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ASD Staff

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

[{"text":"Everybody happy dance!","type":"text"}]

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<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "A good day in Hawai‘i"</title>

Kveekz on Instagram is today's social media find, celebrating some pleasant surprises.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "A good day in Hawai‘i"

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

Four arrests for fireworks violations were reported statewide as police departments cracked down on illegal pyrotechnics through the New Year holiday.

The Honolulu Police Department announced Thursday that the department responded to 592 calls for service involving fireworks violations, which led to a pair of arrests.

Those two arrests were for misdemeanor offenses, Acting Deputy Chief Ryan Nishibun told Aloha State Daily, such as owning illegal fireworks or launching fireworks without a permit. Further details about the arrests will be released on Monday, Jan. 5.

Meanwhile, the nearly 600 calls for service dwarfed the 395 calls made during the 2024-2025 New Year’s holiday, which Nishibun said doesn’t necessarily indicate an increase of activity. Rather, he said, the increase reflects a populace more aware of the dangers of illegal fireworks.

“A lot of people have said it slowed down this year, in the days leading up to New Year’s,” Nishibun said. “And I think that’s right, I think it has cooled off.”

Nishibun credited the reduction in activity to public and media outreach about fireworks violations throughout 2025, following the Aliamanu fireworks disaster that killed six people one year ago.  

Nonetheless, Nishibun added that HPD is “always ready on New Year’s Eve” and that the department had 100% of its patrol districts fully staffed — which, in some districts, meant about 25 officers on patrol, he said — over the holiday, along with multiple support units.

Meanwhile, on Maui, 118 people called the Maui Police Department for fireworks violations, leading to another two arrests.

According to an MPD statement, one arrest was of a 27-year-old Lahaina man charged with illegally using aerial fireworks and launching fireworks without a license.

The other arrest involved an incident that hospitalized a Kahului man. MPD reported that a suspected illegal aerial firework exploded near the man’s legs, opening a wound on his shin and leading him to be transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center with serious injuries.

A 26-year-old Kahului man was arrested following the incident and charged with first-degree reckless endangering, along with an additional penalty for the involvement of fireworks. He later posted a $20,000 bail.

MPD is also investigating a fireworks incident that damaged a Kahului residence. A 

 depicts the incident, in which a suspected aerial firework struck the home, shattering windows, knocking items off shelves and damaging the house’s siding.

MPD reported there are no known suspects in the Kahului case, but anyone with information is encouraged to contact MPD at (808) 244-6400 and mention report number 26-000013.

The Kaua‘i Police Department reported receiving 56 calls related to firework violations and no reported injuries.

ASD also requested comments and data from the Hawai‘i County Police Department.

Fireworks

<title>Four arrested statewide over fireworks incidents</title>

Police departments report more than 700 calls for service regarding illegal fireworks over New Year's Eve.

Four arrested statewide over fireworks incidents

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Business & Tourism

Isaiah Corpus, a 25-year-old who grew up in Waiʻanae, said that he knew as a teenager that he wanted to run his own retail store someday.

“I am the first member of my family to have a store on my own and am proud to have started this business by myself,”

I’ve always been an ocean and beach enthusiast: I taught myself to surf and kayak. I helped at beach cleanups and always want to give back to the ocean and marine life. That’s how I created my business.”

About a year ago, Corpus hatched the plan for 

Shop Kainalu, a Hawaiʻi inspired lifestyle and apparel brand, set to open this spring in Seattle, where he has lived since 2024. 

Corpus added that the initial investment for the venture came from his savings.

He said he took a few business classes and met mentors and coaches, who helped with the paperwork like applying for a state business license.

“I didn’t realize how long it would take to retrieve, but despite that, it all worked out in the end,” he said. "Iʻm excited to have my business out there and to launch soon."

While his primary job is with Hawaiian Airlines, Corpus said, he currently operates a one-man shop, overseeing the fashion and graphic design elements of its products, as well as the renovation of the new space in Seattle's University District, which is expected “to take a couple more months.”

The store is slated to open in May, with a traditional Hawaiian blessing, he said. Other priorities for Corpus ahead of the launch include working on finalizing the website (currently down), hand drawing more designs to ramp up inventory, while recruiting brand ambassadors and, eventually, a team for the store.

