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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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808SurfClips

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Man’s best friend</title>

Today’s social media find comes from @808SurfClips, with the best tandem partner.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Man’s best friend

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Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

The University of Hawai‘i's 2025 season was extended by nearly a month after gaining bowl eligibility, and the Rainbow Warriors have certainly cherished the extra time.

 on Nov. 29 merely marked the end of the regular season for the Rainbow Warriors. By virtue of their 8-4 regular season, UH qualified for the Hawai‘i Bowl, where it will face California on Wednesday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. 

With each passing victory, head coach Timmy Chang's debut season in 2022 seems like a distant memory to those who witnessed it. The Rainbow Warriors went 3-10, hampered by a roster that was broken and under repair following the aftermath of the Todd Graham's tenure in Mānoa. 

In the 25 extra days the 2025 team has had between their regular season and bowl game, the 'Bows have been hard at work, studying a formidable Cal team that features 

 in quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, safety Aiden Manutai and interim head coach Nick Rolovich. 

prepare for their first Hawai‘i Bowl since 2019

, they've also enjoyed some of the perks of bowl week, which includes a five-night stay in 

Waikīkī and a gift package that includes items such as Oakley sunglasses, JBL headphones, multiple shirts, a Nike sweatsuit and a pair of Nike panda dunks, among a handful of other free goodies. 

"It was four years in the making," associate head coach Chris Brown told Aloha State Daily. "I'm especially happy for guys like Zhen Sotelo and Jalen Smith and 

. These guys who were here from day one, never quit, never gave up. They give their heart and soul, their blood, their bodies out there on the football field."

Despite being O‘ahu residents, the team got to play tourist for the week, taking team trips to Pearl Harbor and 

Wet 'n' Wild in addition to having a team luau. 

"To see these guys actually get rewarded for all their hard work, it's really special. And I'm really, really proud of these guys, and they earned it," Brown said. "But it's always going to be business. We're going to give our 110% to get this victory against Cal. But I know in between our training and our workouts, these boys are bonding with each other, and it's going to be something that these boys will take for the rest of their lives."

Brown was a linebacker for Hawai‘i in the inaugural Hawai‘i Bowl in 2002. The Warriors entered the game 10-2 and were favored against a 7-5 Tulane squad. 

"I will never forget doing the haka. We decided to do the haka before the game started, and we were so exhausted that we decided to never do it ever again," Brown said. 

Tulane began the game with with a surprise onside kick. Hawai‘i, as Brown alluded to, couldn't find consistency throughout the game.

Chang, who is coaching in the Hawai‘i Bowl for the first time, was a two-time Hawai‘i Bowl MVP as a player. 

"Just getting to the game and being grateful to be there, I think those were some of the most important things," Chang said.

In the 2003 Hawai‘i Bowl, Chang didn't start the game but won MVP honors after completing 26 of his 42 passes for 475 yards, five touchdowns and an interception. UH prevailed 54-48, outlasting Houston. Following the game, a 

 broke out between both teams. Helmets were tossed and swung over the course of the 10-minute melee. Although Chang chose not to elaborate on the brawl 22 years later, Brown certainly did. 

"I tell you what, I was alumni at that time, but watching that game, I said, 'Attaboy, great job, Hawai‘i. Nobody comes into our house and pushes us around,'" Brown said. "To see the boys get up and defend the Island and defend their brothers, man, I mean, that's Hawai‘i, you know? Don't expect to just walk over us. We all stand together, and we're not here to get beat. We're here to win. We all, as alumni, were very proud of that day when the boys stood up for themselves."

While Chang and Brown got to enjoy bowl week multiple times, they're now coaching a team that is brand new to it. 

"Just hanging with the boys, doing whatever, going to the beach, going out to eat with the boys, just having that extra conversation with the boys," freshman slot receiver Tama Uiliata said when asked what his favorite part of bowl week was following a recent practice. "Just to know them on a deeper level, not just on the field. You can go have fun with them, just chop it up. The chemistry really plays a part here. Just spending time with the boys that you don't really have during the season."

With bowl week set to come to a close following Wednesday's game, there's only one way the Rainbow Warriors are planning for it to end. 

