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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Best backup singer ever..."}]

Smile 26 6 3

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 3, 2026</title>

Best backup singer ever...

Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 3, 2026

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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

[{"type":"text","text":"There’s a new Mexican restaurant open in Honolulu."}]

 recently opened in Puck’s Alley, close to the University of Hawai

i at Mānoa. The restaurant’s original location is in ‘Ewa Beach.

The menu is the same as the one at the ‘Ewa Beach location. Customers can choose from tacos, quesadillas, burritos, birria dishes, enchiladas, nachos, chimichangas and more. There’s indoor seating, but the restaurant is popular for takeout.

Customers who dine in will receive complimentary chips and housemade salsa.

Speaking of chips — the eatery’s nachos are a popular appetizer. Choose from options like supreme nachos ($20.95) with carne asada and shrimp or Frida’s nachos ($19.95), which come with carne asada and chorizo.

Nachos usually come with toppings like sour cream, pico de gallo, guacamole, beans and cheese.

i offers a wide variety of burritos to choose from, including California burritos ($19.95), shrimp burritos ($21.95), and chile verde burrito plates ($22.95). The Diego grande ($23.95) is recommended for diners who want a little of everything, as this burrito is stuffed with carne asada, chicken, chorizo, rice, beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream and cheese. It’s topped with green and red enchilada sauces.

Meat choices for the eatery’s taco plates and burritos include carne asada, chicken, pork, pastor, chorizo, ground beef and more. Corn taco plates ($18.95) comprise three tacos with your choice of meat; tacos are topped with onions and cilantro, and are served with rice and beans.

More traditional dishes range from tamales with red enchilada sauce ($16.95) and chile relleno ($16.95) to Frida’s fajitas ($29.95). The latter features a mix of carne asada, chicken, shrimp and chorizo grilled with onions and bell peppers; fajitas are served with tortillas, lettuce, guacamole and pico de gallo.

The restaurant offers indoor customer seating and is popular for takeout. Customer parking is available in the Puck’s Alley lot.

Open daily, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays

Customer parking available in the Puck’s Alley lot

Fridas Honolulu staff with taco plate 101326

<title>Frida’s Hawaiʻi is now open in Honolulu</title>

The Mexican restaurant, whose original location is in ‘Ewa Beach, recently opened in Puck’s Alley, close to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The restaurant — open for dine-in and takeout — features an extensive menu; signature dishes include supreme nachos, super burritos and birria tacos.

Frida’s Hawaiʻi is now open in Honolulu

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

For multiple years as a teenager in his native Greece, Costas Theocharidis searched for a solution to an ongoing conundrum. He excelled in volleyball and in school, but his options often included one or the other: turn professional and put his education on hold, or go to college and leave volleyball behind. 

Though aware of the NCAA as an avenue to pursue both, collegiate men's volleyball programs were only permitted to divvy up 4.5 scholarships per team at the time. Theocharidis didn't want his parents to pay for his schooling, so he wasn't going to play for anything less than a full scholarship. 

After receiving the fateful offer from University of Hawai‘i head coach Mike Wilton, Theocharidis arrived in the Islands ready to embark on a journey that became so much more than merely his college destination. Theocharidis immediately and continuously provided return on investment to the only school that offered him a full ride. The 6-foot-2 outside hitter was a first team All-American as a true freshman and the AVCA National Player of the Year as a sophomore. His junior year was capped by a national championship in 2002, the first in program history. He wowed the Hawai‘i crowds with his dynamic play. He still refers to his former teammates as his brothers for life to this day. 

"It's one of those things that when you feel deeply ingrained in the fabric of the UH community, those bonds don't just kind of fade away, right? They're always going to be there," Theocharidis told Aloha State Daily in a recent interview. "UH was the the reason why I left my small town in a rural, remote part of northeastern Greece back in '99 and made that leap of faith. I will forever be indebted to my coaches, coach Mike Wilton and his assistant Tino Reyes, for literally going all-in on me and offering me an athletic scholarship and helping realize my dream of coming to states to study and play at the college level."

Despite his accomplishments on the court in a Warrior uniform, Theocharidis' name became mired in controversy as the subject of an NCAA investigation. 

In the fall of 2003, the NCAA stripped Hawai‘i of its 2002 men's volleyball national championship. It was determined that Theocharidis played in 22 matches with other professionals in Europe before enrolling at Hawai‘i in 1999. Theocharidis did not receive any money for playing the matches in question, nor did he sign a professional contract or have an agent. Still, the NCAA ruled that Theocharidis broke amateurism rules. The University of Hawai‘i was fined $5,000 and ordered to return the 2002 championship trophy. Theocharidis was also ordered to return all of his individual awards.

