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That squirrel knows a thing or two about this dogs inability to make a tight turn...

Smile 26 6 8

<title>Daily Smile: Monday, June 8, 20026</title>

Daily Smile: Monday, June 8, 20026

 That squirrel knows a thing or two about this dogs inability to make a tight turn...

[{"type":"text","text":"Competition over. Give him the gold medal..."}]

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<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, June 7, 2026</title>

Competition over. Give him the gold medal...

Daily Smile: Sunday, June 7, 2026

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Government & Politics

Columnists

Even as lawmakers haggled and disagreed over the details of SB2471, there was one thing they agreed upon, and said aloud consistently: "This is going to get us sued."

Gov. Josh Green signed SB2471 into law as 

 on May 14. On Friday, Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i filed a lawsuit, challenging it as unconstitutional. 

The leftwing, Mainland-based think tank, Center for American Progress, 

, guiding Hawai‘i lawmakers to be the first among more than a dozen states that would try to nullify Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the freedom of people organized as corporations to engage in political speech. 

The state attorney general's office warned Legislators repeatedly that CAP's legal strategy was entirely too clever for its own good, nevertheless, the suit names Hawai‘i Attorney General Anne E. Lopez, as well as Nadine Ando, Director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, as defendants — in their official capacities — because they're the ones that Act 11 empowers to punish organizations for engaged in "electioneering" when the law takes effect next July.

Those punishments can be quite severe, including the total dissolution of any organization that runs afoul of Act 11.

 I had with Keli‘i Akina, president of GIH, last month, discussing the ways SB2471 might chill free speech in Hawaii‘i. At the time, the bill had passed but not yet been signed. We discussed how, while lawmakers talked about ending "dark money" and keeping unnamed, big-money corporate powers out of Hawai‘i politics, it seemed, in practice, more likely to hurt small, local organizations.

That is, in fact, the tact the lawsuit takes. “This law doesn’t affect just the Grassroot Institute,” said Akina, in statement Friday announcing the suit.  “It affects every Hawai‘i resident who wants to join with others to speak out on issues that impact their community. It doesn’t matter what the issue is or which side of it the organization is on. This law prevents citizens from organizing and pooling resources, time, and effort to speak on topics of public concern.”

GIH is represented by the Institute for Free Speech, see its case file on the lawsuit 

“Act 11 is one of the most sweeping attacks on political speech we’ve seen in years,” said Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Owen Yeates, the lead litigator on behalf of the Grassroot Institute, in a statement. “Americans have a constitutional right to join together through nonprofits and other associations to advocate for the causes that matter to them and their communities. Moreover, Americans have a right to decide for themselves which voices they want to hear. Act 11 strips those rights from the residents of Hawai‘i.”

The statement goes on to note that, "The lawsuit argues that Act 11 violates the First Amendment’s protections of free speech, freedom of association, freedom of the press, and freedom of petition and assembly. It further argues that key provisions of the law are unconstitutionally vague, leaving organizations unsure of where the line between lawful advocacy and prohibited activity lies."

"Act 11’s requirements and penalties present a substantial threat to the First Amendment rights of organizations such as the Grassroot Institute," said Institute for Free Speech. "Grassroot regularly publishes research, hosts events, and communicates with the public about legislation, ballot measures, tax policy, housing reforms, government accountability, and other issues vital to Hawai‘i residents.

"The organization’s speech often includes communications that identify elected officials’ policy positions. Under Act 11, this core advocacy could be treated as prohibited 'election activity,' placing the organization in jeopardy for speaking about the very issues it was founded to address. It does this by prohibiting any spending to 'directly or indirectly … support or oppose a candidate — terms so broad that even routine legislative education and advocacy mentioning elected officials could trigger enforcement.

"Those aren’t Act 11’s only defects. Even as the law imposes these severe and broad restrictions, it simultaneously carves out an exemption for certain corporations: namely, institutional press entities, such as newspapers, broadcasters, and periodicals. But the government cannot selectively determine which speakers enjoy First Amendment rights and which do not."

 with the lawmakers who created SB2471. Looks like the state will now have to defend their arguments in court.

The lawsuit "seeks declaratory and injunctive relief preventing the enforcement of Act 11." 

[{"type":"text","text":"ASD will have more on this suit in the days ahead."}]

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

State capitol 022725

<title>Pipikaula Corner: Lawsuit filed against Act 11</title>

Lawmakers said the state would get sued, even as they pushed SB2471 into law as Act 11, seeking to nullify the U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United. Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i filed its lawsuit Friday, challenging the law as unconstitutional.

Pipikaula Corner: Lawsuit filed against Act 11

[{"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

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

[{"type":"text","text":"Maui architect David Sellers built his career on land — and by sea."}]

Originally from Texas, Sellers — who has worked on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska, studied architecture and worked in the Netherlands, and led operations on a remote atoll in the Pacific — has been living and working in the Islands for more than a decade. Now he's looking to step onto the national stage.