"I grew up personally watching this game and going to the games with my family," UH star quarterback 

 said. "It's just restoring traditions for a lot of people, a lot of families. Being able to do that for the state, and bring joy back going out there and just put our best showing out."

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Hawaii football 122325

<title>Hawai‘i Bowl experience creating new memories for past, present UH football players</title>

A steady climb under head coach Timmy Chang has manifested into the program's most successful season of the decade. Players and coaches alike have savored the additional time with each other.

Hawai‘i Bowl experience creating new memories for past, present UH football players

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 — located in the former space of Nami Kaze Hawai

i at Pier 38 — executive chef Justin Inagaki likens it to a neighborhood bistro.

“I want you to think it’s comfort food, but a little more elevated,” Inagaki says. “You’re not afraid of it; it doesn’t look intimidating, like you need to wear a suit to eat it. Most of this menu is built on the concept of sustainability within our Fresh Island Fish family.”

Thirty Eight Restaurant & Bar is currently open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (lunch only) from Monday to Friday, as the eatery is still in its soft opening. It features a harbor-centric menu to showcase fresh seafood, according to restaurateur and consultant Dong Dang.

“We’re trying to serve fresh seafood at a reasonable price,” he says. “When you go to the supermarket, seafood is always a premium priced item. We’re trying to make it more available, especially to the locals.” 

Ordering is meant to be quick and simple — customers can go to the register, or order using a QR code at their table. 

“With any restaurant, your two big expenses are labor and food,” Dang says. “We wanted to use high-quality seafood, so it was on us to operate efficiently to be able to extend the value to the customer.”

All dishes on the menu are $20 or less, and pricing was an intentional decision, according to Inagaki.

“We try to keep it affordable and approachable,” he says. “We know that our local people are suffering, not just in the high cost of living, but in this economy. That’s one of our main concepts: not just providing great food and good portions, but having something that won’t break their wallet. We want to make sure they can come back again, not just one time.”

Inagaki says he’s been in the industry for more than 15 years. He’s previously worked at restaurants like Roy’s, Alan Wong’s, Hy’s Steak House and, most recently, 916 Grill St. + ShabuZen in Waipio.

“I’m a fine dining chef actually, by trade,” Inagaki says. “I’ve led Hy’s Steak House from 2015 to 2020. I launched La Vie and Quiora with the G. Lion Group. My wheelhouse is not necessarily to be fine dining, but whatever the concept might be, we try to be as true to the concept as possible. I like to add a little fun to it, and make sure it just doesn’t look good, but it also tastes good. I also to want to be different — we don’t just want to be like everybody else.”

Start with soups, salads and appetizers like lobster bisque ($10), New England clam chowder ($8), ‘ahi tataki ($16) and chef’s fresh poke bowl ($17). The bisque is garnished with a yuzu crème fraiche, while the clam chowder includes ‘Ewa sweet corn, bacon and chopped clams.

The irresistible ‘ahi tataki features sashimi-grade seared local ahi with Maui onions, cherry tomatoes and ponzu-soy vinaigrette. The chef’s choice features a rotating selection of poke.

“It’s our spicy ‘ahi today; it’s a half pound (in the bowl),” Inagaki says. “Eventually it will change. We’re able to flex our sister company’s product. I’m all about textures, colors and execution — it has to be more of a quicker turn time, given that we’re only open for four hours (for now).”

When it comes to more unique dishes, Inagaki mentions the fish & chips ($17), which is made with beer and vodka-battered ‘ahi belly instead of a white fish, like cod. It’s served with house finadene and housemade tartar sauces.

“This one (ʻahi belly) is more fatty; it’ll stay more moist when you’re eating it,” he explains. “It’s meant to travel, so it won’t dry out. I use a cake flour and rice flour ratio, our Beer Lab beer IPA, and baking powder. The reason why I went with cake flour is because cake flour tends to be lighter than your average wheat. The rice flour tends to give more of that crunch. This is a lighter version, like a tempura.

“The finadene is actually a Chamorro sauce,” he adds. “In traditional fish and chips, you would have malt vinegar. You don’t see finadene too much on menus. It’s a take on soy vinegar; it’s like a dipping sauce.”

The lobster mac and cheese ($20) features a gourmet twist on comfort food. It features a cheesy lobster cream sauce and a buttery herb crumb crust.

