Off the News

An era in public education ends

Last Thursday's final meeting of the elected Board of Education featured gracious good wishes, no ill will, for the incoming school board — chosen by gubernatorial appointment, as voters dictated last November. The least cheerful expression came from veteran member and outgoing Chairman Garrett Toguchi, who observed blandly that "it was just another meeting to me."

Still, it must be tough to be voted into office and effectively out of office on the same election day. Let's bid a fond aloha to the Final 14.

This time, it's Tax Day that's late

Proscrastinators being what they are, we ask them to turn away — now! — from this little tidbit: The filing deadline for federal taxes this year is a week from today, on April 18.

Yes, D-Day is usually April 15. But due to a little-known Washington, D.C., holiday — Emancipation Day, which celebrates the freeing of slaves — last-minute filers get a three-day reprieve. The holiday falls on April 16, but since that's a Saturday this year, D.C. will observe it on Friday, which in turn bumped the IRS tax deadline to Monday.

Whew, got it? That's almost as convoluted as the tax code.