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Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

[{"text":"Though we're stumped on what the heck an \"aloha T-shirt\" could be.","type":"text"}]

Firefly funny cartoon illustration of a goth kid standing under a small dark cloud in a sunny tropic

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Growing up goth in Hawai‘i</title>

Today's social media find is from comedian Zak Toscani, looking back on his attempt to pull off tropical goth.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Growing up goth in Hawai‘i

Though we&#039;re stumped on what the heck an &quot;aloha T-shirt&quot; could be. 

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Government & Politics

Columnists

At a quarter past eight on a wet Monday morning in January, Anderina Petero boards the Handi-Van outside the Jack in the Box on McCully and falls asleep against the window before it reaches the freeway. She has just finished her sixth graveyard shift of the week. Her daughter Marianeina, twenty-one, the cashier at the same restaurant, sits beside her. They are going home to a shelter in Waiʻanae.

Civil Beat sent more than a dozen reporters and photographers across the island for this year’s Point-In-Time count. The count is an annual tally of homeless people on O‘ahu. The reporters went to meet the people the counters were looking for. It is a 

 from a paper that leans left. It is unflinching about the homeless.

The count ended with 4,539 homeless people on O‘ahu. This number can be spun to suit one’s narrative. The stories underneath are less obliging.

A mother and daughter work the Jack in the Box graveyard shift in McCully. They commute by Handi-Van from a shelter in Waiʻanae. A man cycles in and out of the state hospital. Each time, he is released under Act 26 because he is not mentally fit to stand trial for the petty crime that brought him in. A meth user in Pāwaʻa park has tried every rehab program. They are “just on replay,” he says. His friend died at the park of an overdose a year ago. Two men sit on the District Court steps, newly out of jail. They scrounge bus fare while their girlfriends remain inside, soon to be released. A woman with a bad knee and a medical history of three strokes lives under a bridge. She has cleared the trash from a fouled stream and seen an eagle ray return to the water.

The progressive account of homelessness is mainly a cost-of-housing problem. It fits the mother and daughter exactly. A fifty-dollar rent increase was the final straw for them. It does not fit the man in the park. He has tried every rehab program and remains in the park. It does not fit the insane man. He is the heir of a twentieth-century reform. That reform closed the state hospitals and promised something else would replace them. Nothing did.

The conservative account says homelessness is moral failure, and the answer is to clear the encampments. It fails when it meets the woman living under a bridge. She had a job and a home before three strokes took both. She exercises more visible dominion under an overpass than most of us in our homes. It fails against a working mother praying her way through six graveyard shifts a week.

There is real work here for the state, and conservatives who pretend otherwise are not serious. Honolulu’s housing supply has been throttled by zoning, permitting, and policy that protects the property values of the already-housed. A median one-bedroom rent above $2,000 is a political achievement. Only policy can undo it.

The state can also restrain the publicly destructive, and currently does not. 

 sends a man who cannot stand trial back onto the same streets to commit the same offenses. We call it compassion. But it is the abandonment of a legitimate sphere of state authority in the name of compassion. The man and the public both pay for it.

What the state cannot do is reform a soul. The drug rehab programs that succeed tend, it turns out, to be religious. The man in Pāwaʻa park does not need another program. He needs what no program can deliver. A program that addresses conduct without aiming to save his soul has missed the point entirely.

Every person in the count is an image-bearer of God. Every person in the count is also fallen. To remember one without the other is to slide into sentimentality or contempt. Neither has ever helped anyone.

God works ordinarily through families, through churches, and through the small voluntary associations. They gather to meet needs without being asked. The modern welfare state has spent six decades displacing these little platoons. It is now puzzled that it cannot replace them.

This does not excuse those little platoons, many of which have failed to serve the needy. Anderina wears a bracelet that reads John 3:16. She is a member of a church in Kailua. She has not been there in two Sundays. The Handi-Van takes 90 minutes each way from McCully to Waiʻanae, six nights a week.

Does her church know? Do they care? It is not clear.

At a quarter past eight on a wet Monday in January, on a Handi-Van rolling west toward Waiʻanae, she sleeps with her head against the window. Perhaps today will be a day for rest.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Anderina Marianeina

<title>The stories underneath</title>

ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa explores how an extensive story on homelessness by Civil Beat raises issues where both the political left and political right can do better on their approaches to solving the problem.

