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Daily Smile

"Golden Retrievers are so athletic, I bet he loves to play fetch..."

Smile 26 1 13

<title>Daily Smiles: Tuesday, January 13, 2026</title>

Daily Smiles: Tuesday, January 13, 2026

 &quot;Golden Retrievers are so athletic, I bet he loves to play fetch...&quot; 

“How my dogs act when my husband gets home after 12 hours vs when I get back from the store after 10 minutes..."

Smile 26 2 13

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, February 13, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Friday, February 13, 2026

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

When Isaiah Magdaleno and his size 15 cleats toe the rubber on Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium, University of Hawai‘i baseball head coach Rich Hill will have no doubt the right guy will be on the mound to open the team's season. 

Magdaleno, a Los Angeles native, will begin his junior season with the Rainbow Warriors as the team's ace pitcher. Magdaleno pitched in a hybrid role as a freshman in 2024 — of his 12 appearances, he had four starts and a save. While getting his college baseball bearings, his ERA of 7.61 was the highest on the team. 

Magdaleno blossomed as a sophomore in 2025, quickly establishing himself as one of the country's top bullpen arms. He went 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA, 

. Of his 24 appearances, all came in relief. He locked down nine saves, striking out 77 hitters in 60 innings en route to first team All-Big West Conference honors. 

In college baseball parlance, "Friday night guy" is a term reserved for a team's bona fide No. 1 starter, a role Magdaleno is serving for the first time in a Hawai‘i uniform. Come 6:35 p.m. against Gonzaga, it will be Magdaleno who throws the first pitch of UH's highly anticipated 2026 season. 

"I'm very grateful to get the opportunity," Magdaleno said earlier in the week. "Very thankful to the pitching coach, (Keith Zuniga) and coach (Hill), the opportunity to get the Friday night and opening day start. Very excited to get it going and get the season started."

Despite the success Magdaleno had closing out games in 2025, Hill noticed one of Magdaleno's strengths out of the bullpen was his ability to get more comfortable as his outings went on, a trait he believes will translate well as Magdaleno becomes a full-time starter in 2026. Eighteen of his 24 appearances in 2025 were stretched across multiple innings. 

"He had a couple of outings where it got tied and he was forced to go more than five innings," Hill recalled. "I can remember against UC Irvine on the road, which was a regional team, really an Omaha team, he kind of dominated him. Same thing here at home one night. ... So, he can do it. He seemed to kind of get stronger as the game went. He's got a phenomenal changeup, a great curveball, and the fastball is really improved. I think he can go two times, maybe three times around the order."

Magdaleno's fastball hovers in the 95 miles per hour range, but pro scouts and coaches alike believe his changeup is his best pitch. He's also added a cutter and sinker to his repertoire to go with a developing slider. 

With the year he had in 2025, Magdaleno was viewed as an appetizing option for power conference schools were he to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Hawai‘i has seen its share of promising pitchers finish their college careers elsewhere. Harrison Bodendorf departed for Oklahoma State in 2024, while Cooper Walls left for Florida following his freshman season in 2025. But to Magdaleno, leaving was never an option. 

"I was committed to coming back here. I didn't want to leave. I love the fans here, love the community, love the coaching staff," Magdaleno said. "They've always been giving me the ball and they've been trusting me, so I just wanted to give that back to them. And just taking that load off of knowing that I wasn't going to leave to begin with, and coming back and supporting the fans and being a leader once I got back."

As Hawai‘i enters its final season in the Big West Conference, the team believes it has what it takes to make its first NCAA regional since 2010. A big reason why? The Friday night guy taking the ball to start things off. 

"I've never started opening night, so I don't really know what it'll entail, but I know that I'm ready for the this crowd to be live," Magdaleno said. "Since I was a closer, everybody is usually up during those innings towards the back end, so I'm just excited to see what it looks like from up there, but just taking it in and just doing my job at the end of the day, just making pitches and let my defense work, really."

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Isaiah Magdaleno 021226

<title>Hawai‘i ace pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno readies for his moment</title>

Magdaleno will get the start on opening day for the Rainbow Warriors on Friday night against Gonzaga.