Before it was taken away, Hawai‘i's four-set victory over Pepperdine in the 2002 national championship match gave the school its first-ever NCAA championship in a men's team sport. Watch the team's celebration, read about the welcome the Warriors received back home, hear about the bonds members of the team still hold dearly, then try to tell Theocharidis that championship wasn't real. 

"The championship point, I remember that very clearly," 

 "As a team, we worked really hard for it. We were basically on a three-year crusade to make it happen. Memories of a lifetime. I will never forget those memories, and it was it was pretty special moment. I would say it's up there in the top three, top five memories of all time for me in life in general. To have it taken away, obviously that was a pretty gut-wrenching experience. It's one of those things that I didn't necessarily deal with at the time, and over the years it was something that was always in the back of my mind."

Volleyball may have ended unceremoniously for 

Theocharidis, but his education continued. After earning a business administration degree at UH, he worked in private wealth management, where his first job in the field was for a firm in Mānoa. He then got a job at Merrill Lynch in Boston before briefly moving back to Europe to get a master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science

Following his time in London, Theocharidis worked in corporate finance in New York. His family has made Boston home for the past handful of years, and he's currently working in real estate development. He's also an assistant coach for the MIT men's volleyball team. 

As the years went on, Theocharidis still felt as though he never got closure during his time playing volleyball at UH. He spent four years cementing himself as one of the program's greats, only to see it taken away over a matter of months. Feelings of angst had festered. 

Stripped 2002 national title notwithstanding, the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball program won national championships in 2021 and 2022. A pair of Greek standouts in outside hitter 

 and opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias were key members of the team, and Mouchlias reached out to Theocharidis. Following their conversations, Theocharidis decided to take in some UH matches at the Stan Sheriff Center during the 2023 season "for the first time in many, many years," he recalled. 

Theocharidis also went to Virginia to catch the team during the 2023 Final Four. Though Hawai‘i's quest for a threepeat was thwarted by UCLA in the national championship match, witnessing the program's rise evoked countless memories for Theocharidis, who realized he had many unresolved feelings about his time as a Warrior. Since then, he has authored a pair of books documenting his experience with UH. 

"Costas: Warrior for Life: Thriving within the chaos,"

"I do address my personal journey from Greece to Hawai‘i, and having the ride of a lifetime, discussing this whole eligibility ruling and the stripping of the championship," Theocharidis says. "It allowed me to a certain extent to get some closure on the whole thing, and it allowed me to move on with my life as well, because it's something that you cannot change. Whatever happened, happened." 

On Friday evening, all those emotions will be revisited yet again as Theocharidis becomes inducted into the UH Athletics Circle of Honor for the Class of 2026 at the Stan Sheriff Center. 

The announcement was made over a year in advance

 during a Hawai‘i women's volleyball match on Oct. 12, 2025. 

"I'm very thankful to the committee members for taking this very bold step and inducting me," he said. "When you contextualize it, you bring in the full picture of all the stuff that happened in the past, and I'm sure it was not an easy decision. I'm just hoping that the '02 team at some point will be able to join in the Circle of Honor because we did it as a team, and I was surrounded by awesome teammates."

' playing days, the nature of college athletics has changed dramatically. Most notably, the introduction of new name, image and likeness (NIL) rules in 2021 have allowed collegiate athletes to get paid, with 

. Even Baylor men's basketball center James Nnaji, the 31st overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, returned to play 18 games for Baylor in the 2025-2026 college basketball season. 

The new rules have caused some entities to undo past rulings, such as 

Reggie Bush getting his 2005 Heisman Trophy back

 in 2024 after being stripped of it in 2010. 

Might the ruling on the 2002 Hawai‘i men's volleyball be revisited, ending with the championship banner being re-raised in the Stan Sheriff Center rafters? 

"I have no control over those things, right? I'm just hoping that the university will step up and recognize that great team," Theocharidis said. "The controversial decision to take away the 2002 championship made me a pariah overnight in college sports. You have active student-athletes basically playing at the highest level in in the Olympics with professional teammates, obviously. And where we are nowadays, the whole concept of being a student-athlete with the existence of transfer portal and NIL, being a student is the priority, right? Getting that degree, graduating, is supposed to be the priority. At least that was my priority when I came to the to the states. I wanted to get a degree.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that the 2002 team, to a certain extent, will eventually be recognized as well, but all those things take time. I don't know when or If it's going to happen, but I'm doing the best I can to actually raise the issue, make everybody aware of that, because again, you have a new (university) president and AD. I'm hoping that at some point, we'll come full circle, and that team will be recognized, and then the banner will be re-raised in the arena."

