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Daily Smile

“Yeah, that’s fine, you can borrow the snowblower, but take Bingo with you, she likes to play in the snow.”

Smile 26 3 8

<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, March 8, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Sunday, March 8, 2026

 “Yeah, that’s fine, you can borrow the snowblower, but take Bingo with you, she likes to play in the snow.”

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

MĀNOA — Each 3-pointer by Long Beach State star freshman guard Gavin Sykes brought the University of Hawai‘i men's basketball team further away from their goals. By the time his barrage in the closing minutes of an 84-75 Beach victory ended, a Stan Sheriff crowd of 5,468 was left stunned. 

The day had clearly not gone to plan for a UH team that entered Saturday needing a victory to clinch a share of the Big West Conference regular season title. All that stood between the Rainbow Warriors and a tie for the conference title was a game against the Beach, who entered the contest as one of the Big West's bottom dwellers. 

With eight teams making the conference tournament, the Beach (10-23, 6-14 Big West Conference) played for pride on Saturday knowing their season wouldn't continue beyond the week. Coached by former UH assistants Chris Acker and John Montgomery, LBSU played like it had nothing to lose on Saturday. No player symbolized that on Saturday more than Skyes, who made three 3-pointers in as many possessions to give the Beach a 77-64 lead with 2:04 left to seal the game. 

Hours before tipoff, the Rainbow Warriors watched from afar as UC Irvine rallied from a 14-point deficit to defeat UC Davis in overtime at home. A UC Irvine loss combined with a UH win on Saturday would have given the 'Bows the outright regular season title in their 

. The Rainbow Warriors came out flat on Saturday, trailing 44-34 at halftime despite Hunter Erickson's 18 points at the break. 

Despite the loss, the Rainbow Warriors (22-8, 14-6 Big West) will enter next week's conference tournament with an automatic double bye to the semifinals. The 'Bows will play at 5:30 p.m. HST against an opponent to be determined. 

"We got use this as a learning opportunity, and use it as fuel," senior 

 said following the loss. "I think at the very least, we need to make sure that it gives us a little bit of a propulsion going forward, because we can't afford to take anybody lightly. I think we did that a little bit tonight, so we got to just be full steam ahead moving forward."

Following the contest, the Rainbow Warriors honored their six seniors in Johnson, 

Gytis Nemeikša, Hunter Erickson, Dre Bullock, Yacine Toumi and captain 

Harry Rouhliadeff. Johnson and Rouhliadeff were visibly emotional during their senior goodbyes. 

"I've had the most incredible four years of my life here, and these are the best fans in the world. There's no doubt about that," said Rouhliadeff, a native of Australia. "They know how to cheer for us, and it's such a joy, such a privilege, to play in front of all these fans every single week. I just want to say I love the support, love the fans and love the community."

Added Ganot, who will have no years remaining on his contract after the season:  "I spoke to the team near the end, like, let it go right now, because senior night here is as good as it gets. I want to give Long Beach credit. We didn't deserve to win. They outplayed us.

"But this group, it hurts right now in the moment, but the good thing is, we do get to do something about it."

In the women's Big West tournament, the Hawai‘i women's basketball team will receive a bye to Thursday's quarterfinals, where it will play an opponent to be determined at 9 a.m. HST. 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

UH men's basketball 030726

<title>Hawai‘i men's basketball stunned on senior night against Long Beach State</title>

The Rainbow Warriors will be the 2 seed during next week's Big West tournament in Henderson, Nev.

Hawai‘i men's basketball stunned on senior night against Long Beach State

One of the UFC's most unique distinctions no longer belongs to 

In the main event of UFC 326 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Holloway lost the organization's BMF belt via unanimous decision to Brazil's Charles Oliveira on Saturday night. 

Oliveira, one of the UFC's most feared grapplers, severely limited Holloway, the organization's all-time leader in significant strikes. Oliveira never allowed Holloway to get into a rhythm on his feet, controlling him on the ground for 20 minutes and 49 seconds. 

Holloway dropped to 27-9 overall in his UFC career, while Oliveira improved to 37-11, winning his 25th UFC fight. 

Boos started to fill T-Mobile arena midway through the first round when it became evident Oliveira's plan was to grapple with Holloway instead of trading with him, a departure from the striking extravaganza seen in other BMF title fights. 

In addition to his domination on the ground, Oliveira was able to land 50 of his 66 significant strike attempts, while Holloway landed 26 of his 45. 

Following the fight, Oliveira had the BMF belt wrapped around his waist by his father. Holloway had planned to have his wife, Alessa, wrap the belt around him had he won. 

Despite the loss, Holloway, 34, appeared to be in good spirits following the fight. In his post-fight interview, he said aiming for the lightweight title remains his goal. 

