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HAWAII
Financial education TV series to air locally

A locally produced financial management television series, "Take Charge of Your Money," will be broadcast on local stations from Sept. 20 to Nov. 11.

The University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service is offering an eight-part series from Sept. 20 to Nov. 11. It will air Tuesdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oceanic Channel 55 on Oahu, Na Leo Channel 55 on the Big Island, Ho'ike Channel 55 on Kauai and MCCTV Channel 55 on Maui, Molokai and Lanai. The series will be shown again from Sept. 23 to Nov. 11, with the rebroadcast airing Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The first show is entitled, "What does my future hold? Preparing to plan."

For more information, call 956-7138, e-mail moneyed@hawaii.edu, or visit the Web site, www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/tcyour$

Island Title adds commercial unit

Island Title Corp., which calls itself Hawaii's second-largest title and escrow company, has established a new commercial division with an eight-person staff.

The company, whose main office is in Honolulu, also has branch offices in Waipio and Waialae on Oahu, Kihei on Maui, and Kona, Kamuela and Hilo on the Big Island. President Lynn Kaneshiro founded the company in 1982.

NATION
Mesa Air seeks $1M for Katrina fund

Mesa Air Group Inc., a Phoenix-based regional carrier with $300 million in cash on its balance sheet, is offering to use some of it to help support the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The company said it will match all donations up to a combined $500,000 in its effort to contribute $1 million to Katrina relief organizations. The donations will be tax deductible.

Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and chief executive of Mesa, said he was moved by television images of the effects from Katrina.

"Mesa has been blessed with a good year financially, and we thought it would be a great thing if we could help," he said. "No doubt, right now cash is what is necessary. We talked to the Red Cross and some other relief organizations, and they all said the same thing: bring money."

Ornstein said Mesa has created 100 jobs at the company that will be offered to Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

The airline, which serves 167 cities in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Mexico, said it will accept donations through Friday. They can be made through the company's Web site, www.mesa-air.com, or by sending a check to: Mesa Angels Foundation, Attn: Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, 410 N. 44th St., Suite 700, Phoenix, Ariz., 85008. For more information, call 602-685-4010.

Stock options still popular benefit

Despite the political row over counting stock options as an expense, a survey finds that corporate America still favors such options as the cornerstone of executive compensation packages.

Thirty percent of the companies already have started accounting for their options as expenses to earnings. The accounting rule mandating such a change -- which proponents contend offers a truer look at a company's finances -- takes effect for fiscal years that began June 15.

Stock option usage slid from 99 percent of the 250 largest public companies in 2003 to 90 percent in 2005, according to the study of the larger half of the companies listed in Standard & Poor's 500 index. The second most popular compensation, restricted stock, was used by 66 percent of companies last year, up from 49 percent in 2003.

The data are from Frederic W. Cook & Co., a compensation consultancy.