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Hawai'i Skies

Today's Hawai'i Skies was captured by Ron Freed at Ala Moana Park. "The sunset before the storm. Looking out over Ala Moana Park."

To submit your Hawai'i Skies photo, visit us 

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25 10 10 HAWAII SKIES RON FREED 16x9

<title>Hawai'i Skies: Before the storm</title>

Today's Hawai'i Skies was captured by Ron Freed at Ala Moana Park.

Hawai'i Skies: Before the storm

Today&#039;s Hawai&#039;i Skies was captured by Ron Freed at Ala Moana Park. &quot;The sunset before the storm. Looking out over Ala Moana Park.&quot; To submit your Hawai&#039;i Skies photo, visit us online or email: general@alohastatedaily.com For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 just opened in a bigger space. The Honolulu eatery — which used to be on the second floor of the Hee Hing Plaza — just opened in the first floor of the same plaza (in the former space of Growlers USA).

 that it would be relocating to the new space. 

The bigger space now has around 75 seats; we’re told this is 1.5 times the amount of seating the eatery’s former upstairs restaurant had.

It now also features both counter and table seating. Walk-ins only are currently accepted for April; when you get to the restaurant, sign in to join the waitlist.

Each table is given eggplant, pickled daikon and gobo. Customers can also choose a rice — seasoned mixed rice, shiso seaweed rice or Hokkaido brand Nanatsuboshi — and miso soup (red miso soup with either clam and green onions or tofu and seaweed; or white miso soup with clam and green onions or tofu and seaweed).

The menu is the same as before. Sets include premium Japanese rice, miso soup, cabbage and pickles. Signature options include the Jyukusei (aged) pork loin katsu sets ($32.50 to $38) and Jyukusei pork tenderloin katsu sets ($32.50 to $35).

The combo sets — ranging from shrimp and pork tenderloin katsu ($35) and shrimp and chicken katsu ($35) to mix katsu set ($36) — are also customer favorites.

Takeout orders are also available. Customer parking is available at Hee Hing Plaza.

Open 4 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays to Fridays; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 5 to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays

Tonkatsu Tamafuji shrimp and tenderloin katsu 041626

<title>Tonkatsu Tamafuji is now open in an expanded space</title>

The popular tonkatsu spot just opened on the first floor of Hee Hing Plaza (downstairs from its former location). The new space features 1.5 times the amount of seating, with both counter and table seating available. Tonkatsu Tamafuji is only accepting walk-ins for the month of April.

Tonkatsu Tamafuji is now open in an expanded space

Business & Tourism

 is coming up Saturday, April 25, from 4 to 10 p.m. This year, the street festival will feature more than 40 food and retail booths, limited-edition Spam slippers from OluKai, and a Spam-themed drone show.

“Celebrating our 22nd year, and recognized by 

 readers as one of the top 10 cultural festivals in America, the Waikīkī SPAM JAM continues to evolve with more creative food options and new partnerships each year,” says Toby Tamaye, marketing director of the Waikīkī SPAM JAM. “In 2027, the Waikīkī Spam Jam will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Spam product, and there will be even more added to celebrate this special anniversary.”

New vendors this year include Appetito Craft Pizza & Wine Bar, Waikīkī Shokudo, OluKai, King’s Hawaiian, Mahaloha Burger and Linaka’s Catering, according to Tamaye. Five restaurants will be serving Spam paired with King’s Hawaiian rolls.

The Spam brand-themed drone show over Waikīkī Beach will start at 8:30 p.m.

A portion of the proceeds from the festival will go to local nonprofit organizations, including the Hawai

i Foodbank, Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai

i and the Waikīkī Community Center. During the festival, the Hawai

i Foodbank will be on-site to accept monetary and canned food donations.

Aloha State Daily will have a booth at the Waikīkī SPAM JAM, so stop by and say hi! We’ll be featuring games with prizes, and if you sign up for our 

, you can get one of our ASD owl plushies.

