LOSING THE RACE

Better luck next time, or maybe the time after that …

Ah, what Hawaii's schools could, would, should do with $500 million ... or even just $100 million.

Dream on. State “;leaders”; haven't even figured out how to get furloughed students back to school.

But kudos to Tennessee and Delaware, winners of the U.S. Department of Education's $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition to improve public schools. Tennessee will receive about $500 million and Delaware about $100 million in the first awards.

Another round in the competition is slated for June. Hawaii school officials, who applied the first time around but failed to crack the top 16, say they'll apply again.

FAIR OR FOUL

Fine first, ask questions later?

Michelle Wie's two-stroke penalty on the 11th hole of her final round at the Kia Classic in Carlsbad, Calif., was a bum rap. She was penalized for grounding her club in a hazard after she blasted her ball out of a lake in which she had planted her right foot and onto grass within the hazard, with water splashing everywhere and her left foot in the grassy bank.

The club-grounding is a violation, unless she was trying “;to prevent falling,”; the rule states. That was exactly what Wie said she was trying to do. But three tournament officials gave the penalty without asking Wie about her intent - she didn't look to be desperate in reruns of the shot - and not believing her, they refused to budge from their ruling. That cost Wie two strokes and $90,000 - perhaps pocket change for her, but more than a year's pay for most people.