Signs that this restaurant is healthy

More information is good to have, particularly when it concerns the food on your fork headed to your mouth. So it’s great to hear that the state Health Department is boosting restaurant inspections, with a placard system to tip off the customers.

In California, restaurant inspections lead to a letter grade being posted. There, restaurants tend to move quickly to correct problems so they can get their "A." Customers tend to run from a "B" eatery.

Over here, there will be traffic-signal cues of green, yellow and red. Anything other than Jolly Green is going to look pretty unappetizing.

For a change, kudos for ‘Race to the Top’ efforts

Applause is in order: Federal officials, who have looked sternly at the state Department of Education for lagging in some of its Race to the Top reform goals, seem to have cracked a smile now.

Who can blame them for riding herd? The Hawaii DOE received a $75 million Race grant, and Uncle Sam wants to get his money’s worth.

On Thursday, the U.S. DOE noted "promising growth" in areas such as movement toward the standardized Common Core learning benchmarks and improvements in Internet systems at schools. And the flashing neon sign proclaiming Hawaii’s grant as "at risk" is flashing a little less brightly.