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[{"type":"text","text":"When your jam comes on and everyone knows what's about to go down..."}]

Smile 26 6 25

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, June 25, 2026</title>

When your jam comes on and everyone knows what's about to go down...

Daily Smile: Thursday, June 25, 2026

 When your jam comes on and everyone knows what&#039;s about to go down...

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Government & Politics

Columnists

Lala showed us our vulnerability. Hundreds of thousands lost power. No firm damage numbers are in yet, but they will be large. No total can capture what this storm means for a family that has lost their home or a loved one. Though not deadly on the scale of the Lahaina wildfires, this disaster is no small thing.

Traffic signals went out across the islands. Honolulu’s Board of Water Supply reported loss of pressure in the mountain ridges of metro Honolulu. And two sewage spills resulted from a backup power failure at Ala Moana Wastewater Pump Station.

And yet Lala was not a direct hit. Its worst devastation fell on the rural southern tip of the Big Island, which is sparsely populated. Even there it broke rainfall records, unleashing dangerous floodwaters, with wind and rain combining to cause tremendous damage.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in these Islands, and more will come. Lala was barely a Category 1, and its worst impacts landed where few people live.

What happens when a stronger storm hits urban Honolulu? What happens if it cripples the airport and the port? The tourism plant that pays so many of our bills would go dark along with everything else, and the military and construction sectors would not be far behind.

Lahaina gives us a preview. Three years after the fires, tourism there has yet to recover, and the commercial core has not been rebuilt to any significant degree.

Some of this delay is due to community resistance, nurtured by a cadre of professional activists who would like to tear down capitalism writ large. Some stems from government inefficiency and corruption. But some of it is a plain economic judgment. Why invest in commercial property in an area prone to wildfire?

Widen the lens and the question gets uncomfortable: Why invest in Hawaiʻi at all, exposed as we are?

Japan faces the same exposure. It is battered by earthquakes and typhoons, and like us it is aging fast, which has slowed its growth. But Japan is a technology and manufacturing power with some of the best disaster response in the world. And it remains a high-trust society, one that bands together in crisis rather than dividing.

Recoveries from such disasters run K-shaped. The affluent, those with somewhere else to live, those whose work survives a blackout — they do fine. The super wealthy don’t weather storms; they flee them, decamping by private jet to their other villas. Meanwhile those whose homes were destroyed, whose wages stop when the power does, suffer.

The GoFundMes and nonprofit funds and federal assistance will launch, as they always do, and they will go only so far. In Lahaina the assistance programs are already winding down, and the disaster is already being forgotten.

“The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it” (Proverbs 27:12). Households will take stock now: keep more food and water in reserve, perhaps add solar panels or battery backup to keep a refrigerator running. But those adaptations are not available to all families. The divide begins before the storm comes.

There are broader economic arrangements to be made. The state must wrestle with how to reduce the impact of natural disasters on its key industries: tourism, the military, and construction. Meanwhile, businesses and investors will evaluate risk, and insurers will adjust their models and pricing. All this is done quietly, with the effects hard to measure. Where on the ledger does a canceled investment show up?

And there are deep political questions. Since the Lahaina wildfires, Hawaiian Electric has appeared flat-footed. It is paying for decades of deferred investment in the grid. Major transmission lines cross mountainous terrain, and they failed again in this storm. These lines are hard to fix on a good day, near impossible mid-storm. Even neighborhood distribution has failed. For decades, 

 were laid in the ground without any protective layer. These lines drown whenever flooding is severe.

HECO’s finances leave little room to harden the grid before the next storm. It sought legislation capping its wildfire liability and 

 against ratepayers — what critics call a bailout. And HECO’s holding company sold most of its stake in American Savings Bank to help pay its share of the $4 billion wildfire settlement. If a major hurricane struck urban Honolulu and destroyed critical infrastructure, could HECO rebuild at all?

Lala spared Honolulu. Policymakers should take the reprieve for what it is and prepare for the day that the big one comes.

Lala Sunday afternoon

<title>Hurricane Lala was a warning: Is Hawaiʻi ready for a direct hit on Honolulu?”</title>

In Nāʻālehu, floodwaters swept homes off their foundations; in Kaʻū, bridges were destroyed. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why a storm that spared Honolulu should serve as a warning.

Hurricane Lala was a warning: Is Hawaiʻi ready for a direct hit on Honolulu?”

Hawai'i Skies

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Jim Gurganious in Honolulu. "

This photo was taken from the ocean side of the Ala Wai Canal on Oct. 19, 2025, at 4:45 p.m. I found it striking because the rainbow's perfect emergence from the cloud line beautifully illustrates atmospheric moisture in action."