The stories underneath

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Governor Josh Green has passed a law preserving many of the tax cuts he had previously announced would be suspended.

At the start of the 2026 legislative session, Green 

 that the next in a series of incremental tax cuts would be paused in order to make up for an alleged $3 billion shortfall in the state budget.

, touting them as “the largest income tax cut in the state’s history.” In most years between 2024 and 2031, the cuts would have amended income tax brackets and increased standard deduction amounts.

 to suspend those cuts after 2026, the version of that bill he signed Thursday maintains some of the cuts after all.

The bill — now enrolled into law as Act 24 — maintains the future cuts for single filers making less than $175,000 per year, heads of household making under $262,500 and joint filers making under $350,000. It also includes a new tax bracket for households making $1 million or more annually, and subjects them to a 13% marginal tax rate.

In a statement Thursday, Green said the law is “a balanced and responsible approach to safeguarding Hawai‘i's financial future.”

“It preserves meaningful tax relief for working families while ensuring we have the resources to protect essential services that our residents depend upon every day," read Green's statement.

SB 3125 also scales down a renewable energy tax credit over the next several years, establishing caps on the total number of credits issued each year for wind and solar power systems between 2027 and 2030 — each year is capped at $40 million. Then, in 2031 and beyond, that cap is zeroed out, with no further credits available.

Green’s announcement Thursday also stated that he is working with private entities to bring investments to support the renewable energy industry “in the very near future,” as well as developing larger-scale renewable energy tax credits.

 For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Josh Green state of the state 012125

<title>Tax cuts saved: Green signs bill to preserve most upcoming tax cuts</title>

Despite previous announcements that future tax cuts would need to be paused, Gov. Josh Green signed on Thursday a measure that preserves most of them.

Tax cuts saved: Green signs bill to preserve most upcoming tax cuts

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

 Goes came up with the lyrics for the band’s latest single, “Up Late,” in his living room. The song, which comes from the ‘Āina Haina-based band Backset — where Goes is the lead singer — will release on Spotify, Apple Music and Itunes on Thursday night.

“I was kind of feeling rebellious in my living room,” he told Aloha State Daily. “I started writing a song, and then I kind of put it on the back burner for a little while."

Originally, the surfer was imagining how someone might respond to being told what to do.

“And one day, I was just hanging at my buddy's house and there was this girl that I was talking to at the time, and she had sent me this text message the previous night, and it was keeping me up late just thinking about her text message,” he said. “I was just at my buddy's house jamming the guitar, and then I came up with this line: ‘You got me up late thinking about your message.’ ”

— and some of their other music — live at 9 p.m. on Friday, May 22, at the Secret Spot Honolulu, a café and bar within The Laylow, Autograph Collection in Waikīkī. 

“This is the first song of a six-song EP, so it's a little teaser for what's to come,” he said. “I would say they should come to dance!”

On the Rise Artist with the Henry Kapono Foundation

, a program that supports the careers of Hawaiʻi’s emerging musicians by providing them with paid gigs, master classes and mentorship.  

 a new talent competition launched by Hawaiian Council.

The alternative indie rock band has some reggae influences, as well as psychedelic and ethereal sounds. The band includes Goes, who is the lead singer and plays guitar, Joaquin Browne on guitar, Kobeats on drums, Cam Somlak on bass, and Josh Kay on keys with backing vocals. Kay, who now lives in California, will be joining the band for its performance on Friday.

Backset draws inspiration from a variety of artists.

“I get very inspired by a couple of Aussie bands that I've been listening to since I was in high school,” said Goes, who attended Kaiser High School and then Honolulu Community College.

Some of the groups that influence the band include Sticky Fingers and Ocean Alley, as well as The Police, The Rolling Stones, 

, Pepper, Sublime and Radiohead, he said.

We're very excited to be dropping  new content," Goes said. "We have a music video for the song."

[{"type":"text","text":"The band also recently released its album \"Backset, Vol. 1.\" "}]

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Backset

<title>Backset drops new single “Up Late”</title>

The ‘Āina Haina-based band Backset is releasing its first single from a six-song extended play this week. Aloha State Daily caught up with Gabriel Goes, who also performed on NBC’s “The Voice,” Hawaiian Council’s “Hawaiʻi to the World,” and more, about his inspiration for the new music and how to listen.

