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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Dog loves to nap with her best friend..."}]

Smile 26 2 23

<title>Daily Smile: Monday, February 23, 2026</title>

Dog loves to nap with her best friend...

Daily Smile: Monday, February 23, 2026

 Dog loves to nap with her best friend...

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Following an 0-5 start to Big West Conference play 0-5, the University of Hawai‘i women's basketball team has won 10 of its last 11 games. At 16-10 overall and 10-6 in Big West games, the Rainbow Wahine are currently in fifth in the Big West Conference standings with four regular contests remaining. 

This week, Hawai‘i is set to play their two final home games of the season. On Thursday, the Rainbow Wahine will host UC Davis. Then on Saturday, the 'Bows will host Cal State Fullerton as part of their senior night festivities. Both contests are against teams 

above the 'Bows in the conference standings

. Tickets for the games, which both begin at 7 p.m., can be 

. The UH men's basketball team, coming off a 

, will play UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton on the road. 

Meanwhile, the UH men's volleyball team will play an 

 on Wednesday and Friday. Both matches will take place at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased 

As for UH's diamond sports, the baseball team will play a four-game series against Ball State from Thursday to Sunday (

). The softball team returns home for the Outrigger Classic, where it will play doubleheaders against Portland State and Mercyhurst on Friday and Saturday. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"PacWest sports"}]

Hawai‘i Pacific's basketball teams will play at Point Loma on Thursday and at Concordia on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Hawai‘i Pacific baseball team will have a four-game series against Jessup that begins on Saturday at Hans L'Orange Park. Also on Saturday, HPU and Chaminade's softball teams will play a doubleheader at Sand Island that begins at noon. 

Chaminade's basketball teams will play at Menlo on Tuesday, Dominican on Thursday and Jessup on Saturday. Chaminade's baseball team will have a four-game home series against Azusa Pacific starting on Saturday.

Hawai‘i-Hilo's softball teams will play doubleheaders against Jessup on both Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, Hawai‘i-Hilo's baseball teams will host a pair of exhibition games against Chuo University of Japan on Friday and Saturday. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"High school sports"}]

The HHSAA wrestling championships will take place on Friday and Saturday at the Neal S Blaisdell Center. 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Hawaii womens basketball 121925

<title>The week ahead in Hawai‘i sports: UH women's basketball closes out home slate</title>

The Rainbow Wahine have won 10 of their last 11 games heading into their final pair of home games.

The week ahead in Hawai‘i sports: UH women's basketball closes out home slate

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

The state governing body for Mauna Kea hopes to become authorized to extend leases for summit land by another decade.

The Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority will fully take over management of the mountain from the University of Hawai‘i in 2028. Meanwhile, the master lease for those summit lands — which was awarded to UH in 1968 and covers more than 11,000 acres — is set to expire in 2033, along with those for individual observatories.

As time ticks away for the lengthy process of renewing the summit leases, other options may become available for MKSOA. One bill still alive in the state Legislature — 

 — would authorize MKSOA to extend observatory leases or the master lease itself by 10 years before the transfer in 2028.

“It gives us one more tool if we need it,” said John De Fries, MKSOA executive director, to Aloha State Daily. “Ideally, we complete our management plan on schedule and we don’t need to use it.”

De Fries said MKSOA is continuing to develop a management plan for the mountain, which is scheduled to be completed in early 2027. That plan, however, will determine the future scope of human activity on the mountain, which is vital knowledge for figuring out how the leases should move forward.

Consequently, in case the management plan is delayed, De Fries said the bills allow for a stopgap to keep the leases active until the plan can be completed.

De Fries added that Act 255, the 2022 law that established the MKSOA, doesn’t allow for the authority to issue or renew Mauna Kea leases, hence the need for the bills. In fact, Act 255 specifically disallows this, stating that no new leases can be issued and no existing leases can be renewed until the transition period ends.

De Fries acknowledged that the prospect of lease extensions for the mountain will make many uneasy. He said MKSOA has conducted a series of public community workshops over the last month that have illustrated that people remain concerned about environmental impacts to the mountain and the continued ability for Hawaiian cultural practitioners to access Mauna Kea.

On the other hand, people with concerns about summit leases may find the latest version of HB 2593 at least more palatable than its initial form. Before being amended at a House committee hearing earlier this month, the bill would have unilaterally extended the master lease and all observatory leases by 10 years upon passage, without any further input by the MKSOA.

That initial draft of the bill received heavy opposition from cultural practitioners, who argued it ignored public input and any oversight by Native Hawaiian groups.

The state Attorney General’s office also suggested that the first draft of the bill could have been a violation of the state Constitution, which requires that only “general laws” — as opposed to “special laws” — can exercise legislative power over state lands. A letter by the Attorney General’s office noted that whether HB 2593 would be a general or special law was an open question, and recommended that the bill be changed to its current form to avoid that snag.

Nonetheless, a companion bill in the Senate, 

, retains the language of HB2593’s first draft, although no progress on that bill has been made since its introduction.

The House bill passed second reading in the House on Feb. 12 but still has to pass two more committees in that chamber. No further hearings have been scheduled, however.

