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[{"type":"text","text":"A really good idea..."}]

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<title>Daily Smile: Monday, June 1, 2026</title>

A really good idea...

Daily Smile: Monday, June 1, 2026

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Business & Tourism

For Zeidalyn Templado, God is the center of her life 

, which launched online in March 2026 out of ‘

Templado, 21, is currently a business major at the University of Hawaiʻi

set to graduate next fall. She told Aloha State Daily that growing up, she thought she wanted to be a nurse or go into the military until her stepdad called her an entrepreneur and her auntie nurtured that spirit.

She sold desserts on the side during high school and through Covid, which was around the same time she started going to church. After her family moved to the Mainland, she found closeness to God to be her saving grace, bringing “indescribable peace,” especially in tough times, she said.

“I pray a lot and worship is important to me, but [people often ask] what does a bikini business have to do with Jesus?” 

Templado explained. “This business is a reflection of my relationship with Him, and I do try to make sure to show that through how I treat my team of ambassadors and customers with kindness. 

We include a Bible verse on the back of every tag, and I’ve recently started putting stickers in the packaging, as well.”

“I just want to give God all the glory; I have this success because of Him.”

The biz is named after her 8-year-old sister, Aevlene Aiana, who lives in California with her mom, she said.

“Having my sister witness my first bikini launch with the name inspired by her makes me grateful to show her how much she means to me!” 

 “I hope to continue to show her that you can do anything you put your mind to with the help of God and her family.”

Aiana Swim features “pieces made with intention, creativity and care for the planet,” she said on 

, noting that 10% of sales go back to animal care in Brazil, where small batches are manufactured. She added that the manufacturer’s values align with hers, providing fair wages to their workers and using only PETA-Approved Vegan, cruelty-free textiles, while reducing fabric waste. The biz’s packaging is also biodegradable and compostable.

 designs her own prints inspired by her island home.

Her latest collection, which first dropped to hundreds of shoppers on an email list late last month, features a 

 with pink hibiscus print and white tiger stripes. The swimsuit pays homage to her childhood dog, Tiger, who died earlier this year. The shop’s site is now open to the public, while supplies lasts.

While TikTok videos have helped shape parts of the business 

— such as her approach for new releases that emphasize exclusivity  — 

Templado credits God, her family and team of ambassadors for helping to grow the band.

she’s looking forward to creating more collections, increasing inventory, and doing more fashion show and pop-up events.

“Every time I see the name Aiana Swim, I’m reminded of family, inspiration and the hope of building something meaningful that can make a difference,” according to Templado. “Every purchase not only supports my dream of building an environmentally responsible brand but also helps me support myself and my family through college. Aiana Swim is more than swimwear, it’s a dream rooted in family, faith and purpose.”

Aiana Swim Zeidalyn Templado

<title>Aiana Swim’s latest drop makes a splash</title>

UH West Oʻahu student Zeidalyn Templado just released her second collection of swimsuits featuring hand-drawn designs inspired by the Hawaiian Islands, including a print that honors the memory of her childhood dog. She shares the story behind her brand and the greater purpose that drives her.

Aiana Swim’s latest drop makes a splash

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

As Hawai‘i weathers a stronger-than-average hurricane season, the state’s emergency management apparatus says its disaster response plans remain reliable.

Among the many duties of the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency, or HIEMA, is the maintenance of various emergency response plans for the state and its agencies. And after two hurricane impacts this year so far in Lala and Lowell, HIEMA Administrator David Lopez told Aloha State Daily those plans are holding up.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Lopez said. “Right on the front end from our team, communication is always a place of improvement … Mutually supporting plans, the ability to try to anticipate what’s going to happen, having things set up preemptively so that we can move material and equipment … the better we are at writing the detailed plans, then we understand our capabilities and then, of course, our gaps or where we need to improve those plans.”

HIEMA's hazard mitigation plan includes a vulnerabilities assessment for each type of major disaster that could impact the state, including earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, terrorist attacks and, pertinently for Hawai‘i's summer of 2026, hurricanes. That assessment predicted that, based on the historical record, "the state may expect to experience a hurricane event that lead s to a [Federal Emergency Management Agency] declaration once every 11 years."