Sellers, the co-founder and principal architect of Hawai‘i Off-Grid, a Maui-based architecture and engineering firm, is a candidate for 2027 president-elect of the national American Institute of Architects, or AIA, board. That means if he's elected, he'll be president in 2028 and then past-president for one year but still on the national board, he recently told Aloha State Daily.

 is the largest design organization in the world with more than 101,000 members. 

ASD caught up with Sellers to learn more about his history, work and why he's looking to become AIA president.

[{"type":"text","text":"In the beginning"}]

Sellers received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. Pell grants allowed him to go to college, but Sellers, who grew up around auto mechanics, says he spent time working as a mechanic to help pay for school. 

Following his first summer, though, Sellers, says he wasn't sure it was what he wanted to do.

Sellers learned about opportunities in Alaska from a friend he met when he first moved to College Station.

"He was like, 'You could go to Alaska and get a job and make a bunch of money in the summertime, and then maybe you wouldn't have to work during the rest of the school year,'" Sellers recently told Aloha State Daily. "I was like, 'Oh, that sounds fun.'"

Sellers bought his first commercial plane ticket on a credit card, flew to Anchorage, hitchhiked to Valdez and got a job at a cannery "because they had housing." From there, he says he was able to meet some people and land a job as a mechanic, or ship's engineer, on a commercial fishing boat.

"I ended up doing that for five years — every summer of my undergrad schooling — and was able to, some years, completely pay for my expenses above and beyond my student loans and didn't have to work as much."

Ultimately, Sellers says, he "really got into" and had a passion for architecture school. When talk turned to graduate studies, a mentor at Texas A&M recommended the Technical University Delft in the Netherlands.

"I ended up living in the Netherlands and ended up getting licensed after grad school and taking on my first professional architecture job there, and then I got a random opportunity to move to Hawai‘i," he told ASD. "... A friend of mine forwarded me this job posting and he's like, 'You're the only person I know that would fit this description.'"

Sellers says the job was looking for a boat captain, someone who knew mechanics and operated heavy equipment, was a certified scuba diver and had knowledge of aviation and runway construction projects. He ticked the boxes, did the interviews, made a visit and in 2011, he moved to Honolulu to work for the Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i.

 program; Palmyra is remote research station located about 1,000 miles south of Hawai‘i.

"That's how I got to Hawai‘i," Sellers says. "First thing that happened was they informed me that the timelines had advanced, so I needed to rebuild the runway."

To do that, he first had to survey the runway. And to do 

, Sellers said he had to rent equipment to do so on O‘ahu — and a boat to sail the equipment to Palmyra and back.

He had the equipment, which was typically rented for a day, for 19. And when he returned, Sellers says the company owner told him that a civil engineer from Maui was angry he had taken the equipment for almost a month, but was excited when he learned where it was taken. The civil engineer left a business card for Sellers.

"I took the business card, put it in my pocket. He's now my partner in Hawai‘i Off Grid and he ended up helping me rebuild the runway down on Palmyra."

Eventually, Sellers says he needed a more stable work-life scenario, and in 2015, he 

 Hawai‘i Off Grid Architecture & Engineering with architect Rick McGovern and civil engineer Jacob Freeman. You can find the full scope of its services 

[{"type":"text","text":"President-elect"}]

When asked why he's seeking the president-elect role, Sellers says he's not one to say no to opportunities.

"There's a saying that lucky is when opportunity meets preparation, so I've just always been prepared for anything, if you will."

Sellers says in January he was asked by a few AIA board members if he would be interested in running for president and ultimately decided to do so.

"I feel very strongly about the things that we do," he says. "In 2020, Hawai‘i Off Grid made the commitment to only build new buildings that are net zero, and we've been able to stick to that for the most part. ... I'm very passionate about architecture. I believe that architects are uniquely positioned to be extremely relevant in the crises that are facing our society today."

That includes housing affordability and attainability, along with climate change.

"I firmly believe, and I have shown through our work that we've done at Hawai‘i Off Grid, that we can fix the housing crisis and at the same time combat the climate crisis. The way that we do that is we work with local and state governments to reduce the barriers to housing and then, as architects, we execute and we design and we get that housing built. The way that we do that is we design regenerative buildings that are net zero, or they make more energy than they consume, and we start to combat the climate crisis because 

 that's being released into the atmosphere today is because of buildings. Architects have a unique responsibility historically to address that."

According to Sellers, the election is June 10 and results will be announced June 12.

Sellers says that anytime Hawai‘i has agency at a national level, "we can help guide and understand policy that can benefit us, whether that's policy alone or policy in the form of funding that can come to our communities, but we can also guide policy that affects our communities."

But it's not just what Hawai‘i can get by having a seat at the table, but what Hawai‘i can give, too.

"In Hawai‘i, we're at the tip of the spear when it comes to climate change, when it comes to affordability. ... As much as I think that it'll be beneficial to be close to the seat of power, to have the ability to network and bring resources back to Hawai‘i, I think the more important thing is that Hawai‘i can provide guidance and assistance and expertise and experience to the rest of the country."

If he's elected, and serves as president in 2028, Sellers says it'll be 50 years since AIA had a president from Hawai‘i. 

 of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture, served as AIA president in 1978.

