Fall weekends without a University of Hawaii football schedule will be jarring for longtime fans. The last fall that UH went without a varsity team was 1961, when the school dropped the sport because it was failing to break even financially. Back then, football was reportedly $10,000 in the red.

Now — due to a number of factors, in which COVID-19 figures prominently — the entire UH athletics department is looking at a possible $9.3 million deficit for the current fiscal year, according to a report recently delivered to the UH Board of Regents. While UH athletic programs have made some cost-cutting measures, it appears a lot more will be needed.

Shutting down Stars and Stripes

It’s inexplicable and infuriating. The Stars and Stripes newspaper, an independent military publication whose roots extend as far back as the Civil War, was ordered by the Pentagon to shut down at the end of the month. The paper’s $15.5 million in funding — pocket change for the U.S. military — was cut from the Defense Department’s budget.

Star and Stripes, in print and online, provides indispensable information and news to U.S. service members around the world. Shutting down the paper would be a severe blow to the troops it serves — and to the First Amendment those troops have fought to defend.