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Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Must be the "seefood" diet</title>

Today's social media find comes from hawaiisonly, living off the bounty of the ocean.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Must be the "seefood" diet

Things can go wrong when you try to make a good impression! 

Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"This dog had to make the hardest decision of his life..."}]

Smile 26 6 12

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, June 12, 2026</title>

This dog had to make the hardest decision of his life...

Daily Smile: Friday, June 12, 2026

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Prior to summer, the dessert was only available on Saturdays, but for the next few months, customers can get it from Wednesdays to Saturdays.

“Our in-house, made-from-scratch, original recipe of Hokkaido soft cream was created by our chocolatier from Hokkaido,” says business owner Erin Kanno Uehara. “It’s made fresh four days a week for the summer.”

The soft serve dessert ($6.99) is made with Hokkaido milk powder to replicate the creamy soft serve from Japan. The Choco le‘a soft cream was introduced to the public in March 2024, but it was on hiatus during the holiday season.

Customers can choose from Hokkaido cream vanilla, Choco leʻa chocolate or a swirl. The toppings bar is a new addition. For an additional $1.50, you can take your pick from the toppings bar, which includes sprinkles, Fruity Pebbles, gummy bears, Oreo crumbs, Oreo cookies and more.

The dessert shop also brought back its popular iced chocolate drink ($7.49) with cold brew coffee (additional $2), which is made in collaboration with 

, also located in Mānoa. The drink is made with housemade chocolate syrup and oat milk.

“Our in-house chocolate drink is also a summer special and a collaboration with our friends at Morning Glass and their exceptional cold brew for the perfect balance of chocolate and coffee,” Kanno Uehara says.

The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays (closed Sundays and Mondays).

Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays; closed Sundays and Mondays

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Choco lea Hokkaido soft serve and chocolate drink 061026

<title>Choco leʻa launches summer specials</title>

The Mānoa dessert shop is offering its Hokkaido-style soft serve and popular iced chocolate drink with cold brew coffee on a regular basis for the next few months. The latter is a collaboration with Morning Glass Coffee.

Choco leʻa launches summer specials

Arrasmith Portrait

Perry Arrasmith

Government & Politics

Columnists

Just when I thought the dust settled, another layer was added to the confusion. 

It’s nothing short of a crisis. On June 4, the Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, made an announcement from Ohio that throws Hawai‘i’s Medicaid program in the middle of a growing national fight over fraud. 

As a result of Ferguson’s announcements, the state agency certified to investigate Medicaid fraud in Hawai‘i is now decertified and defunded. In the federal government’s eyes, it functions with no credibility. 

, “Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has received millions and millions of dollars to fight fraud and has consistently been one of the lowest-performing fraud units in the country.”

, a little-known agency nestled under the Hawai‘i Department of the Attorney General charged with investigating fraud. 

The crisis has unfolded gradually over the past 10 years and now finds itself at an unprecedented inflection point. 

“They have been the subject of continued demands to improve their performance since 2014 — dating back to the Obama Administration — and from 2021 to 2025, Hawai‘i’s Medicaid funding went up 27%. Their Medicaid enrollment went up 40%, and they did not produce a single conviction or obtain a single indictment of a fraudster from 2021 to 2025.” 

The Attorney General of the State of Hawai‘i, Anne Lopez, had previously clapped back at the Trump administration's accusations against Hawai‘i just a week earlier. On May 26, the California Department of Justice 

 a press conference with several Democratic Attorneys General to address a ‘last-minute’ invitation extended by Vice President Vance to join the White House’s Medicaid Fraud Task Force. Attorney General Lopez was flanked by her counterparts from Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, and California.

 an Anti-Fraud Task Force on March 16 to be chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance. For politically disparate Hawai‘i, the gravity of the Task Force’s importance was brought to bear on May 13 at a 

 on Medicaid fraud hosted by Vice President Vance. 

“The Hawai‘i Medicaid program has received billions and billions of dollars from the federal taxpayers,” Vance observed at his May conference. “Hawai‘i taxpayers have paid in a lot of money into this program over the last years as well. Guess how many convictions or indictments Hawaii has had over the last few years in its Medicaid fraud program? The answer is zero.”

For those who don’t know, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program administered by the states. Each state has a designated Medicaid agency (

 in Hawai‘i’s case, which functions under the Hawai‘i Department of Human Services). Hawai‘i will then pay different providers and/or health plans to provide health care and report those expenditures to the federal government through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Hawai‘i then seeks federal funds to match some of the costs borne by the State. 

