In his role as a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Hawaii’s U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz announced that the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, the state agency tasked with providing low-income residents with safe and sanitary housing, will receive a nearly $14 million grant for repairs and renovation work.

Given that the HPHA maintains a portfolio of some 85 properties across the islands, modernization and patch-ups are always in the works. The grant funds are expected to go toward welcome improvements in the homes of thousands of families living in public housing.

New app for state’s library system

The pandemic has made so many things harder, but a few have been made easier. One is finding a book at the state library — and even checking it out, contactless. For that there’s the new LibrariesHI app for smartphones, a branded version of an app developed by Solus, a Scotland-based company, now adopted by nearly 6,000 library sites.

There’s a way to scan in a book barcode and find out if the library has it. And a self-checkout feature minimizes standing in line — always appreciated these days.