Final pre-game prep is underway some 5,000 miles east of Honolulu in Amherst, Mass., where the University of Hawaii football team will take on UMass at noon (Hawaii time) Saturday. The New England trip marks the team’s farthest-ever eastbound travel, surpassing the 2010 trip to Army in West Point, N.Y. The Rainbow Warriors won that game, 31-28, after forcing a fumble with 24 seconds left on the clock. Here’s hoping for more to cheer about in the Massachusetts matchup.

The game will be televised live here on Spectrum (257/1257 HD) and Hawaiian Telcom (91/1091 HD). Online options include video streaming at UMassAthletics.com, and an audio webcast at ESPN1420am.com.

City moves to fix wasteful bulky-item pickups

It looks as if the city is going back to the future with its bulky item pickup service, piloting a pickup-by-appointment system similar to what it offered before.

If that move becomes permanent, and if it means defeating the greedy workers who gamed a wasteful system to score overtime pay, that’s at least measured improvement.

But we hope the city looks at other municipalities and nonprofits that have made such pickups efficient with online scheduling, rather than just reverting to an old scheme. And start citing folks who just dump old sofas and such on the sidewalk — please.