Backset drops new single “Up Late”

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

A new memorandum of understanding between Maui County and Maui Land & Pineapple Co. sets the stage for the county to acquire MLP's West Maui water infrastructure.

In an announcement Monday, the county says this move marks the first phase of a broader effort that aims to also secure other private water systems in Olowalu and Launiupoko. 

"This will increase public stewardship of West Maui's drinking water systems from 45% to 93% while supporting much-needed housing development for local residents," the announcement notes.

If the acquisition is approved, here are the West Maui water assets the county stands to gain, according to the announcement:

An existing upcountry well in Piʻiholo would also be acquired, along with land for additional well sites and water storage, and non-water infrastructure assets that include a Mokuʻula land parcel, Kahana roadway and land in Hāliʻimaile for a police substation and a fire station, the county says.

Additionally, the MOU also "creates opportunities for the county to increase workforce and affordable housing supply for local families," the county says.

"We want to restore balance in our community," Mayor Richard Bissen said in a video posted to the 

. "Part of that comes with making sure we have an adequate water supply that we can provide not only for homes being built, but for emergency response, for agriculture, for environmental uses. This is a long-term, generational resource."

Throughout 2025 and into 2026 alone, much of Maui County experienced varying drought conditions. (You can find current and historical drought conditions 

"As this severe drought has demonstrated, Maui needs greater interconnected infrastructure and system resiliency to ensure reliable service during emergencies, including drought and wildfire events," MLP CEO Race Randle told Aloha State Daily in an emailed response to questions. "More interconnected systems create important redundancy and operational flexibility, helping ensure water can continue flowing where it is needed most during critical moments while also supporting the rebuilding of Lahaina and future housing opportunities for local families.

“Since I became CEO, MLP’s leadership team has focused on realizing the full potential of the company’s assets to help meet Maui’s needs today and for future generations," he continued. "The MOU represents an important step toward strengthening Maui’s long-term, island-wide water security while also supporting efforts to expand housing opportunities so local families can continue to live and thrive on Maui."

Randle says that a strategic review of the company's water infrastructure began in early 2025 and MLP has been in active discussions with the county for roughly a year.

The agreement, Randle says, "reflects a shared commitment to responsible stewardship of Maui’s water resources and long-term resiliency planning for the community.” 

If successful, the transition of water assets into public stewardship would be a "positive outcome" for both the county and the company, he told ASD.

“MLP has been a careful and responsible steward of these lands and water systems for generations, and we are encouraged by the county’s commitment to continue that stewardship for the benefit of the Maui community," Randle says. "MLP’s Honokōhau Ditch System is highly efficient and continues to deliver water from Honokōhau Stream to oﬀstream users whenever sufficient water is available for diversion and in accordance with state regulations. We believe this collaboration can help build on that foundation and create a more resilient and sustainable future for Maui.”

According to the county, the purchase price will be established through formal county appraisals and system assessments, but as of Monday, estimates were not yet available.

Conditions of the final sale are still being negotiated and the acquisition must be approved by the Maui County Council.

Bissen earlier this year announced that the county is in negotiations with MLP, Kamehameha Schools and West Maui Land to acquire "key water system assets" that include the Olowalu and Launiupoko irrigation and water companies, the announcement noted.

"If successful, water systems in West Maui, including both drinking and irrigation, will transition from 25% to 65% publicly owned," the county says. "More importantly, public stewardship of drinking water systems in West Maui will increase from 45% to 93%, representing a major step toward ensuring this essential resource is managed in the public trust."

 was founded in 1909 and today stewards more than 22,000 acres of land and approximately 247,000 square feet of commercial properties.

 in Maui Circuit Court alleged that MLP failed to maintain its Honokōhau ditch system to the detriment of nearby property owners and businesses.

TY Management Corp., the owner and operator of the Kapalua Plantation Golf Course — where the PGA previously hosted the 

 — and Kapalua Bay Golf Course; Hua Momona Farms LLC; Plantation Estates Lot Owners' Association; Association of Apartment Owners of the Coconut Grove on Kapalua; and the Association of Apartment Owners of the Ridge at Kapalua filed the complaint.

, accusing TY management of breach of contract for failing to responsibly reduce its water use during drought conditions.

 filed last September by TY and the Plantation Estates Lot Owners’ Association, accused MLP of improperly annexing land to seize power within the Kapalua Resort Association.Trials for both cases are long way off. The former suit has a trial date scheduled in March 2027, and the latter has a trial date in June 2027.

