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<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, May 28, 2026</title>

Conductor falls asleep on the job...

Daily Smile: Thursday, May 28, 2026

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

It's no secret — or surprise — that Toyota Tacomas are popular in the Islands.

In fact, according to Servco Pacific, which has exclusive distributorships of Toyota, Lexus and Subaru in Hawai‘i, it's been the top-selling vehicle in the Islands for 25 years. 

To commemorate that milestone, Servco has unveiled a Hawai‘i-exclusive special edition of the best-selling truck and just 25 will be available statewide, Servco says.

"Hawaiʻi has embraced the Toyota Tacoma as part of its ‘ohana for a quarter of a century,” 

, president and CEO, said in an announcement Friday. "This special edition is our way of saying mahalo to the community that has made this truck the undisputed favorite across the Islands."

[{"type":"text","text":"Aloha State Daily reached out to Servco for more information."}]

The truck comes in the color "mudbath" and comes with a "comprehensive suite of custom components designed to enhance both aesthetics and functionality," the announcement notes.

[{"type":"text","text":"The special build includes:"}]

You'll be able to reserve the truck in person beginning June 6 at Servco Toyota and Maui Toyota dealerships across the Islands. The TSRP, or total suggested retail price, is $44,770 and $7,999 for the Hawai‘i edition accessories.

In 2025, Tacomas made up 7.1% of the market share in Hawai‘i, according to a 

 from the Hawai‘i Automobile Dealers Association.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

MY26 Tacoma Hawaii Edition 22

<title>Servco Pacific unveils exclusive Hawai‘i edition Toyota Tacoma</title>

The Tacoma has been Hawai‘i's top-selling vehicle for 25 years.

Servco Pacific unveils exclusive Hawai‘i edition Toyota Tacoma

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A former Hawai‘i County housing official was sentenced Thursday to nearly four years in prison over a scheme that defrauded the county for nearly $11 million.

Alan Scott Rudo, 59, was a housing specialist at the Hawai‘i County Office of Housing and Community Development between 2006 and 2018. During his tenure at the department, Rudo conspired with accomplices to fraudulently award housing development agreements and affordable housing credits to those accomplices’ businesses, pocketing about $1.9 million in bribes and kickbacks.

Through those development agreements, the companies received land valued at about $10.9 million, on which they never built a single unit of housing. The conspirators then sold or transferred the land and the affordable housing credits for a tidy profit.

Rudo was charged in 2022 with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud; he pled guilty that same day. Rudo testified at a 2025 trial of his co-conspirators, and was himself sentenced in U.S. District Court on Thursday.

Judge Jill Otake handed down a sentence of 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

In a sentencing statement submitted to the court, Rudo apologized for his actions.

“I betrayed the trust the community placed in me and I caused harm that I can never take back,” Rudo wrote. “I think about that every day and I accept full responsibility for my actions. There is no excuse for the choices I made.”

Rudo wrote the investigation has cost him his marriage, his home and his career, and has forced him to “rebuild [himself] from the ground up.” He said he chose to cooperate with the investigation against his former associates “because it was the right thing to do,” and that he is “committed to doing better.”

His associates — attorney Paul Sulla, 79, of Hilo; attorney Gary Zamber, 56, of Kea‘au; and businessman Rajesh Budhabhatti, 65, formerly of the Big Island — were themselves charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wife fraud and nine counts of honest services wire fraud, and the three were convicted by a federal jury in 2025.

Rudo’s co-conspirators were sentenced earlier this year. Zamber was sentenced to 70 months in prison in January, Budhabhatti was sentenced to 90 months in February and Sulla was sentenced to 60 months in April.

Courtfed

<title>Former Hawai‘i County housing official sentenced for bribery scheme</title>

Alan Scott Rudo was paid nearly $1.9 million for conspiring to fraudulently award housing development contracts to his associates.