Hawai‘i ace pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno readies for his moment

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A Pearl City woman was sentenced Wednesday to three years of supervised release after threatening to kill President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden.

In March 2024, during the Biden administration, Rebecca Ann Folley, then 47 years old and and posting under the name Becca Waters, posted on Facebook a picture containing the message “Going to kill the president,” followed by “INSPECTOR GENERAL, I NEED YOU ASAP.”

The picture appeared to be a screenshot of a comment field on the official White House website; the threat to kill the president had been written in the comment field, under the prompt “What would you like to say?” It is unclear whether Folley actually submitted the comment via the White House website or merely screenshotted a draft message without submitting it.

, the U.S. Secret Service became aware of Folley’s comment in December of 2024, after the election of President Donald Trump, but before his inauguration. A pair of Secret Service agents met Folley that month at her Pearl City residence.

During an interview with the agents, Folley reportedly told them she was a victim of trafficking but law enforcement would not respond to her reports. In order to provoke a response, she posted “bad trigger words” online as a “cry for help," according to the agents' report.

Folley told the agents she had sent hundreds of such messages since 2022, but received no response, even after posting the White House screenshot on the Facebook page of Gov. Josh Green.

“I started bragging, I was like, ‘I’ve got to be the only person in the United States’ history that’s ever been able to get away with 200 of these things on record,’” Folley reportedly told the agents.

The agents then told Folley to “please don’t do that anymore,” to which she agreed, adding that she was taking medication and receiving mental health treatment.

However, about a week later, Folley herself submitted a tip to the FBI linking to another of her own posted presidential death threats, a Facebook post identical to the previous one. She also posted a new message, warning that, in January 2025, she would “certified mail something VERY VERY VERY special to the field office in Honolulu, the secret service dudes, a enduring gift.”

This went on for months, with Folley sending substantially similar messages to various state agencies, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, and the President’s official Facebook account. Her message to the president was direct: “I’M GOING TO KILL DONALD TRUMP.”

In other posts, Folley said she would blow up the White House, and on one occasion commented on a Facebook post by Hawai‘i Rep. Ed Case “Sir, would you mind if I killed you? Just spit balling.”

Secret Service agents once again interviewed Folley in March, whereupon she said she was no longer receiving mental health treatment and acknowledged that her repeated comments were federal crimes.

Court records also indicate that Folley had previously made threats to a family member in 2021, which prompted an FBI response, and was convicted of third-degree assault in Hawai‘i that year as well, for which she served five days in jail.

For her presidential threats, Folley was arrested in April, and she remained incarcerated for seven months. During this period, attorneys discussed Folley’s mental competence to stand trial, with a U.S. District Court Senior Judge Helen Gillmor finding it plausible that Folley was mentally unwell.

The details of a court-ordered mental competency evaluation are restricted from the public. However, the court found her mentally competent in October, and she shortly thereafter pled guilty to making threats against the president, a federal felony carrying a maximum possible sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

However, Folley was sentenced only to seven months in jail — which she has already served — and three years of supervised release. As part of her supervised release terms, she is required to participate in substance abuse and mental health treatment programs, and will have her use of computers strictly monitored.

Courtfed

<title>Pearl City woman gets supervised release following threats against the president</title>

Rebecca Folley made hundreds of Facebook posts threatening to kill Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Pearl City woman gets supervised release following threats against the president

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

[{"type":"text","text":"There’s a new all-you-can-eat sushi option on Oʻahu. "}]

 at Ka Makana Aliʻi is offering a new AYCE sushi menu during lunch and dinner. Lunch costs $28.95 and dinner is $38.95. Children ages 5 to 11 years can enjoy half-price admission; children ages 5 years and under have free admission. 

Lunch is from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner is 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday. There’s a 90-minute time limit for the AYCE experience. 

The menu is extensive, and comprises appetizers, noodles and rice, nigiri, and sushi rolls. 

Appetizers include cold tofu, gyoza, shrimp tempura, crab rangoon, baked mussels, and chicken wings. In addition, appetizers available during the dinner all-you-can-eat experience include salmon poppers, tuna tataki, and yellowtail jalapeno.

