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This is Copo. He firmly believes this cow statue is his new best friend...

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<title>Daily Smile: Monday, June 15, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Monday, June 15, 2026

 This is Copo. He firmly believes this cow statue is his new best friend...

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Aloha Spirit

Changes are in the works for two organizations focused on improving Waikīkī.

Starting July 1, the Waikīkī Business Improvement District, or WBID, and Waikīkī Improvement Association, or WIA, will align management in an effort to streamline operations, reduce overhead and enhance efficiency.

It's not a merger; WBID, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, will continue to operate independently under the umbrella and management of WIA, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, joining three other nonprofits that already do so: Waikīkī Beach Special Improvement District Association (WBSIDA), the Waikīkī Transportation Management Association (WTMA) and Aloha Festivals. Each organization will maintain their own boards, funding and decision-making abilities.

"It's important because what we wanted to do was bring together and make more efficient the way that these organizations operated," Trevor Abarzua, president and executive director of WBID told Aloha State Daily this week. "They're all in Waikīkī. They all have similar but different missions, but there isn't necessarily a need for the duplication of staff, the duplication of resources, whether that's accounting or lawyers or everything that goes into overhead for a company or an organization. The reason we want to do the management alignment was to consolidate the overhead and then consolidate some of the roles."

[{"type":"text","text":"Here's what that looks like:"}]

Abarzua will become the president and CEO of WIA, replacing retiring CEO Rick Egged. John Zerfas, currently director of strategic initiatives for WBID will become the vice president of operations for WIA and a new position will be created for the vice president of community engagement. WBID's Administrative Director Suzanne Kirio will carry that role over to the WIA. There's also an opening for an events and member services position, replacing a vacant WIA communications director role.

Those five positions will be under the auspices of and paid from WIA funds.

That consolidation means "a savings across the board, not only for the WBID, but for all the other organizations, [as well as] consolidating who that leader is in Waikīkī, or who you go to for things," Abarzua says. "What we want to do is have a one-stop shop, that the WIA is a one-stop shop where you could get anything done in Waikīkī, whether you want to meet with the business community, you want to meet with the Neighborhood Board, you want to talk about the beach replenishment projects, you want to talk about the [Aloha] Ambassador program. You could reach out to one entity and they'll have the answers for everything, rather than having different spokespeople or different staff for all these different things. It made sense."

Abarzua says WIA will also be a bridge between the broader community and government.

[{"type":"text","text":"Meanwhile, Each 501(c)(3) nonprofit will have a day-to-day director."}]

WBID Deputy Director Dave Willard will oversee WBID operations under the new structure while Dolan Eversole and Blaine Kia, alongside other cultural and community leaders, will continue in their roles with WBSIDA and Aloha Festivals, respectively. There's currently an opening for a full-time position with WTMA.

According to a timeline on its website, WIA actually established the WBID in 2001 — but the organization branched off on its own a few years later.

"Now's a great time to bring it back together under this management alignment, under this umbrella of services, just based on the growth of Waikīkī, the growth of the initiatives that both the BID and WIA have worked on, and I think it just makes it more aligned for the organizations to be working hand-in-hand," Abarzua says.

[{"type":"text","text":"According to Abarzua, the nonprofits each pay a management fee to WIA."}]

WBID will pay an annual fee of about $345,000, about 6% of its budget, to WIA, "providing executive leadership, board support and coordinated communications," according to information provided during WBID's annual meeting in May. Meanwhile, a 25% cost share, about $76,000, will support the two VP roles.

"By taking the executive director and admin director salaries off the WBID books, and paying only a 25% cost share of the new VP of operations and a 25% cost share of a new VP of community engagement at the WIA level, WBID is able to generate significant administrative savings," the information noted. 

All told, WBID stands to save nearly $170,000. The money saved will be reinvested for more community services, Abarzua says.

So what will the people who live, work and visit Waikīkī notice with this change?

"With the alignment itself, one of the things they will notice is more efficiency in the way these organizations are run," Abarzua says. "But what the vision is for WIA is that we want to really reimagine what the organization does and how it's portrayed."

[{"type":"text","text":"That means a rebrand."}]

"We want to, again, rebrand WIA, with a new brand, a new name, a new look, new feel ... and we're going to do that over the next six to 12 months, starting in July, to be more community-facing," Abarzua told ASD. "Waikīkī Improvement Association's been around for a number of years, but we wanted to not only manage these key, crucial nonprofits, but I think this is a really great opportunity for the organization to really lead on how is Waikīkī branded?"

