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Hawai'i Skies

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Glenn Nishida at Kahaluʻu. "Just in the right place right time."

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<title>Hawaiʻi Skies: The right place</title>

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Glenn Nishida at Kahaluʻu.

Hawaiʻi Skies: The right place

Today&#039;s Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Glenn Nishida at Kahaluʻu. &quot;Just in the right place right time.&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.

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Government & Politics

Columnists

At a quarter past eight on a wet Monday morning in January, Anderina Petero boards the Handi-Van outside the Jack in the Box on McCully and falls asleep against the window before it reaches the freeway. She has just finished her sixth graveyard shift of the week. Her daughter Marianeina, twenty-one, the cashier at the same restaurant, sits beside her. They are going home to a shelter in Waiʻanae.

Civil Beat sent more than a dozen reporters and photographers across the island for this year’s Point-In-Time count. The count is an annual tally of homeless people on O‘ahu. The reporters went to meet the people the counters were looking for. It is a 

 from a paper that leans left. It is unflinching about the homeless.

The count ended with 4,539 homeless people on O‘ahu. This number can be spun to suit one’s narrative. The stories underneath are less obliging.

A mother and daughter work the Jack in the Box graveyard shift in McCully. They commute by Handi-Van from a shelter in Waiʻanae. A man cycles in and out of the state hospital. Each time, he is released under Act 26 because he is not mentally fit to stand trial for the petty crime that brought him in. A meth user in Pāwaʻa park has tried every rehab program. They are “just on replay,” he says. His friend died at the park of an overdose a year ago. Two men sit on the District Court steps, newly out of jail. They scrounge bus fare while their girlfriends remain inside, soon to be released. A woman with a bad knee and a medical history of three strokes lives under a bridge. She has cleared the trash from a fouled stream and seen an eagle ray return to the water.

The progressive account of homelessness is mainly a cost-of-housing problem. It fits the mother and daughter exactly. A fifty-dollar rent increase was the final straw for them. It does not fit the man in the park. He has tried every rehab program and remains in the park. It does not fit the insane man. He is the heir of a twentieth-century reform. That reform closed the state hospitals and promised something else would replace them. Nothing did.

The conservative account says homelessness is moral failure, and the answer is to clear the encampments. It fails when it meets the woman living under a bridge. She had a job and a home before three strokes took both. She exercises more visible dominion under an overpass than most of us in our homes. It fails against a working mother praying her way through six graveyard shifts a week.

There is real work here for the state, and conservatives who pretend otherwise are not serious. Honolulu’s housing supply has been throttled by zoning, permitting, and policy that protects the property values of the already-housed. A median one-bedroom rent above $2,000 is a political achievement. Only policy can undo it.

The state can also restrain the publicly destructive, and currently does not. 

 sends a man who cannot stand trial back onto the same streets to commit the same offenses. We call it compassion. But it is the abandonment of a legitimate sphere of state authority in the name of compassion. The man and the public both pay for it.

What the state cannot do is reform a soul. The drug rehab programs that succeed tend, it turns out, to be religious. The man in Pāwaʻa park does not need another program. He needs what no program can deliver. A program that addresses conduct without aiming to save his soul has missed the point entirely.

Every person in the count is an image-bearer of God. Every person in the count is also fallen. To remember one without the other is to slide into sentimentality or contempt. Neither has ever helped anyone.

God works ordinarily through families, through churches, and through the small voluntary associations. They gather to meet needs without being asked. The modern welfare state has spent six decades displacing these little platoons. It is now puzzled that it cannot replace them.

This does not excuse those little platoons, many of which have failed to serve the needy. Anderina wears a bracelet that reads John 3:16. She is a member of a church in Kailua. She has not been there in two Sundays. The Handi-Van takes 90 minutes each way from McCully to Waiʻanae, six nights a week.

Does her church know? Do they care? It is not clear.

At a quarter past eight on a wet Monday in January, on a Handi-Van rolling west toward Waiʻanae, she sleeps with her head against the window. Perhaps today will be a day for rest.

