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Hawaii political leaders are up in arms about changes at the U.S. Postal Service they believe will curb processing of mail-in ballots. Hawaii U.S. Rep Ed Case planned a press conference on Tuesday to respond, before news broke that Postmaster Louis DeJoy said he would suspend his changes until after the election.
That didn’t sound good enough for Case, who held the conference, anyway. USPS employs more than 1,500 here and brings in $7 billion in state taxes. Those are big stakes to protect, too.
Summer lunches for keiki drop off
Hawaii public schools handed out more than 1.2 million breakfasts and lunches between spring break and late May. Then, due in part to a drop in staffing, school participation in grab-and-go meals dropped from 74 sites to 51 statewide. A recently released report charting participation in 2019’s federally subsidized summer nutrition program pointed to room for improvement.
In the “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report,” Hawaii ranked 44th among states. The report by the Food Research & Action Center found that 8.7 percent of keiki — or fewer than one in 11 eligible students — received summer lunch on an average July day.