For his part, Abarzua, 33, says he couldn't be more excited to step into his new leadership role.

"There's a lot of momentum right now and I stand on the shoulders of giants that I've been able to learn from," he says. "Rick Egged in particular has been a staple in Waikīkī for 27 years. ... I've been able to learn under them for three-plus years in this role at the WBID, and being able to see what works and to learn from these guys that have so much wisdom, but then what I'm excited for, too, is to bring my own touch to it. I'm a younger guy. I have fresh ideas. I have fresh energy, so to take the things I've learned and to take the historical aspects of what's been going on, but then to really drive the idea of 'hey, we want to do new things. We want to really grow what Waikīkī  is doing,' just to make it the best possible destination in the world and the best possible community, not only to come to visit, but also to live in, to work in, to hang out and surf in. We want this to be for everyone."

, WBID was formed to help supplement city services and is supported by grants, donations and commercial property assessments on nearly 3,800 commercial properties in the Waikīkī Special District.

Part of WBID's efforts to keep Waikīkī clean and safe include the Aloha Ambassador Program, Safe & Sound Waikīkī, houseless and mental health outreach, and disaster preparedness training, its website notes.

(ICYMI: Read about Aloha Ambassador General Manager Solomon Kaimimoku 

Meanwhile, Abarzua says that WIA's main focus is representing the entire community of Waikīkī, not just businesses, but the residential community, the workforce, "just anything Waikīkī related."

WIA "works to enhance Waikīkī's physical, economic and cultural environment," its 

Trevor Abarzua Talking to an Ambassador

<title>Waikīkī Business Improvement District, Improvement Association to align management</title>

The move aims to streamline operations, reduce overhead and enhance efficiency and goes into effect July 1.

Waikīkī Business Improvement District, Improvement Association to align management

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Father’s Day is coming up Sunday, June 21. Whether dad wants a buffet, steak or seafood, check out the following options:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"53 By the Sea"}]

: On Father’s Day, customers can take advantage of a variety of specials:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Arden Waikīkī"}]

: For Father’s Day weekend, the eatery is featuring a special charcoal grilled 20-ounce bone-in prime rib-eye layered with mushroom bordelaise, and served with potatoes au gratin and brussels sprouts finished with a bacon lemon vinaigrette. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Aurum Maui (Maui)"}]

: The Shops at Wailea, 3750 Wailea Alanui Drive, Wailea

: This Wailea eatery will feature a special Father’s Day entrée and dessert. Customers can enjoy coffee glazed beef ribs with sweet potato macaroni salad and cheddar cheese polenta ($52), along with a Lahaina Town brown cake with bourbon caramel, pecans and vanilla ice cream ($16). 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Basalt Waikīkī"}]

: Basalt Waikīkī is offering a variety of Father’s Day specials:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Big City Diner"}]

: The eatery is offering a variety of Father’s Day weekend specials.

The Father’s Day prime rib family pack ($229.99) is designed to serve four to five people. It includes:

The Father’s Day breakfast family pack ($99.99) serves four to five people. It includes:

[{"type":"text","text":"Other featured specials include:"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Big Island Candies"}]

: Ala Moana Center, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 

: Big Island Candies is featuring its seasonal milk chocolate ulua and milk chocolate menpachi; they come in 10-ounce trays. They cost $22.50 each at the Ala Moana Center store ($21.50 at the Hilo flagship store and factory). 

: Available starting June 5, while supplies last 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Choco le‘a"}]

: The chocolate shop’s monthly specials include Guinness beer truffles ($3.25), hibiki truffles ($3.75), chips and cereal ($24.99) and June goodie bag ($9.99). The latter includes one dark chocolate covered pineapple, a dark chocolate covered Oreo and solid chocolate token bag.

The chips and cereal snack is inspired by the “Muddy Buddy” classic and includes Chex cereal, Bugles, kakimochi, cheese balls and whole macadamia nuts tossed in signature dark chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Eating House 1849"}]

: International Market Place, 2330 Kalākaua Ave. Ste. 322, Honolulu 

: The eatery is serving up a variety of specials during both brunch and dinner. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Brunch specials:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Dinner specials: "}]

: June 21; brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., dinner from 4 to 9 p.m. 

