NEXT UP: NCAA

Rainbow Wahine softball champs reach for another milestone

Kudos to the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine softball team for its milestone achievement: Winning both the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships for the first time in the program's history.

Now the women must refocus their sights and energies onto the NCAA tournament, in which they are ranked No. 16 overall heading into Friday's Stanford Regional against UC Davis.

The regional berth has the team stoked, and the West Coast venue is a bonus for UH players from California. Pitcher Stephanie Ricketts, for one, at left, is from San Jose and is “;calling up all of my friends and family so we can have a cheering section.”;

Many UH fans will be doing the same - cheering, that is - from across the Pacific.

SIMPLIFY

'Category hiring' is categorically better than the current federal hiring system

Making it easier to work for the federal government could have its drawbacks - like causing the number of such employees to unreasonably increase in number - but still, it seems like the right thing to do, for both the federal agencies that need the workers and the people seeking those jobs.

Currently it can take up to nine months to a year to be accepted for a federal job, and that only after filling out numerous applications, writing essays and undergoing rounds of personal interviews. One prospective worker told the Washington Post last week that she is only “;killing trees”; with her 75 federal job applications over the past three years.

With all that in mind, President Barack Obama has announced a new system known as “;category hiring”; that would cut hiring time to about 80 days by simplifying the process, helping both the agencies and the prospective employees. It also would save on hiring costs and save taxpayer money. As the Post said, “;It's been a long time coming.”;