ASD Staff

Adopt a Pet

Lu arrived at Maui Humane Society in September 2024. 

MHS said at first, Lu "was really skinny and unsure of people — but with time, love, and a whole lot of treats, [he] started to trust again. Now, [he's] got a healthy weight, a few tricks under my belt (he can “sit” and give “paw” like a pro!), and walks like a champ on leash." 

Lu is currently living in a foster home with an awesome family but is ready for his forever home.

<title>Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 7, 2025: Lu + you = forever ʻohana</title>

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 7, 2025: Lu + you = forever ʻohana

Lu arrived at Maui Humane Society in September 2024.  MHS said at first, Lu "was really skinny and unsure of people — but with time, love, and a whole lot of treats, [he] started to trust again. Now, [he's] got a healthy weight, a few tricks under my belt (he can “sit” and give “paw” like a pro!), and walks like a champ on leash."  Lu is currently living in a foster home with an awesome family but is ready for his forever home. Interested in adopting Lu? Learn more here.

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Business & Tourism

When Daniela Fry started dipping chocolate-covered strawberries for friends and family in 2014, she never dreamed that these desserts would launch her business, 

. At the time, Fry was a senior in high school.

“I just did it for my friends and family because it was something exciting and fun to do; something different to do for Valentine’s Day,” she says. “I got a real kick out of it. A lot of my friends enjoyed the strawberries I made for them; it kind of started from there.”

Every year after that, Fry continued doing chocolate-dipped strawberries for Valentine’s Day. Every time she did them, she would get requests for more flavors and more designs. In 2016, Fry officially started the Dipped by Dee Instagram account and started selling her dipped strawberries for the first time.

“It was nothing compared to what it is now, but that was the first year that I actually sold it to friends,” Fry says.

When Fry started studying business in college at the University of New Mexico, she realized she could integrate her business experience with her studies.

“I never thought I was going to do entrepreneurship, but I was able to apply my business in a lot of my classes because we had to come up with business plans,” she says. “One thing led to another. Eventually, I graduated from college, I moved to Hawai

i to be with my husband, and I started to take it (this business) a little more seriously.”

Dipped by Dee’s first storefront location opened on Sand Island Access Road in 2019. In April 2022, the business moved to its current ‘Aiea location (in ‘Aiea Town Square) to be more central for everyone, Fry says.

The dessert shop now not only features dipped strawberries, but also dipped apples, cheesecake cups, tarts and drip cups. While she started out with strawberries, Fry said she knew she wanted to expand the selection of dipped treats — hence, the business’s name.

“I did not want to do Strawberries by Dee because I knew I wanted to keep it pretty general; there’s a lot of different things we can dip,” she says.

The most popular treats at Dipped by Dee’s Hawai

i store include chocolate-covered strawberries and cheesecake cups.

“Everything that I’ve learned has been from trial and error — checking out what works and what doesn’t work,” she says. “I’ve gone through pretty much every brand of chocolate you can think of. Requests have always come from our customers and our employees, so we brainstorm ideas and test it out.”

Dipped by Dee is often recognized for its caramel dipped apples, which often feature seasonal designs ranging from Mickey Mouse and other Disney themes to Labubus (more on those later). The biz only started offering apples since 2020, according to Fry, who says mastering the method was more difficult.

“It’s not rocket science, but it took us a few years to perfect it,” she says. “It was a lot more challenging to master the apples, but it’s now my favorite thing to make and dip. They’re bigger (than the strawberries), so I feel like I can get more done. Once I nailed the recipes and consistencies, it’s been a lot more fun to do the apples. We have a lot more creativity with the designs.”

Compared to the dipped strawberries, apples have a longer shelf life — they typically last for about a week, as long as they’re refrigerated, according to Fry. While strawberry shortcake and cookie butter are the most popular flavors for dipped apples, seasonal designs are a hit with customers. The biz recently launched a limited-time dipped apple featuring Labubu decorations. These specialty apples ($16) are sold in a blind box, just like the highly sought-after collectible plush toys.

“There’s so much detail in making these; we hand paint the chocolate on there,” Fry says. “They’re a lot of work, but we got a lot of good feedback from our customers and the kids. The kids love the blind boxes because that’s how the Labubus are. You don’t know what you’re going to get; people love the concept. We have four different colors, and we also came up with own our secret Labubu.

“We were only going to do one tray, but because everybody’s been loving them so much, we decided to keep going for a little bit longer,” she adds. “It’s only been a week (since we started offering them); this might be the third tray that we’ve done.”

The Labubus may or may not be at Dipped by Dee’s booth at the 

i Convention Center. While Fry can’t guarantee they’ll be there, she’s considering offering them as a limited, exclusive item.