: This Father’s Day special ($74.99) includes a pork adobo fried rice omelet, gisantes, pork adobo, dinuguan, pansit noodles, lechon special, sari sari and white rice. It’s designed to serve three to five people; no substitutions are available. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Empire Steak House"}]

: 1777 Ala Moana Blvd. 30th floor, Honolulu 

: This Father’s Day special costs $120 per person. It includes:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Herringbone Waikīkī"}]

: This Father’s Day weekend special features a tomahawk and lobster tail dinner ($195). It includes a 24-ounce USDA Choice tomahawk, two lobster tails and double-baked shrimp Alfredo potato.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kulu kulu cake"}]

: Eaton Square, 438 Hobron Lane Ste. 102, Honolulu 

: Specialty desserts include a Father’s Day beer roll cake ($18.50) — a chocolate roll cake in the shape of a beer mug — and Father’s Day bear puff ($6.50). The chocolate puff features a mustache decoration. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mala Ocean Tavern (Maui)"}]

: This Father’s Day special costs $49 per person. The barbecue-themed menu includes slow-smoked beef ribs, Hawaiian barbecue pulled pork and salt-crusted pork belly, served with side dishes like lilikoi mac salad, furikake rice, green papaya slaw, Maui Gold barbecue sauce, housemade butter mochi cornbread and pickled pohole. 

The Shops at Wailea, 3750 Wailea Alanui Drive, Wailea

: This steakhouse will offer a Father’s Day brunch with dishes like shrimp and grits ($55), lobster frittata ($60) and a 6-ounce center-cut filet paired with a loaded frittata ($65). The eatery’s full dinner menu will be available starting at 3 p.m.; reservations are recommended. 

: For Father’s Day, SKY Waikīkī is serving up a tomahawk feast ($165). It includes a 32-ounce tomahawk steak, mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, an extra-thick slice of sizzling bacon, and a glass of Cabernet. 

: International Market Place, 2330 Kalakaua Ave. Ste. 330, Honolulu 

: StripSteak, A Michael Mina Restaurant, is highlighting a variety of signature cuts.

Prime cuts being served that evening will include a 50 to 60-ounce tomahawk rib-eye, 40-ounce dry-aged prime porterhouse, 22-ounce bone-in Kansas City New York Strip, and 22-ounce cowboy bone-in rib-eye.

The eatery will also highlight its Kurobuta pork duo, featuring a double-cut chop and braised pork belly, accompanied by Lambic beer peach puree and roasted peaches. A paired cocktail — the Heaven Hill Old Fashioned — will be poured two ways. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sushi Aki"}]

: For Father’s Day, Sushi Aki is featuring a special menu for that week. The special omakase costs $280 per person. It includes three kinds of sashimi (chutoro, golden eye snapper and striped jack), Japanese whiting marinated in kelp, Pike conger eel with plum paste, Geoduck sushi, sweet shrimp sushi, steamed egg custard, three kinds of tempura, Hokkaido uni (small bowl), marinated akami, toro taku roll and more. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Clubhouse Mililani"}]

: This Father’s Day prime rib special ($65) features a 16-ounce prime rib with roasted potatoes, au jus, sliced onions and chili pepper water. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Pint & Cork (Maui)"}]

: Customers can enjoy Father’s Day specials like flat iron steak and pommes frites with local mushrooms, paniolo butter and grilled broccolini ($42); the BIB burger with white cheddar, applewood bacon and a fried egg ($24); and a Blanton’s Old Fashioned ($23). 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Zippy’s Restaurants"}]

: Father’s Day specials include pork chops with gravy ($17.95 in Honolulu) — which feature bone-in pork chops with gravy and mushrooms sauteed in garlic butter and onions — and a Father’s Day cake ($29.95 in Honolulu). The latter features a three-layer vanilla chiffon cake filled with whipped cream and decorated with a blue palaka pattern and ti-leaf lei border. 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Fathers Day roundup 53 By the Sea 060926

<title>Where to celebrate Father’s Day 2026 – part 2</title>

Whether you’re looking to dine-in or celebrate Father’s Day at home, we’ve got you covered. This guide also contains some local fare on Maui.

Where to celebrate Father’s Day 2026 – part 2

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

. The 6,000-square-foot space, which is adjacent to Ala Moana Hotel and was once known as Hawaiian Hut, will open to the public for its first late night event with a concert 

As High Watah took the stage as part of a private grand opening event on Thursday, June 11, sweeping scenes of Molokai, including mountains and ocean, splashed across the screen behind them 

“We did our sound check on Tuesday, and the lights are awesome,” Keldin Calairo-Nakagawa told Aloha State Daily ahead of the concert on Thursday. “The big LED screen is awesome. We’re just super excited for Saturday.”