"You gotta give it up for (Oliveria)", Holloway said. "True BMF, and I wouldn't have it any other way. "I'm gonna come back, whoop somebody's a** and be right in title contention again. ... I ain't done yet."

UFC general 042525

<title>Wai‘anae's Max Holloway relinquishes BMF belt at UFC 326</title>

In a rematch with Charles Oliveira over a decade in the making, Holloway lost via unanimous decision to the Brazilian grappler.

Wai‘anae's Max Holloway relinquishes BMF belt at UFC 326

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Food & Dining

Restauranteur Ted Davenport has spent three decades in Hawai‘i's food scene. His latest endeavor brings a coffee brand founded in Hawai‘i to Honolulu's Kaimukī neighborhood.

Bad Ass Coffee of Hawai‘i's newest location at 3502-C Wai‘alae Ave. opens March 13.

[{"type":"text","text":"It's been a long time coming, Davenport told Aloha State Daily."}]

"We thought we'd open last May," he said after commenting on the lengthy permitting process.

Davenport will operate the store in partnership with 

Galu and Diane Tagovailoa, parents of NFL quarterback 

"His parents are really good friends of mine and they wanted to have a business in Hawai‘i, so we kind of put this together," he said.

Bad Ass Coffee of Hawai‘i was founded on Hawai‘i Island in 1989, "with a goal of sharing American-grown, premium Hawaiian coffee from Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Maui, Molokai, Kona and Ka‘u with coffee lovers everywhere," its 

. There are nearly 40 franchise locations across the U.S., with 63 shops in various stages of development.

, there's currently one other location in Hawai‘i — at 3636 Lower Honoapi‘ilani Road in West Maui. 

The new Kaimukī shop spans 1,234 square feet and is expected to create 14 to 16 new jobs, a recent announcement noted. 

Davenport is a former firefighter who, in 1988, was looking for a way to supplement his income when he "got into the Subway franchise business" and ultimately partnered with Subway to develop the brand in Hawai‘i, he told ASD. He left the fire department in the early 2000s and focused on developing brands. He also brought Ruby Tuesdays to the Islands and helped develop and open a number of other eateries.

When asked how he got involved with Bad Ass Coffee, Davenport says that Subway had sold; the company was going to buy him out but he wanted to "continue on doing something." He had been looking at coffee opportunities since his daughter went to college in Oregon and he saw the coffee concepts that were available in the Oregon and Washington area.

"I was trying to see what different concepts were out there and I visited different coffee concepts," he says. "What I liked about Bad Ass is they give you pure product. And when I say that, if you order an iced coffee or iced latte, the ice is made out of coffee. If you order our Frappuccinos ... it comes out of a tailor-made machine, which is cream and coffee, then we add the flavors. We don't use ice."

[{"type":"text","text":"Ice is only used in energy drinks and smoothies, he noted."}]

Reaching this point "feels real good," Davenport told ASD. "It was a long process and to get there, you just have to have the patience and understand that [not] everything's going to happen in a moment. But I enjoy developing. I enjoy giving a product to the customer that they're going to really enjoy and come back and tell somebody about it. That gives me the thrill of doing what I keep on doing."

[{"type":"text","text":"Davenport plans to open three locations in total."}]

Bad Ass Coffee of Hawai‘i — Honolulu will be open from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

"I want people to come in and try our product and give us a feedback on what they think and [if] they see something we can improve or do," Davenport says. "We'd love to hear feedback from the public and our customers. It always helps us to be able to grow the brand and give them what they want."

Interested in your own franchise? Find more information 

. Franchisees can expect to invest between $526,100 to $992,400, the announcement notes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Meaning behind the name"}]

According to the company's site, for generations, donkeys of Kona "could be heard bellowing as they carried precious loads of coffee beans down the steep mountains of the Big Island." The people of Kona name these animals the "'bad ass ones' because of their reliably strong but stubborn nature in carrying their precious cargo."

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Badass coffee 030626

<title>Bad Ass Coffee opens in Kaimukī March 13</title>

You'll find the newest location at 3502-C Wai‘alae Ave.

Bad Ass Coffee opens in Kaimukī March 13

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Located in the former space of Nami Kaze, 

Thirty Eight restaurant opened for dinner at Pier 38

The eatery just launched its new lunch menu, and the restaurant is now open from Monday to Saturday.

According to chef de cuisine Daysen Masuda, the lunch menu is inspired by familiar flavors and plate lunch fare.

“I wanted to do something different from your normal plate lunch,” he says. “I feel like this menu is familiar to everyone — misoyaki butterfish, ‘ahi belly, Korean fried chicken and loco moco are staples here in Hawaiʻi — but we’re putting our own spin on it here. Here at Thirty Eight, how could we make it a little more elevated?”