If that data remains accurate, Hawai‘i has had a hard 11 years, as FEMA has issued major disaster declarations for three hurricanes that impacted Hawai‘i since 2015, two of which were issued this week for Hurricanes Lowell and Lala — the third was for Hurricane Lane in 2018.

The plan also includes estimates of potential damage to facilities and infrastructure within storm surge inundation areas for up to a Category 4 hurricane, which can bring winds of up to 156 mph. Statewide, the total replacement cost of all state buildings within a Category 4 storm surge is about $26 billion, $17 billion of which is on O‘ahu alone. Broadening the scope of that assessment to general building stock, the total replacement cost rises to more than $58 billion, with $51 billion on O‘ahu.

Lives threatened by a Category 4 hurricane — that is, the estimated population within a Category 4 storm surge — were estimated to be about 142,000 in 2023, about 10% of the total state population, although the hazard mitigation plan notes that, ultimately, the entire population is vulnerable to hurricanes in some way.

While a direct impact Category 4 hurricane is among the worst possible hurricane scenarios for the state, the plans for responding to the disaster largely follow the same principles irrespective of scope, Lopez said. 

HIEMA’s plans establish an order of operations for addressing critical infrastructure following a disaster. In the case of a serious hurricane striking O‘ahu, Lopez said the first priority would be port restoration, clearing debris and making repairs to get the ports operational again as soon as possible.

After the ports, Lopez said debris clearance work expands to “every place that’s affected,” opening up ingress and egress routes for people who may be trapped.

“Generally speaking, the utilities follow the roads, and so then your utility repair starts branching out from there,” Lopez said. “So you’re thinking about critical infrastructure, hospitals, what are you trying to get open again to help people, and then power and utilities coming in behind that. So it’s a huge, huge coordinated effort.”

While this is happening, Lopez said shelters will open, as well as associated food distribution plans, and potentially search and rescue operations.

Lopez emphasized that the core of the state’s emergency response efforts rely on “mutually supporting plans,” where each state or county agency has its own plan developed and implemented in tandem with each others’.

“For instance, the airports by federal law have to do a certain level of planning, disaster planning and recovery planning,” Lopez said. “So we incorporate how they do things into our dealing with them … each of the state facilities are required to have what’s called a COOP plan, or a continuity of operations plan … and HIEMA help develop, manage them and ensure they’re updated.”

Each of those plans is part of a nested hierarchy of additional plans: Lopez said a hospital will have its own emergency response plan, along with a refueling plan, and a plan for sourcing alternate power, and likely more besides.

The decision on when to activate plans is just as important as the plans themselves. In the case of impending hurricanes, Lopez said HIEMA and other agencies start monitoring storms closely once they pass the 140th meridian west — also called the 140th parallel — about 1,000 miles east of the state.

Once a storm passes that longitude, HIEMA and other agencies make daily calls, including daily briefings from the National Weather Service, to determine how to respond.

“We talk to our state partners on the same call, our county partners, and each of their administrators, civil defense or emergency management administrators on the call,” Lopez said. “We listen to what they have to say, what they’re doing, do they need anything and if so how much, of what kind, and then what do we do to get it in place before they need it, or is it best to put it in place before or after? Because, you know, if you put something in place before, you run the risk of losing it.”

But once the storm passes, HIEMA’s work doesn’t end. In fact, Hawai‘i’s busy storm season has put tremendous strain on the agency’s resources, Lopez said: “We’ve had Kona Lows, the threat of [Hurricane] Fausto, and then we had Lala which beat up the Big Island … and now we have Lowell.

“And also, too, Maui still has some residual effect from the fires with housing and taking care of people, so now we have just about the whole state in some type of response or recovery,” Lopez said.