Anderina Marianeina

<title>The stories underneath</title>

ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa explores how an extensive story on homelessness by Civil Beat raises issues where both the political left and political right can do better on their approaches to solving the problem.

The stories underneath

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Michael Brestovansky

Governor Josh Green has passed a law preserving many of the tax cuts he had previously announced would be suspended.

At the start of the 2026 legislative session, Green 

 that the next in a series of incremental tax cuts would be paused in order to make up for an alleged $3 billion shortfall in the state budget.

, touting them as “the largest income tax cut in the state’s history.” In most years between 2024 and 2031, the cuts would have amended income tax brackets and increased standard deduction amounts.

 to suspend those cuts after 2026, the version of that bill he signed Thursday maintains some of the cuts after all.

The bill — now enrolled into law as Act 24 — maintains the future cuts for single filers making less than $175,000 per year, heads of household making under $262,500 and joint filers making under $350,000. It also includes a new tax bracket for households making $1 million or more annually, and subjects them to a 13% marginal tax rate.

In a statement Thursday, Green said the law is “a balanced and responsible approach to safeguarding Hawai‘i's financial future.”

“It preserves meaningful tax relief for working families while ensuring we have the resources to protect essential services that our residents depend upon every day," read Green's statement.

SB 3125 also scales down a renewable energy tax credit over the next several years, establishing caps on the total number of credits issued each year for wind and solar power systems between 2027 and 2030 — each year is capped at $40 million. Then, in 2031 and beyond, that cap is zeroed out, with no further credits available.

Green’s announcement Thursday also stated that he is working with private entities to bring investments to support the renewable energy industry “in the very near future,” as well as developing larger-scale renewable energy tax credits.

 For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Josh Green state of the state 012125

<title>Tax cuts saved: Green signs bill to preserve most upcoming tax cuts</title>

Despite previous announcements that future tax cuts would need to be paused, Gov. Josh Green signed on Thursday a measure that preserves most of them.

Tax cuts saved: Green signs bill to preserve most upcoming tax cuts

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Known for its speakeasy atmosphere and vintage aesethic, Kaimukī-based 

 recently relaunched its brunch service under a new chef.

Executive chef Keith Endo is now at Vintage Books Hawaiʻi. Endo is originally from Hilo and graduated from Kapiʻolani Community College. His previous culinary experiences include leading the kitchens at Vino and, most recently, Ki Club.

His goal is to bring a “fresh and simple menu with Italian and Asian influence” to the Kaimukī eatery.

Some of the dishes on the menu from the eatery’s previous chef still remain, but their presentation or ingredients have been updated.

The Hau ‘ula Farms tomatoes ($18), Hawaiʻi venison tartare ($24) and Island farmer salad ($16) especially highlight locally sourced ingredients. The tomatoes are topped with a fried curry leaf, pineapple vinegar and cilantro.

The Island farmer salad comprises Sensei greens, local vegetables, citrus dressing, Burmese trail mix and Thai basil. If you want to enhance its creamy consistency, add mozzarella ($3 more).

The Island fresh catch (market price) is a new entree, according to Endo. During our visit, mahi mahi was featured, but sometimes shutome or kanpachi is used. The mahi is light and flaky, while the leek caper oil gives the dish a slightly briny, savory flavor.

The house karaage ($23) is not a new dish, but it’s a customer favorite. It’s served with kewpie mayonnaise and kimchi catsup for dipping. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, the chicken is flavorful in and of itself.  

Customers can look forward to a rotating selection of specials. During our visit, Endo featured an herb-roasted lamb ($36) served with porcini mushrooms, gnocchi, shiitake mushrooms and foie gras demi glace.

The lamb is tender without a strong gamey flavor. The gnocchi — a nod to Endo’s travels to Italy to master pasta-making and explore the country’s regional cuisine — boasts a slightly chewy texture, especially when eaten with the mushrooms. The foie gras demi glace enhances the dish’s umami flavor.

The dessert menu features one new addition — chocolate creme brulee ($14). This re-imagined rendition features a white chocolate custard, which boasts a creamy, cheese-like texture, topped with a sugar crust.