[{"type":"text","text":"Here’s what the food line-up looks like:"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Awiwi Grill"}]

[{"type":"listItem","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Spam and hotteok skewers"}],"text":""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bite Size 808"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Blue Water Shrimp"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Buho Cocina y Cantina"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Corner Rolls"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Da Bald Guy"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Da Hub Store"}]

[{"type":"listItem","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Deep-fried Spam musubi"}],"text":""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Dicks Lechon"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Il Gelato Hawaiʻi"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kirin Restaurant"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kūhiō Avenue Food Hall"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Linakas Catering, LLC"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mahaloha Burger"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Maui Brewing Co."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Musubi Café Iyasume"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"ShoreFyre Grill & Bar"}]

[{"type":"listItem","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Spam katsu tacos"}],"text":""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sun Noodle"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Wagyuya Sizzle"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Waikīkī Shokudo"}]

In addition to the April 25 street festival, the popular dine-in Spam event will run from April 18 through May 3. Participating restaurants — including Hideout at the Laylow, Kamukura Ramen, BASALT and Wagyuya Sizzle — will be offering special Spam-themed dishes.

For more information and festival updates, visit 

Waikiki Spam Jam 2026 Maui Brewing Co 041526

<title>Everything you’ll find at the 22nd annual Waikīkī SPAM JAM Festival</title>

The 2026 festival features more than 40 food and retail booths, a line-up of creative Spam dishes, limited-edition Spam slippers for sale from OluKai, and a Spam-themed drone show.

Everything you’ll find at the 22nd annual Waikīkī SPAM JAM Festival

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

A proposal to prohibit corporate political donations could also prohibit contributions by workers’ unions, some unions argue.

, which passed third reading in the state House of Representatives Tuesday, challenges the verdict of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that found that it is unconstitutional to pass laws prohibiting political spending by corporations.

Nonetheless, SB2471 attempts to do just that, albeit through a technicality: while the Citizens United verdict found that impinging on a corporation’s First Amendment 

 is unconstitutional, limits on a corporation’s 

 are not. Therefore, the bill’s language specifies that a corporation recognized in Hawai‘i can only wield powers granted by the state.

Those state-authorized “artificial-person powers” would include the power to sue, to purchase and own property, to make contracts, lend money and more. They explicitly exclude the power to “engage in election activity or ballot-issue activity.”

 removed language that differentiates charitable and political donations, which Rep. Scot Matayoshi (D-Kāne‘ohe) said at the time would allow nonprofits and unions to make political donations while still preventing corporations from doing so. However, several unions have opposed the measure out of concern that the bill still limits their ability to engage in elections.

Jeffrey Masatsugu, representing the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 50, submitted testimony 

 opposing the measure, writing that it is unclear whether trade unions will be prohibited from taking electoral action.

Masatsugu pointed to language in the latest versions of the measure that allow incorporated nonprofits to carry out “election activity” via candidate and noncandidate committees. Whether that applies to unions, however, is an open question, Masatsugu wrote, but the state statutes regarding unincorporated nonprofits can be interpreted to apply to trade unions, which would leave them unable to make political donations.

Two other construction unions — the Hawai‘i Building and Construction Trades Council and the Plumbers and Fitters UA Local 675 — also opposed the measure on similar grounds.

However, other prominent unions — including the Hawai‘i Government Employees Association, the largest union in the state — have remained mum on the measure one way or the other.

Nonetheless, the bill still has at least one staunch opponent: the state Department of the Attorney General, which has repeatedly warned that the measure will most likely provoke a legal challenge at cost to the state taxpayer.

Last week, the Attorney General also argued against the argument that stripping a corporation of its power is different from stripping it of its rights. In a letter, the Department of the Attorney General called that “an untested legal theory … that collapses in upon itself upon further examination.

“The operative theory behind this bill is that states have the ability to define corporate powers and can strip certain powers to speak based upon the content of that speech,” read the AG’s letter. “This bill then contradicts its own theory by saying that foreign corporations authorized to transact business in Hawai‘i … are also subject to the provisions of the bill. However, Hawai‘i has no ability to define the corporate powers of foreign corporations.”

Nonetheless, the bill passed third reading in the House on Tuesday with only two representatives — Republicans Garner Shimizu and Elijah Pierick — voting against it.