Customers can expect to see the business’s 

 at the festival. Drip cups include milk or white chocolate plus strawberries. The Dubai drip cups, which includes pistachio drizzle and kataifi for extra creaminess and texture, have been popular ever since the business launched them.

This is the business’s second time participating in the Made in Hawai

“We’re really excited,” she says. “We had no idea what to expect last year, and it was a lot of fun. It was a big crowd, and I think we’re going to be a lot more prepared this year.”                

Fry currently splits her time between Hawai

i and Las Vegas — ever since she opened her Las Vegas location last October, she’s been at that store more, but returns to O

ahu for big events like the Made in Hawai

“I’m trying to get the Vegas store more known,” she says. “The store itself is pretty self-sufficient, but I’m trying to get more involved with the community there so more people know who we are. We’re constantly getting new customers and new people who are discovering us in Las Vegas.”

Opening a Las Vegas location was something Fry remembers considering since 2021, but at that time, it seemed like “a wild idea.”

“I didn’t even think it would be possible,” she says. “We just kept entertaining the idea and started doing the research. We knew we had a good opportunity out there because there’s a lot of (Hawaiʻi) locals out there, and it’s a foodie central — just that culture of exciting places to eat. We knew it was going to be a good start for us to branch out to the Mainland, for sure.”

Some of the highlights of the business’s journey thus far includes meeting a variety of people, ranging from celebrities and influencers to the foodie community and other female entrepreneurs who have become friends, according to Fry.

“Meeting the friends that I have found along the way has always been my favorite part,” she says. “Building the team that I’ve built has been one of my biggest, proudest moments. They (my team) have been my family since everything started, throughout the whole journey. They’re more than just employees.”

While social media has been useful in terms of inspiration for some of her product designs, Fry notes that managing social media and maintaining a platform can also be a challenge.

“Social media criticism comes all the time,” she says. “That’s been the biggest challenge for me to overcome because I’m very emotionally involved with the business. It’s tough to put my emotions aside and not take things personally. We’re always open to feedback and ideas, and any way we can improve.

“It’s (dipping treats) not as easy as we make it look,” she adds. “It’s very easy to say that you can make it at home, but it takes a lot of trial and error.”

The varying sizes of fruits is another challenge for the business — one that Fry has been able to creatively navigate. While strawberry season is typically around Valentine’s Day, the biz offers Berry Bitez, which are cups of bite-sized strawberries that have become popular with customers during the fruits’ off-season. The surplus of smaller berries resulted in the OG Assorted, milk chocolate and dark chocolate Berry Bitez. Other specialty flavors include white chocolate, cookie butter, churro, shortcake and cotton candy. 

“One of the biggest challenges we face with strawberries is they vary in size, shape, color, quality, quantity and price,” she says. “When they’re not in season, we reject more strawberries than we normally would. On the bright side, our customers love the bite-sized berries. It’s one of the best concepts we’ve had and one of the things that sets us apart from other bigger, corporate companies.”

Customers can always expect something new at Dipped by Dee, as the store features a variety of weekly specials. The biz is currently offering cheesecake slices — different flavors are released weekly — and watermelon popsicles at its 

ʻAiea store. The latter is a summer special, and features a watermelon slice on a stick. It’s wrapped in a fruit roll-up and sprinkled with chamoy and tajin.   

“We definitely owe it (inspiration) to our customers and employees who are always pitching ideas and brainstorming different things,” says Fry, who adds that the team is experimenting with different drinks, with the goal of adding a few to the menu. “We see what’s trending on social media, and we always try to see what we can do to switch it up and add our own special twist to it.

i, for always supporting us,” she says. “Every time I come back to Hawai

i, I always can see that there’s no place like home.”

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Made in Hawai‘i Festival is scheduled for Aug. 15 to 17 at the 

Dipped by Dee Daniela Fry 080825

<title>Dipped by Dee is bringing signature dipped delights to Made in Hawaiʻi Festival</title>

Business owner Daniela Fry gives us an update on her second store in Las Vegas, the newest dipped treats, and what to expect at the 31st annual Made in Hawaiʻi Festival.

Dipped by Dee is bringing signature dipped delights to Made in Hawaiʻi Festival

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

The Honolulu City Council postponed indefinitely a controversial housing proposal in Hale‘iwa on Wednesday.

Hale‘iwa residents have been incensed about a proposal by a company called Hale‘iwa Backyards LLC which would build a 150-unit affordable housing project on a 7.5-acre parcel alongside Joseph P. Leong Highway.