Appetizers include popular selections from the eatery’s dinner menu, including maguro cabbage ($21), poke crackers ($12), calamari katsu ($17) and cabbage Caesar ($16).

The mix plate ($26) is not only aesthetically pleasing, but equally tasty. It includes a daily catch — in our case, guava chili ‘ahi — short ribs, spicy ‘ahi, watercress salad, potato salad and Spam fried rice.

“When you go out and eat a plate lunch, you want to have a little bit of everything,” Masuda says. “Especially here at Thirty Eight, we’re using really good seafood and fresh ‘ahi, so we wanted to highlight it. It’s just a mixture of flavors.

“The Spam fried rice is actually my mom’s Spam rice,” he adds. “(When I was) growing up, she made that for potlucks. I’m also a big fan of potato salad, so you gotta have potato salad. The potato salad is dusted with chermoula (a blend of spices); that’s paying homage to chef Mourad and (previously) working with him.” 

The black cod ($28) is served with shredded cabbage, potato salad and white rice. Meanwhile, the Korean fried chicken plate ($20) features a generous portion of chicken.

“We’re using the chicken quarter at dinner for the huli huli chicken, so I wanted to cross utilize that as well, but who doesn’t want a nice, big portion of chicken for lunch?” says Masuda, who notes this is one of his favorite dishes.

“It’s kind of inspired by my mom’s Korean fried chicken, but we do add a little bit of guava jelly in there,” he says. “It’s a little sweet and a little spicy.”

The eatery’s loco moco ($24) is expected to be a local favorite. The beef patty is topped with two sunny side up eggs, brown gravy and Hamakua mushrooms, and is served with rice.

“Everything starts with good quality,” Masuda says. “We’re using Prime ground beef topped with local eggs; we make grown gravy from scratch.”

The ‘ahi belly plate ($22) features local big-eye ‘ahi with ponzu butter, potato salad, watercress and white rice.

For dessert, diners can enjoy scoops ($9 each) from ice cream business Please Come Again, located in Kailua. Choose from shiso mint chip — topped with freeze-dried strawberries — and Vietnamese iced coffee, which is topped with condensed milk and cocoa nibs. Masuda notes that the restaurant is currently working on a dessert program.

“I’m excited (for this menu); for lunch down here at the pier, there’s a lot of guys that work around here, but a lot of tourists and locals. as well,” he says. “Lunch is always a little more casual; this is what I think people will like.

“That’s the cool thing about this project — we have a blank slate,” he adds. “Hawai

i is such a big melting pot of diverse cultures, so that’s why you’ll get some Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese flavors here, but it all works because that’s Hawai

Open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch, 5 to 9 p.m. for dinner Mondays to Saturdays

Thirty Eight Honolulu lunch spread 030626

<title>Thirty Eight Honolulu launches lunch service</title>

The new eatery, which recently opened for dinner at Pier 38, just debuted its new lunch menu. The menu features some of the most popular pūpū from the dinner menu, along with elevated plate lunches like a mix plate, Korean fried chicken, loco moco and more.

Thirty Eight Honolulu launches lunch service

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A man who allegedly stabbed two women, one fatally, on Thursday is in police custody.

The Honolulu Police Department announced Friday that officers apprehended an unidentified 55-year-old man at a Kapolei residence Thursday afternoon after he reportedly stabbed two 53-year-old women at two separate locations.

Police Lt. Deena Thoemmes of HPD’s Criminal Investigation Division said Friday that officers first responded to a report of a stabbing at about 4:15 p.m. on Keali‘iahonui Street in Kapolei. Upon arrival, the officers encountered a man outside the residence brandishing a knife.

The armed man — whose identity is being withheld pending further charges — approached the officers and refused to comply with commands to halt or drop his weapon, leading the officers to subdue him with a “conducted electrical weapon,” which Thoemmes said was similar to, but not actually, a Taser.

After disarming and arresting the man, officers determined that he had entered the residence of his estranged wife and stabbed her in the neck. The woman’s adult son intervened, allowing the victim to flee to a neighbor’s residence and ask them to call the police.

Thoemmes said the victim is at The Queen’s Medical Center and is “doing better.”

Shortly after, at about 5:30 p.m., officers responded to a seemingly unrelated medical call on Fern Street in McCully, where another 53-year-old woman was found unresponsive. Upon investigation, detectives discovered the deceased woman had suffered multiple stab wounds and defensive injuries, leading them to classify the investigation as a homicide.

Detectives eventually pieced together that the two victims had been attacked by the same man, who was the estranged husband of the Kapolei victim and the boyfriend of the deceased victim.

The man had reportedly entered the Fern Street apartment, accompanied by the victim, around 10:30 a.m. and left alone at around 2:45 p.m. He then used the dead victim’s vehicle to travel to Kapolei, arriving around 4 p.m., where he then attacked his estranged wife.