When asked what makes Shop Kainalu stand out, he told ASD, “I use eco-friendly materials such as organic cotton, recycled fabrics and renewable textiles that reduce waste, preserve resources and eliminate harmful chemicals, embracing innovative, slow impact production methods for my store. I want to ensure that every clothing item I make not only elevates modern style but also protects the ocean.”

The brand will soon offer tees, totes, swimwear, and a range of other everyday essentials for men, women, and the home, according to 

The biz’s name in Native Hawaiian means ocean wave, which he says “integrates my purpose behind my story. … On a personal level, [I'm] always surfing, going to the beach, so when you shop at my store, you shop to care for the environment, that’s how the name came up.”

In Seattle, he continues to volunteer at cleanups and noted that a portion of the proceeds from the shop with go toward local ocean conservation groups and nonprofits.  

As a new small business owner, Corpus said he’s "still in the learning process" but has already found support from Seattle- and Hawaiʻi-owned small businesses alike. 

Interested in connecting with Corpus? Email 

His plans for the future include opening up another retail store in the Islands. Fun fact: White Plains Beach in ʻEwa Beach is a must-visit whenever Corpus comes home, which is usually monthly.

i culture and community continue to shape who I am and what I build," he said. “Even while living on the continent, Hawai

i remains at the center of my work and purpose. This journey reflects many Hawai

i people building something away from home while staying deeply connected.”

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Isaiah Corpus 16x9

<title>Small business owner with Hawaiʻi roots to open first store in Seattle</title>

Born and raised on Oʻahu, Isaiah Corpus plans to launch Shop Kainalu, a Hawaiʻi inspired lifestyle and apparel brand, in Washington where he now lives. Corpus, a self-described ocean and beach enthusiast from Waiʻanae, discusses the details leading up to its spring debut, as well as his hope to open another retail store in his island home.

Small business owner with Hawaiʻi roots to open first store in Seattle

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

The new NCAA transfer portal for football officially opened on Friday, promising a hectic two weeks that will see plenty of player movement across the country, including at the University of Hawai‘i. 

FBS and FCS players with eligibility remaining were able to enter the portal at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Friday and will have until Jan. 16 to do so. 

In the 2024-2025 academic year, more than 4,900 FBS players and 3,200 FCS players entered the transfer portal, which both set records at the time. There were also two portal periods: One in December 2024 and one in April 2025. The January 2026 window will be the only transfer portal period of the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Despite the portal not opening until Friday, 10 players on the University of Hawai‘i's 2025 roster had already announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal in receivers 

 and Joey Farthing, defensive backs Ben Drake, Deliyon Freeman and Semaj James, defensive lineman Aiden McComber, quarterbacks Luke Weaver and Dermaricus Davis, offensive lineman KT Carter, and punter 

, threw the game-winning touchdown to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds remaining. He went 

 in place of regular starter Micah Alejado, who dealt with 

 throughout the course of the season. Alejado is expected to return as the starting quarterback and has three years of eligibility remaining, while Weaver will have two seasons of college ball left. 

The nature of the NCAA transfer portal, which officially launched in 2018, has seen adjustments as rules changed in collegiate athletics. When the portal launched, athletes who did not graduate from their previous schools originally had to sit out for a year in academic residence. That is no longer the case, as athletes can compete for their new schools right away. Additionally, a ruling in 2024 allowed student-athletes to transfer an unlimited amount of times. University of Hawai‘i men's basketball senior guard Dre Bullock, for example, is at his fourth school in four years. 

New additions for the University of Hawai‘i football in the upcoming portal period will also have academic considerations. UH-Mānoa's spring semester begins on Jan. 12, while the final day to register for classes is 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 20. 

Hawaii departing QBs 010126

<title>NCAA transfer portal opens for football</title>

The 15-day window for players to enter the portal opened on Friday and closes on Jan. 16.

NCAA transfer portal opens for football

Government & Politics

As the new year dawns, so too do a swath of new laws set to take effect Jan. 1.

While many state bills take effect the instant they are signed into law or on July 1, the start of the fiscal year, many others are intended take effect at the start of the new year following their passage.

[{"type":"text","text":"Here are some of the new things to keep in mind under the new laws:"}]

You can’t park too close to a crosswalk

. A new parking regulation takes effect Jan. 1, courtesy of 

, which prohibits vehicles from parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk or intersection, “regardless of the presence or absence of official signs or curb markings.”