Costas Theocharidis 169 101426

<title>Costas Theocharidis reflects on joy and pain of UH career ahead of Circle of Honor…</title>

Theocharidis, the star outside hitter from Greece who suited up for the Warriors from 2000 to 2003, will be one of five figures officially into the Circle of Honor on Friday evening at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Costas Theocharidis reflects on joy and pain of UH career ahead of Circle of Honor induction

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

As Hawai‘i voters begin receiving their ballots for the general election, they may ask: What does Constitutional Amendment Question 2 actually mean?

 to the state constitution will be on the ballot this election. One of those is self-explanatory — should the state Senate be allowed 60 days to appoint judges and justices between April and January, instead of the current 30 days — but the other may seem complicated.

Constitutional Amendment Question 2 asks whether the state should allow the counties to issue “Resilient Infrastructure for Shelter and Equity bonds” — or RISE bonds — to help fund public improvement projects. These bonds would be repaid by future tax revenues on the new developments funded by said bonds, without imposing additional taxes or raising tax rates, and would be exempt from the counties’ debt limit.

The proposed amendment was introduced in the state Senate this year with the stated purpose of attempting to lower the development costs of affordable housing. As noted in 

 — the measure introducing the amendment — the development of new homes requires large up-front investments in water, drainage and other infrastructure.

Rep. Luke Evslin, chair of the House Committee on Housing, said Wednesday that the solution to this has been either to pass on those up-front costs to homebuyers, leading to rising house prices and a lack of affordable housing, or to raise taxes.

RISE bonds would, in theory, present a third option by allowing counties to fund that infrastructure, with the debt being serviced by future increases in tax revenue specifically generated by those selfsame new developments made possible by the infrastructure.

This is not an original concept; 48 other states, excluding Hawai‘i and Arizona, use “tax increment financing bonds,” which operate on the same principle.

Evslin told Aloha State Daily Wednesday that it’s only due to a quirk in Hawai‘i's constitution that the state doesn’t also use these bonds. He said the constitution as written does not permit the counties to issue such bonds, hence the need for a constitutional amendment.

Evslin emphasized that the bonds do not bring an increase in taxes. The property taxes paid by new homeowners in a new development made possible by the bonds will be at the same tax rate as any other comparable development, but the revenues from those taxes will go to pay off the bond, rather than back to the county.

However, Gov. Josh Green said Wednesday that this does not mean the bonds will reduce the counties' tax revenues, as the tax revenues generated by these new developments do not currently exist. Rather than reduce existing revenues, the bonds will simply redirect some future revenues.

Furthermore, the amendment would exempt RISE bonds from counties’ debt limits, which Evslin said means a county could issue any number of the bonds — although, he added, because developments funded via the bonds will still require taxpayer-funded services such as police and fire department responses, counties will likely be judicious in how many they issue.  

Evslin said that the tax increment financing bonds are typically structured conservatively so that the municipality that issues them takes on little to no risk. He said in the event of a disaster wiping out the infrastructure investments — something he said has happened in California — typically the bondholder, not the municipality, is left holding the bag.

The proposal was nigh-universally popular as it passed through the legislature, with major unions such as the Pacific Resource Partnership and the General Contractors Association of Hawai‘i voicing strong support of the amendment. This week, the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i urged members to vote yes on Question 2. 

One of the few people to testify against the proposal, Hawai‘i County resident Cindy Freitas, warned about the potential for lost tax revenue and the lack of guardrails for how much of a county’s tax base can be captured by the bonds.

But Green and several other lawmakers spoke in favor of the amendment Wednesday. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said there is a roughly 28,000 unit deficit of housing on O‘ahu, which he said RISE bonds can help to reduce.

Kaua‘i Mayor Derek Kawakami called the bonds “a monumental change to how we fund infrastructure,” adding that, after the many disasters of 2026, it is clear that the state’s resilience is dependent on having modern and reliable infrastructure.

“Communities can only be as resilient as the roads that connect us,” Kawakami said.

Evslin

<title>So what is a RISE bond anyway?</title>

Voters may wonder what Constitutional Amendment Question 2 means when they receive their ballots this week.

So what is a RISE bond anyway?

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Columnists

Maui County has been airing its laundry in public for a week now. Mayor Richard Bissen faces a close race for reelection. He is in open conflict with his police chief, John Pelletier, whom the Maui Police Commission placed on leave last Wednesday.

Pelletier answered with a press conference. He said the mayor is under criminal investigation, and the suspension was payback.