Vintage Books Hawaiʻi paused its weekend brunch shortly after the new year, but re-launched it with Endo’s new menu on April 11. Brunch highlights include jumbo lump crab Benedict with yuzu hollandaise ($25), smoked salmon avocado toast with edamame hummus ($21), steak and eggs with chive hash browns ($32), French-style omelet with lemon ricotta and shiitake mushrooms ($22), and buttermilk pancakes with fruit compote ($20).

Brunch is served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Customers can also enjoy a variety of brunch cocktails that were designed to complement the menu.

Validated customer parking is available in the restaurant’s lot.

Open for dinner from 4 to 11 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, 4 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays

Vintage Books chef Keith Endo 051226

<title>Vintage Books Hawaiʻi relaunches brunch service with new chef</title>

Chef Keith Endo, whose culinary background includes leading the kitchens at Vino and Ki Club, is now the executive chef at this Kaimukī speakeasy. Vintage Books Hawaiʻi re-launched its weekend brunch with a new menu in mid-April.

Vintage Books Hawaiʻi relaunches brunch service with new chef

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

The University of Hawai‘i baseball team's season came to an end on Wednesday with a 5-1 loss to Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Conference tournament play-in game in Irvine, Calif. 

Hawai‘i's season ends at 27-23 overall. Additionally, the Rainbow Warriors have concluded their time in the Big West, which began in 2013. The 'Bows have yet to make an NCAA Tournament since 2010. 

On Wednesday, both teams had their ace pitchers starting with Isaiah Magdaleno taking the mound for Hawai‘i and Mikiah Negrete getting the ball for Cal State Fullerton. The contest was tied at 1 through six innings in a true pitcher's duel, but the Titans broke through with two runs in both the seventh and ninth innings. 

Magdaleno was tagged with the loss coming off the heels of a 

just one run in 26 innings with 39 strikeouts to just six hits and two walks. On Wednesday, he battled through 6.1 innings, scattering six hits with two runs, one walk and four strikeouts. With every pitcher available, Hawai‘i head coach Rich Hill used his top three starters in Magdaleno, Hekili Robello and Brody Martin-Grudzielanek in addition to All-Big West reliever Tsubasa Tomii. 

For Cal State Fullerton, Negrete pitched a complete game against the Rainbow Warriors, holding UH to six hits with seven strikeouts, needing just 98 pitches to do so. In a March 27 win against the 'Bows at Les Murakami Stadium, he allowed just two hits with 11 strikeouts in a 2-0 shutout. The Titans advance to the four-team double elimination tournament and will face top seed UC Santa Barbara on Thursday. 

"You have to tip your cap to Mikiah," Hill said after the game. "He had our number again. Complete game, hard to do, under 100 pitches, didn't walk anybody. I think first you give credit to them. ... But very proud of this team to even get to this point. Hard to do in the Big West — it's hard to qualify, no matter what anybody says. This is the best baseball conference on the West Coast, and we ran into a buzzsaw pitcher tonight."

There's a distinct possibility Wednesday's appearance was Magdaleno's last in a UH uniform, as he's likely to get selected within the first two days of the 2026 MLB Draft in July. The Islands and the team's fans have left an indelible mark on the Los Angeles native. 

"I feel like throughout my three years so far, they just treat you like family. I feel like that's what you want at a fan base. Some might be on and off, but whether it's a good day or a bad day at the yard, they're always going to be there to support you," Magdaleno said. "We have the 

, and I feel like my family has really just taken me in along with every single fan. I know that's huge statement in the recruiting process. I was told about it coming in here, and they have just blown me away more than anything. I've been very proud to represent Hawai‘i this far, and I feel like we're only going to get better as a program. We're only coming up right now, and I feel like even though the season didn't go the way we planned it, I feel like there's only more to come, and the fans are a big reason why. They don't realize it, but they are."

Added senior and team leader Ben Zeigler-Namoa, a Maui native: "I think for a guy who's played here for four years, it's been extremely gratifying and an absolute honor to play for these fans. They come out like none other."