Diners can also enjoy hibachi-style dishes — like chicken teriyaki and noodles — along with nabeyaki udon or ramen, hibachi fried rice and a variety of salads.

Nigiri options include tuna, hamachi, salmon, unagi, tako and more. Each order includes two pieces. Sashimi options include tuna, unagi, red snapper, squid, yellowtail and salmon.

Customers can also choose from a variety of six- or eight-piece sushi rolls. Recommended options include the Hawaiʻi roll — spicy crunchy tuna and cucumber topped with cooked shrimp, avocado, unagi sauce and spicy mayo — and Godzilla roll, comprising spicy crunchy salmon and avocado topped with eel, spicy kani (crab), unagi sauce and spicy mayo. 

The dinner AYCE menu also includes options like the sweetheart roll — spicy crunchy tuna and avocado topped with fresh tuna, and served in the shape of a heart — crispy yellowtail roll and crazy Friday roll. The latter features shrimp tempura and lobster salad topped with avocado, wasabi mayo and masago. 

For an additional $20 per person, customers can have access to premium dishes in addition to the regular AYCE menu. All individuals in each dining party will be charged accordingly with this selection.

Premium nigiri include ama ebi, ikura and scallop. Premium rolls include salmon belly Osaka roll, lobster delight roll, angry dragon roll and more.

The premium AYCE experience also includes sashimi like sweet shrimp, scallop and ikura.

AYCE sushi lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays

Sakura Kapolei assorted nigiri 021126

<title>Sakura Sushi & Hibachi has a new all-you-can-eat sushi menu</title>

The eatery, located in Ka Makana Aliʻi, now offers AYCE sushi during lunch and dinner on Mondays to Thursdays. The AYCE experience costs $28.95 per adult during lunch and $38.95 per adult during dinner.

Sakura Sushi & Hibachi has a new all-you-can-eat sushi menu

Arrasmith Portrait

Perry Arrasmith

Government & Politics

Columnists

The voting power of the average O‘ahu resident has declined in the past century. 

When elected government first took shape in 1905, the Islands were less populated than they are today. In June 1900, a census count estimated that 154,001 resided in the entire Territory of Hawai‘i, of which 58,504 people lived on O‘ahu. The island experienced a great deal of population growth over the next decade, reaching 81,993 persons by the next count on April 15, 1910. 

O‘ahu’s legislative body is always changing, if not to the detriment of the average resident’s voting power. At least one 

 of the Honolulu City Council outlines the history of the Council’s evolution, dating back to its early formation just a few years less than a decade after Hawai‘i’s annexation into the U.S.

As of 2020, approximately 1,016,508 people reside on O‘ahu. Each member of the Honolulu City Council represents more than 112,000. 

Given the island’s population expansion, it’s only natural. However, that shouldn’t have to mean that the voting power of an individual will shrink in perpetuity, subject only to the growth (or decline) of O‘ahu’s population. 

However, that’s the way the current system is evolving. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"THE TERRITORIAL ERA"}]

Population growth is not the only natural reason for the shrinking power of an O‘ahu voter. The composition of the island’s Legislature, known initially as the Board of Supervisors and now as the City Council, has shifted since that point, too. 

The size of O‘ahu has also expanded since 1905, the year counties were formally established across the U.S. Territory of Hawai‘i through Act 39 of the 1905 Territorial Legislature. 

Elections for the first Board of Supervisors were made in late 1906. Three of the supervisors would hail from the City of Honolulu, one from the district of ‘Ewa, one from the districts of Wai‘anae and Waialua, and one more from the districts of Ko‘olauloa and Ko‘olaupoko, and an at-large member. Other county officers to be elected would be a Sheriff, a County clerk, an Auditor, a County Attorney, a Treasurer, and a Deputy Sheriff for each district of O‘ahu.

Even with O‘ahu’s 1910 population, each member of the Honolulu City Council represented less than 14,000 constituents each. 

This framework, in the grand scheme of history, was nothing more than a brief aberration. More reform was on the horizon. 

