False missile alert plays key role in Hawaii governor race

HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. David Ige wants voters to look at his four years of accomplishments, including his handling of Big Island’s erupting volcano, as reasons to give him a second term.

But U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, his main opponent in Saturday’s Democratic primary in the heavily blue state, wants voters to look at 38 minutes in January as reason enough to send Ige packing.

That’s how long panicking Hawaii residents waited to learn that a warning about an incoming ballistic missile was not real. Officials mistakenly sent a statewide alert to cellphones, televisions and radios warning of an imminent attack on Jan. 13. “THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” the message read.

It was a drill — one never intended to be seen by the public — and the hysteria it caused sparked a firestorm of criticism against Ige.

Read more: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018/08/10/hawaii-news/false-missile-alert-plays-key-role-in-hawaii-governor-race/