Each council and committee meeting about the company’s request for a boundary amendment to reclassify the parcel from the Agricultural District to the Urban District has been prefaced by hours of fervid testimony by residents about how the project will negatively impact the area.

On Wednesday, the Council met to hear the proposal on its third and final reading, and once again opponents gathered to oppose it. Many testifiers wore green shirts reading “keep country country,” and cheered each other on as they spoke against the project.

State Sen. Brenton Awa, who represents Hale‘iwa, called the project a “land flip” by investors who had purchased agricultural land and sat on it until they could get it rezoned and thereby increase its value.

Awa mentioned the Ho‘opili housing development in West O‘ahu, which was similarly built on formerly ag-zoned land. Previously, he said, that land was valued at $100,000 to $150,000 per acre, but after the rezone, “that one acre, you can fit about 20 homes in it and each of those homes are almost $1 million.

“What you get is generation wealth for investors and unaffordable housing for the rest of us,” Awa continued.

Barb Luke-Boe said the proposed development fails on three levels: safety, capacity and agriculture.

On the first level, Luke-Boe said last week’s tsunami alert was acutely felt in Hale‘iwa, where traffic ground to a standstill as people attempted to flee the inundation zone. Several testifiers said they took hours to travel no more than a five-minute drive, and that an additional 150 units will pack the streets even more.

By the same token, Luke-Boe and others said the town’s infrastructure — including its roads and wastewater treatment — are insufficient to the task of accommodating another 150 households.

And as for agriculture, Luke-Boe said Hawai‘i needs as much agricultural land as it can keep if it is to meet the mandates set by the 2021 Farm to School Program Bill, which requires that 30% of all food served in public schools consist of locally sourced products by 2030.

Resident Denise Antolini added that she believes the proposal is based on insufficient data. A traffic study used for the project, she said, is 10 years old and does not reflect the current state of the area.

“If you vote yes, it is a moment in history that cannot be reversed,” Antolini told the Council, a point that many other testifiers echoed.

Following public testimony, Council member Esther Kia‘āina — who represents Waimānalo, Kāne‘ohe, Kailua and other communities in northeast O‘ahu — moved to defer action on the proposal and send it back to the Council Committee on Zoning and Planning for further discussion.

Dawn Apuna, Director of the County Department of Planning and Permitting, told Kia‘āina that DPP could explore the possibility of acquiring the land for the city to determine a more appropriate use for it.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Council voted unanimously to defer the proposal."}]

“I think it’s historic,” Antolini later told Aloha State Daily. “We were on the precipice of an irreversible land use change. We were on the precipice of an urban future for this historic plantation land.”

Antolini acknowledged that the conflict has not ended, but hoped that Council’s willingness to pause and listen to community outcry will “provide a new pathway for new collaboration.”

[{"type":"text","text":"No representative of Hale‘iwa Backyards LLC spoke at the meeting."}]

Haleiwamap

<title>Council pumps the brakes on Hale‘iwa development</title>

Housing proposal in Hale‘iwa generates outcry once again.

Council pumps the brakes on Hale‘iwa development

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

On Friday, O‘ahu Circuit Court Judge Jordon J. Kimura denied a motion filed by former Kahuku football coach Sterling Carvalho following his removal from the program. Carvalho had sought, through the motion, an immediate return to his coaching job in time for the 2025 season. 

 as head football coach for Kahuku High School. 

The removal stemmed from a Department of Education investigation involving Carvalho and a former player, Tavian "Manoa" Hallums, during the 2023 season. After Kalani Hallums, Manoa's father, made disparaging social media posts about Carvalho, a one-on-one meeting was held between Carvalho and Manoa Hallums in Kahuku's weight room. Following the meeting, which was 

one of the main focuses of an evidentiary hearing held on July 28

, Kalani Hallums filed a complaint after the season that alleged Carvalho created a hostile environment. 

When reached for comment by Aloha State Daily on Monday, Carvalho's attorney, Eric Seitz, expressed displeasure towards the process. Despite Friday's ruling, he says efforts towards getting Carvalho back to coaching will continue. 

"I disagree with the ruling, but it was a long shot to get him to reinstate to coach at this state, at this time or juncture in the proceedings," Seitz told Aloha State Daily. "I think the actions of the Department of Education are atrocious when they take a disgruntled parent, any kid, and they accuse somebody with the kind of record that Sterling has of sufficient misconduct, to remove him. 

"It's a loss to the program. It's a loss to the kids. It's certainly a loss to the state, and I would hope that we had people in positions of authority in the Department of Education who exercise better judgment, but we'll proceed. I think that there's no question that he should not have been removed. There was no justification for it, and the people who did so acted atrociously."

