process the most cost-efficient, working with growers and designers is crucial for breeders who want to ensure that they are cloning something that will be bought.

“It’s a long journey, and if we commit such a long time, we better be doing something right. That’s why the professional advisory is so important,” Amore said. “We have had less growers participating with many aging farmers, but the cooperators we do work with are great partnerships.”

One of those partners is HFNA, which has been in existence sine 1948 and represents over 350 members of the Hawaii floral community across the state.

HFNA works to promote better conditions that will create and sustain an economically viable flower and plant industry and enhance its members’ business success through education, marketing, research and services.

“The amount of flowers sold in and around Hawaii has decreased in the last few years, with some of that due to aging farmers and the effects of the 2018 lava flow and COVID-19,” said President Eric Tanouye. “We do have some younger people getting involved, and there is a wide range of ages here this weekend, which is exciting to see.”

With the new anthurium bred from research at UH, Hawaii growers will already have a market set up, and designers that will share the novel flower with their communities in California, Canada and elsewhere.

“This is something unique and the first of its kind, it’s not the same old same old,” Amore said. “You don’t see this shape in anthurium, and you don’t often see transitional colors, so there is a novelty there.”

Even for the most skilled and experienced breeder, grower or designer, the three-day Fresh Look Expo provided new opportunities for networking and personal growth.

“I’m here learning as a breeder, because I have to know what designers want, and it’s an excellent way to get feedback while learning some techniques,” Amore said.

“The expo is always a great time to get together as a community and celebrate the beautiful flowers we get to play with,” Gilliam said.

Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – While workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village fight for better wages and a bigger workforce, they are also heading into another fight — for unemployment benefits.

They could be eligible, but maybe not, if they do too much damage to the hotel’s income.

At the picket line at the Kalia Road entrance to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, like his colleagues, 9-year bellman Gerritt Vincent filed for unemployment but may not know for years if he will get paid.

“They told us we shouldn’t really expect much, but just to apply because you know, we’re worth it,” Vincent said.

Vincent says with no money coming in, unemployment payments would be helpful.

“I told my kids, ‘We’re sorry. We’re not going to go to McDonald’s. I told my wife, ‘Sorry, we can’t go to Target for next few days, we’re going to have to eat what we have at the house,’” he said.

Cade Watanabe, UNITE Local 5 financial secretary-treasurer, said, “We’re telling all of our members not to depend on it, not to expect it.”

That’s because it depends on how much the strike impacts Hilton’s bottom line.

Under Hawaii law and court rulings, if a strike has little or no impact on operations, workers are eligible for unemployment benefits. If the company loses 20 to 30% or more of its revenue, the workers are not eligible.

Even experts, like state House Labor Committee Chair Scot Matayoshi, can find it confusing.

“It’s honestly kind of counterintuitive to me, too,” he said.

It seems backward because strikes are designed to damage and even shut down the employer, but if the union succeeds in that, they don’t get unemployment.

Matayoshi says the law seems structured as a compromise, supporting striking workers without disabling their employers.

“If the strike is to such an extent that the whole business gets shut down, especially a crucial business, like a hospital, then unemployment benefits are withheld as perhaps incentive not to do that,” he said.

But it also creates another conflict between owners and workers. Employers will fight the unemployment applications, by offering the state Labor Department proof of business disruption severe enough for the state to deny the benefits,

“That’s something that will take a lot of time, ” Watanabe said. “That also will require the employer to share their financials.”

Financials the union will challenge on behalf of its workers, in disputes that can go on for years.

And every dispute is unique.

For example, nurses who were locked out from Kapiolani Hospital, didn’t leave voluntarily and the hospital still operated. But the Labor Department says the nurses’ eligibility is still under review.

While the law confusion seems to require change to the law, even with all the power labor has in the state, unions fear that by opening up the labor laws at the legislature could lead to unexpected negative consequences.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.