It’s their day, from Washington to Obama

Today is Presidents’ Day in Hawaii and many other states but still is recognized in U.S. law as George Washington’s Birthday. Actually, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is Feb. 12 and Washington’s is Feb. 22, but the third Monday in February gives many people a three-day weekend.

States from the Old Confederacy prefer the U.S. holiday’s name of Washington’s Birthday. Georgia is alone in giving Feb. 18 as Washington’s birthday on its website but observing it by giving its employees a day off on Christmas Eve.

In a nicer home recognition, will the first Monday in August — actually Aug. 4, the current president’s birthday — someday be recognized in Hawaii as Obama Day?

A new era dawning for UH-West Oahu

It’s the University of Hawaii-West Oahu, Phase II. And big things are ahead for the once-sleepy school.

The construction of a new campus was completed in October. The populations of Kapolei and West Oahu continue to boom. Rail transit, a vital link between the west side and the rest of Oahu, has the green light. And now comes Rockne Freitas, a familiar face to UH watchers, who has been nominated to be the new chancellor by UH President M.R.C. Greenwood.

Freitas has yet to discuss his plans; neither has the Board of Regents, which meets to consider his nomination on Thursday. But assuming Freitas gets the job, taxpayers will need to know his vision for guiding UH-West Oahu’s growth and promising future.