, the U.S. federal government covered 71% of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid costs ($2.2 billion) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, leaving the State of Hawai‘i to cover the remaining 29% ($890 million). It’s a lot of money, leaving fraud as a consistent possibility.  

Gov. Green brushed off Vance’s concerns on May 18. “He didn’t take the time to call me at all,” Green 

Gov. Green, for now, is committed to avoiding squabbles with the federal government. Where health care is concerned, he’s enjoyed a largely warm relationship with the Trump administration. 

To date, Governor Josh Green has expressed a ready willingness to engage with the Trump Administration on a select basis. 

This relationship has notably extended to the CMS headed by Dr. Mehmet Oz. CMS Administrator Oz has directly engaged with Governor Green on more than one occasion. On July 23, 2025, the Governor’s Office 

 that Green would facilitate a discussion with CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz (alongside Republican Vermont Governor Phil Scott). 

CMS, so far, has also shown a willingness to fund rural health efforts across the United States, including Hawai‘i. On December 29, 2025, it 

 that the State of Hawai‘i would receive nearly $189 million in funding to “expand access to care in rural communities, strengthen the rural health workforce, modernize rural facilities and technology, and support innovative models that bring high-quality, dependable care closer to home.”

 focuses on six specific areas: (1) a Rural Health Information Network; (2) the Pili Ola Telehealth Network; (3) a Rural Infrastructure for Care Access (RICA) network; (4) a Rural Healthcare Workforce Pipeline; (5) a Rural Respite Network of five separate sites designed to reduce hospital stays; and (6) a Rural Value-Based Innovation and AHEAD Readiness Fund to encourage “value-based care and population-health models.” 

Ties between Gov. Green and Dr. Oz, at least for now, appear to be warm. Oz even 

 Green for collaborating with him for National Walking Day on March 19, just a few days after the formation of Vice President Vance’s Task Force. 

Despite Vance’s attacks on Hawai‘i, Gov. Green pulled back the veil to explain that he still maintains good relationships with the Trump administration. As he explained in one May interview, “I actually spoke right after that interview with the head of CMS – that’s Dr. Oz – to share what we’re actually doing.”

 (MFCU), organized under the State of Hawai‘i’s Department of the Attorney General. To that end, criticism of our MFCU is not new. 

In fact, managing the MFCU is a wicked issue with a decade of history. During the Obama Administration, an October 2014 

 conducted by the HHS OIG found that “only two of the [MFCU]’s seven investigators were hired as long-term employees (as required), the Unit did not have an auditor, it did not have written policies and procedures for its operations, and it did not have a required training plan for its professional employees.” 

The same report found that the MFCU failed to “regularly communicate with Federal law enforcement agencies, it worked outside of its grant authority, and it did not exercise fiscal control of its resources.”

 found that the MFCU “experienced significant turnover of investigators and lacked sufficient Medicaid fraud cases to adequately train new and inexperienced investigators.” Furthermore, the MFCU appeared to receive “few fraud referrals from the Medicaid Program Integrity Unit and other stakeholders, which limited the number of cases available for the Unit to investigate and prosecute.”

Similarly, the Center for Program Integrity within the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services called for better cooperation in two reports issued in 

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dispatched its Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) MFCU Oversight Division to review the state’s work on Medicaid fraud. Per the Attorney General’s office, the review “identified a number of challenges that have impacted its ability to initiate criminal charges and obtain convictions.” 

To that end, the division has ample room for improvement. Efforts to streamline the MFCU’s work include “increased collaboration with the unit’s state and federal partners to detect and investigate Medicaid and Medicare Fraud in Hawai‘i, accelerated recruitment of new investigators, and developing tools for investigation.” 

 directly to Hawai‘i’s Attorney General. The Inspector General, T. March Bell, doubled down on the Vice President’s rhetoric and went a step further. Bell confirmed that he had directed his office “to engage in a robust review of [Hawai‘i’s] MFCU.” To that end, he further confirmed that he “will be reaching out to you personally to review the effectiveness of your MFCU, as well as its compliance with program requirements.” 

“Hawaiʻi has not ignored Medicaid fraud,” Attorney General Anne Lopez 

 on May 14. “Our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has secured or helped secure more than $14 million in judgments, settlements, and recoveries since 2021, filed recent criminal charges, and is actively working with federal and state partners to strengthen investigations and prosecutions.”

It is still true that the State of Hawai‘i did not have any convictions resulting from the MFCU. This fact is confirmed by a 

 released by the HHS OIG. Small states like Montana, Vermont, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Delaware had at least one conviction. The same sheet shows that Hawai‘i managed to engage in 388 fraud investigations, although not a single investigation resulted in a single indictment.  

