ASD icon blue inverse lighter

ASD Staff

Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Now let's all enjoy a baby playing with a baby..."}]

Smile 26 6 6 2

<title>Daily Smile: Saturday, June 6, 2026</title>

Now let's all enjoy a baby playing with a baby...

Daily Smile: Saturday, June 6, 2026

 Now let&#039;s all enjoy a baby playing with a baby...

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Residents are urged to make storm preparations as Hurricane Lowell is expected to veer toward the state over the weekend.

The National Weather Service’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center predicts that 

, which is currently passing south of Hawai‘i, will abruptly turn north around Saturday and begin passing closely west of the state as a major hurricane by Monday, with Kaua‘i particularly close to the hurricane’s path.

Consequently, people are advised once again to secure their properties in advance of the storm and to ensure they have 14 days worth of supplies — food, water, pet food, medical supplies, batteries, etc. — ready for each member of their households.

 says Lowell will likely bring life-threatening surf and rip currents to the state over the next several days. The storm is currently a Category 4 storm — with wind speeds between 130 and 156 miles per hour — and is only anticipated to weaken to a Category 3 hurricane, with winds between 111-129 mph — by the time it makes its closest approach to Kaua‘i, according to the Kaua‘i Emergency Management Agency.

KEMA warns that coastal flooding is possible along the island's south- and west-facing shores, and that people should stay well away from the shorelines on Monday, when the most significant surf is expected.

Preliminary NWS wind forecasts predict a 20% to 40% chance of tropical-storm-force winds — e.g. winds averaging higher than 39 miles per hour over one minute — on Kaua‘i by Tuesday. O‘ahu has a 5% to 10% chance of those same winds.

However, the exact trajectory of the storm is still unpredictable; if Lowell tracks more to the east, stronger winds are possible. KEMA warns that major-hurricane-force winds of more than 110 mph, with even stronger gusts, are possible.

Consequently, KEMA recommends residents prepare now while the storm is still days away. Residents should assemble portable go-kits in case of evacuation, in addition to a battery-powered radio, a flashlight, any needed prescription medications and one gallon of water per person per day.

“Build your kit, fill your gas tank, secure your yard, check on your neighbors and your kūpuna, and talk story with your 

ohana about your plan before the weekend arrives,” said Kaua‘i Mayor Derek Kawakami. “If Lowell passes us by, we will have lost nothing but a little time. If it does not, we will be grateful we started today.”

Residents are also advised to check weather conditions before going outside this weekend, as outdoor recreation areas, rivers and trails can quickly become hazardous, and rescues may not be possible depending on conditions.

Gov. Josh Green announced Thursday that he has dispatched six additional high-water vehicles to Kaua‘i and has authorized the deployment of additional National Guard personnel to the island.

Emergency shelters or refuge areas on Kaua‘i are not currently open, but the public will be notified if they are. Residents statewide should 

 to emergency alerts via the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency and their county’s Civil Defense or Emergency Management department.

On O‘ahu, residents are also advised to stock up on supplies and secure their properties.

“We are heading into a holiday weekend, and the last thing we want is for people to become complacent or completely tune this out,” Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said. “We are not telling everyone to run out to Costco and load up on toilet paper and water. We are asking you to be aware. Pay attention to the city, your local weathercasters and news stations, and keep an eye on the forecast.”

Currently, another hurricane in the Central Pacific — Hurricane Karina — is expected to pass north of the state, and weaken to sub-hurricane strength by the end of the holiday weekend. 

032036 5day cone 16x9

<title>Residents urged to prepare as Lowell predicted to veer stateward</title>

Hurricane Lowell, currently a powerful Category 4 Hurricane, is anticipated to make an abrupt 90-degree lurch northward this weekend, bringing it close to Kaua‘i.

Residents urged to prepare as Lowell predicted to veer stateward

[{"type":"text","text":"We're simple. We'll watch this every time...."}]

Smile 26 9 3 2

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026</title>

We're simple. We'll watch this every time....