The interaction between Carvalho and Manoa Hallums occurred during the 2023 season. The Red Raiders went on to win the HHSAA Open Division championship, their third in a row. Although the complaint was filed after the season and an investigation ensued, Carvalho coached the entirety of the 2024 season, which concluded with a loss to Saint Louis in the state championship game. 

Complex area superintendent Samuel Izumi concluded the investigation for the DOE and ultimately made the determination to remove Carvalho. 

In an attempt to return to the Kahuku sidelines for the 2025 season, Carvalho sued DOE superintendent Keith Hayashi, Izumi, and both Hallums. 

, with attorney Eric Seitz, Carvalho filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, which sought "the issuance of a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction 'enjoining and restraining the Defendants, their agents, employees, and successors in office from engaging in any conduct to interfere with Plaintiff’s contractual rights to coach the Kahuku High and Intermediate School boys football team during its 2025 season'" and "the issuance of a preliminary injunction enjoining and restraining the Defendants, their agents, employees, and successors in office 'from continuing to utter, publish, and distribute defamatory statements about Plaintiff,'" according to court documents. 

An evidentiary hearing was held on July 28 at O‘ahu Circuit Court from 8:30 a.m. to approximately 3:20 p.m., with multiple breaks throughout the day. Both legal teams were asked to turn in remaining evidence by 4 p.m. Wednesday. 

Five witnesses were presented by Carvalho's team on July 28: Former Kahuku principal Donna Lindsey, Izumi, Kalu Wolfe, and Stewart and Sterling Carvalho. The state one presented one witness in Kahuku athletic director Gillian Yamagata. 

The defense, led by attorney Bradford Chun, pointed out that Sterling Carvalho did not have a contract for the 2025-2026 season, which was confirmed by Yamagata on the witness stand. Sterling Carvalho coached during but did not sign his contract for the 2024-2025 season, which would have expired on June 30. 

In one of his final findings of fact, released in court documents Friday, Kimura sayid "requiring KHIS to abide by contractual terms where no contract exists, and to force the school to breach the contract with its current football head coach, does not serve the public interest."

Interim head coach Nihoa Pule and Yamagata have signed a contract for the 2025-2026 season. Kahuku kicks off its season on Saturday, hosting Saint Louis in a rematch of the 2024 state championship game. 

"We're going to continue to go after the DOE, because the fact of the matter was, they did terminate (Sterling Carvalho). They wrote him a letter terminating his contract," Seitz said. "If they had any reasonable expectation that the public was not going to find out about that and find out the reasons, I think they were living in some other world, because obviously, he's a public figure, and people were going to want to know why they were firing him.

"And for them to fire somebody of his stature, of his reputation, of his character for the reasons stated, as I said, is just atrocious. I think they should be ashamed of themselves, and I think that the defendants who act in this case, up to and including the superintendent, ought to be fired. They have no business interacting with kids because they have no integrity. You can quote me on that." 

Seitz also says he doesn't want the DOE to be an obstacle if Carvalho desires to apply for other coaching positions in the future. 

"(Carvalho) clearly is qualified, and I think it's a disgrace that somebody like him is on the sidelines. Some of these other people who by no means have his track record, not only as a coach, but as a human being mentoring kids, are allowed to coach. The DOE just is so inconsistent about that I think they got their values confused."

Sterling Carvalho 080125

<title>Attorney for former Kahuku football coach says legal battle not done despite Friday's…</title>

Sterling Carvalho, who was head coach of the Red Raiders from 2018 through the 2024 season, was removed from his position on March 31.

Attorney for former Kahuku football coach says legal battle not done despite Friday's ruling

A $10 chirashi bowl sounds too good to be true, but this deal at recently opened 

ili has a catch — it’s limited to 10 orders per day.

The new izakaya, named after the Japanese mountain yam, opened in the space of Eastern Paradise Restaurant, which had been open for nearly 50 years before closing last December.

The eatery is still in its soft opening, but I still recommend making reservations, especially if you plan to order one of those chirashi bowls ($9.95) right at restaurant opening. Bowls include your choice of white or sushi rice topped with negitoro, green onions, shrimp, takuan, nori and ikura, with a bowl of miso soup on the side. There’s definitely more rice than seafood, but for the price, it’s a deal — especially since the chirashi is negitoro.

Tororo also offers a daily happy hour from 6 to 9 p.m. that features discounts on signature dishes. The eight-piece crunchy volcano roll ($9.50 happy hour, $12.50 regular) is a shrimp California roll topped with spicy ‘ahi, spicy mayo, unagi sauce and green onions. The bite-sized pieces make this easy to share.