“We fold our lobster bisque into it to give it more of a lobster flavor,” Inagaki says. “When you hear ‘lobster mac,’ you want to make sure you taste it. You don’t want to see lobster on a plate; you want to taste that lobster flavor throughout.”

The hamburger steak ($17) — comprising two beef patties, onions and mushroom brown gravy with white rice and tossed greens — is sure to be a local favorite. Customers craving heartier dishes can opt for the Thirty Eight burger ($18) — two beef patties topped with Thirty Eight sauce, onions, mushrooms and cheese in a taro bun — and the ‘ahi burger ($17), which features a local ‘ahi patty with spicy aioli.

“The spicy ‘ahi is torched and we have a lilikoʻi slaw on the bottom,” Inagaki says. “Every plate lunch has a toss salad instead of mac salad.”

Customers can choose from packaged desserts to-go, including chocolate flourless torte ($10), New York cheesecake ($10) and brown butter cake ($12). The goal is to eventually made desserts in-house as well, according to Inagaki.

The restaurant, which has its liquor license, currently serves beers and wines, and will eventually have cocktails.

“It’s a nice space — a nice place to unwind, relax, and have a couple drinks,” says restaurateur Khang Dang. “It’s a communal gathering spot, though not necessarily a full-service restaurant.”

While the restaurant is only open for lunch during its soft opening, customers can eventually look forward to extended hours and additional menu items.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the progression of our staff,” Inagaki says. “It’s all about culture — seeing the team grow, see them being happy and being inspired.

“For me, it’s about making people smile,” he adds. “Especially in Hawaiʻi, food is something where it’s a gathering, it brings people around, you have people talking story, it’s communal. Hearing them laugh in the dining room gives me pleasure every day.”

38 Restaurant chef 122225

<title>New restaurant opens at Pier 38</title>

Thirty Eight Restaurant & Bar — located in the former space of Nami Kaze Hawaiʻi — is now open for lunch during weekdays. The new neighborhood harbor bistro strives to offer seafood — showcasing high-quality options from its sister company, Fresh Island Fish — and local plates at affordable prices.

New restaurant opens at Pier 38

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A lawsuit between the state and PayPal has been settled to the tune of $6 million.

The Hawai‘i Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Office of Consumer Protection sued PayPal Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. in December 2022, accusing the companies of misleading customers about fraud protection policies and the accessibility of their funds.

On Monday, the DCCA announced that the suit has been settled out of court, with PayPal to pay $6 million to the state.

“Hawai‘i customers depend on PayPal and Venmo for critical daily tasks like paying rent, receiving wages and compensating child care providers,” said Office of Consumer Protection Executive Director Mana Moriarty in a statement Monday. “We share the same goal as the state of Hawai‘i to empower and protect consumers and are pleased to have reached an agreement on this matter.”

The suit cited complaints from Hawai‘i users of PayPal and PayPal’s mobile service app Venmo that alleged that, despite PayPal promising fast access to their money at all times, they found their Venmo accounts frozen without notice, leaving their funds inaccessible for as long as six months with no clear appeals process.

The suit called the freezes “draconian” and claimed they were carried out without any human review towards any account that was determined to have violated Venmo’s user agreement. The suit went on to call that user agreement “bloated,” with pertinent language about the freezes buried deep in the 20,000-word document.

The freezes weren’t the only complaint about PayPal’s service. The suit also accused PayPal of deceptive practices concerning its fraud protection services.

For example, PayPal offered a purchase protection service wherein, for an additional fee, users could have a transaction refunded in the event of a scam. However, this service had strings attached: it did not apply to many different types of purchases — “payments for goods that the buyer collects in person” were excluded from the service — it only entitled users to apply for a refund, and users would still be charged the fee even if the service couldn’t be applied to a given transaction.

Other concerns included Venmo’s policy of setting users’ profiles to be publicly viewable by default. According to the suit, one Hawai‘i user found a stranger’s account using his own five-year-old child’s face as a profile picture; another ended up paying $300 to a scammer posing as the user’s daughter, using information accessible through publicly viewable friends lists.

For all this and more, the suit called for $10,000 in damages for every recorded violation of the state’s unfair and deceptive practice laws; based on this, the $6 million is equivalent to 600 such violations.