The transportation company Roberts Hawaiʻi has made an 

 in the venue, which is designed for night club entertainment, fashion shows, corporate events and weddings, as previously reported by ASD.

“I went to rehearsal this past Tuesday and High Watah — they did a couple numbers, sound checking and putting their videos in and everything, and they really have the vision of using the technology,” Roy E. Pfund, president and CEO of Roberts Hawaiʻi, told Aloha State Daily on Thursday. “They incorporate video. They use the lighting to time to the music, and they fully utilize the sound system. I was sitting here in this middle row, and you could feel the vibration.”

The concert on Saturday is the first late-night event in the space which is open to the public and runs from 9 p.m .to 2 a.m. 

“Again, it's the total experience of immersion with video,” Pfund said.

High Watah is currently a finalist for several 

, including group of the year, reggae album of the year, and music video of the year.

 that vocalist Lewa Davis-Medija would be going solo, after the band started more than seven years earlier on Molokai.

The band recently dropped the song “You” on April 17, which was written by Calairo-Nakagawa and Etuate Finau.

“It's just about heartbreak and loving somebody, even in the bad times,” he said.

The band is set to release a new album on Aug. 22, Calairo-Nakagawa told ASD. That same date, High Watah will perform at the Blaisdell Arena as part of the 

On Spotify, some of the band’s top hits include “Sand in My Boots” with 7.8 million streams, “Black Pearl” with 5.7 million streams and “Dangerously Fine” with 3.5 million streams.

High Watah’s version of “Sand in My Boots” swaps out the original song’s mention of a Chevrolet Silverado for a “lifted taco,” a nod to the Toyota Tacoma, and replaces mentions of Eastern Tennessee with Molokai. 

, the band’s manager and booking agent — and the founder of the popular brand Hawaiʻi Finest Clothing — had the idea for the cover. 

“And he actually was the one who changed the words too,” Calairo-Nakagawa said.

When asked to pick one of his favorite songs he was written, the singer and songwriter picked “Good Thing.”

“That was about my other half and all the trials and tribulations we went through,” he told ASD. “That’s just a love story about her.”

General admission is $30, plus fees. VIP tickets are sold out. 

Limelight Hawaiʻi

<title>High Watah, Three Plus headline first public late night event at Limelight Hawaiʻi</title>

Keldin Calairo-Nakagawa, the lead singer of High Watah, reflects on a new performance venue on Oʻahu, which opens to the public on Saturday, June 13. The space will offer late night entertainment and is an approximately $15 million investment from Roberts Hawaiʻi.

High Watah, Three Plus headline first public late night event at Limelight Hawaiʻi

Arrasmith Portrait

Perry Arrasmith

Government & Politics

Columnists

Just when I thought the dust settled, another layer was added to the confusion. 

It’s nothing short of a crisis. On June 4, the Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, made an announcement from Ohio that throws Hawai‘i’s Medicaid program in the middle of a growing national fight over fraud. 

As a result of Ferguson’s announcements, the state agency certified to investigate Medicaid fraud in Hawai‘i is now decertified and defunded. In the federal government’s eyes, it functions with no credibility. 

, “Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has received millions and millions of dollars to fight fraud and has consistently been one of the lowest-performing fraud units in the country.”

, a little-known agency nestled under the Hawai‘i Department of the Attorney General charged with investigating fraud. 

The crisis has unfolded gradually over the past 10 years and now finds itself at an unprecedented inflection point. 

“They have been the subject of continued demands to improve their performance since 2014 — dating back to the Obama Administration — and from 2021 to 2025, Hawai‘i’s Medicaid funding went up 27%. Their Medicaid enrollment went up 40%, and they did not produce a single conviction or obtain a single indictment of a fraudster from 2021 to 2025.” 

The Attorney General of the State of Hawai‘i, Anne Lopez, had previously clapped back at the Trump administration's accusations against Hawai‘i just a week earlier. On May 26, the California Department of Justice 

 a press conference with several Democratic Attorneys General to address a ‘last-minute’ invitation extended by Vice President Vance to join the White House’s Medicaid Fraud Task Force. Attorney General Lopez was flanked by her counterparts from Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, and California.

 an Anti-Fraud Task Force on March 16 to be chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance. For politically disparate Hawai‘i, the gravity of the Task Force’s importance was brought to bear on May 13 at a 

 on Medicaid fraud hosted by Vice President Vance. 

