LONELY FIELDS

Maui sugar plantation faces future alone

And then there was one. With Gay & Robinson harvesting its last sugar cane, a state once synonymous with the crop is now down to its last plantation. But even Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. is considering getting out of the business as its Maui plantation - the last one in Hawaii - copes with low sugar prices, high energy costs and scarce water. Gay & Robinson's plantation closure on Kauai last Friday eliminated 137 jobs, ended nearly two centuries of sugar production on the Garden Isle, and brought out residents by the hundreds to reminisce and bid farewell.

LIVE LONG

Walking away from Type 2 diabetes

Eat better and exercise more. That's the simple-to-understand, not-always-easy-to-apply prescription for Type 2 diabetes. A 10-year study involving Hawaii residents found that lifestyle changes (adopting a healthful diet and a regular exercise regimen) controlled the devastating disease better than taking a prescription drug. Although the results were not a surprise, confirming earlier findings, they do bear repeating: Preventing a scourge of our times is a step away.

REST STOP

Hawaii apparently a great place to sleep

Hawaii folks are resting easy, at least compared to the rest of the country. Nearly 36 percent of island residents surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that they typically got a good night's sleep, the highest percentage of any state. The U.S. average was 31 percent.

West Virginians reported the worst insomnia, with nearly 73 percent saying they'd had trouble sleeping within the past 30 days. Experts speculated the problem could be related to high rates in West Virginia of obesity and other health problems that impede sleep, and stress caused by that state's poor economy.