The latest entry in the saga is a press release on County of Maui letterhead, with Mayor Richard Bissen’s name at the top of the masthead. It comes from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, led by Andrew Martin. It is meant to settle the matter. Instead, it raises more questions than it answers about a county where all the rules seem to have been thrown out.

For those catching up: on Oct. 7, the Maui Police Commission voted 6-0 to place Pelletier on paid administrative leave.

Two days later, Pelletier sat down with his lawyer, Eric Seitz, for a 

. They maintain there was no factual or legal basis for the suspension. They say a lawsuit is coming. And they say they have proof that Bissen lobbied commissioners to remove the chief on two occasions: first last year, during the 

, which the commission declined to act on, and again now.

Pelletier and Seitz then named two criminal investigations of the mayor. These, they say, help explain the mayor’s effort to remove Pelletier.

The first concerns the allegations behind Leo Caires’s civil suit, filed in April. Pelletier called it a case of corruption, fraud and retaliation. Those claims were sent to the state attorney general.

The second is a new investigation by the Maui Police Department into a felony with the mayor as suspect. Pelletier would say little more. It began in August, he said. He had recused himself. Deputy Chief Wade Maeda was in charge. Seitz said they raised it because it bears on the mayor’s actions against the chief.

“People have been quiet about [Bissen] because they’re scared of retaliation,” Pelletier said. “If you’re going to do this to the police chief? No wonder they’re scared.”

Bissen says no one has told him he is under investigation for anything. He says he learned of the commission’s vote only after it was made. Commission Chair Frank Tam calls the claim that the mayor influenced the decision “

Enter Andrew Martin. The title of his press release is “Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin Refutes Claim that Mayor is Target of Criminal Investigation.”

The release walks through a timeline. Martin’s office opened a probe into county grant funds in January 2025. It worked the case jointly with the state attorney general. In March 2026 it handed the state sole say over any charges.

Martin says Pelletier broke a “fundamental tenet of criminal investigations” by naming a target in public before any arrest or charge. He says the chief “told the public something that is simply not true.”

The problem — which any first-year law student would spot — is that the headline and the body don’t add up. The headline refutes that the mayor 

 the target of criminal investigation. The body shows only that Bissen 

 the target of one investigation, back when Martin still ran it.

Plenty of agencies can run an investigation: county, state, and federal. Pelletier named two investigations. One is run by the attorney general’s office. The other is a felony case he says his own department opened in August.

Martin’s release addresses the first. It does not mention the second. And on the first, Martin says the mayor “was not” a target of an investigation whose charging decisions he gave up six months ago. What the state has done with it since is not his to say.

It is somewhat unusual for a chief prosecutor to display such a loose grip on the basics of how law enforcement works. But nothing about the Maui situation is usual.

“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” So says Proverbs. The cases have been stated, but the examining has barely begun.

This much is on the record. Three weeks before the election, a police chief has been sidelined without a reason the public can judge. That chief says the sitting mayor is under two criminal investigations, one of them by his own department. And the prosecuting attorney, appointed by the mayor, has put out a release on county letterhead saying the mayor is not a target of one of them.

Though dated Oct. 13, as of this writing the press release still does not appear on the county’s 

The commission that removed the chief owes the public a plain statement of why. The prosecutor who wrote this press release owes the public precision. Say what your office knows, and stop there.

Officials who want to be trusted with power have to speak as if their words will be examined. They will be.

A government that cannot manage that much has already told voters something, whatever the letterhead says.

[{"type":"text","text":"Maui voters are left to sort out the mess. It gets messier every day."}]

Andrew Martin upscaled

<title>Maui’s Prosecutor Defends Mayor Bissen: What his press release leaves out</title>

Three weeks before the election, Maui’s prosecutor put out a statement defending the mayor. But read the body, not the headline. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on what Andrew Martin’s release says once you look past its title.

Maui’s Prosecutor Defends Mayor Bissen: What his press release leaves out

Square Kady Pascual Headshot RGZ5762

Kady Pascual

Aloha Spirit

[{"type":"text","text":"Want to help a local business decide what to put on the menu?"}]

The OnoFest & Fall Expo will be at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18. The event will feature new product debuts, a candy crawl, Kendama competitions, a collector alley for hobbyists and enthusiasts, live entertainment and more.

“A signature highlight of OnoFest is its New Food & Drink Menu, where participating vendors will debut a brand-new dish, flavor, or drink creation priced at $6 or less. Attendees can sample multiple items and provide real-time feedback, helping vendors decide whether their new creations should become permanent additions to their menus,” a recent announcement from Pacific Expos notes.

Food is not the only item in the spotlight. Retail vendors are also encouraged to showcase new and innovative products.