Lopez noted that HIEMA has been working on developing an updated vulnerabilities assessment for the state, analyzing the resilience of the state’s various systems — the most recent such assessment was made in 2016. However, he said HIEMA is a “small agency,” and probably won’t have the time or resources to work on that for the rest of the year as crises pile up.

In cases where resources are tight, Lopez said it’s the responsibility of the “unified coordination group” — a collection of state leaders and potentially federal officers — to allocate those resources most effectively.

“The general principle is ‘how can we use the resources to take care of the most amount of people and get the greatest amount of help for the most amount of time,’” Lopez said.

And, of course, Lopez said HIEMA’s work doesn’t stop with the storm season.

“We can be hit by anything anytime, from a tsunami to a volcano eruption, or even a man-made type disaster,” Lopez said. “Although the impacts of any of these storms is over, the recovery piece goes on for years … We’re three years after Lahaina and still trying to improve the position of those people. Probably a year or so more from now, we’ll probably see those people who were damaged the most [during the Kona Lows] getting back into some type of home close to what was pre-disaster.”

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<title>How Hawai‘i prepares for a Category 4 hurricane</title>

Back to back hurricanes had us wondering what would happen if the big one, a Category 4 hurricane, hit the state. A state assessment predicts that such a storm would threaten 142,000 lives and cause as much as $58 billion in property damage. HIEMA Administrator David Lopez walks us through how the agency would respond.

How Hawai‘i prepares for a Category 4 hurricane

My Favorite Local Saying

, a museum in Waipahu, for recently highlighting three Pidgin words that stem from Hawaiʻi's plantation era — pau, kau kau and bumbai. The origins of each were interesting — from the Hawaiians, Chinese and English, respectively.

"Ever wonder why words like pau, kau kau and bumbai sound so familiar in Hawaiʻi?" the museum wrote in an Oct. 3 post on Instagram. "These everyday words carry stories of the many cultures and languages that came together during Hawaiʻi’s plantation era. What began as a way for workers to communicate across communities became part of the way generations of local families still talk today."

To submit your Favorite Local Saying, visit us 

Hawaiis Platation Village 2025

ASD's Christian Shimabuku shares his favorite expression — "No shame" — which can be used in social settings and at work.

Leonards Bakery airport malasada box 030226

My Favorite Local Saying: 'No shame, take the last malasada.'

Nancy Partika shares her favorite saying from "small-kid time."

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My favorite local saying: When 'Wot da frick!' skirts the swear jar

<title>My favorite local saying: Pidgin words from Hawaiʻi's plantation era</title>

Words such as pau, bumbai and more carry stories of the cultures and languages converging at that time. "What began as a way for workers to communicate across communities became part of the way generations of local families still talk today," writes Hawaiʻi’s Plantation Village.

My favorite local saying: Pidgin words from Hawaiʻi's plantation era

Yamachika Tom IMG 1913 Large

Tom Yamachika

Viewpoints

Nonprofit Reason Foundation recently published 

 of the fifty states’ performance against financial metrics designed to assess a state’s financial viability. The foundation selected eight metrics and gave a red flag to indicate failing performance on that metric. The eight metrics were four long-term indicators and four short-term:

Twenty-three states studied (using 2023 financial data, the latest available for data comparison) took home no red flags at all. The worst performer, New Jersey, was awarded six red flags out of the eight possible. Connecticut came in second, with four.  California, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania were each given three. Vermont, Washington, New York, and Delaware got two.

The foundation had this to say about Hawaiʻi: “Hawaiʻi faces long-term challenges and carries $27.5 billion in total liabilities, or $18,909 per capita. Although assets exceed liabilities overall, restrictions on the use of cash leave Hawaiʻi’s unrestricted net position negative at -$7.4 billion. Its cash assets amount to only 7.5% of total assets, although it holds sufficient cash to service current liabilities. Hawaiʻi also boasted a healthy annual operating surplus of $2,566 per capita in FY23.”

The part about a huge amount of liabilities per capita should surprise no one. Lots of ink has been spilled over the years about Hawaiʻi’s defined benefit retirement plan, and the EUTF that had promised healthcare for life to qualifying state retirees. No one today offers that kind of health coverage, and there are very few employers who maintain defined benefit plans. They cost a lot of money even in good times, and cost even more in times of economic hardship.

