Everyone's talking about the weather, feds give Hawaii schools demerits, samurai subs spotted

A weather system spinning around the state is bringing high surf, heavy rain and even snow to the islands.

A flash-flood warning has been issued for windward and some north shore areas of Kauai and Oahu this morning.

A storm continues to push through the state. Heavy rain and thunderstorms will be lingering through today and flash flooding is possible. Drier conditions are due back next week.

Snow fell on the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on Thursday.

Young Brothers said yesterday that barge arrivals to Kahului Harbor on Maui have been disrupted by continuous large swells that made it unsafe to attempt to enter the port. The next port arrival has been postponed until today.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in a telephone news conference yesterday, again scolded Hawai'i for its decision to furlough teachers for 17 school days and said the move could hinder the state's ability to garner competitive federal grant money.

Hawaii's intrepid "samurai sub" hunters will look this weekend for two Japanese World War II submarines that have eluded previous searches in a graveyard of military debris south of Oahu.

The Lingle administration announced yesterday that about 650 state workers will lose their jobs to help the state reduce labor costs and close a budget deficit, down from the 1,100 originally targeted for layoffs last summer.

Hundreds of state workers will start to be laid off in waves starting on Friday.

Six career police officers each with more than two decades in law enforcement are the finalists for Honolulu police chief, according to biographical information released yesterday.

Moanalua Middle School was scheduled today to became the first Hawaii school to inoculate children, faculty and staff for H1N1 influenza, or swine flu.

The value of building permits on the Big Island in the first eight months of 2009 is little over half of what it was for the same period last year.

The movie "The Men who Stare at Goats" doesn't treat Hawi resident Jim Channon very nicely.

The lifeless body of Daniel Bonanno was discovered in a white Ford Ranger pickup truck Monday morning, just one day after the 47-year-old Kapa‘a man, owner of a long criminal record, was released after years behind bars.