Sellers previously served as president of AIA Maui and is currently a member of the AIA Hawai‘i State Council Board of Directors. He's also on the Habitat for Humanity Maui Board of Directors. You can read more about Sellers 

David Sellers headshot

<title>Maui architect seeking national AIA leadership role</title>

David Sellers, principal and co-founder of Maui-based Hawai‘i Off Grid, is running for 2027 president-elect of the national design organization. The election takes place this month.

Maui architect seeking national AIA leadership role

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Small waves lap at the sand. A 15-year-old boy lies face down, unconscious, and a group of young men take turns kicking him in the head. Then a shirtless man runs into the frame and punches one of the assailants in the side of the head.

The shirtless man is Kekoa Tamale, a 23-year-old lifeguard. By his account, he was 

 when he saw the beatdown, and he intervened to save the 15-year-old’s life, giving the boy a chance to escape. Then the group turned on him.

One clip shows Tamale seated, one hand pressed to his eye, while someone wrenches his head back by the hair. In another he is lifted off his feet and slammed into the shorebreak. A third, poorly lit, seems to show two men soccer-kicking him in the surf.

This all happened on the night of May 30 at Waialeʻe Beach on the North Shore of Oʻahu, at a spot locals call Dead Man’s Curve. By now, hundreds of thousands of people have viewed clips of the affair on social media.

Some facts are settled. Honolulu police have arrested five juveniles, and prosecutors have 

 each with attempted assault in the first degree. A 

 for the two victims has passed $100,000. But the kicks at the shoreline were not the night’s only footage.

 shows a different scene: a moonlit stretch of sand, Tamale and a young man trading blows with five other young men, one of them in a gray balaclava, the fight ending with no clear winner. Tamale himself 

 he had a run-in with this group earlier in the evening.

Look at the edges of the clips and you see a larger crowd. More than a dozen people follow the fight with their phones raised. Girls shriek obscenities in shock. One tells the boys to stop, but nobody moves to stop them.

Afterward, Tamale and his companion flex for the camera. A bystander celebrates their triumph against lopsided odds in language I won’t print. During that celebration, a girl holds out a sphere of alcohol, cap off — by appearance, the berry cherry limeade flavor of BuzzBallz Biggies, 15 percent alcohol by volume.

A photo said to be from that night has made the rounds since: a dozen girls posing on the sand. One sticks out her tongue and raises both middle fingers, with what appears to be a champagne bottle in one hand. Three more raise their middle fingers, each using a hand to shield their face from the lens. When the violent clips went viral, one of the girls took to Instagram to explain that they had only come to the beach for a birthday party, and that they were not present for the beating.

A second photo circulated, this one of the alleged suspects. Pages like 

crowdsourced their names. Sleuths posted their home addresses, then the names of their parents. The watching crowd at the beach never went home. It got bigger.

The comment sections offer two cures. Many say the boys need more lickins at home. Others say lock them up and lose the key. They’re right, up to a point.

Parents should parent. A 15-year-old has no business drinking on a beach after curfew. And punishing assault is the first and plainest duty of government — even those who want a small state would like it to enforce justice. In this case, prosecutions should be vigorous and penalties real.

The sword of the state is a terror to bad conduct, and the belt corrects behavior at home. But neither can supply what was missing on that beach. A young man who joins a mob to kick an unconscious boy in the head does not need adjustment. He needs regeneration.

That is the old Christian word for it. Scripture says we were dead in our “trespasses and sins,” following the course of this world, “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” It is by God’s grace that we are saved through faith.

How does God change a heart? Not by handing down better rules. Through the prophet Ezekiel, He promises to take out “the heart of stone” and put in “a heart of flesh.” That is a transplant, not a tune-up. And His ordinary instrument for it is almost embarrassingly humble: people carrying His Word to other people, until the Spirit makes them live.

The boys who threw the kicks need Christ. So do the ones who filmed, laughed, or ran. So do the ones who shared, and sleuthed, and scrolled. Stricter parents and longer sentences can change what a man does, for a time. But they have never once changed what he loves.

Hawaiʻi has been here before. In the early 1820s the islands were ravaged by disease, drunkenness and dissolution. Out of that disorder, the Christian chiefess Kaʻahumanu, governing as kuhina nui, and the young king Kauikeaouli — Kamehameha III — advanced laws against drunkenness, gambling and violence.

Meanwhile, an awakening of Christian faith moved through the Islands. The laws did not produce the awakening. The awakening produced the laws.

I do not know how the courts will sort out the night of May 30, and neither does anyone posting about it. I do know what the beach is called. And apart from Christ, man is dead.

My prayer is that everyone on that sand — the beaten, the beaters and the watchers — would come to know Christ, and that His ambassadors on the North Shore would do what ambassadors do, and beg them to be reconciled to God.

Cross over beach Firefly Gemini Flash 843996

<title>No law can raise the dead</title>

Maybe police crackdowns or stricter parental discipline might've prevented the now infamous North Shore beatdowns, writes ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa, but at heart, the cruelties of that night are evidence of a deeper spiritual crisis in Hawai‘i.

Daily Smile: Monday, June 8, 20026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Monday, June 8, 20026

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

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