[{"type":"text","text":"The HGEA did not respond to Aloha State Daily’s requests for comment."}]

 For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

State capitol 022725

<title>House passes anti-corporate-election-spending bill</title>

Bill that would strip from corporations the power to make political donations is on the cusp of passing, despite Attorney General's warnings.

House passes anti-corporate-election-spending bill

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

The Merrie Monarch Festival named the overall winner of its hula competition as Hālau Hi‘iakaināmakalehua, led by Ke Kumu Robert Keano Ka‘upu IV, on Saturday, April 11. The hālau also won first place kāne overall, kāne ʻauana, kāne kahiko, and wahine kahiko.

The Merrie Monarch Festival returned for its 63rd annual event from Sunday, April 5, through Saturday, April 11. The invite-only hula competition took place at the Edith Kanakaʻole Multi-Purpose Stadium in Hilo from Thursday, April 9, through Saturday, April 11. 

Hālau Mōhala ʻIlima, led by Kumu Hula Māpuana de Silva won first place wahine overall. Ka Lā ‘Ōnohi Mai O Ha‘eha‘e, led by Nā Kumu Tracie & Keawe Lopes, won wahine ʻauana. 

Activities and events for the week-long festival also include an invitational Hawaiian arts fair, along with hula shows and a grand parade.

Tickets to see the festival in person were sold out, but competitions were live streamed and broadcast in ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi and English by Hawaiʻi News Now.

Here are video clips of the overall winners:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"2026 Overall winner"}]

Hālau Hi‘iakaināmakalehua, led by Ke Kumu Robert Keano Ka‘upu IV

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"2026 Wahine overall winner"}]

Hālau Mōhala ʻIlima, led by Kumu Hula Māpuana de Silva

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"2026 Kāne overall winner"}]

of the Maui-based Hālau Kekuaokalāʻauʻalaʻiliahi, led by Nā Kumu Haunani & ʻIliahi Paredes.

Watch more video clips of the winners on Merrie Monarch Festival’s 

Edith Kanakaʻole Multi-Purpose Stadium

<title>Merrie Monarch Festival names 2026 winners</title>

The 63rd annual Merrie Monarch Festival named the winners of its hula competition on Saturday, April 11. The overall winner also won first place kāne overall, kāne ʻauana, kāne kahiko, and wahine kahiko.

Merrie Monarch Festival names 2026 winners

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

A 33-year-old Hawai‘i man died last week following an "incident" at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

National Park Service personnel responded to an"incident" in a closed area on the east side of Kīlauea caldera on Feb. 26, the NPS said in an announcement Tuesday.

"Search and rescue personnel conducted operations overnight in steep and hazardous terrain," the announcement noted. Responders located the individual the next day.

According to the NPS, the man was airlifted from the area and transported to Hilo Benioff Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The park has notified the family and is withholding the name of the individual "pending privacy considerations," the announcement noted. 

More information was not immediately available and the type of "incident" that occurred was not disclosed. An HVNP spokesperson told Aloha State Daily that no additional details are available at this time.

NPS, however, noted in the news release that Kīlauea volcano — which 

has been erupting intermittently since Dec. 23, 2024, largely from two vents in Halema‘uma‘u crater within the summit caldera

 — was not erupting at the time of the "incident."

 of the ongoing eruption — which saw lava fountain heights reaching around 1,300 feet — ended on Feb. 15. Visitation to the park "skyrockets" during eruptions, the park has 

"Kīlauea caldera contains hazardous terrain, including unstable cliff edges and volcanic features," NPS said in Tuesday's announcement. "Visitors are reminded to remain in designated open areas and comply with all closures."

Last June, a 30-year-old Boston man trying to get a closer glimpse of the eruption was rescued by first responders after 

 from a steep cliff within the park. At that time, 

 that a tree broke the man's fall and kept him from plummeting another 100 feet or so to the caldera floor.

[{"type":"text","text":"Last week's incident remains under investigation."}]

Hawai'i Skies: Before the storm

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Hawai'i Skies: Before the storm

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