Aloha State Daily reporter Michael Brestovansky contributed to this article.

County MLP MOU

<title>Maui County looks to acquire water assets from Maui Land & Pineapple</title>

The county says this move marks the first phase of a broader effort that aims to also secure other private water systems in Olowalu and Launiupoko.

Maui County looks to acquire water assets from Maui Land & Pineapple

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ben Sasse is bleeding from the face."}]

He’s seated across from New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, 

, and he pauses to note it. He’s dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. One side effect of the treatment is that his body can’t grow skin.

“Yeah, you look terrible,” says Douthat.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Thank you,” says Sasse with a smile."}]

Since his diagnosis, Sasse has appeared on 

 stage, and a parade of podcasts. He uses the time to say what most politicians never dare to.

He talks about faith. He quotes R.C. Sproul. He discusses Tocqueville with the ease of someone who has actually read him.

Sasse is a two-term Republican Senator from Nebraska, a Harvard graduate, a Yale PhD in History. He voted to impeach Donald Trump and took the consequences. Though popular with voters in his home state, he left the Senate to serve as President of the University of Florida.

Now he spends his last days making one argument: American political life has gone badly wrong. Not because the wrong party is winning. Because the whole enterprise has lost its bearings.

Sasse starts with something most politicians would rather ignore: the pace of technological change. Previous economic transformations — industrialization, electrification — unfolded across generations. This one won’t. Robotics and automation will wipe out whole careers within a single working life.

Sasse sees a second shift: disembodied consciousness, the way screens let people leave their world. Families are breaking apart. Communities are dissolving. The local ties — churches, civic groups, the small-scale institutions Edmund Burke called “little platoons” — that help people absorb hard times are being stripped away. The formation of souls and citizens is at risk, and government is mostly ignoring it in favor of clickbait and rage.

He thinks our loves should be ordered, first to God, then to those nearest us, rippling outward from family to neighborhood to state to nation. Caring about a national political party more than your own community isn’t just confused. It’s a disorder of affection.

What’s true of the nation is true in Hawai'i. The legislature introduces three thousand bills a year. How many of those take the large challenges seriously? The demographic shifts, the cost pressures squeezing local families, the slow hemorrhage of young people off the Islands? The floor speeches and press releases gesture toward these problems, but the lawmaking doesn’t match the problem.

Sasse’s example suggests why. He can sit for an hour-long interview on dense political and theological matters because he has a clear philosophy — a disciplined way of working through problems. It also gives him the power to persuade, which is the precondition for coordinated action.

The founders studied rhetoric and philosophy with the same care they gave the law, because republican government runs on argument and clear speech. Most of Hawai‘i’s lawmakers couldn’t sustain an interview like Sasse’s, and the laws show it. There’s no clear direction. No will to rally the public. Few signs that anyone has thought hard about what government is for. What fills the vacuum is performance: press releases, floor speeches written for social media, outrage timed to the news cycle.

Sasse has a simple framework for what a coherent politics looks like. He describes four ways of valuing government, measured in cheers. No-cheer people — hardcore libertarians — don’t understand that government exists to secure liberty. Three-cheer people believe in a state that controls everything. Republicans, he says, are the one-cheer party. Democrats are the two-cheer party. Each has an extreme wing. Hawai‘i’s loudest voices are at the extremes.

What we lack are the one-cheer leaders: those who see government as necessary but flawed, able to secure order but not to deliver salvation.

Government should do a small number of important things well. It should get out of the way of the little platoons. It should never present itself as the path to utopia. Hawai‘i’s government casting itself as humanity’s last best hope has always been faintly comic.

Sasse’s sharpest line comes when he describes what voters already sense about the way their leaders talk.

They know it’s bullshit, he says — and they don’t want to be lied to. Why can’t politics do a small number of important, long-term things?

There is something clarifying about a man making that argument while bleeding from the face. He has no election to win, no caucus to protect, and by his own reckoning, weeks or months to live. What he’s chosen to do with his time is sit down and think hard about what government is and isn’t for, and what we’ve lost by confusing the two.

In watching Ben Sasse die, Hawai‘i might learn something about how to live.