Former Hawai‘i County housing official sentenced for bribery scheme

 the City and County of Honolulu after she was fined nearly $600,000 over an improper apartment listing.

In 2019, Sandra May needed a tenant. She had owned a home on Wilhelmina Rise since the 1970s, with a lower unit in the home available for rent by long-term tenants. But after her husband died in 2019, May, living on a fixed Social Security income, needed to make ends meet, but couldn’t find another tenant.

To broaden her search, May listed the unit on several online rental platforms. But May — who her attorney Loren Seehase said “struggles to utilize any kind of technology” — had inadvertently listed the unit as available for less than 30 days.

That same year, the City and County adopted an 

 hiking up fines against property owners illegally hosting short-term rentals. Violators could be fined up to $10,000 for each day a violation persists.

In November 2019, May received a notice of a violation from the city regarding an online property listing. She promptly corrected the listing to show that the unit was only available for periods of 30 days or more, and believed the matter to be done.

Two years later, after the lifting of the Covid-era moratorium on evicting tenants for non-payment of rent, May again was in need of new tenants. Once again she listed the unit online, once again (in 2023) she received a notice of violation from the city, once again she corrected the listing, once again she thought the matter over.

In April 2024, it happened again. Only this time, because this was a recurring violation, the city informed May that she would incur daily $10,000 fines until the listings were corrected.

Unfortunately, May spent much of late March and April in and out of the hospital following a car crash and other medical procedures. By the time she learned of the violation and was able to correct it, 59 days had elapsed — and now she owed the city $590,000.

On the same day, the city also placed a $10,000 lien on May’s property stemming from the second violation.

“She’s like, ‘you know you’re going to put an old lady out on the street,’” Seehase told Aloha State Daily. “‘I can’t pay this, you’d have to take my home.’ And the city responded by saying ‘Well, I guess you’d better get an attorney.’ So, it was a very callous response. Poor Sandra was in tears about it, and there was no conversation, there was no negotiating, there was no listening to reason.”

May sought out attorneys, who referred her to the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm that focuses on property rights cases. Even better for May, the PLF works pro bono, Seehase said.

Seehase said the letter informing May of how much she owed the city did not mention any way to challenge the fines. Without a mechanism within ordinances to challenge the situation, Seehase said the only option is to challenge it on constitutional grounds, in federal court.

In particular, Seehase said the case could be argued to be in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That amendment most famously concerns “cruel and unusual punishment,” but also protects against excessive fines.

Seehase said other Eighth Amendment cases have attempted to determine whether particular fines are so ruinous they will destroy a person’s livelihood, weighed in proportion to the actual crime itself.

In this particular case, Seehase said, May’s mistake brought no harm to anybody other than herself.

“This is not the type of situation where we’ve got like a building code violation and lives are imminently in danger,” Seehase said. “This is an advertisement, so there was no harm done to anyone.”

On the other side of the coin, Seehase said the $10,000-per-day fines are the absolute maximum allowed by city ordinance, and that the city could have chosen to reduce those fines at their discretion. Because the city hit May with the $590,000 fines and the $10,000 lien on the same day, Seehase said that “it really kind of appeared that the city went on a vendetta … against poor Sandra.”

Seehase emphasized that, regardless of how the listings may have appeared online, May did not ever offer the property for periods of less than 30 days. If a person attempted to book the property for less than 30 days, May would cancel the booking.

May is seeking relief through the federal court, not monetary damages, Seehase said. Should they win, the court will determine an appropriate remedy, potentially including a partial or total reduction of the fines.

Seehase said the City and County has 21 days to respond once they have been served.

A spokesman for the Department of Planning and Permitting told ASD the department cannot comment on pending litigation.

Sandra May rentalsign 610x407 16x9

<title>Octogenarian sues Honolulu over $600,000 fines</title>

Sandra May was told she owed the city hundreds of thousands of dollars over an improper online rental listing.