The ‘ahi tataki with negishiodare ($12.95 happy hour, $16.95 regular) is another must-have dish from the happy hour selection. The thinly sliced, lightly seared tuna is served with a dipping sauce made with salt and chopped green onions. 

Tororo’s ‘ahi tatsuta-age ($7 happy hour, $11.95 regular) is the eatery’s twist on a chicken karaage. While the fried ‘ahi isn’t as crispy as I’d prefer, the dish is still enjoyable because every morsel is thick and tender — especially when dipped in the accompanying kewpie mayo.

Our server recommended the Jyaga butter potato ($1.50 happy hour, $2.95 regular), which is worth ordering if you’ve never tried it before. The potatoes are marinated in-house for three days, then fried to perfection in a butter-soy mix, resulting in a crispy exterior with a slightly sweet aftertaste. The flavor reminded me of a caramelized sweet potato.

The izakaya also features a variety of handrolls, ranging from ‘ahi ($5.25) and shrimp tempura ($4.75) to ikura ($6.95) and torotaku ($5.75). You can further customize the handrolls by adding masago ($1.50), avocado ($1.25) and other fillings. The handrolls may initially seem pricy, but they contain a proportionate filling-to-rice ratio. 

Open Tuesdays-Sundays 6 p.m.-2 a.m., closed Mondays

Tororo chirashi bowl 062325

<title>You can get $10 chirashi bowls at this new Japanese izakaya</title>

Tororo, named after the Japanese mountain yam, offers chirashi bowls for $9.95 — but only limited quantities are available.

You can get $10 chirashi bowls at this new Japanese izakaya

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

The second segment of Skyline is set to begin passenger operations on Oct. 1, expanding the City and County of Honolulu's rail system and bringing passengers closer to Honolulu's urban core. 

Mayor Rick Blangiardi made the announcement during his State of the City address Tuesday, March 18, at Mission Memorial Auditorium. The news was met with cheers and applause from the audience.

Currently, Skyline spans nearly 11 miles from the Kualaka‘i East Kapolei Station to Hālawa Aloha Stadium Station. That segment 

The new section of rail will extend operations from Aloha Stadium to Middle Street.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, or HART, is leading the planning and construction of Skyline for the city, 

, but the rail is operated by the city's Department of Transportation Services, or DTS.

"Our team at HART, led by Lori Kahikina, continues to do incredible work," Blangiardi said during the address. "Construction on the third and final rail segment, through Downtown Honolulu and into Kaka‘ako, will start this year — with the entire system slated to open in 2031. Our job now is to ensure that the new housing developments, the new businesses and the new public spaces we have planned for communities along the rail line keep up with, if not beat, the pace of rail construction."

DTS Director Roger Morton told reporters after the mayor's speech that the department is ready for the opening, "and we're planning to have some excellent bus service to connect people all the way into town, into [the University of Hawai‘i], Waikīkī and into east O‘ahu."

Morton says the new segment will add five more miles and four more stations that include Pearl Harbor; the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport; Lagoon Drive, "where most of our bus connections will be," and the Middle Street transit center.

According to Morton, rail ridership increased February-over-February and he says the new segment will push the number of riders even higher.

"I'm confident that we're going to have significant increases because what we're doing is we're adding rail to a lot of places where there's a lot of jobs — at Pearl Harbor, at airport and in Kalihi," he said. "So I'm confident that we're going to have a great increase in our ridership."

Ridership counts fluctuate from month to month, but data from DTS shows that 

 the number of riders totaled 97,819 compared to 93,427 in 

. The number of riders per day in February 2025 ranged from 1,708 to 4,330. More ridership statistics can be 

 reported total ridership islandwide in January 2025 of 3,356,745, with an average weekday ridership of 124,719.

 on commuting patterns by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism quantified the number of people in O‘ahu neighborhoods who commute elsewhere for work. It identified, for example, just over 19,028 out-commuters in Pearl City, nearly 15,300 in Waipahu, just over 9,000 in Kapolei, more than 13,600 for Ewa Gentry, more than 9,200 for Makakilo, among the largest neighborhoods near the rail line.

Morton said that HART aims to start trial operations in July, "and we're confident that by October, we're going to be in action."

, Skyline operates from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, as well as city holidays.

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 7, 2025: Lu + you = forever ʻohana

ASD Staff

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Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 7, 2025: Lu + you = forever ʻohana

Authors

ASD Staff

More in Adopt a Pet

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 7, 2025: Ben the cat loves gentle pets and treats

Adopt-a-Pet July 31, 2025: Moo, with black and white spotted fur, canʻt wait to meet you

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Adopt-a-Pet July 24, 2025: ʻFall in love with Gage and his snaggletoothʻ

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