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Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is slated to be in the lineup of candidates in the first 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary debates, which will be staged in late June. Read more

Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is slated to be in the lineup of candidates in the first 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary debates, which will be staged in late June. She announced on Wednesday that her “people-powered” campaign has picked up 65,000 individual donors — a new qualifying mark set by the Democratic Party. (The other qualifier: earning at least 1 percent support in a series of public polls of Democratic voters.)

The fair push to give a bigger voice to low-dollar donors apparently came in response to the 2016 nominating process, when supporters of Hillary Clinton and her campaign reportedly had an outsize role in setting structure and timing of debates.

Foodbank’s food drive Saturday

The need to sustain the Hawaii Foodbank is apparent. During the past year, the nonprofit has fed an estimated 1 in 8 in our state, including 54,000 kids. The goal for the 30th annual “Food Drive Day,” 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, is to collect enough food and funds, at several dropoff sites, to make 1 million meals.

The “most wanted” items: financial contributions, canned proteins (tuna and chicken), canned meals (stew, spaghetti and chili), canned vegetables and fruits, and bags of rice. Information about donations and dropoff locations is online at hawaiifoodbank.org.