At Hawaii’s last Constitutional Convention, held in 1978, delegates adopted measures aimed at revitalizing Native Hawaiian culture. The state Department of Education has since built its Hawaiian Studies program, through which students learn about Hawaiian history, culture and language. It also offers the deeper dive of a language immersion program.

Now, in partnership with the University of Hawaii, DOE will enable interested employees to become Hawaiian-language students. Starting January, they will have two free options: enrolling in a Hawaiian- language course at a community college, or joining a custom course for a group of employees.

Neighbor isles see vacation-rental rise

Oahu’s vacation rentals business took a hit in October, marking a second month of decline since a long- overdue city crackdown on illegal rentals took effect in August. Oahu’s count of available short-term unit nights in October fell by 5% compared to a year ago, says the Hawaii Tourism Authority, with most of the drop in residential areas outside of Waikiki where illegal operations had been proliferating.

It seems more visitors are now flocking to neighbor islands for non-hotel stays. Maui, Hawaii island and Kauai all posted double-digit gains in October and September.