Hawaiʻi does have assets, but much of the cash is hidden in a honeycomb of special, revolving, and other non-general funds. If pressing, resource-intensive needs arise (think hurricanes, fires, or the Trump Administration rescinding federal money that our government was relying on), it is difficult or impossible to meet those needs by moving the money we have.

And, speaking of assets, according to the 

 (page 30), most of ours are in land, buildings, and infrastructure, not cash. It’s difficult to respond to pressing needs with existing land and buildings. These would need to be sold to generate cash, which is a slow and inefficient process especially when we have the cash available but sitting in a well-hidden special fund account somewhere.

So, lawmakers? What can we do about this? Are you ready, willing, and able to tackle this problem, or pieces of it, for the benefit of us all?

Compagnons 0d M5sa4zf Z8 unsplash

<title>Community Voices: Financial Red Flags</title>

Hawaiʻi does have assets, but much of the cash is hidden in a honeycomb of special, revolving, and other non-general funds, writes Tom Yamachika of Tax Foundation of Hawaiʻi, in reaction to new data by Reason Foundation. According to the nonprofit, the state carries $27.5 billion in total liabilities, or $18,909 per capita, although assets exceed liabilities overall.

Community Voices: Financial Red Flags

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

WAIKĪKĪ — A year after unseating Shell Va'a's Molokai Hoe dynasty, Team OPT appears poised to start one of its own. 

Prior to the 2025 Molokai Hoe, Shell Va'a had won 13 of the 15 previous events, including three in a row. 

, another club formed in Tahiti, won the Molokai Hoe in its debut in the race. 

On Sunday, Team OPT repeated as Molokai Hoe champions, making the 40.8 mile trek across the Ka‘iwi Channel, finishing at Duke Kahanamoku Beach with a time of four hours, 34 minutes and nine seconds. 

"I feel incredible. Two years in a row we win this race," said Keahi Agnieray of Team OPT. "We're missing four paddlers who stayed in Tahiti because of injury or business to do. So, we (won) with what we have. 

"We paddle together, stay together, and we paddle for each other in the canoe. That's our strength in Tahiti. ... We finished today, and most important, have fun during the race. All we do is be friends with love and share the joy to to each other."

Team OPT improved on its 2025 winning time of 4:42:02, and in the process, forced Shell Va'a to finish runners-up for the second year in a row. After the race, members of both crews were seen taking pictures with each other. 

"Not really motivation," Agnieray said of the naturally budding rivalry between OPT and Shell Va'a. Another competition in Tahiti is two weeks away, where the two crews will go at it again. "The target on our crew is big."

Keahiakahoe Canoe Club had the best finish among the Hawai‘i-based crews, finishing with a time of 4:49:44, good for fifth overall. 

"Being the first Hawai‘i crew (to finish) it's no joke," said Kalei Kahookele. "The other Hawai‘i crews, they're no pushovers either. We were battling with them coming into Portlock, going into Hawai‘i Kai, and they were right around us for the most part. We just had a good click and we emptied the tank at the right time and were able to pull away from them."

Team OPT 101126

<title>Tahiti's Team OPT repeats as Molokai Hoe champions</title>

Team OPT, which debuted in the Molokai Hoe in 2025, added its second championship in as many years on Sunday.

Tahiti's Team OPT repeats as Molokai Hoe champions

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Looking back on how their sourdough business — 

 — began, Tyler and Kelly Kimura say everything started when they purchased a manual dough sheeter so they could learn to make croissants.

“We had some baking experience and simply wanted to challenge ourselves,” Tyler says. “At the time, we never imagined we’d eventually open a bakery out of our own home.”

The couple had run a bakery from 2012 to 2017 — before they had kids, according to Kelly, who says she and Tyler liked sourdough because of its simple ingredients.