Despite his methods, the vice president's press conference is shining attention on an inconvenient, long-term issue with serious consequences for Hawai‘i’s fiscal health. 

For now, Attorney General Anne Lopez’s decision to align with other Democratic Attorneys General may run out of step with Gov. Green’s conciliatory approach to folks like Dr. Oz and the Trump Administration’s increased focus on Hawai‘i. 

It’s a game of money overshadowed by the inclination of national officials to make an example of Hawai‘i. To weather this storm, Hawai‘i’s money — and Hawai‘i’s health — require more attention from Hawai‘i’s people.

Josh Green state of the state 012125

<title>Making Sense of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Conundrum</title>

On Thursday, the federal government decertified and defunded Hawai‘i's Medicaid fraud unit in response to having spent millions on the unit for years while getting few results. ASD political historian Perry Arrasmith explains how we got here and what it means for Hawai‘i, where Gov. Josh Green had been on fairly good terms with the Trump administration on health matters.

Making Sense of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Conundrum

, which closed its Waikīkī location on Beach Walk in January 2024, just opened at Kōʻula in Ward Village.

The cafe is currently open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast and brunch. It’s only accepting reservations for dine-in (takeout beverages allowed) via OpenTable for the time being.

“The excitement has been very real, which is nice,” says Ryan Ko, vice president and COO for Westman Corp. “We’ll probably allow for limited walk-ins throughout the week, as the team gets accustomed to everything. We want to make sure we deliver something good.”

Customers who remember the cafe’s former Waikīkī store will notice similar décor in the Kakaʻako space.

“A lot of it (the aesthetic) comes from the old location, but we refreshed it to make it look modern,” Ko says. “A little bit of lighting makes it really pop.”

The food menu features some of the cafe’s dishes that were popular in Waikīkī — like its signature souffle pancakes — along with more savory options.

“There’s a lot of inspiration from it (our Waikīkī location),” Ko says. “We copied over a lot of things, we updated some and added stuff like shakshuka — things that are more modern in the U.S. and Japan.”

The eatery’s souffle pancakes ($22) feature two fluffy pancakes served with banana, cheese cream, maple syrup and a choice of sauce (lemon, mixed berry or tropical). The tropical sauce features pineapple puree with mango chunks; mixed berry is a combo of blueberries and raspberries.

“The lemon (sauce) for sure has been a home run for everybody,” Ko says.

Customers can also choose from a variety of toasts — avocado ($17), salmon gravlax ($18), beets ($16), falafel ($17) and breakfast ($16) — along with “wellness” options like acai bowls ($18) and yogurt bowls ($15).

Acai bowls feature a refreshing acai blend topped with bananas, strawberries, blueberries, granola, honey and cacao nibs.

The avocado toast ($17) features sourdough bread topped with avocado, a poached egg, feta, dukkah, herb oil and micro herbs.

[{"type":"text","text":"WESTMAN CAFE features local artisan breads from Bread Shop in Kaimukī."}]

Customers that dine between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. can enjoy Island-inspired fare like the washugyu loco moco ($22) — comprising a washugyu beef patty, white rice, hayashi gravy, Brussels sprouts, egg, carrot marinade and red cabbage slaw — and mahi mahi loco moco ($22). The latter features mahi mahi with white rice, avocado, edamame, radish, carrot marinade, red cabbage slaw, an egg and garlic cream sauce.

Brunch beverages range from house coffee ($5) and lattes ($6) to a variety of teas ($5-$7.50), cocktails ($12-$17) and smoothies ($8.50). Zero-proof options ($5-$8) are also available.

“Our house coffee is really good, too; we’re blending that ourselves,” Ko says.

While the cafe is currently open for breakfast and brunch/lunch, it will eventually be open for dinner.

“Once we can get the team built and put everything together, we’ll have dinner service,” Ko says. “Then, we’ll be off and running.”

Westman Cafe sign 032026

<title>WESTMAN CAFE is open for brunch in Kakaʻako</title>

The eatery, which closed its Waikīkī location in 2024, just soft opened in Ward Village. The cafe is currently open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast and brunch. Feast on dishes like avocado toast, mahi mahi loco moco, and the restaurant’s signature souffle pancakes.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Must be the "seefood" diet

ASD Staff

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Must be the "seefood" diet

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Neighborhood weather updates

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

Gotta catch ‘em all — at Ala Moana Center: voices from Pokémon GO’s “Wild Area: Global” event

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