Kokua Line: Online classes teach kupuna about technology

Question: Do they even now have those people courses training personal computer basics for senior citizens? You wrote about it a number of yrs ago. I have a smartphone now, but I don’t use it for a great deal.

Remedy: The absolutely free, in-person, summer season method to which you referred has been suspended considering the fact that the pandemic there were no in-human being classes past summer or the summer in advance of.

On the other hand, we are mindful of a diverse absolutely free method, provided on the web by AARP Hawaii, that could possibly present some of what you want to understand. The on the net webinars will occur Fridays at 10 a.m. from April 22 to Could 27, a news launch claimed. They’ll be taught by More mature Grown ups Know-how Solutions, also recognized OATS or Senior Earth, a nonprofit team affiliated with AARP.

To register for the 1st webinar, “All Issues Zoom,” go to 808ne.ws/422zoom. Or, go to aarp.org/hello, click on on “Hawaii Approaching Events” and scroll down until eventually you see the technologies classes.

The initial webinar will teacher end users how to use Zoom, a videoconferencing program. Members will discover how to use Zoom in a assortment of methods and how to appear ideal on video clip and maintain security, which need to be a high precedence for any one online.

Subsequent classes scheduled for April 29 and Might 6, 13, 20 and 27 will include web streaming and intelligent TVs, on the internet health resources, employing Google maps, working with social media and defending personal facts on the internet.

Contributors will have to preregister to acquire the Zoom url prior to each webinar. The begin time for every single course is 10 a.m. in Hawaii, not the later on Alaska time mentioned on some webinar descriptions. You really do not have to be an AARP member to sign up, or a kupuna for that issue, while the materials is built for older individuals.

Q: I e-submitted my tax returns March 1 and received my federal refund suitable absent, but absolutely nothing however from the state. How prolonged is it intended to acquire?

A: Taxpayers who are owing a refund on their Hawaii own cash flow tax return “can be expecting a refund within just 7 to eight months if they filed electronically and nine to 10 weeks if they mailed their tax return. It will just take an more two months for the taxpayer to receive a paper examine if they did not opt in for direct deposit,” reported Joshua Mapanao, a spokesperson for the point out Division of Taxation.

Q: How significantly will it price for that roundabout by the Hygienic Keep?

A: The challenge is envisioned to cost $5.4 million, in accordance to the point out Department of Transportation. To be clear, development perform to put in a roundabout at the intersection of Kamehameha and Kahekili highways in Kahaluu is not predicted to get started right until February.

Q: I assumed Honolulu banned Styrofoam takeout containers, but I however see them all around the spot. Why?

A: The ban on the sale and use of polystyrene foam foodware in Honolulu County that had been scheduled to take outcome Jan. 1 was put off right up until Sept. 5, thanks to an exemption sought by the foodstuff serv­ice industry and granted by the municipal authorities. Restaurants have experienced throughout the pandemic, with operations and source chains disrupted.

The city’s Division of Environmental Expert services agreed that demanding compliance now “would bring about hardship to the foodstuff services industry.”

Summertime employment

Honolulu County’s Section of Parks and Recreation requirements to employ about 500 “responsible, skilled and enthusiastic” adults to team Summertime Fun, its recreational working day treatment software for little ones ages 6 (by Aug. 1) to 13. The spend ranges from $15 to $17.58 an hour, relying on the position most positions are full time for the duration of the software. For a lot more information and facts and to apply, go to little bit.ly/ dprsummerhire.

Generate to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hi 96813 simply call 808-529-4773 or electronic mail kokualine@staradvertiser.com.