Daily Smile: Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026

WEB square crop Hayley Lehman Headshot RGZ1636

Haley Lehman

Crime & Courts

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court will rule by Friday on the future of state House District 43 after incumbent Kanani Souza challenged the tiebreaker in the Republican primary election.

Candidates Kristen “Kanani” Souza and Sheila Medeiros, both Republicans, tied with 842 votes in the August primary. 

 that if a race ends in a tie, the chief election officer in a state race, or the clerk in a county race, will decide the tie "by lot."

Election officials put Souza and Medeiros’ names in plastic eggs, placed those eggs in a lauhala basket and selected Medeiros in a drawing on Aug. 15. Since Souza and Medeiros were the only candidates in the election and from the same political party, Medeiros was named the representative-elect for House District 43.

, suing Hawaiʻi Chief Election Officer Scott Nago, Acting Honolulu City Clerk Chadd Kadota and Honolulu Elections Administrator Rex Quidilla

asking the justices to invalidate the tiebreaker method.

Quidilla testified Wednesday that two District 40, precinct three voters were mistakenly given ballots to vote in District 43, precinct 3 on election day at Kapolei Hale. That created two overages for House District 43-03 and two underages at House District 40-03 in which there was a discrepancy between envelopes received and the ballots counted. Quidilla called this an “isolated error” based on his review of the investigation.

Once ballots are in the machine, election officials cannot tie ballots back to individual voters to ensure every voter’s right to secrecy.

While state law requires election offices to decide ties by lot, there is no rule or policy that dictates the method.

Nago said that the tiebreaker method mimics how the Office of Elections decides the order that political parties show up on the primary election ballot, and that the office has been using that method since prior to 2020.

The overage/underage report for Oʻahu was compiled on Aug. 20, five days after the drawing, according to Nago. He said that the overage/underage report is not part of the initial tabulation but the post election audit, and does not impact the results of the election.

Associate Justices Todd Eddins and Lisa Ginoza grilled Nago, Kadota and Quidilla, and their attorneys, Wednesday morning at Aliʻiōlani Hale.

Souza’s attorney, Thomas Otake, argued that the justices should order a new primary election.

that candidates or political parties can file a complaint in the supreme court when there are “provable fraud, overages, or underages, that could cause a difference in the election results.”

“We now know that there were two illegal ballots that were cast and that could have affected the outcome,” Otake said. “The question is not whether or not something needs to be done, but what.”

Otake suggested that a new primary election could take place at the same time as the general election or at a later date.

“Essentially what we’re suggesting is that if there was no other way to decide on who the winner was, then we should leave it to the voters,” he said. “We don’t just throw our hands up in the air and say ‘we can’t do anything so we’re just going to let it stand.’”

Otake also took issue with the lack of a formal rule determining how a tie is broken, and argued that the state should provide a plan, hear public input and decide on a rule.

“I cannot imagine that if it went through that process, that an Easter egg in a lauhala basket would’ve been the rule,” he said.

Justice Eddins asked, “even if it wasn’t the Easter egg and lauhala basket for a tie in the general election, say it was a flip of a coin, don’t you still need a rule for that anyway?” Otake said that was his point exactly: “there needs to be a rule. It needs to be promulgated.”

Deputy Attorney General Kendall Moser, representing the state, stood by state statutes that dictate that the chief elections officer decides a tie by lot.

“We assume that the statutes that govern the Office of Elections are constitutional and that the chief elections officer and the office generally follow those statutes," he said. “We simply have a set of statutes as written as the Office of Elections, we follow them.”

If something does need to change in how a tie is broken, that’s “for someone else to decide.”

Ginoza asked, “is it the state’s position that the most important thing is to declare a winner, even if the votes cannot be accurately counted?”

Moser said that it was the state’s position that a winner has been declared, and Souza has to prove that Nago’s decision on how to break the tie was incorrect.