Ben Sasse Getty Images 1231346544

<title>Ben Sasse is dying in public</title>

The former U.S. senator from Nebraska is talking about big ideas everywhere he can as pancreatic cancer takes his life. Hawai‘i's politicians could learn from what he has to say about government doing fewer things well, says ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa.

Ben Sasse is dying in public

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Honolulu foodies no longer have to drive to Oʻahu’s North Shore to enjoy poke bowls from Kahuku-based 

The biz soft opened its second location — its first Oʻahu expansion — on May 17. Ry’s Poke Shack’s Honolulu location is next to Jugo Life in the Ala Moana neighborhood.

The Honolulu location is a collaborative effort between Jugo Life/

, operations manager Daysen Masuda and himself, according to business owner Ryan Ching.

“We’ve been looking for any expansion on the west side or town side,” he says. “I wanted to do something with Tommy, too; the timing [now] was just perfect for us. It’s a good collaborative shop; all of us are in this one.”

Ry’s Poke Shack’s original Kahuku location started about six years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, Ry’s Poke Shack opened two locations in California — one year ago in Huntington Beach, and in Pasadena earlier in January — with a third So Cal location coming soon in Lomita.

While the most popular poke flavors are at each location, every store has a few exclusive options, according to Ching. The Honolulu store has two exclusive flavors from Oh and Matsuda.

“There are two new styles of poke Daysen and Tommy made,” Ching confirms. “Daysen made one called ‘Foodxjitsu,’ and we got one Tommy made with a local sauce.”

The Foodxjitsu poke is inspired by Chinese-style steamed fish, according to Masuda. It includes ginger, green onions, cilantro, onions, garlic and a shoyu blend, and is finished with chili flakes and ikura.

“This is something I’ve been doing from Hilo; every restaurant I’ve worked at, I’ve done a version of it,” operations manager Daysen Masuda explains.

Originally from Hilo, Masuda started selling poke bowls during the Covid-19 pandemic, which eventually led to him starting his own sushi business. He offered sushi platters and catering on Hawaii Island before moving to Honolulu.

“I’ve been doing sushi forever; my platters were always used for celebrations, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he says. “People were having small celebrations and for me, that was so rewarding.

“I’m just super fortunate; food always seems to bring people together, and that’s the common thing,” he adds. “Being able to work with guys who started from the ground and built up their company is nostalgic for me.”

Meanwhile, the What’s Crack’N flavor includes What’s Crack’n sauce — an umami Thai/Lao-style dipping sauce — with fresh ogo, sesame oil, onions, green onions and a shoyu blend.

Signature poke flavors include shoyu — Ry’s signature shoyu blend with onions, green onions and toasted sesame oil — spicy, and Lao style, a spicy option that includes garlic, fish sauce, Thai chili pepper, cilantro, shoyu blend, onions and green onions.

“Everyone always requests the Lao style,” Ching says. “The lao style seems to be popular at every single place, so that’s the one we always keep (on the menu).”

Customers can order poke bowls, poke by the pound or tsunami nachos ($23.95). The latter is the shop’s version of poke nachos, which features house fried wonton chips topped with tsunami-style poke, two scoops of crab surimi, Ry’s cucumber namasu, furikake and tobiko, finished with unagi sauce and chili mayo drizzle. The wonton chips are fried in 100% beef tallow to highlight its savory flavor.

Poke bowls can include one ($16.95) or two ($23.95) poke flavors; all bowls include Koshihikari (Japanese short-grain) rice and Ry’s cucumber namasu.

The community aspect is important to Ching, who says he’s open to collaborations and supporting other local businesses.

“It’s good for the community to reach out to us,” he says. “Every now and then, Tommy will do his burger pop-ups over here. Daysen is going to [eventually] make his chirashi bowls. This is a collaborative effort; it’s going to be much more unique in that way.”

Ry’s Poke Shack’s Honolulu store is open from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (or until sold out) Wednesdays to Fridays.

Open from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (or until sold out) Wednesdays to Fridays

Rys Poke Shack owners 051826

<title>Ry’s Poke Shack opens in Honolulu</title>

The Kahuku-based biz opened its second location on Oʻahu this past weekend. The Honolulu location is located in the Ala Moana neighborhood next to Jugo Life, and features specialty collaboration poke flavors.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Growing up goth in Hawai‘i

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Growing up goth in Hawai‘i

Authors

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