John De Fries Headshot 2 Full 16x9

<title>Mauna Kea leases could get 10-year extension under proposed bill</title>

Bill progressing in the state Legislature could allow the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority to extend Mauna Kea master lease by 10 years.

Mauna Kea leases could get 10-year extension under proposed bill

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Business & Tourism

Shidler College of Business Alumni Association

, is coming up March 5 at The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m.; tickets ($200 each) are still available.

This is the association’s largest event of the year; most than 600 alumni are expected to attend. The event has been held annually for 26 years, according to Toby Tamaye, 

board member for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business

Attendees can look forward to hundreds of wines and spirits provided by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and Beverage Marketing & More. 

“We are excited to again bring one of the most desired restaurant line ups to the Executive Vineyards”, says Tamaye. “This year, we added the award-winning Korean restaurant ONKEE to our offerings, creating more ideal pairings with our large wine selection.”

: Roasted mushrooms, herbed cream cheese, pickled shimejis and yuzu kosho honey

: KCC bisque with kalo, coconut, crab, lemongrass essence and lomi tomato

: Indonesian-inspired black pepper steak poke. We're told this is the poke version of Basalt Waikīkī chef Lance Kosaka's signature black pepper pork chop entree. 

: Paniolo Molokai venison, coconut lūʻau leaf, Maui Onion confit and pickled beets

: “Quesadilla” with housemade carnitas, pico de gallo and Kupu Place micro cilantro

: Beef black curry with caramelized onions and rice

: Kona kampachi poisson cru, featuring smoked kampachi, nasturtium, sea asparagus and coconut yuzu foam

: Cookie buffet, featuring assorted cookies that attendees can choose from (limit two or three per person) 

: Flank steak bao bun “bruschetta” with local tomato confit. According to chef Jason Ichiki, this dish was part of the featured prix fixe menu for New Year's. He says it's not on the restaurant's regular menu, but highlights locally grown produce from Hawaiian Earth Farms, which is a partnership between chef Roy Yamaguchi and Hawaiian Earth Recycling. 

Last year’s Executive Vineyards event raised more than $68,000 in support of Shidler College and its programs. To learn more, visit 

shidler.hawaii.edu/events/2026/03/05/executive-vineyards

Executive Vineyards Royal Hawaiian 021926

<title>Executive Vineyards 2026 is coming this March</title>

The annual fundraising event for the Shidler College of Business Alumni Association will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort. Here’s a sneak peek of the restaurant line-up.

Executive Vineyards 2026 is coming this March

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

On Opening Day, the Legislature gave a lot of fine speeches about how lawmakers were really going to knuckle down and tackle the “affordability crisis” and Hawai‘i’s high cost of living the session.

[{"type":"text","text":"So far, they’ve done the opposite."}]

For example, yesterday Rep. David Tarnas killed House Bill 1611, which, as we 

, “would have reduced Hawai‘i's general excise tax on groceries and nonprescription drugs each year until removing it entirely in 2034.”

Hawai‘i residents have been crying out for this regressive tax on daily life to be removed for years. So why did Tarnas, chair of the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, kill it?

“[I] can’t in good conscience move forward with a bill that might have a quarter-billion dollars in fiscal impact,” he said.

Fiscal impact on state government, he means. The fact that these taxes have a quarter-billion dollars in fiscal impact on all of us matters not one bit to him and his likeminded legislators.

[{"type":"text","text":"These people are thinking about themselves, not you."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Oh, it gets worse."}]

Yesterday, Gov. Josh Green asked lawmakers for another $100 million for Covid-era hazard pay for public workers, as Civil Beat 

. This is in addition to past hazard pay bonuses. “The Legislature already appropriated 

 for hazard pay,” CB notes, “which was required during the pandemic under the state contracts with the Hawai

i Government Employees Association and the United Public Workers union."

And now the teachers also want hazard pay, the article says. “The Hawai

i State Teachers Association is also lobbying lawmakers for pandemic hazard pay for about 13,000 teachers,” CB notes.

HSTA wants the pay mainly because, while they did not have a hazard pay clause in their contract, members of HGEA did, including HGEA members who work in the schools, explains that article. “Those people got $20,000 and our members got zero,” HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. said. “Our teachers put their lives on the line during this time. It just rubs the wrong way that we then get sidelined on this issue.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Put. Their lives. On the line."}]

They did no such thing. In case our Legislators have forgotten, the schools closed.

They closed. They shut their doors in March 2020 and would not resume in-person education until 

And while they were shut, they had highly risk-averse criteria for reopening.

“Hawai‘i’s public schools are expected to stay shut until Covid-19 is no longer spreading in the community, defined as four weeks with no new cases, according to the Department of Education,” 

 Star-Advertiser reporter Susan Essoyan, April 9, 2020.

Also, while closed, Hawai‘i schools received some 

 in federal funding under three different batches of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, in part to fund their own closure to in-person education.

 digital devices and MiFi hotspots specifically to work from home and avoid any hazard.

And what was the result? After a $639-million windfall, what did the DOE deliver?

