Saying that Colleen Hanabusa "has been an effective ally of working families throughout our state," the executive board of Unite Here! Local 5 has endorsed the state Senate president in her bid for Congress.

Hanabusa's chief rivals in the May 22 special election to represent Hawai'i's 1st Congressional District in Washington, D.C., are Ed Case, a fellow Democrat, and City Councilman Charles Djou, a Republican.

The union represents more than 10,000 hotel and healthcare workers in Hawai'i.

KUHIO HOMES FIRE IGNITED BY CHILD

A fire started yesterday by a child playing with a lighter at Kuhio Homes on North School Street displaced 13 people from a two-story townhome.

The 10:53 a.m. fire caused $4,000 worth of damage to the structure and about $1,000 to the contents, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Robert Main.

The fire was confined to a single bedroom, Main said. No one was injured.

The Red Cross was working to get the five adults and eight children shelter, food and clothing.

LAVA FLOW NEARING COAST VIEWING AREA

A flow of lava is moving through brush just a few hundred yards from the Hawai'i County viewing area in Kalapana, setting off fires and small methane explosions.

No structures or people are in danger, but Big Island Civil Defense has had to relocate some of its facilities, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

Staff geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory have been making daily trips to Kalapana to watch the expanding, slow-moving surface flows.

For safety and liability reasons, the public is not allowed to walk up to the flow front.