“OnoFest is a great opportunity for vendors to test-market their new product right here at our show and receive real-time feedback,” said Jas Pascua, event coordinator for Pacific Expos. “This showcase of Hawai

i’s most interesting flavors is becoming Hawai

i’s newest food tradition. And with items offered at $6 or less, attendees can try more than one food or drink vendor.”

Aloha State Daily is a stage sponsor, so stop by and say “aloha!” We will have games to play and prizes to win.

Tickets for the event are only sold at the door — general admission is $6.50; kūpuna over the age of 60 and military with I.D. are $4.50; and keiki 12 years old or younger are free.

 Provide us with your information using this 

 by Monday, Oct. 12, and we will send some of you two free tickets for the event.

ASD at Ono Fest 2 26 10 05

<title>Stop by and say ‘aloha’ to Aloha State Daily at OnoFest & Fall Expo</title>

Experience new food, shop with emerging brands and participate in family-friendly activities at the OnoFest & Fall Expo, slated for Oct. 17 to 18 at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. Plus, we are giving away free tickets to our newsletter subscribers ahead of the event.

Stop by and say ‘aloha’ to Aloha State Daily at OnoFest & Fall Expo

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

A former office building, located a short distance from Ala Moana Center, has been transformed — it now offers dozens of affordable rentals in Honolulu's urban core. 

JL Capital on Thursday celebrated the completion of Amana Lofts, an adaptive reuse project that turned what was once a five-story office building at 765 Amana St. into 64 affordable rentals. A dedication and blessing ceremony marked the end of the project.

The developer retained the building's existing concrete structure, but nearly everything else — including plumbing and electrical systems, windows, interior walls and finishes — were replaced or newly constructed, an announcement from JL Capital noted. 

BKF & Associates was the project architect and Island Structural Contracting was the general contractor.

Amana Lofts includes 32 studios, 20 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom residences, all of which are reserved for households earning up to 80% of the area median income. Income limits vary depending on household size; you can find the current income limits for the City and County of Honolulu 

Units span from 289 to 561 square feet, and include large windows, ceiling heights of more than 10 feet and appliances that include a refrigerator, range/oven, built-in microwave and garbage disposal, the announcement notes. Meanwhile, the building itself has a secured lobby, elevator, on-site laundry facilities, trash chutes on each floor, a bike rack and car share.

$1,875 to $2,014 for studios; $1,995 to $2,142 for one-bedroom residences; and $2,475 to $2,536 for two-bedroom residences, according to the announcement, which noted, too, that electricity, cable and internet are additional, and limited covered parking is available for rent.

“Amana Lofts demonstrates that there are creative ways to add housing in Honolulu without always starting from the ground up,” 

 said in the announcement. “We hope this project can serve as an example of how existing buildings can be reimagined to help address our community’s housing needs.”

According to the developer, affordable rental units will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Each application will be time-stamped when the developer or its agent receives the fully completed form. Applications will be reviewed for completeness and eligibility, and applications from qualified households will be submitted, in the order received, to the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting for review and approval.

Lee told Aloha State Daily following the blessing ceremony Thursday that the company acquired the property in 2019 for close to $9 million with a conversion in mind.

"When we bought this property, it was always intended to do a conversion," he says. "Just given the location, we love the location, and we just saw a lot of potential in this property. So from the time we bought it, we always intended to turn this into [an] affordable rental project."

[{"type":"text","text":"Location is important."}]

“Where we build housing matters,” Lee said in the announcement. “Ala Moana is vibrant, accessible and connected. Creating affordable homes here gives residents the opportunity to live closer to jobs, transportation and the things they need every day. We believe that is an important part of addressing Honolulu’s housing needs.”

Lee told ASD that the total cost of the project, including the purchase price, was roughly $25 million.

JL Capital, a real estate and private equity firm founded in 2017, has completed or initiated a number of major projects in Honolulu's Ala Moana neighborhood and along the Kapi‘olani corridor in recent years.

, a $507 million mixed-use twin tower condominium and hotel at 1388 Kapi‘olani Blvd. 

Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa, a Marriott brand

 several other contiguous properties along Kapi‘olani Boulevard for a combined price of $36 million last fall.

Most recently, JL Capital announced that demolition preparation activities at the future site of its newest development, 

, located at 1538 Kapi‘olani Blvd., are expected to begin in October, following the relocation of Central Pacific Bank to the nearby Pan Am Building. 

The developers also have recently introduced new pricing on a number of residences. You can read 

The planned 39-story Muse Honolulu was designed by architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and local partner Benjamin Woo Architects. 

Muse Honolulu will include 315 residences — a mix of penthouses, tower residences, urban lofts and two-story townhomes — and amenities across three levels.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 3, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

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