In 1907, the Territorial Legislature once again modified the fabric of O‘ahu’s organization through Act 118. The measure, among other gambits, formally chartered the entire island as the City and County of Honolulu. Members of the Board would serve two-year terms, 

Before the end of the Territorial era, O‘ahu was already evolving from employing a Board of Supervisors to a formal City Council.

O‘ahu was also rapidly growing. Between April 1950 and April 1960, the island’s population grew from 353,020 to 500,409 people. While the populations of every other county were in sharp decline, the island was becoming the gathering place of an emerging U.S. State. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"AN ISLAND IN A NEW STATE"}]

The Board preceded the Honolulu City Council, which was not established until statehood in 1959. Honolulu, with statehood, was set to get a City Council. 

In 1955, the Territorial Legislature once again initiated reform through Act 225. A new Charter Commission was authorized, resulting in the expansion of the Council to nine members. Under this new scheme, the composition of the Council would be divided between three rural members and six members selected from the entire county. The influence of rural voters was weighed more heavily than the votes of urban residents. 

Each at-large councilmember now represented an average of approximately 83,400 residents. At this point, each councilmember now represented a constituency larger than the total size of the island at the time of the first council elections in 1906.  

The inequities of the new system inspired controversy in the 1966 county elections. Resolution 173 provided two options for the future composition of the Honolulu City Council to the resident’s voters. 

The first option proposed a new council of nine members elected at-large. The second option proposed an expanded council of 11 members. Six would be elected from at-large seats, while five would be selected from council districts. 

The gambit confused voters. Nearly two-thirds of the voters favored both the first and second propositions. However, an electorate divided in three roughly even ways both meant that neither vote received a majority of the electorate’s support. The Council’s traditional structure remained in place.

The 1972 Charter Commission marked a turning point in the history of the county. Reform approved by the voters established nine district-based councils. Honolulu no longer had at-large seats. 

By April 1970, O‘ahu’s population grew to 630,528 residents. As a result of the transition to geographically based districts aligned to the principle of “one-person one-vote,” each district now had approximately 70,000 constituents. 

Compared to the system established before statehood, this arguably widened the relative voting power of individual voters. Since 1970, O‘ahu’s population has increased by more than 350,000 residents. The number of councilmembers, in the meantime, has stayed the same. 

Since that point, Honolulu has enjoyed nine members, each representing a specific geographic district of the county. While O‘ahu’s population has exploded in the last 50 years, the composition and method of our Council’s shape has stayed static, while the voting power of the individual has declined. 

As of this writing, varied efforts are underway to re-imagine the ideal size and scope of the county’s councilmembers. Each proposal is geared towards increasing the voting power of the individual.

Many arguments for lowering the size of an individual council seat are inspired by the overwhelming size of a council seat relative to the size of a district in the State Legislature. In 2026, a member of the Hawai‘i State Senate – the upper chamber of our State Legislature, represents an average of fewer than 60,000 residents. 

, for example, entertains increasing the size of the Council, albeit without a clear eye towards an ideal number of members. 

, Trevor Nagamine wants to increase the size of the City Council to 81 members. “The large size of Council districts in both population and physical area limits the ability of Councilmembers to be responsive to community issues, especially since City matters tend to be highly local in nature,” Trevor explains. Tom Heinrich is a little more measured through 

, arguing that the Council would be better served with 13 councilmembers. 

, want to make each member of the Council a county-wide representative. 

Many of these proposals are contradictory. However, they are a clear and present reminder that the size and shape of the City Council has never been fixed. It is a fluid construction, one that we could easily change. 

Reform may come. The voting power of the individual may increase, if present reforms move against the trajectory of history. 

Oahu Districts 16x9

<title>The Incredible Shrinking Voter of Honolulu</title>

The voting power of the average O‘ahu resident has declined over the past century, to where each of the nine city council members now represent more than 112,000 people across multiple neighborhoods. That's twice as many people as a Hawai‘i state senator represents. There are some efforts underway to change that.