A vehicle can still park in that 20-foot buffer zone only if it’s an emergency vehicle, a government vehicle, or a broken-down vehicle. Drivers can also pause in the buffer zone when yielding to an emergency vehicle.

[{"type":"text","text":"Violating these regulations will result in a $50 fine."}]

. In 2025, draft beer was subject to a lower tax rate than “beer other than draft beer." The 2025 rate was $0.54 per wine gallon for draft beer, and $0.93 per wine gallon for other beers.

But state law also defined “draft beer” as beer sold in an individual container of seven or more gallons, which lawmakers and advocates found was out-of-step with industry practices. 

, passed this year, noted that most retailers, bars and small brewers sell what is commonly referred to as “draft beer” out of kegs smaller than seven gallons.

Consequently, Act 90 changes the definition of “draft beer” to mean “beer in an individual container of five gallons or more,” allowing more sellers to take advantage of the lower tax rate.

In Sept. 2002, the state cigarette tax was $0.05 for each cigarette sold. By 2011, following a years-long string of incremental tax hikes, the tax was $0.16 per cigarette, where it sat for years.

 increases the tax once more to $0.18 per cigarette sold. The law also stipulates that some of those tax revenues will go to the state’s cancer research special fund.

The state’s tax on transient accommodation rental proceeds has been 9.25% since 2010. As of today, under 

Cruise ship operators will have to pay an 11% TAT rate beginning today under the same law.

State vehicle insurance requirements will double. 

Currently, the state requires drivers to have a vehicle insurance policy that includes liability coverage of at least $20,000 per person and at least $10,000 for all damages arising from an accident.

, those minimums will double: coverage of at least $40,000 per person and at least $20,000 for accident damage.

Fines for driving without vehicle insurance will also increase, although they won’t double: the fine for a first offense will remain $500, but a subsequent offense within five years will increase from a minimum of $1,500 to a minimum of $2,000.

Pharmacy technicians will need to be licensed. 

 requires that pharmacies must only employ registered pharmacy techs to carry out tasks including “filling, packaging, manipulative, repetitive or other nondiscretionary tasks.”

Pharmacy tech licenses must be renewed by the end of each odd-numbered year, and will require an unspecified fee.

Kayak rental companies will need to register their vessels

. As part of an effort to limit the impacts of over-tourism on state waterways, 

 imposes registration requirements on rental watercraft.

The law specifically notes “the proliferation of rental kayaks and stand-up paddleboards statewide,” and imposes new requirements on any vessel rented or leased to traverse “navigable waters of a state park” — which truthfully only applies to Kaua‘i's Wailuā River, Ahupua‘a ‘O Kahana State Park on O‘ahu and the Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park on Hawai‘i Island.

Beginning Jan. 1, rental vessels used in state parks must be registered with the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ State Parks Division and display a registration number.

State capitol 022725

<title>New year, new laws</title>

Parking regulations and tax changes go into effect Jan. 1.

New year, new laws

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

ahi fillets are popular during the holidays, but did you know you can get them all year long?

Aloha State Daily was recently invited for a tour of 

 and Pier 38 Fish Market, where we got an inside look at the business’s “boat to table” process.

Our tour began with a walk-through of the Fresh Island Fish, which included its storage and processing rooms. The tour was led by Fresh Island Fish CEO Neil Hirasuna, Ahi & Vegetable restaurant manager/lead Paul Santos and Fresh Island Fish director of operations Marcus Marrotte.

Envision a bunch of pallets on the ground. Pallets get offloaded directly from the vessels; they get passed to the scale, graded and weights get assigned. This is the first room, where everything is stored temporarily until it needs to get cut and processed.

We like to organize things by species. What you have on the racks is primarily blue marlin and striped marlin.

What makes us a little bit different is that most of the source of our fish comes directly from our vessels. We own and operate 27 commercial long line vessels. We take a lot of pride in being able to directly offload our own vessels. A lot of the challenge that is presented by that is you don’t get to pick and choose the grade (of fish); you have to take it all. You don’t get to pick and choose the species you get; you have to take it all.

What that forces us to do is find alternative markets for a lot of these fish, so nothing goes to waste. For example, we sell a lot of marlin to a fish jerky maker in Kona.