The justices challenged Moser with multiple hypotheticals, like what the court should do if there was fraud that caused a tie, what should happen if the same situation involving the two voters at Kapolei Hale impacted the senate district and what the remedy would be if they declared the tiebreaker method improper.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What happens next?"}]

Associate Justice Sabrina McKenna said the court will rule in the case by Friday.

Justices brought Nago back to the stand near the end of the hearing and asked what a second primary election would look like if they did rule in Souza’s favor. Nago said that the Office of Election could place a second primary race between Medeiros and Souza on the general election ballot, but those ballots would be sent to all District 43 voters, not just residents who identify as Republican voters in a primary. The office could also call for a special primary election after the general election.

Ballots for the general election will be printed by Sept. 11.

Medeiros told the court that she did not object to the tiebreaker method in August.

“I respectfully request that the certified results remain in place unless the court determines that the law requires otherwise,” she said.

Souza told reporters after the hearing that she believes the justice’s questioning was a sign that they will call for a new election.

“I’m very pleased today that truth came to light, transparency prevailed and that’s ultimately what matters to me,” she said. “I do think that I’m not here fighting for myself, I’m here fighting for the voters of House District 43 who deserve a representative that they’re actually electing.”

Kanani Souza

<title>Supreme Court to decide future of House District 43 primary</title>

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in the election contest of the Makakilo primary race that was settled by a tiebreaker in August.

Supreme Court to decide future of House District 43 primary

Ray Tsuchiyama

Real Estate

Columnists

 on Capital Stewardship elicited a wide range of comments, and many requested more background on my Neighborhood Capital concept.

For decades, Hawai'i has searched for answers to its housing crisis. Policymakers have proposed rezoning, higher density, streamlined permitting, public-private partnerships, and transit-oriented development. Yet Honolulu's urban core continues to face a persistent housing shortage where land is scarce, infrastructure is expensive, and redevelopment is increasingly complex.

The next breakthrough will not come from finding more land.

It will come from looking at existing neighborhoods differently.

My perspective comes from seeing Hawai'i from four vastly different vantage points: Growing up in Kalihi, working with major Hawai'i landowners early in my career, later spending two decades in Tokyo, where I watched entire districts transform through patient, long-term redevelopment, and currently advising families to steward their real estate portfolios.

Over time, I have come to believe that successful redevelopment rests on three pillars: Capital, governance, and stewardship. Together, they shape both real estate portfolios and cities. Hidden within those three pillars is an overlooked resource I call Neighborhood Capital — the accumulated wealth embedded in long-held neighborhood real estate and the relationships that surround it.

It is not vacant land waiting to be discovered. It is productive real estate hiding in plain sight — long-held properties that generate income, support local families, and anchor Hawai'i's neighborhoods.

Growing up in Kalihi, I watched neighborhoods evolve one property at a time. Many of those same buildings still support local families today. Drive through Makiki, McCully, Mōʻiliʻili, or Kapahulu and a similar picture emerges: Aging walk-up apartments, older rental homes, and underutilized commercial buildings that continue to provide dependable income for long-time owners. The question is whether they have greater value together than they do apart.

Most public discussions focus on zoning, permits, construction costs, and financing. Those issues are important. But another challenge receives far less attention.

Ownership. A single city block may have a dozen or more owners, each with different goals, family circumstances, and time horizons. Collectively, they may control an entire city block capable of supporting hundreds of homes, parks, improved streets, utilities, and future transit connections.

This is not merely a planning problem. It is a governance problem. Hawai'i's housing challenge may be as much about coordinating ownership as constructing buildings.

Japan demonstrates that Hawai'i's ownership challenges are not unique.

After World War II, Japan faced many of the same challenges Hawai'i faces today: Fragmented ownership, inherited property, and competing interests that complicated redevelopment. Contrary to widely held belief, Japanese landowners were not automatically cooperative simply because of a tradition of consensus. One recent academic study makes exactly that point, concluding that Japanese landowners can be just as demanding as anyone else about what Japanese call “land readjustment” (Tochi Kukaku Seiri, 土地区画整理). That conclusion deserves careful consideration in Hawai‘i.