To submit your Hawai'i Skies photo, visit us 

20251019 1645123

<title>Hawaiʻi Skies: A perfect emergence</title>

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Jim Gurganious in Honolulu.

Hawaiʻi Skies: A perfect emergence

Hannah Coburn HPR

Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn

Viewpoints

Aloha Spirit

The final resting place of Aunty Muriel “Puni” Ioane’s ancestors lies at the Mākua Protestant Cemetery, just makai of Mākua Valley on Oʻahu’s leeward coast.

A large yellow gate blocks the road to the cemetery, where a warning sign reads: “Danger. This area is a munitions response site. Munitions may be present.” Beyond the yellow gate is a bridge that collapsed during the Kona Low storms earlier this year, making the cemetery inaccessible by car.

Ioane is a direct lineal descendant of Mākua. She grew up on Mākua Ranch, in ʻŌhikilolo, the neighboring valley. Two generations of her family are buried at the cemetery, and for more than two decades, she has been unable to visit the grave sites.

Whether the barrier stems from military restrictions, decisions of the private caretaker of the cemetery, or a combination of both, has been unclear to Ioane.

The author reached out to the U.S. Army multiple times for comment, and no one responded.

While visiting cemeteries is a common tradition in many cultures to honor loved ones, Ioane cannot access the graves of her own ancestors whose ties to Mākua span generations.

In moʻolelo, Mākua (meaning parent) is where Papa (earth mother) and Wākea (sky father) meet, making Mākua a place of deep cultural and spiritual significance.

Before the military’s presence in Mākua was established, it was home to many Hawaiian and immigrant families.

Ioane was born in 1950. Her father, William (Willie) Pali Enos, was born and raised in Mākua, where he grew up with his father, mother and seven siblings. She remembers stories her dad used to share of him riding a donkey or taking an old truck to get to Waiʻanae Elementary School in the late 1920s.

“On days when the kids wanted to play hooky from school, they would do something to the truck, so no one would have to go,” Ioane laughed.

Ioane recalled her dad sharing memories of taking the train to Kawaihāpai to visit his grandma and packing food in burlap bags to share with everyone. Back then, there was no electricity, running water, or telephones.

Her father eventually met her mother, Miriam Akama Enos; she first noticed him while riding the train through Waiʻanae.

“She said that she never thought she’d meet him,” Ioane recalled. “But back then, all the cowboys used to have a night out and go into a rest camp for dancing. My mom said that’s where she saw him again.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The two married in 1949 and raised their family in Mākua."}]

Growing up on Mākua Ranch in the 1950s, Ioane learned to fish, hunt, ride horses and raise her own pigs. “My dad taught us how to go up in the forest,” Ioane said. “He was a hunter, and my mom’s thing was the ocean.”

Her mother made her own throw nets to catch fish, taught Ioane and her siblings how to catch and clean eel, and kept a vegetable garden that helped feed their family.

Ioane’s dad was the ranch foreman at McCandless Ranch in Mākua and a true paniolo. He slaughtered cattle and pigs, hunted goats, and even made his own saddles, ropes, and chaps.

The Enos family lived a subsistence lifestyle, growing and gathering what they needed to feed themselves, their family, and even sharing with other families in the village.

When some Hawaiʻi residents began living at Mākua Beach, Ioane said that her parents would always take care of them.

“We don’t call them homeless; they were just living on the beach,” she explained. “But they didn’t have food or any place to go, so my dad and mom used to bring them home to the ranch because we had small houses around they could live in.”

They would get their water from wells in Mākua but still did not have any electricity. Ioane said that they had lanterns and kerosene stoves.

During summers, Ioane and her two sisters would work for 32 cents a week helping with the charcoal holes their dad built and they looked forward to saving their money together so that they could visit a store in Māʻili to buy one can of sardines, one loaf of bread, and one big bottle of strawberry soda.

The military first began using parcels of land for training in the 1920s but seized control of Mākua Valley in 1941. A year later, the military evicted everyone living in the valley. The Army promised those families that their lands would be returned six months later, but that promise was never fulfilled.

In 1964, the Army signed a 65-year lease with the State of Hawaiʻi for Mākua Valley that is set to expire in 2029. It cost the Army $1.

Ioane said her father would speak about how Mākua was taken away and never returned. While some families left for different valleys, others had nowhere to go but into the bushes, she recalled him sharing.

Ioane grew up after the evictions, and she recalled the military’s presence in Mākua.

