Former University of Guam Professor Sentenced in Bid-Rigging Scheme
Navy gives inside look of cleanup efforts at Red Hill Shaft
KHON: … On Sunday, Dec. 12, the Navy allowed media to visit the affected area at Red Hill Shaft to see fuel recovery operations being done by Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One (MDSU) divers, as well as other contractors.
MDSU One divers have been pumping and skimming the contaminated water into environmental containment tanks, which is then treated at the FLC Fuel Oil Reclamation Facility.
Media walked down a tunnel into a room with water tanks and a two-foot-wide hole. About 17 divers have been alternating two to three-hour shifts to go down that two-foot-wide hole — approximately 80 to 90 feet deep — to inspect and test the well….
Some of the divers working on the task live in areas that were impacted by the water.
“We have guys working on this job right now that are being affected by it,” explained Akey. “So it’s affecting us, and we’re really trying to get it done as safely and effectively as we can.”….
read … Navy gives inside look of cleanup efforts at Red Hill Shaft
Why So Many Hawaii Families Are Opting Out Of The Public School System
CB: … Private school enrollment rose to 33,540 as of Oct. 1, compared with 31,987 in 2020-21, according to the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools….
Kayla Reis, a fifth grader, is thriving, her mother said, playing the saxophone in band and participating in a reading program at Saint Mark. At her previous school, she barely received homework and frustrations mounted due to the lack of in-person contact with teachers and peers, according to Stalcup….
Families fatigued by distance learning and who could afford the switch to private school — where median tuition is roughly $10,000 annually statewide — started migrating over.
Home schooling also became an attractive option for parents frustrated by the lack of a cohesive timeline or plan by the state Department of Education to provide a safe and adequate educational experience.
In 2020-21, 5,570 students were being home-schooled — nearly double the 2,874 the year before — while more than 3,300 students left the DOE to enter private schools, up from 1,289 the year prior, according to new data released ahead of this week’s Board of Education meeting….
In the current school year, the DOE received 3,910 requests to opt out of the public school system compared with 5,877 in the previous year. That reflects a drop, but the figure is still higher than the 3,244 opt-out requests in the 2019-20 school year, 3,003 in the 2018-19 school year and 2,774 in 2017-18.
Total public school enrollment this year is 171,000, including 159,500 kids in DOE schools and another 12,000 in charter schools, a nearly 2% decrease from the year before. Student enrollment in 2020-21 was 174,704 and 179,331 in 2019-20….
read … Why So Many Hawaii Families Are Opting Out Of The Public School System
Honolulu police, FBI investigate cyberattack as TheBus, Handi-Van sites inaccessible
SA: … Federal agents and Honolulu police are investigating the cyberattack that disabled online servers and shutdown TheBus website, TheHandi-Van reservation system and prevented riders from using their HOLO transportation cards.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Honolulu Police Department, and the U.S. Secret Service are partnering to investigate the cyberattack that continues to hamper OTS systems and are providing resources to resolve the intrusion, according to a FBI news release….
On Friday, OTS officials said TheBus was operating with little to no delay in service, and HOLO card holders could resume using them to pay for their rides. The HOLO website was active this afternoon. On Friday city officials said the HOLO card call center was still offline….
HNN: Honolulu's Transit System Recovers From Cyber Attack
read … Honolulu police, FBI investigate cyberattack as TheBus, Handi-Van sites inaccessible
Independent Audit Alleges $2M Discrepancy In Hanauma Bay Funds
CB: …A long-awaited independent audit examining the city’s use of revenues from the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve found a $2 million discrepancy, according to a nonprofit group that advocates for the premiere snorkeling site.
The discrepancy includes the alleged misuse of the funds by diverting them to help other parks, including paying for employee salaries and two lifeguard trucks that were mostly used elsewhere, according to Friends of Hanauma Bay President Lisa Bishop….
read … Independent Audit Alleges $2M Discrepancy In Hanauma Bay Funds
The Spigot Of Federal Broadband Funding Is About To Open For Hawaii
CB: … The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands alone is expecting about $90 million in federal funds to deliver more and better broadband access to Hawaiians, and more than double that amount is earmarked for the rest of the state.
To put that in context, the only program to award broadband funding grants today was created by the Legislature just this year, and the appropriation for that federally funded initiative was only $5 million. Gov. David Ige has not yet released the funding for that effort….
read… The Spigot Of Federal Broadband Funding Is About To Open For Hawaii
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