Hear Island Issues Sunday mornings at 6:30 a.m. on KKOA 107.7 fm and online, www.koacountry.com, and at 8 a.m. on LAVA 105.3 fm and online, www.lava105.com. Summaries of past broadcasts are under Past Shows. Check them out. And now, you may listen to and download many of the past programs at our news web site, www.bigislandnewscenter.com down on the right side of the page.

Please note, if you see an upcoming guest for whom you'd like to suggest a question, please feel free to email me at sherryb@lava105.com, or fax your question to 808-769-5050. Or if you'd like to suggest a guest or topic--let us know. We welcome your input.

with aloha--and mahalo for listening, Sherry Bracken

In October, 2011, we talked with Hilo artist John Dawson. He'd been notified that his work would be feature on some upcoming bonsai-themed "Forever" stamps to be issued by the United States Postal Service. Those stamps are set to be released Monday, January 23 2012. We will re-broadcast our talk with John and learn about his work and the stamps.

In 1997 while returning to California after doing the California to Hawaii Transpac race, Captain Charles Moore encountered what is now known as "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" --a whole lot of debris, mostly plastic, floating in the ocean. He's in Hawaii promoting his book, "Plastic Ocean," and we'll talk with him about what he saw, where it came from, and what he sees as solutions.

Hawaii County received a $16 million grant to improve its access to health care--one of only 17 granted in the country. We'll talk with the CEO of the project, Susan Hunt, and with the primary investigator (who headed up the grant application), Karen Pellegrin of the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

We will soon talk with the Dean of the UH Hilo College of Arts and Sciences, Randy Hirokawa, about his work in decision making and communication.

In February we will talk with the folks at Hilo's Bay Clinic about the eight community health centers under their umbrella.