As the Rainbow Warriors take their program to the 

, Hill says the 'Bows are done playing Big West teams for the foreseeable future. 

"I never want to play another Big West team," Hill joked. "It's just a nightmare playing in this conference. I'm looking forward to getting to the Mountain West. It's a very difficult conference as well, but new surroundings and new chapter."

Hawaii baseball 052126

<title>Hawai‘i baseball eliminated from Big West Conference tournament</title>

The Rainbow Warriors fell to Cal State Fullerton in Wednesday's tournament play-in game, ending their tenure in the Big West.

Hawai‘i baseball eliminated from Big West Conference tournament

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ben Sasse is bleeding from the face."}]

He’s seated across from New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, 

, and he pauses to note it. He’s dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. One side effect of the treatment is that his body can’t grow skin.

“Yeah, you look terrible,” says Douthat.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Thank you,” says Sasse with a smile."}]

Since his diagnosis, Sasse has appeared on 

 stage, and a parade of podcasts. He uses the time to say what most politicians never dare to.

He talks about faith. He quotes R.C. Sproul. He discusses Tocqueville with the ease of someone who has actually read him.

Sasse is a two-term Republican Senator from Nebraska, a Harvard graduate, a Yale PhD in History. He voted to impeach Donald Trump and took the consequences. Though popular with voters in his home state, he left the Senate to serve as President of the University of Florida.

Now he spends his last days making one argument: American political life has gone badly wrong. Not because the wrong party is winning. Because the whole enterprise has lost its bearings.

Sasse starts with something most politicians would rather ignore: the pace of technological change. Previous economic transformations — industrialization, electrification — unfolded across generations. This one won’t. Robotics and automation will wipe out whole careers within a single working life.

Sasse sees a second shift: disembodied consciousness, the way screens let people leave their world. Families are breaking apart. Communities are dissolving. The local ties — churches, civic groups, the small-scale institutions Edmund Burke called “little platoons” — that help people absorb hard times are being stripped away. The formation of souls and citizens is at risk, and government is mostly ignoring it in favor of clickbait and rage.

He thinks our loves should be ordered, first to God, then to those nearest us, rippling outward from family to neighborhood to state to nation. Caring about a national political party more than your own community isn’t just confused. It’s a disorder of affection.

What’s true of the nation is true in Hawai'i. The legislature introduces three thousand bills a year. How many of those take the large challenges seriously? The demographic shifts, the cost pressures squeezing local families, the slow hemorrhage of young people off the Islands? The floor speeches and press releases gesture toward these problems, but the lawmaking doesn’t match the problem.

Sasse’s example suggests why. He can sit for an hour-long interview on dense political and theological matters because he has a clear philosophy — a disciplined way of working through problems. It also gives him the power to persuade, which is the precondition for coordinated action.

The founders studied rhetoric and philosophy with the same care they gave the law, because republican government runs on argument and clear speech. Most of Hawai‘i’s lawmakers couldn’t sustain an interview like Sasse’s, and the laws show it. There’s no clear direction. No will to rally the public. Few signs that anyone has thought hard about what government is for. What fills the vacuum is performance: press releases, floor speeches written for social media, outrage timed to the news cycle.

Sasse has a simple framework for what a coherent politics looks like. He describes four ways of valuing government, measured in cheers. No-cheer people — hardcore libertarians — don’t understand that government exists to secure liberty. Three-cheer people believe in a state that controls everything. Republicans, he says, are the one-cheer party. Democrats are the two-cheer party. Each has an extreme wing. Hawai‘i’s loudest voices are at the extremes.

What we lack are the one-cheer leaders: those who see government as necessary but flawed, able to secure order but not to deliver salvation.

Government should do a small number of important things well. It should get out of the way of the little platoons. It should never present itself as the path to utopia. Hawai‘i’s government casting itself as humanity’s last best hope has always been faintly comic.

Sasse’s sharpest line comes when he describes what voters already sense about the way their leaders talk.

They know it’s bullshit, he says — and they don’t want to be lied to. Why can’t politics do a small number of important, long-term things?