She explained that the military had no relationship with the local families. Even as military exercises, live-fire training, and bombing took place in the valley, there was no communication or concern for the damage being inflicted on the land.

Ioane and her family remained on Mākua Ranch. After her father died in 1966, they stayed four more years and later moved to their relatives’ property in Waiʻanae.

Friends have tried to help Ioane make arrangements to visit the cemetery, but confusion over who controls access has made the process difficult.

“According to state park staff, there is another entrance on the north side of Mākua, but access through this entrance has also been compromised by the storm (damaged culvert),” Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Communications Specialist Ryan Aguilar said in an email. “Currently, the only way to gain access is to walk along the beach.”

The Division of State Parks is handling repairs for the damaged bridges, though a start date has yet to be determined. Aguilar said designs and plans are required first.

For kūpuna like Ioane, who is 75, accessing the cemetery on foot via Mākua Beach is not ideal. The route would require going down a steep, rocky drop-off, walking up from the beach, and locating an unmarked path.

A chain-link fence surrounds the cemetery, with the entrance secured by a dial combination lock. At least 25 burial plots are enclosed. Although access is restricted, the cemetery appeared well maintained.

The caretaker likely keeps the cemetery locked to protect the graves from disturbances and vandalism. However, this also keeps lineal descendants of those buried there, including Ioane, from accessing it.

DLNR did not comment on restoration efforts, though they connected Ioane to the cemetery’s private caretaker. She is now one step closer to visiting the cemetery.

“The caretaker of the cemetery called me,” Ioane said. “He said anytime I want to visit the cemetery, to give him a call.”

The cemetery’s presence serves as a reminder of the families who once called the valley home. For descendants like Ioane, it is a connection to generations of her family, history, and place. Ultimately, returning to Mākua, and the cemetery, means returning to her parents.

[{"type":"text","text":"“When I see Mākua, I see my dad,” Ioane said."}]

This story is an adaptation of an article originally published on July 15, 2026, by “Hawaiʻi Public Radio” under the title “Returning to Mākua: A lineal descendant’s journey to revisit her family.”

This article is reprinted with permission from 

OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper: "Returning to Mākua" by Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn, in its August 2026 issue, Vol. 43 No. 8. Read more at 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Aunty Puni 16x9

<title>Community Voices: Returning to Mākua</title>

While visiting cemeteries is a common tradition in many cultures to honor loved ones, Aunty Muriel “Puni” Ioane cannot access the graves of her own ancestors whose ties to Mākua span generations.

Community Voices: Returning to Mākua

WEB square crop Hayley Lehman Headshot RGZ1636

Haley Lehman

Crime & Courts

Seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit against Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on July 30, alleging that the new Critical Habitat Exclusion Rule prioritizes economic development over environmental protections.

The President Donald Trump administration redefined what constitutes “harm” to endangered species and habitats so now officials will analyze economic and national security impacts when deciding if a habitat is crucial to species’ survival. The 

 requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider excluding an area if a party provides “credible information” on the impact of a critical habitat designation, and the service is authorized to exclude areas from critical habitat if the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of designating it a critical habitat. The change would allow for development on critical wildlife habitat if the animals are not immediately killed or injured.

Attorneys Barclay Samford, Brian Segee, Elizabeth B. Forsyth, Honolulu-based Harley M. Broyles, Bristen L. Boyles and Maxx Elizabeth Phillips filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi, Defenders of Wildlife, National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Wildearth Guardians and Save the Manatee Club.

The plaintiffs asked the court to vacate the new rule and restore critical habitat exclusions that were previously in place, writing that designating critical habitat is critical to the Endangered Species Act’s goal to recover endangered and threatened species and that the rule violates the National Environmental Protection Act.

The Department of the Interior has until Sept. 28 to respond to the lawsuit. The U.S. Department of the Interior told Aloha State Daily by email on Aug. 6, “The Department stands by the rule. The rule faithfully implements the Endangered Species Act as written by Congress.”

 EarthJustice's Mid-Pacific Office, said that the rule takes away the agency’s discretion when it comes to protecting endangered or threatened species.

“The rule has been changed to favor development interests over the protection of and threatened species, and we all know that a big part of what preserves species population is that habitat protection is vital. Species thrive when they have their natural habitat,” she said.

According to the lawsuit, the regulation change “unlawfully provides industry special interests with an effective veto over important agency decisions to protect essential habitat for imperiled species of wildlife.”

Broyles said that the organizations and nonprofits have an interest in protecting species that can’t advocate for themselves.