Octogenarian sues Honolulu over $600,000 fines

Igor Lytvynchuk, the Washington man charged with throwing a rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal, had his first court appearance in Honolulu on Wednesday.

Lytvynchuk, 38, appeared in U.S. District Court to plead "not guilty" to two charges of illegal taking of an endangered marine mammal. Those charges stem from 

 on May 5 when a man — later identified by investigators as Lytvynchuk — was recorded on video hurling a rock at a monk seal on a Maui beach, seemingly only narrowly missing the animal’s head.

As any form of harassment of an endangered seal violates both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, that single rock incurred two charges. Both charges are misdemeanor offenses, carrying a maximum possible sentence of one year in prison each, although Magistrate Judge Rom Trader told Lytvynchuk Wednesday that there is no guarantee, if he is found guilty, that he will face the full maximum sentence.

Lytvynchuk was arrested May 13 near Seattle by special agents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Following an initial court appearance in Washington, the case was transferred to the District of Hawai‘i.

Lytvynchuk had little opportunity to speak at Wednesday’s hearing, confirming in one or two words that he understood Trader’s description of the legal process ahead of him. While his “not guilty” plea drew murmurs from the several dozen people in the gallery, he made no statement about his actions during or after the hearing.

However, a lawyer for Lytvynchuk had previously told media that Lytvynchuk had supposedly believed the seal to be a sea lion threatening sea turtles.

Trader ordered Lytvynchuk to be released on an unsecured $25,000 bond with several conditions, including that Lytvynchuk surrender his passport and all travel documents, that he not change addresses without approval from his pretrial officer, and that his travel is restricted to the Western District of Washington — a U.S. court district covering the state west of the Cascade Mountains — and O‘ahu for court purposes only.

Furthermore, when on O‘ahu, Lytvynchuk is prohibited from accessing any beaches or approaching any marine wildlife, Trader said.

“I think that’s an appropriately tailored restriction, given the circumstances,” Trader said.

Failing to comply with these conditions could result in a warrant for Lytvynchuk’s arrest and put him in jail until trial.

Lytvynchuk is also required to be present at future court hearings. However, Trader said he is inclined to waive that requirement for certain minor hearings and allow Lytvynchuk to appear remotely.

For example, the next hearing date is scheduled for June 9, where attorneys for both sides will set a mutually agreeable trial date and other deadlines. Trader agreed with Lytvynchuk’s attorney Sean Fitzsimmons that Lytvynchuk’s physical presence at that hearing will not be necessary.

Screenshot 2026 05 27 at 3 58 24 PM 16x9

<title>Lytvynchuk pleads 'not guilty' in monk seal case</title>

Igor Lytvynchuk will be barred from O‘ahu beaches as his court case over an alleged attack on a Hawaiian monk seal continues.

Lytvynchuk pleads 'not guilty' in monk seal case

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

The name Kīpapa means “paved” or “placed prone,” as in the corpses of an invading army were placed prone along the base of the gulch. This gulch is also the site of a plane crash, missing hikers, numerous car crashes, suicides, hauntings, and even a night marchers’ trail.

Before modern roads, the passage to Mililani and beyond was long and circuitous, forcing travelers to descend a steep path, cross the gulch, and then ascend another steep path to reach the other side. The route was slow and dangerous, and accidents that caused serious injuries and fatalities were common.

When the Roosevelt Bridge was finally built, travel was much faster, but not necessarily safer. With increased speed, there was also an increase in auto accidents. A 1958 newspaper article stated that the narrow section of the highway at Kīpapa and the neighboring Waikakalaua Gulch had claimed an average of one life per year since 1942. Despite road improvements, it’s gotten only slightly better since then.

Although it’s a vital artery to Honolulu, I know a few people who refuse to drive across the bridge after nightfall. Many people believe that the accidents that happen in, over, and around the gulch are the result of supernatural influence.

