Some students denied service on school buses
About 50 to 60 students at the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science in Pahoa will start school today without state-sponsored bus service.
School Director Steve Hirakami said he called a meeting Sunday to notify parents that he was informed Friday that public charter school students living outside the district would not get bus service.
The school has nearly 640 students in grades K through 12.
"Parents need to know how this happened," he said. "It’s a very unfortunate thing that happened that they weren’t aware of."
Hirakami said about 70 people attended the meeting. The short-term plan is to carpool, he said.
Geothermal opponents plan march to protest
Critics of geothermal development are planning a weekend march from Pahoa to Hilo, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports.
The 20-mile march will begin at 10 a.m. Aug. 17 at Pahoa High School, according to Steve Sparks, who is organizing the event with the Puna Pono Alliance.
Participants will follow the shoulder of the highway and camp overnight on private property near Shower Drive in Hawaiian Paradise Park, then the next night along Puainako Street in Hilo, he said.
Sparks, who lives in Leilani Estates, is expecting about 30 people to participate. He estimates 17 will complete the march.
He said they should arrive at the Hawaii Electric Light Co. office in Hilo at around 11 a.m. Aug. 19.
A petition against the expansion of geothermal power will be delivered then.
HELCO is reviewing proposals to provide the utility with 50 megawatts of geothermal capacity.