“The Hawai‘i Medicaid program has received billions and billions of dollars from the federal taxpayers,” Vance observed at his May conference. “Hawai‘i taxpayers have paid in a lot of money into this program over the last years as well. Guess how many convictions or indictments Hawaii has had over the last few years in its Medicaid fraud program? The answer is zero.”

For those who don’t know, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program administered by the states. Each state has a designated Medicaid agency (

 in Hawai‘i’s case, which functions under the Hawai‘i Department of Human Services). Hawai‘i will then pay different providers and/or health plans to provide health care and report those expenditures to the federal government through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Hawai‘i then seeks federal funds to match some of the costs borne by the State. 

, the U.S. federal government covered 71% of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid costs ($2.2 billion) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, leaving the State of Hawai‘i to cover the remaining 29% ($890 million). It’s a lot of money, leaving fraud as a consistent possibility.  

Gov. Green brushed off Vance’s concerns on May 18. “He didn’t take the time to call me at all,” Green 

Gov. Green, for now, is committed to avoiding squabbles with the federal government. Where health care is concerned, he’s enjoyed a largely warm relationship with the Trump administration. 

To date, Governor Josh Green has expressed a ready willingness to engage with the Trump Administration on a select basis. 

This relationship has notably extended to the CMS headed by Dr. Mehmet Oz. CMS Administrator Oz has directly engaged with Governor Green on more than one occasion. On July 23, 2025, the Governor’s Office 

 that Green would facilitate a discussion with CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz (alongside Republican Vermont Governor Phil Scott). 

CMS, so far, has also shown a willingness to fund rural health efforts across the United States, including Hawai‘i. On December 29, 2025, it 

 that the State of Hawai‘i would receive nearly $189 million in funding to “expand access to care in rural communities, strengthen the rural health workforce, modernize rural facilities and technology, and support innovative models that bring high-quality, dependable care closer to home.”

 focuses on six specific areas: (1) a Rural Health Information Network; (2) the Pili Ola Telehealth Network; (3) a Rural Infrastructure for Care Access (RICA) network; (4) a Rural Healthcare Workforce Pipeline; (5) a Rural Respite Network of five separate sites designed to reduce hospital stays; and (6) a Rural Value-Based Innovation and AHEAD Readiness Fund to encourage “value-based care and population-health models.” 

Ties between Gov. Green and Dr. Oz, at least for now, appear to be warm. Oz even 

 Green for collaborating with him for National Walking Day on March 19, just a few days after the formation of Vice President Vance’s Task Force. 

Despite Vance’s attacks on Hawai‘i, Gov. Green pulled back the veil to explain that he still maintains good relationships with the Trump administration. As he explained in one May interview, “I actually spoke right after that interview with the head of CMS – that’s Dr. Oz – to share what we’re actually doing.”

 (MFCU), organized under the State of Hawai‘i’s Department of the Attorney General. To that end, criticism of our MFCU is not new. 

In fact, managing the MFCU is a wicked issue with a decade of history. During the Obama Administration, an October 2014 

 conducted by the HHS OIG found that “only two of the [MFCU]’s seven investigators were hired as long-term employees (as required), the Unit did not have an auditor, it did not have written policies and procedures for its operations, and it did not have a required training plan for its professional employees.” 

The same report found that the MFCU failed to “regularly communicate with Federal law enforcement agencies, it worked outside of its grant authority, and it did not exercise fiscal control of its resources.”

 found that the MFCU “experienced significant turnover of investigators and lacked sufficient Medicaid fraud cases to adequately train new and inexperienced investigators.” Furthermore, the MFCU appeared to receive “few fraud referrals from the Medicaid Program Integrity Unit and other stakeholders, which limited the number of cases available for the Unit to investigate and prosecute.”

Similarly, the Center for Program Integrity within the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services called for better cooperation in two reports issued in 

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dispatched its Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) MFCU Oversight Division to review the state’s work on Medicaid fraud. Per the Attorney General’s office, the review “identified a number of challenges that have impacted its ability to initiate criminal charges and obtain convictions.” 

