Hawaii teacher vies for innovation prize

At Stevenson Middle School there’s ample space for students to collaborate as techie problem-solvers, but meager funding for what Patricia Morgan describes as a “culture of innovators.” That’s why the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teacher is vying for a win in the Farmer’s Insurance Thank America’s Teachers Dream Big grant contest. She’s 1 of 15 finalists, and the only Hawaii teacher.

If Morgan’s “Innovative Invention Imaginerium” proposal, which envisions a new lab where kids could learn about computer-aided design software and coding skills, is among the top voter-getters, she’ll win a $100,000 grant. You can vote once a day this month, www.farmers.com/thank-americas-teachers/vote-for-a-teacher/vote-100k-proposal/.

Once again, federal judges shut down Trump

Derrick Watson and Theodore Chuang, the federal judges from Hawaii and Maryland, respectively, again have ruled against the latest travel ban from President Donald Trump.

Both judges have an orientation favoring immigration (Watson being from a place with a long immigrant history, Chuang being the son of Taiwanese immigrants). Both are from blue states.

And both were appointed to the bench by Trump’s White House predecessor, Barack Obama. So while the current president continues purging Obama legacy policies, the former president seems to be working through surrogates to defend them.