Some claim to have seen a ghostly woman walking along the bridge late at night. Others say she is a hitchhiker who disappears as you get closer, or that it’s the ghost of a woman who killed herself by jumping off the bridge. Many say that if you see her, your car goes out of control, causing you to crash. The most common belief is that there has been too much death in the area, and the spirits of those who died there remain, showing themselves at the most inopportune moments.

In our oral traditions, it is said that the ali‘i nui, Ma‘ilikūkahi, lived sometime around the turn of the 15th century. Prior to his reign, life on O‘ahu was full of turmoil, and land divisions were in a state of confusion. Ma‘ilikūkahi sent his ali‘i to survey the entire island, then created the ahupua‘a, or land division, system that we’re familiar with today. This created concise kuleana, or responsibilities, for both commoners and ali‘i, preventing land disputes that were once common and often ended in bloodshed.

Additionally, Ma‘ilikūkahi prohibited ali‘i from plundering the maka‘āinana, the commoners, and defying this order was punishable by death. Although his rule began a long period of peaceful leadership that lasted for generations, Ma‘ilikūkahi wasn’t a pushover. He proved to be a fierce defender of his land and people.

Some restless ali‘i from Maui and Hawai‘i Island attempted a raid on O‘ahu. They met Ma‘ilikūkahi and his forces at Waikakalaua, an upland ‘ili of Waikele, where a bloody battle ensued, moving toward Kīpapa. By the time the invading army was defeated, the casualties were so great that the floor of the valley was “paved with their bodies.”

While Kīpapa Gulch is said to be haunted by the spirits of those warriors, it is also the location of ke ala o ka huaka‘i pō, a path of the night marchers. Could the impression of the deaths of a thousand warriors still hang over the gulch, causing the numerous car crashes? And could the huaka‘i po be responsible for some of them as well? Might the spirits of the victims of these unfortunate events still be present?

One night, I hosted a caravan-style ghost tour where my guests and I piled into our own vehicles and traveled to haunted locations that couldn’t accommodate a minibus or a full-sized motorcoach. We ended up on a back road that overlooked Kīpapa Stream. There, in the darkness broken only by a few flashlights, I shared the sobering history of Kīpapa.

Nervously, the members of our group moved about, taking pictures, videos, and audio recordings. One distinct instruction I gave was that they must claim their noise, meaning they must be aware of any personal movement, talk, laughter, or bodily functions that could show up on any recording.

Afterward, guests shared the anomalies that turned up. On one recording, we could hear a woman singing. On another, was an expletive that said, “Dirty F****r!”

Everyone was overcome with chicken skin, as each person in the group was certain that those sounds were not their own. This was enough to signal that it was time to move on, and we decided to travel to our next stop in Wai‘anae. The next day, I received an email with a video link.

The message attached stated, “We didn’t hear the voice at first until we played it back. My girlfriend heard it the second time. It’s freaky. No one else was near us when this happened.”

It was a video of haole koa bushes lit by someone’s flashlight. A conversation between the boyfriend and the girlfriend can be heard. It was during the couple’s few pauses in their nervous exchange that a third voice was heard.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Don’t leave me here, don’t leave me here. Don’t leave.”"}]

I often say that when it comes to audio recordings with electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, it could be anything. However, these results seemed different. Clearer.

A few months later, an opportunity came up to bring a small group down into Kīpapa Gulch after hours. I thanked that person for thinking of me, but I graciously declined. Kīpapa is always bustling with activity, even if we can’t see it. While we are always interested in the paranormal, we also don’t want to push our luck.

Roosevelt Bridge over Kipapa

<title>Ghosts Run This Gulch</title>

From ancient battles to modern car crashes, a lot has happened around Roosevelt Bridge, where Kamehameha Highway crosses over Kīpapa Gulch. Is it any wonder it has a reputation for hauntings?

Ghosts Run This Gulch

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Daily Smile: Thursday, May 28, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Thursday, May 28, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

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