Thoemmes said the alleged perpetrator had two prior felony convictions for manslaughter and sexual assault. At the time of the attacks on Thursday, he was enrolled in a work furlough program and was wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor.

[{"type":"text","text":"The suspect will be charged with second-degree murder, Thoemmes said."}]

The investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the police either via 911 or the CrimeStoppers tip line at 808-955-8300.

PXL 20260306 213035326 16x9

<title>Thursday stabbing attacks leave one dead, one injured</title>

An unidentified man is in custody after a pair of stabbing incidents on Thursday in Kapolei and McCully.

Thursday stabbing attacks leave one dead, one injured

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

Student Eve Davidson, a senior at Mid-Pacific Institute, wrote and directed “Ke Kino Lua,” a short film about culture and choice. This month, it will be featured in four film festivals, including Women of Wonders Film Fest Hawai’i, which will hold screenings in the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art on Sunday, March 8.

“My film is about a man deciding which shirt he should wear for his first day of work,” Davidson told Aloha State Daily. “One shirt represents Hawai’i and the other represents Mainland and office clothing. I want people to know that they can represent their culture while still being in a different culture, because I was inspired by Hawai’i and seeing all the different kinds of ethnicities and how they express themselves through a simple keychain or a piece of clothing.” 

Davidson is part of Mid-Pacific School of the Arts Film Program, led by filmmaker 

. This month Davidson's film — as well as those of several of her current and former classmates — will also be featured at film festivals held in Oregon, New Zealand and Australia.

“Ke Kino Lua” involved four months of prep work, which included writing the script, one day of shooting, and then another three months of editing, Davidson said.

“I think it's very exciting, and it really gets people to think about their culture, as well as Hawai’i's culture,” Davidson said.

, a three-day event that put a spotlight on student films from young filmmakers across Hawaiʻi. It featured the work of several students from the Mid-Pacific School of the Arts Film Program, including Cameryn Koike ’25, who won the Best ‘Ōpio Student Film Award, and Kailey Holbrook ’25, who won the Best Screenplay Award.

“My goal with this program is kind of two parts,” Park said. “One is, we do have a handful of students who want to be professional filmmakers, like Eve, she wants to be an editor, so she's done a lot of editing. ... That’s my goal as a teacher and as a mentor for them is to help them get where they want to be, whether it's to film school or to get on an actual set.”

Davidson will be attending film school at Loyola Marymount University next year, Park added.

“But then, some of the students don't necessarily want to be professional filmmakers,” she said. “For them, it's more about teaching them everything that goes into production and having an appreciation for the amount of work that it takes to produce even one minute of really good content.”

Park brings experience as an actress and producer to the program. She was an actress in several shorts and in the television series "Hawai’i Five-0." As a filmmaker, Park has also worked on independent films and 

projects for the Discovery Channel, Disney, Comedy Central, the Hawai’i Council for the Humanities and the Merrie Monarch Festival

, according to her biography on Hawai’i International Film Festival’s website.

Park studied political science and women’s studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and earned an associate of arts degree in American Sign Language/Interpreting from Los Angeles Pierce College.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Growing up, she had made films for fun."}]

“I didn't think it was going to be a career until I got a little older,” Park said. “When I got that degree in political science and women's studies, my original goal was to go to law school. And I at the last minute decided, ‘You know what? I think I want to be a filmmaker. I think I'd rather be James Cameron than Barack Obama, if I had to choose one.’ I wanted to change the world politically by making art and making films representing voices that were underrepresented.”

That is exactly what many of her students are doing, too. Tickets for the 

 Here is a list of the festivals where Davidson's film — and those of several classmates — will be screening this month:

"Ke Kino Lua," written and directed by Eve Davidson ’26

“On My Honour,” written and directed by Kailey Holbrook ’25 and Cameryn Koike ’25

“Not Alone,” written and directed by Cameryn Koike ’25

 written and directed by Eve Davidson ’26

“Two Worlds Apart,” written and directed by Marley Davidson ’25

 written and directed by Eve Davidson ’26 

"Leihana," written and directed by Layla Yamamoto ’26 and Michi Yorkston ’25

DisORIENT Asian American Film Festival of Oregon

 written and directed by Layla Yamamoto ’26 and Michi Yorkston ’25

 written and directed by Cameryn Koike ’25

 written and directed by Marley Davidson ’25

“Ke Kino Lua”

<title>Mid-Pacific filmmakers take stories to Doris Duke Theatre and overseas</title>

Eve Davidson, a student filmmaker who is part of the Mid-Pacific School of the Arts Film Program, will have her short film “Ke Kino Lua” screening at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art and several international film festivals this month.

Daily Smile: Sunday, March 8, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Sunday, March 8, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

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