The lesson is not that Japan's culture is different. The lesson is that Japan built institutions that helped landowners make difficult collective decisions.

Hawai'i visitors to Tokyo are awed by new mixed-use districts in the middle of the city. Roppongi Hills — a landmark Mori Building development anchored by the Grand Hyatt Tokyo Hotel — took 17 years from concept to completion, with 80 percent of 400 rights holders choosing to participate rather than accept cash buyouts. When I arrived in Tokyo in 1991, the same site was a patchwork of aging buildings and narrow streets. Getting there required, in the words of one study, time, money, patience, and, most importantly, a committed local government.

Those words deserve careful consideration in Hawai'i.

Alongside government policy — a topic I will take up in a future column — Japan's model rests on a different set of questions:

Rather than simply selling, landowners can remain invested and share in the value created through coordinated redevelopment. Hawai'i needs a new kind of convener — an independent institution capable of bringing neighboring landowners together long before architects draw plans or developers seek permits.

Traditional redevelopment often gives landowners only two choices:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Sell."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Don't sell."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Japan introduced a third:"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Participate."}]

That shift — from selling land to creating value — is profound.

In Hawai'i, we often talk about where housing should be. Yet we spend far less time asking who owns the land—and whether those owners have practical ways to work together. Most long-time owners are not opposed to redevelopment. They simply lack a practical framework, trusted partners, and an organizational structure for working with neighboring owners.

Unlike institutional investors measured by quarterly performance, Neighborhood Capital is patient capital. In many cases, it has remained invested in the same communities for generations. Their priorities are often preserving family wealth, generating stable income, and leaving assets to future generations — not maximizing short-term returns.

The future of Hawai'i housing lies not in asking these families to become developers, but in creating trusted pathways that allow them to become partners in thoughtful redevelopment. It may require neighborhood landowner associations, independent facilitation, coordinated infrastructure planning, and governance models that allow families to retain long-term ownership while participating in larger master-planned communities.

Hawai'i's housing debate has focused, appropriately, on land use, regulation, and financing. But another conversation deserves equal attention: 

How do we help neighboring landowners become partners in creating the next generation of urban neighborhoods?

Hawai‘i's next housing breakthrough may not come from finding more land. It may come from helping neighbors unlock the value they already own — together. That is the promise of Neighborhood Capital.

ay Tsuchiyama’s series explores one central question: How does Hawai‘i use the wealth and land it already has to create its next economic future? He can be reached at 

I Stock kaimuki 020626

<title>Neighborhood capital: Unlocking Hawai'i's hidden housing resource</title>

Redevelopment in Hawai‘i has typically forced landowners into one of just two decisions — sell, or don't sell. But there is a third choice, one where current landowners, by the dozens or the hundreds, could participate in coordinate redevelopments that could renew entire neighborhoods.

Neighborhood capital: Unlocking Hawai'i's hidden housing resource

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

[{"type":"text","text":"This popular sushi spot has a new location."}]

 recently opened its newest location in Hilton Hawaiian Village. The restaurant is located in the Rainbow Bazaar area. The restaurant features a cocktail bar on the ground level and plentiful restaurant seating on the second level.

Diners can look forward to the eatery’s signature dishes, along with a variety of new options that are exclusive to this location. The izakaya menu is extensive, with a variety of hot and cold dishes, sashimi, sushi rolls and donburi to choose from.

Popular appetizers include oyster shooters with uni and quail egg ($17), hamachi carpaccio ($20) and wagyu trio ($34). The latter — served with yuzu kosho, uni and kizami wasabi — is exclusive to this location.

The eatery’s A5 Japanese wagyu ($75) is another dish exclusive to the Hilton Hawaiian Village eatery. The wagyu is delivered with a sizzling hot skillet, providing diners with an interactive DIY experience. The 5-ounce portion of Japanese Miyazaki wagyu is served with oyster mushrooms, sweet onions, garlic, ponzu and Hawaiian sea salt for garnishing.