After a lot of trial and error, the couple reached a point where they were making croissants they were proud of. They would often give their baked goods out to people in the neighborhood, in order to get feedback on their recipes.

Around the same time, they noticed the growing popularity of cottage bakeries on the Mainland.

“That’s when we had our ‘aha’ moment,” Kelly says. “We realized this could become more than just a hobby.

“Ever since our first child was born, we’d been looking for a business we could build together — one that we both enjoyed and that would also give us the flexibility to spend more time at home, and eventually, homeschool our children,” she adds. “It took us a while before we felt confident enough to take the leap.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The business’s name was chosen by the couple’s three daughters."}]

“We gave them a few ideas, but they were set on ‘742’ because those were their ages at the time — 7, 4 and 2,” Kelly says. “The idea actually came from our oldest, and the younger two agreed. After making sure there wasn’t already another Seven4Two Bakery, we decided to roll with it.”

 officially launched last April with its first pick-up day for orders. The business’s opening menu featured croissants, sourdough bread and sourdough dark chocolate chunk cookies.

“Since then, we’ve expanded to include scones, cinnamon rolls and sourdough English muffins,” Tyler says.

The business’s sourdough English muffins ($10 for a bag of four) are the business’s most popular item, according to Tyler.

“They’re thick, fluffy and make a great breakfast sandwich, but they’re just as good toasted with butter and jam,” he says. “If you’re ambitious, try making eggs Benedict with them.”

The business’s assorted croissant boxes (around $18 for four assorted pieces) are also customer favorites. Seven4Two Bakery offers butter, chocolate, ham and cheese, origami and apple origami croissants. The origami ones are inspired by the Kouign Amann (a pastry known for its caramelized sugar crust), according to Kelly. The origami croissant is sprinkled with sugar, folded and baked in a muffin pan to create a flower-like shape.

“They’re buttery, flaky and made from dough that’s folded and layered over multiple days,” she explains.

The apple origami features a sweet apple, brown sugar and cinnamon filling. Kelly notes that the apple origami and chocolate croissants — made with three batons of rich, dark chocolate — are the most popular flavors. She recommends the ham and cheese croissant, which is made with Gruyere, for those who want a savory option.

Customers can also opt for the business’s original sourdough ($10) and cheddar and roasted garlic sourdough ($13). The loaves are known for their soft interior and crust, according to Tyler.

“They have a nice crust, but not the kind that’s going to hurt your jaw,” he says. “By the time they make it to your home, the crust has usually softened just a bit.”

The business’s cinnamon rolls ($18 for four) are swirled with cinnamon and brown sugar, then topped with cream cheese frosting.

“The cinnamon rolls are kind of my passion project,” Kelly says. “We weren’t going to sell it — I just used to make it for people — but people were like, ‘You need to sell them.’”’

Customers can also opt for sourdough dark chocolate chunk cookies (six cookies for $12) — which feature the nutty flavor of browned butter — and sourdough mac nut chocolate chunk cookies (six for $12). Buttermilk scones (six for $18), which are hand-crafted in small batches, come in flavors like blueberry, pumpkin chocolate chip, bacon cheddar, matcha white chocolate and lilikoʻi.

The business is usually open for online pre-orders and pick-ups on Saturdays. Follow the Instagram account for updates; Seven4Two Bakery’s menu and pre-orders are available via 

. Orders usually open on Sunday mornings and close on Wednesday nights, giving the couple enough time to prepare.

“What makes us unique is the story of how we got here,” Kelly says. “We didn’t start out with the goal of opening a bakery. It started as a challenge to see if we could make croissants at home, and now it has grown into a little bakery serving our Pauoa Valley community every Saturday morning.”

Seven4 Two owners 100626

<title>Seven4Two Bakery offers a variety of sourdough pastries</title>

The husband-and-wife owned bakery, located in Pauoa Valley, is usually open for pre-orders online and pick-ups on Saturdays. Customers can choose from sourdough English muffins, breads, croissants, scones and cookies.

Daily Smile: Monday, June 1, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Monday, June 1, 2026

Authors

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