Question: Please make sure parents know that A+ is offering subsidies to more families so households that didn’t qualify last year might qualify this year. People need to know about this.
Answer: Yes, eligibility for free breakfast and lunch and for subsidies to attend the A+ After-School Program are both expanding for the 2026-2027 school year to include students from households with incomes at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, according to Hawaii’s Department of Education. About 12,000 more public school students should be eligible under the expansion, designed to help working parents who earn too much to qualify for many aid programs but struggle nonetheless with Hawaii’s high cost of living; they’re known as ALICE households (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed).
For details on the income eligibility cutoffs and links to apply for free meals and A+ subsidies, go to hawaiipublicschools.org/.
Q: Regarding the election guide, is that only in English?
A: No, the 2026 Primary Voter Guide posted on the state Office of Elections website, elections.hawaii.gov/, is available in five languages: English, Hawaiian, Chinese, Tagalog and Ilocano.
The guide contains candidate statements of up to 150 words, along with candidate photos, political party, contact information and other details about the primary election.
Registered voters should have received their ballot packets in the mail. Voted ballots must be received by the elections office by 7 p.m. Aug. 8.
Q: Does the election office know a person is deceased? I thought you have to notify the office. My brother and I got our ballots, but no ballot was sent for my sister (deceased) and we hadn’t done anything.
A: Hawaii’s Department of Health provides death records to the respective county’s Elections Division to cancel decedents’ voter registration, according to the state Office of Elections. A surviving household member also may alert the division that a registered voter has died, which officials would confirm in government records before removing the deceased person from the voter rolls.
“Any election mailing that is undeliverable or if the voter no longer resides or receives mail at the address should be returned to the respective County Elections Division,” according to the website.
Q: Where are the food safety inspection reports? I want to check because it seems like there have been quite a few red placards on the news lately.
A: You can review recent state Department of Health inspection reports for eating establishments in Hawaii at inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/soh.
For Honolulu youth
Oahu residents ages 14 to 24 have until Wednesday to apply to join the Honolulu Youth Commission, considered the voice of youth in city government. The application portal is open via a link at 808ne.ws/youthcomm. Youth commissioners, who meet monthly, advise “the council and mayor on the effects of policies, needs, assessments, priorities, programs and budgets concerning the children and youth of the city,” as per the Revised Charter of Honolulu.
Auwe
Auwe. Whatever happened to kindness and human decency? Last week I (a 77-year-old) mistakenly drove the wrong way in an aisle at the Kaimuki public parking lot. My bad. I surprised a man walking with his pre-teen son, so I rolled down my window to apologize. But he didn’t give me a chance. “You’re going the wrong way, dumbs@*t.” A great lesson in compassion for your son! And, I’m hoping, a huge disappointment for your parents. Where has our aloha gone? — Supremely sad
Mahalo
A huge Mahalo to the kind lady who on Friday found my red wallet at the Mililani Walmart and turned it in to lost and found. I can’t say how much I appreciated her. — Super relieved senior citizen
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.