There is something clarifying about a man making that argument while bleeding from the face. He has no election to win, no caucus to protect, and by his own reckoning, weeks or months to live. What he’s chosen to do with his time is sit down and think hard about what government is and isn’t for, and what we’ve lost by confusing the two.

In watching Ben Sasse die, Hawai‘i might learn something about how to live.

Ben Sasse Getty Images 1231346544

<title>Ben Sasse is dying in public</title>

The former U.S. senator from Nebraska is talking about big ideas everywhere he can as pancreatic cancer takes his life. Hawai‘i's politicians could learn from what he has to say about government doing fewer things well, says ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa.

Ben Sasse is dying in public

 is officially opening in Kapolei on Saturday, May 16, at 10 a.m. This is Sonic’s second location in Hawaiʻi (the first store opened on Maui in 2023).

“We’ve felt so much excitement from the Hawaiʻi community since opening on Maui, and we’re honored to continue growing on Oʻahu with the new Kapolei location,” states Takeo Prather, head of growth and development for Sonic Hawaiʻi.

This is the brand’s first drive-in restaurant on island. Sonic is known for its classic curbside experience, and this location features five drive-in stalls. Roller-skating carhops will deliver orders directly to customers’ vehicles.

Sonic Kapolei will also feature patio seating and a double drive-thru lane.

“This wide double drive-thru is so important for us to have, to provide good service to all the customers,” Prather says. “The drive-in stalls are on the back side (of the store). That’s where you’ll pull up, you’ll order and someone will bring your order out to you.”

Signature Sonic menu items include its double Sonic smasher, premium beef hot dog, soft pretzel twist and groovy fries.

In addition, this location will offer a Hawaiʻi-exclusive item — the teriyaki smasher, which launches on opening day. It comprises two Angus beef patties with cheese, teriyaki mayo, Aloha Shoyu Da Yaki sauce, tomato, lettuce and onion.

“For Oʻahu’s first Sonic, we wanted to do something really special,” Prather says. “We worked in close collaboration with Aloha Shoyu to develop the teriyaki smashburger. This is a play on the classic Sonic smasher. It’s amazing; you can only get it at Sonics in Hawaiʻi.”

The teriyaki smasher will be available at both, Oʻahu and Maui Sonic locations.

Customers can choose from signature limeades — Cherry limeade is especially popular — slushes and all-natural lemonade. Prather recommends the off-menu strawberry cream slush.

“It’s half-slush, half-ice cream blended together,” he says. “It’s kind of a secret menu item because it’s not actually listed.”

Sonic Blasts, or frozen desserts that feature soft serve with candy mix-ins, come with options like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Oreo cookie pieces and more.

“The most popular flavor for the Blast is Reese’s,” Prather says. “The thing with Blasts is you can do so many mix-ins. I’m excited to see what people come up with”

Sonic’s opening day will feature live music, entertainment, giveaways, prizes and plenty of outdoor seating for customers, according to Prather. Both the first 10 and first 50 customers in the Sonic drive-thru and patio/walk-up lines on opening day will receive exclusive Sonic Hawai’i swag. For the opening weekend, service will be limited to drive-thru and patio/walk-up only. 

“The opening of this location has been a long time coming, and we’re looking forward to welcoming families, friends and neighbors to come together, enjoy fun local flavors alongside Sonic classics, and create new memories with us,” Prather states.

 parking is not available within the Sonic parking lot and subdivision. On May 16 and 17, limited customer parking will be available at Ho‘okele Elementary School, where access has been coordinated with the school.

Tentative hours (after opening date) are 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Sonic owners 051326

<title>First look at Sonic’s new Oʻahu location</title>

Sonic Kapolei, located at 5001 Kapolei Parkway, is opening May 16. This is the brand’s first drive-in restaurant on the island and Hawaiʻi’s second Sonic location. Customers can look forward to Sonic’s signature burgers, drinks and a Hawaiʻi-exclusive menu item.

Hawaiʻi Skies: The right place

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Hawaiʻi Skies: The right place

Authors

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