The Incredible Shrinking Voter of Honolulu

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawaii History

Not far beneath the paved roads, apartment buildings, and high-rises, a hidden system of underground caverns and spring-fed ponds once nourished wetlands, lo

i kalo, and freshwater ponds across the M

ili district. This karst, the underground cave system, was formed by eons of erosion of the coral limestone base that consists of beach sediments, marine organisms, and fragments of shells and water-worn coral. The M

ili Karst is thought to be part of the original channel of Mānoa Stream, and contained fish that lived so long in the darkness that they were blind.

It is said that when someone asked an old fisherman in the area where he was going, he

m going holoholo,” out for a walk. For if he announced he was going fishing, the fish that lived underground would hear his plans and spread the word, and the fisherman would have no luck that day.

The water in the underground streams rose to the surface in sacred ponds. Among these, one of the most important was Kapa

akea, also remembered as Kumulae and then later called Hausten Pond. Like nearby Kānewai, Kapa

akea was believed to possess healing qualities and was associated with restoration.

The pond was a favored retreat of Princess Victoria Kamāmalu, who inherited the land from her mother, Kina

ahumanu. Kamāmalu died in 1866 with no heirs, and Kapa

akea eventually came under the ownership of Princess Pauahi and the Bishop Trust. In the 1920s, it was purchased by John McGuire, whose wife, Emma Kaleimoku Ai, established a sanctuary for her family. The property overflowed with a wide variety of tropical flowers, plumeria, ulu, and kukui trees, as well as Hawaiian medicinal plants and herbs, and, of course, Emma

s graceful willow trees that would eventually give the place a new name. The family even had a diving board over the freshwater pond to entertain the children and visitors. The pond was stocked with koi that were said to have interbred with the fish inhabiting the underground streams.

s passing, Emma remarried Henry T. Hausten. The family began hosting political dinners and occasional lu

au for important guests. With the help of Emma

s daughters, her sister, and her brother, things quickly evolved into a full-time business and eventually into The Willows.

Since their official opening in 1944, The Willows welcomed everyone with beautiful settings, warm hospitality, and delicious food. On almost any given day, one would see average working families having a quiet meal alongside the rich and famous. The Willows catered to everybody, perhaps even the otherworldly.

One afternoon, while I was still teaching at a Hawaiian immersion school, a parent asked if she could share her story with me.

She said she used to work as a cashier at The Willows restaurant. At night, she counted the money from the day

the cage,” while a security guard kept watch. One night, out of the blue, they heard Hawaiian music coming from the main part of the restaurant. They could hear lively conversations and the sound of cutlery on plates. But the restaurant had been closed for hours.

After locking the cage door, she and the guard went to check, but the place was empty and completely quiet. The silence was unnerving, but the two were not going to wait for the proverbial shoe to drop. They decided she would quickly finish counting the cash, and then they would leave as soon as she was done. But as she neared the end of her count, they heard splashing in the pond and the sounds of laughter and fun.

Once she finished her work, she and the security guard braced themselves to leave, trying to ignore anything else they might see or hear.

The laughter and splashing kept going until we left the restaurant,” she said, 

When we got to the parking lot, we heard the Hawaiian music again. The security guard quit the next day, and later that week, I started working at the airlines.”

I shared a bit of the pond's sacred history, and she looked as if she had just remembered something important.

She added that sometimes, while counting money in the cage, they would finish and look up to see tiny footprints all over the ceiling and walls, as if children had been stomping around, though they never heard any footsteps. A staff member once told them there was supposed to be a menehune path through The Willows, but no one knew exactly where it was.

Of course, not everyone who worked at the Willows had a supernatural experience, but based on her stories, there was enough happening that it was hard to keep security guards on staff.

Sadly, The Willows closed in 2018 after serving the public for nearly 70 years. I wonder if the neighbors still hear the music, laughter, and celebrations.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

The old Willows Restaurant Large

<title>Echoes of The Willows</title>

Generations of kama‘āina have warm memories of The Willows restaurant in Mō‘ili‘ili. Here's the real history of the location, and the reasons why people who worked there heard singing when no one was present and saw the footprints of ghostly children.

Daily Smiles: Tuesday, January 13, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smiles: Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Authors

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