To that end, the division has ample room for improvement. Efforts to streamline the MFCU’s work include “increased collaboration with the unit’s state and federal partners to detect and investigate Medicaid and Medicare Fraud in Hawai‘i, accelerated recruitment of new investigators, and developing tools for investigation.” 

 directly to Hawai‘i’s Attorney General. The Inspector General, T. March Bell, doubled down on the Vice President’s rhetoric and went a step further. Bell confirmed that he had directed his office “to engage in a robust review of [Hawai‘i’s] MFCU.” To that end, he further confirmed that he “will be reaching out to you personally to review the effectiveness of your MFCU, as well as its compliance with program requirements.” 

“Hawaiʻi has not ignored Medicaid fraud,” Attorney General Anne Lopez 

 on May 14. “Our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has secured or helped secure more than $14 million in judgments, settlements, and recoveries since 2021, filed recent criminal charges, and is actively working with federal and state partners to strengthen investigations and prosecutions.”

It is still true that the State of Hawai‘i did not have any convictions resulting from the MFCU. This fact is confirmed by a 

 released by the HHS OIG. Small states like Montana, Vermont, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Delaware had at least one conviction. The same sheet shows that Hawai‘i managed to engage in 388 fraud investigations, although not a single investigation resulted in a single indictment.  

Despite his methods, the vice president's press conference is shining attention on an inconvenient, long-term issue with serious consequences for Hawai‘i’s fiscal health. 

For now, Attorney General Anne Lopez’s decision to align with other Democratic Attorneys General may run out of step with Gov. Green’s conciliatory approach to folks like Dr. Oz and the Trump Administration’s increased focus on Hawai‘i. 

It’s a game of money overshadowed by the inclination of national officials to make an example of Hawai‘i. To weather this storm, Hawai‘i’s money — and Hawai‘i’s health — require more attention from Hawai‘i’s people.

Josh Green state of the state 012125

<title>Making Sense of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Conundrum</title>

On Thursday, the federal government decertified and defunded Hawai‘i's Medicaid fraud unit in response to having spent millions on the unit for years while getting few results. ASD political historian Perry Arrasmith explains how we got here and what it means for Hawai‘i, where Gov. Josh Green had been on fairly good terms with the Trump administration on health matters.

Making Sense of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Conundrum

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A decades-long legal battle between Dole Fruit Company and a group of Central American citizens is back in Hawai‘i court.

In 1997, five men from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and Ecuador sued Dole and several other companies — including Dow Chemical Company, Shell Oil Company, Del Monte Fresh Produce and others — over their use of the pesticide dibromochloropropane (DBCP) in their home countries. After some jurisdictional debate, the case landed in Honolulu Circuit Court.

Nearly 20 years later, that lawsuit is still hotly contested. On Monday, the Hawai‘i Intermediate Court of Appeals 

 the case back to Honolulu Circuit Court for another round of hearings.

When the suit was first filed, it was the latest bullet fired in an ongoing war against DBCP and its users. Long-term exposure to the pesticide has been linked to male sterility, and the plaintiffs, all banana plantation workers in their home countries during the 1990s, claimed to have suffered reproductive damage because of the chemical’s use on their plantations.

But the latest action in the lawsuit revolves less around the impacts of chemical pesticides on sperm count than it does a single missed appointment in 2019, when three of the five plaintiffs failed to appear for a hearing in Texas, leading the court to remove them from the case.

According to court records, the plaintiffs were scheduled to appear for medical examinations and a deposition in Houston. When the court had the three no-shows’ testimony struck from the lawsuit, the workers appealed the case to the Hawai‘i Intermediate Court of Appeals.

The Appeals Court found that the Circuit Court struck the three workers from the case too quickly. Most of the defendant companies, it turned out, had agreed to reschedule the depositions to a later date or hold them remotely through video calls. 

With this verdict, the ICA has resurrected the plaintiff’s case from the edge of defeat.

According to court records, by 2022 the defendant companies had successfully moved for the court to dismiss all claims against them. But since the Circuit Court’s decision to strike three plaintiffs was found to be in error, any subsequent dismissal of their claims was also, by default, in error.

The case is therefore back in Circuit Court, although no further hearings are currently scheduled.

In the meantime, DBCP is no longer in use in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of the chemical in the U.S. in 1979 — save in Hawai‘i, where it was allowed to be used for pineapples until 1985.

However, residual traces of the chemical have been found to persist in soil and groundwater decades after it was discontinued.

Aloha State Daily reached out to Keith Kiuchi, attorney for the plaintiffs, for comment.

Daily Smile: Monday, June 15, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Monday, June 15, 2026

Authors

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