Hawaiʻi makes up .29% of the nation’s land mass and is home to 

“The future for our native species is under threat and in 

that’s going to have a lot of repercussions,” she said.

The plaintiffs want to protect imperiled species, biodiversity and species’ connection with people who are of the land, Broyles said. The lawsuit tied the interests to members across the country who are concerned about manatees in Florida, the ʻiʻiwi bird and honu in Hawaiʻi, the monarch butterfly and western bumble bee in Montana and the jumping mouse in New Mexico. 

The lawsuit points to a Hawaiian living on Kauaʻi, who was raised with the ʻiʻiwi as a symbol of the living native forest, her ancestral connection to the ʻāina and her respect for honu, which is regarded as an ʻaumakua, an ancestral guardian spirit.

ʻIʻiwi bird

<title>Environmental groups file lawsuit against Interior Secretary, U.S. Fish and Wildlife…</title>

Seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit against Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service alleging that the new Critical Habitat Exclusion Rule prioritizes economic development over environmental protections. The Interior Department wrote that they stand by the regulation.

Environmental groups file lawsuit against Interior Secretary, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 just opened today in Waimalu Shopping Center. This is the business’s third and newest location. It features a full-service, sit-down dine-in experience, along with a takeout window. 

The biz is celebrating its grand opening tomorrow, Aug. 15, with a lion dance at 11:30 a.m.

Customers can expect a variety of manapua, along with dim sum, peking duck and plate lunches; this location features an expanded menu.

The business’s Hong Kong-style dim sum selection was crafted in partnership with its sister restaurant, Mei Sum Dim Sum. The dim sum menu comprises spring rolls ($4.95), potstickers ($6.35), shrimp pork hash ($6.35), half moon dumplings ($6.35), shrimp dumplings ($6.35) and more.

[{"type":"text","text":"The business’s classic char siu manapua is a bestseller."}]

Besides manapua and dim sum, customers can choose from a variety of local-style plate lunches. Entrees include ginger fried chicken, kalbi ribs, garlic butter shrimp, hamburger steak and more. Seafood and steak combo plates are also available. 

Island Manapua is re-branding its other two locations in Mānoa and Waipahu as Aloha Manapua.

“Over the years, we’ve grown from being a neighborhood manapua counter into a gathering place for families, friends and our community,” states Christy Tong, owner of Aloha Manapua. “Rebranding as Aloha Manapua celebrates our local roots, our commitment to serving our community, and the relationships we’ve built with our customers. While our name is changing, our dedication to the food and service our customers know and love remains the same.”

The ‘Aiea store will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. For the rest of August, customers can take advantage of a 10% discount.

Aloha Manapua shrimp dim sum 081426

<title>Aloha Manapua is open in Waimalu Shopping Center</title>

This is the business’s third and newest location; it’s celebrating its grand opening Aug. 15. Customers can enjoy its signature manapua, along with dim sum and plate lunches. The business is featuring a 10% discount for the rest of the month.

Aloha Manapua is open in Waimalu Shopping Center

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

University of Hawai‘i water polo head coach 

 is stepping down, the school announced on Thursday, characterizing his departure as a choice to "

pursue other professional opportunities."

Robinson, who took over following the retirement of former head coach Maureen Cole, went 38-11 in his two seasons as the head coach in Mānoa, winning two Big West championships along with two NCAA Tournament appearances. 

Robinson, a native of Southern California, played collegiately for the UCLA men's team from 2013 to 2017. His first coaching job was as his alma mater as an assistant coach for the UCLA women's team from 2019-2022. 

In 2022, Robinson was named the associate head coach for UH, a position he held until he was elevated to head coach following Cole's retirement. 

"We want to sincerely thank James for his outstanding dedication and leadership over the past four seasons," UH athletics director Matt Elliott said in a statement. "He seamlessly transitioned into the head coaching role, maintaining the standard of excellence that defines our women's water polo program and bringing home back-to-back Big West titles. We wish him the best in his future professional endeavors."

Following the 2026 season, a pair of UH star players in Agatha Weston and 

Ariadna Temprano Xambó transferred to UCLA. Meanwhile, former UCLA women's head coach Adam Wright stepped down in July, and the school has yet to name a head coach after conducting a national search.

Candice Vorbeck has been named the team's interim head coach, though, the school says it will conduct a national search for the permanent role. 

Hawai‘i's 2027 season will start in January. Unlike the vast majority of the school's teams that have departed for the Mountain West Conference, the Rainbow Wahine will remain in the Big West Conference as affiliate members. The Mountain West does not offer women's water polo.

Daily Smile: Thursday, June 25, 2026

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Authors

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