New, exclusive sushi rolls include the umami roll ($21) with freshwater eel and imitation crab; ‘ahi and yuzu roll ($20) with seared ‘ahi, imitation crab and avocado; hamachi negi roll ($18) with minced yellowtail and avocado; and spicy ‘ahi lotus roll ($21). The latter includes spicy tuna, avocado and imitation crab topped with crispy lotus root, kabayaki sauce and firecracker sauce.

The deluxe rainbow roll ($22) and double happiness roll ($25) continue to be customer favorites. The double happiness roll is a unique no-rice option consisting of tuna, salmon, scallop, squid, shrimp, crab, shiso and kaiware, wrapped in cucumber and topped with garlic aioli, tobiko and ponzu.

Doraku Sushi will be adding hand rolls to its menu soon; we got a sneak peek of the offerings during a media event. While prices were not yet finalized, hand roll flavors include spicy Hokkaido scallop, toro takuan with ikura, and spicy tuna with avocado and tempura flakes.

The eatery has an extensive selection of craft cocktails, whiskey, wines, sake and mocktails. Choose from handcrafted cocktails like the lychee martini ($18), Tokyo Sour ($18) and espresso in paradise ($18), complete with housemade macadamia nut creme.

Meanwhile, mocktails ($12) range from ginger blossom and yuzu garden to lady lavender and Island dragon, a vibrant beverage made with dragonfruit, strawberry, honey syrup and lemon juice.

Doraku Sushi’s Hilton Hawaiian Village location is currently open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Validated parking is available ($4 for four hours) in the Hilton Hawaiian Village parking structure.

Doraku Sushi’s other Waikīkī location is still in Royal Hawaiian Center, but is temporarily closed for renovations. It closed its original location (on the center’s third floor) at the end of July and is re-opening later this year on the ground floor, next to Dean & Deluca.

Doraku Sushi sign 082726

<title>Doraku Sushi is now open at Hilton Hawaiian Village</title>

The sushi spot opened last month in Hilton Hawaiian Village. This is its second Waikīkī location; the restaurant is still located in Royal Hawaiian Center, but is moving from the third floor to the first floor.

Doraku Sushi is now open at Hilton Hawaiian Village

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

The NBA's Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers are set to hold their respective preseason training camps on O‘ahu at the end of September, culminating with an exhibition game at the University of Hawai‘i's Stan Sheriff Center on Oct. 4. 

The Warriors will practice daily at BYU-Hawai‘i's Cannon Activities Center daily from Tuesday, Sept. 29 through Saturday, Oct. 3. 

Meanwhile, the Clippers will practice on UH-Mānoa's campus, also from Tuesday to Saturday. 

Both teams will then meet in an Oct. 4 exhibition at the Stan Sheriff Center, with tipoff set for 1 p.m. 

For the Warriors, the trip to the North Shore will be their sixth overall and most recent since 2024. The Warriors have played a total of 14 preseason games in Hawai‘i since 1974. 

The 2026-2027 season will mark the sixth time the Clippers have held training camp, all of which have been since 2017. 

The Warriors have seven NBA championships, including four in the last dozen seasons (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022), appearing in the NBA Finals six times in that span. Meanwhile, the Clippers have only been to the Conference Finals once in their history, advancing to the Western Conference Finals in 2021. 

Tickets for the exhibition game between the Warriors and Clippers on Oct. 4 will go on sale online at Ticketmaster.com. 

Daily Smile: Saturday, June 6, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Daily Smile

Daily Smile: Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026

Daily Smile: Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026

Daily Smile: Monday, Aug. 31, 2026

Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026

Most read

Daily Smile: Saturday, June 6, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Daily Smile

Daily Smile: Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026

Daily Smile: Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026

Daily Smile: Monday, Aug. 31, 2026

Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026

Most read