Hawaii students protest state flag’s spot on school poles
HONOLULU — Dozens of students at a number of high schools across Hawaii walked out of class in a show of protest against their school flying the state flag beneath the American flag.
Students walked out Thursday morning, advocating that campuses be equipped with two poles so the American flag flies side by side with the Hawaii flag.
Hana High School student Jesiah Malaikini said seeing the Hawaii flag beneath the American one bothered him for years. The junior was suspended alongside a classmate March 14 for switching out positions of the flags during a gun violence protest on campus.
Since then, Malaikini has launched a GoFundMe account to generate money to pay for a second flag pole at Hana High School.
Malaikini said he respects the national flag but wants equal recognition for his home state, citing sensitive historical events such as the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893.
The Department of Education has not yet released a comment.
Oahu high school gets first state-approved imu on campus
HONOLULU — Mililani High School has on its campus the first state-approved imu — a traditional Hawaiian underground oven that starts with a pit and lots of rocks and ends with a slow-cooked Kalua pig.
The school recently used the imu to cook a pig for public school lunch.
“We cooked it all night. We pulled it at about 4:30 in the morning and that was pork shoulder and a little Hawaiian salt,” chef Greg Christian of Beyond Green Sustainable Food Partners said.
The certification for the imu was authorized by the Department of Education and Department of Health. It’s part of the Department of Education’s new Aina Pono Farm to School program.
“Students across our campus are excited to eat here not across the street, not at home, but right here,” said Alyssa Yamada-Barretto, student body president.
Lt. Gov. Doug Chin said students at other schools are asking for imus of their own.
Albert Scales, administrator of the School Food Services Branch, said the Department of Education serves 1 million school lunches each year, so buying local supports Hawaii farms and businesses.
“So not only are we serving a better meal for the same cost, but the kids aren’t throwing it away so that is amazing,” Mililani Principal Fred Murphy said.
Judge encourages sale of ex-Honolulu police chief’s home
HONOLULU — A U.S. judge is encouraging prosecutors, a Hawaii credit union and a lawyer to come up with an agreement to sell the home of a former Honolulu police chief and his wife.
Prosecutors say the government will have the right to seize Louis and Katherine Kealoha’s home if they are convicted of corruption-related charges.
Kevin Sumida, the couple’s former defense attorney, has a lien on the home because of money the Kealohas owe him. A credit union is foreclosing because the Kealohas haven’t been paying their mortgage.
Magistrate Judge Richard Puglisi on Thursday denied Sumida’s motion to remove the government’s claim on the home but says it sounds like it’s in everyone’s interest to sell it.
The Kealohas have agreed to sell. They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
