QUESTION: A recent AP article about Hawaii's 50th anniversary as a state said the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in 1893 by a group of white businessmen. What kind of business were these men in?

Rebecca Moeller
Socorro, N.M.

ANSWER: The overthrow was organized by a group called the Committee of Safety, whose 13 members were businessmen seeking annexation of Hawaii by the United States. The members included sugar planters, Pacific shippers, a newspaper editor, lumber salesmen and a grocer.

The businessmen wanted Hawaii to become a U.S. territory so they could make more money selling their goods—mainly sugar—to the United States.

An 1890 law called the McKinley Act had imposed steep tariffs on imports to the United States to protect American manufacturers. If Hawaii joined the U.S., businesses there could regain some of the profits they had previously enjoyed under an 1875 treaty allowing goods such as sugar and rice to be imported into the U.S. tax-free.

Mark Niesse
Associated Press writer, Honolulu

Q: If I have money in a certificate of deposit with an FDIC-insured bank, and the bank defaults on an interest payment to me, how is the FDIC intervention initiated? How long does it take for me to get my money? Does the FDIC guarantee the interest payments or only the principal?

Fred Clark
Albuquerque, N.M.

A: It depends on whether the bank where you have the CD fails or the bank simply fails to make an interest payment that it owes you.

In the case of a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that fails, and that's taken over by the FDIC, your CD is covered just like any deposit account—up to $250,000 per depositor per bank, applied to both principal and interest. There is no waiting time for access to your money.

In the event of a default on payments by a bank that is still operating, regulators advise you to first try to rectify the situation with the institution. If that doesn't bring results, contact the bank's primary regulator—it could be the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or a state agency.

Marcy Gordon
AP business writer, Washington