Aloha State Daily (ASD): What are some of the restaurants that buy your fish?

i Kai is a huge supporter of us; Maui Brewing in Waikīkī, as well. A lot of our main support comes from the Neighbor Islands as well — Dukes, Hula Grill, the TS Restaurant Group, the Merriman’s group, they’re big supporters of Fresh Island Fish.

ASD: How long has Pier 38 Fish Market been open?

The market has been open for about 3 1/2 years. The market originated from back in the Covid-19 pandemic. About 70 to 80% of all the fish caught in our longline fishery here is consumed locally — in food service restaurants and retail. A vast majority of the market died off once dine-in died off (in March 2020).

What we did the very next week after the dine-in shut down was announced — we saw our sales and the value of fish plummeting — is we started a drive thru-sale in the parking lot. It expanded from a drive-thru sale that we held in the parking lot into a full-on online ordering process through Shopify.

Right around Mother’s Day of 2020 or 2021, we had our largest sale. Our experience showed us that there was a much larger market for consumers, and maybe our business model should be expanded.

 This is the cutting room. Within this room, we cut anywhere from 20,000 to 25,000 pounds of fish a day. We separate it by species, for food safety and cleanliness purposes, and to make sure things are more organized.

We like to say we got the freshest fish because it comes directly from our cutting room — directly from our vessels — onto the shelves. We have all the packaging materials; everything gets packed here, it doesn

’t go off site. Everything is directly loaded from the processing facility and cutting room directly to the shelves.

ASD: Tell us more about the grades of ‘ahi.

We have many grades of ‘ahi, like 1, 1+; 

2, 2+; and 3. Typically, a lot of restaurants use 2+ for sashimi. Two minus is what we call a poke grade; the reason why we call it a poke grade is because that’s what the majority of people use it for. It’s much more pink and pale. Two is for sashimi, for people a little more value-oriented and a little less picky about the fish they serve.

Our number one-grade ‘ahi is more red and vibrant. This goes to the highest-end sushi bars; it’s used for sashimi.

 Once it passes through here (being packed and wrapped), it goes out for distribution. Another thing that makes us unique is that we use oxygen-permeable bags. It’s mostly a food safety thing, but it extends the shelf life (of the fish), which is pretty key for our customers.

 (For sashimi cutting) We section of the backside of the fish to separate the higher-grade of fish we use for nigiri and sashimi. I’m going to section this off into three even blocks; I’m cutting with the grain.

[{"type":"text","text":"The technique for cutting sashimi is going against the grain."}]

ASD: Poke can feature several different grades of ‘ahi, right?

Yes, you can use the scraps of ‘ahi that you’re not going to use for nigiri. That way, you utilize the entire fish.

ASD: Tell us more about the poke kits that are available at the market.

Kira Kaneshiro (Fresh Island Fish director of internal audit):

 Our poke kits are, hands down, the most popular (item). That’s been our staple from day one. The nice thing about the poke kits is that because you mix it yourself, it stays a little bit fresher. If you come in on a Saturday morning and you’re not going to have it until Saturday night, then you can mix it right before you’re going to serve it.

You can custom-make your poke kits to your liking. You can always come (to the market) and add whatever you want — a little bit of limu, a little bit of inamona, fresh Alaea salt. Inamona is very popular; it’s that earthiness you see in most poke.

Fresh Island Fish ahi platter 123025

<title>Behind the scenes at Fresh Island Fish and Pier 38 Fish Market</title>

Aloha State Daily was recently invited for a tour at Fresh Island Fish. We learned more about the business’s “boat-to-table” process, watched whole ‘ahis being broken down, and got tips for sashimi-cutting.

Behind the scenes at Fresh Island Fish and Pier 38 Fish Market

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Welcome the new year with savings — and a lucky bag or two.

Meaning “lucky bag,” Fukubukuro is Japanese New Year custom where shops and merchants offer mystery bags at discounted prices.

Here are a few malls and retailers participating in 

AMC Fukubukuro2026 Lifestyle Images 8

<title>Where to go for Fukubukuro this year</title>

Meaning “lucky bag,” Fukubukuro is Japanese New Year custom where shops and merchants offer mystery bags at discounted prices. Here are a few places to check out.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "A good day in Hawai‘i"

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "A good day in Hawai‘i"

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