[{"type":"text","text":"PayPal denied the suit’s claims throughout the process. "}]

The company said in a statement Monday: “PayPal takes our responsibility to our customers very seriously, and we continually enhance our products and communications to improve the customer experience. We share the same goal as the state of Hawai

i to empower and protect consumers, and are pleased to have reached an agreement on this matter.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Aloha State Daily reached out to DCCA for further comment."}]

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<title>PayPal pays up</title>

State lawsuit against PayPal over unfair and deceptive practices settled for $6 million.

PayPal pays up

Daniel Farr Headshot

Daniel Farr

Government & Politics

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Aloha State Daily reached out to local justice officials for their reaction.

The executive order moves marijuana from Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act, a category that includes heroin and LSD, to Schedule III, which includes ketamine, Tylenol with codeine and anabolic steroids.

The order does not legalize marijuana under federal law. Despite the federal ban, many states have liberalized marijuana laws. Cannabis is currently legal in 40 states for medical use and in 24 states for recreational use. Hawai‘i allows medical marijuana but has not legalized recreational use.

 the action reflects updated scientific findings and recommendations from federal health agencies. In the order, the administration cited a 2023 Food and Drug Administration review that found scientific support for marijuana’s medical use in treating pain, nausea and vomiting and anorexia related to certain medical conditions. 

Federal officials also pointed to the widespread use of medical marijuana across the country and the limited research infrastructure created by marijuana’s long-standing Schedule I status.

Under the order, the U.S. attorney general is directed to complete the rulemaking process to reclassify marijuana to Schedule III “in the most expeditious manner” allowed by law. The administration also called for expanded research into medical marijuana and hemp-derived cannabidiol, or CBD, products to better inform patients and health care providers.

Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm criticized the marijuana reclassification, warning it could harm public health and send the wrong message to young people.

“Rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is a bad idea for the health of Hawai‘i, for both keiki and adults,” Alm told ASD. “It will make selling this new very powerful drug more profitable for those selling marijuana on the Mainland including the Mexican and Chinese cartels that have been moving into the marijuana business.”

Alm said broader trends suggest growing skepticism toward marijuana legalization.

“Nationally, the tide appears to be turning against commercial legalization of marijuana,” he said. “No state has approved marijuana legalization since 2023 and an entire country, Thailand, has reversed course and has moved from commercial legalization to physician prescribed use only.”

He added that increased research into marijuana could strengthen arguments against legalization.

“If this rescheduling leads to more research, that will only strengthen the case against legalization,” Alm said. “All of the research now is compelling about the dangers of legalization and more research will highlight more problems.”

Alm said the shift could minimize perceived risks associated with marijuana use.

“The danger locally is that this rescheduling could send the inaccurate message to our kids and adults that marijuana is harmless,” he said. “Marijuana legalization brings many harms to many people.”

He cited addiction, health risks and public safety concerns.

“One in three marijuana smokers develops marijuana use disorder, edibles are a threat to our children and teens, mental health problems increase as well as more heart attacks and strokes, deadly car crashes increase and HPD has no way to test for it in Driving Under the Influence situations,” Alm said.

Alm also questioned whether the state should benefit financially from marijuana use.

“The daily marijuana smokers, the addicts, are the ones who smoke the vast majority of the marijuana consumed, meaning that’s who Hawai‘i would be making any tax revenue from,” he said. “Does Hawai‘i really want to be in the addiction-for-profit business?”

The state Department of the Attorney General said it is monitoring the situation as the federal process moves forward.

“The Department of the Attorney General is aware of the President’s action directing the reclassification of marijuana under federal law,” the department told ASD. “Reclassification is a federal administrative process that will require additional review and implementation by federal agencies.”

The federal rulemaking process includes additional review and an administrative law hearing. Until that process is complete, marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I drug under federal law.

 a little-noticed provision tucked into the federal spending 

signed by President Trump in November could upend a booming industry. The provision bans many THC-infused products, like gummies, drinks, topical pain relief and vapes, now found everywhere from gas stations to wellness shops.

Hemp, a derivative of the cannabis plant, was legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill, which created a loophole allowing THC to be sold in low doses and fueling a surge in mainstream consumer products. However, the new spending bill prohibits products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container, a restriction that could disrupt this rapidly expanding market.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Man’s best friend

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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