. The DOE has been talking about a recovery in those scores in the years since, but its a recovery from abysmal to merely alarming. As of the most recent 2025 Strive HI report, just 41% of students are proficient in math, 43% in science, and 53% in language arts.

 (page 519 at the link), from 18% of students chronically absent in the 2020-2021 school year to 37% in 2021-2022, 30% in 2022-2023.  Chronic absenteeism is 

(Distinct possibility: The gain in test scores could be an illusion — how many chronically absent students skipped the test? If they’re missing that much school, chances are, they weren’t going to be measured as among the proficient.)

[{"type":"text","text":"Hazard pay for teachers? The taxpayers should get a refund from the DOE."}]

All of this government worker hazard pay lands squarely on the backs on people who got no such accommodation in the private sector while facing the same risks. Whose businesses were shut down, by government order. Whose jobs disappeared. Who now face the permanently high prices caused the massive inflation spike during the Biden administration — 

 year over year, as high as nearly 18% monthly, annualized — as the feds confronted borrowing more than $4 trillion for Covid relief.

What a great deal for Hawai‘i state government this has been: Help inflate the cost of goods with the Covid lockdowns, then reap higher GET revenues off the inflated prices. No wonder legislators want to keep their hands in our grocery bills.

[{"type":"text","text":"Every time you eat, the state eats you."}]

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

Tarnas David A 359 16x9

<title>Pipikaula Corner: State government is the hazard</title>

The Legislature said it was going to tackle Hawai‘i's affordability crisis. In killing tax relief on our grocery purchases, it's doing the opposite. Meanwhile, it's commandeering hundreds of millions to pay its own workers hazard pay for the Covid years.

Pipikaula Corner: State government is the hazard

Hawaii History

Hundreds of pages of Portuguese immigration records from the late 1800s onward will be publicly available in digital form.

The Consulate General of Portugal in San Francisco has donated scanned copies of its consular records to the Hawai‘i State Archives, including arrival data of all Portuguese citizens in the state between 1878 and 1934.

Honolulu Councilman and Honorary Consul for Portugal Tyler Dos Santos-Tam told Aloha State Daily that his predecessor in the Consul role, John Henry Felix, died in 2025. Shortly afterward, Felix’s son reached out to Santos-Tam about several aged record books in his late father’s possession.

“They were these dusty old books, they had clearly been waterlogged at some point,” Santos-Tam said. “I asked the folks in Lisbon what we should do with them … and they said they would like them back.”

But, Santos-Tam said, Portuguese officials agreed to scan the records and donate them to the state, allowing Hawaiʻi residents with Portuguese ancestry to learn more about their family histories.

Filipe Ramalheira, Consul General for Portugal in San Francisco, visited the State Archives on Friday to sign the documents officially authorizing the transfer of the immigration data, which included a registration book of Portuguese citizens, passport booklets, tax accounts, deeds and powers of attorney and more.

Santos-Tam said his own great-great grandfather is included in the records, as are the three immigrants credited as the first makers of ʻukulele, José do Espírito Santo, Augusto Dias and Manuel Nunes.

The records differ from Portugal’s own departure records, Santos-Tam said: stowaways and children born en route wouldn’t have been recorded when leaving Europe.

Also included in the records are the names of specific villages and parishes in Portugal and its colonies from whence immigrants originated, their professions, their traveling companions, and, in some cases, surviving photographs.

“There might be some surprises in there, too,” Santos-Tam said. He explained that one of the ʻukelele makers was recorded in the logs as arriving unmarried, yet in the company of a woman with children, potentially hinting at some minor 19th-Century scandal.

Santos-Tam added that, previously unbeknownst to him, his great-great-grandfather’s niece (in other words, his cousin three times removed) traveled to Hawai‘i years later.

“So there might be a whole other set of Santos-Tams here,” Santos-Tam said. “We thought we were the only ones.”

The documents are not yet publicly available, but they will be published and freely viewable via the 

. Santos-Tam said the Archives will work to make the documents searchable in the future, but for the time being, users will need to pore through the records page-by-page, so an eye for cursive handwriting and the Portuguese language is advised.

Meanwhile, users can also browse the State Archives for hundreds of thousands of other records the division 

, including genealogical records and land holding data.

 For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

PXL 20260220 212034255 TS 000 16x9

<title>State Archives receive century-old Portuguese immigration records</title>

The Portuguese Consulate in San Francisco gifted the state scans of immigration data from between 1878 and 1934.

State Archives receive century-old Portuguese immigration records

[{"type":"text","text":"A new Korean grocery store just opened in Honolulu."}]

 just opened in the former Ross space on 

. The grocery store offers a variety of produce, noodles, seasonings, snacks, drinks and more.

The store is open this week from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., but starting next week, it will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Customers can get 10% off side dishes — including kimchi, cucumber kimchi and seaweed — during soft opening.

[{"type":"text","text":"Validated customer parking (one hour) is available with purchase."}]

You Me Mart sign 022026

<title>New Korean grocery store open in Honolulu</title>

You Me Mart just soft opened on Ke‘eaumoku Street. The business is located in the same space as French-Korean bakery TOUS les JOURS, in the former Ross space.

Daily Smile: Monday, February 23, 2026

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Authors

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