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When you thought you were getting a smart German Shepherd but instead you got one with one brain cell...

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<title>Daily Smile: Friday, June 26, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Friday, June 26, 2026

 When you thought you were getting a smart German Shepherd but instead you got one with one brain cell...

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Led by a clutch performance from redshirt freshman slot receiver 

, the University of Hawai‘i football team escaped with a 17-14 victory at UTEP on Saturday evening. 

Hawai‘i improved to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in Mountain West games, while UTEP dropped to 1-7 overall and 0-5 in conference play. 

Lacaden hauled in a game and career-high 11 receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown, each catch seemingly arriving at a crucial time for the 'Bows. 

The Rainbow Warriors got the scoring started with Lacaden's 20-yard touchdown reception from Micah Alejado with 2:57 remaining in the first quarter. After a Sean Olvera-Harle field goal gave the 'Bows a 10-0 lead with 7:01 left in the second quarter, the Miners responded in les than 40 seconds with Lamar Sperling's 5-yard run with 6:25 left in the half. 

Following a scoreless third quarter for both teams, a 23-yard Lacaden reception set up a 6-yard Sitani Mikaele touchdown to give the Rainbow Warriors a 17-7 lead with 10:08 left. The Miners again responded promptly with a 15-yard touchdown reception from Judah Ezinwa with 6:57 remaining. 

On the ensuing drive, the Rainbow Warriors went into clock milking mode after multiple first downs. When UTEP burned its final timeout prior to a UH third down with 2:10 remaining, Lacaden's final reception of the day sealed the Hawai‘i victory. 

Defensively, Jamih Otis was the standout of the game for the Rainbow Warriors with 10 tackles, including 1.5 for loss and half a sack. Nickelback Elijah Palmer added seven tackles and two forced fumbles for the 'Bows, one of which was recovered by Matagi Thompson and set up the team's first score of the game. 

Quarterback Micah Alejado completed 26 of his 40 passes for 303 yards, a touchdown, and an interception thrown with four seconds left in the first half when Hawai‘i was in the red zone. 

With no margin for error as far as their bowl hopes are concerned, the Rainbow Warriors won their second straight victory on Saturday. Up next is a 6 p.m. home kickoff against North Dakota State on Nov. 14 at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. 

Titan Lacaden 110726

<title>Lacaden's clutch day leads Hawai‘i football to narrow victory at UTEP</title>

The Rainbow Warriors held on to their bowl hopes with a 17-14 win in El Paso on Saturday.

Lacaden's clutch day leads Hawai‘i football to narrow victory at UTEP

Over the summer, the NCAA announced another sweeping change in a decade full of them, introducing new aged-based eligibility rules for student-athletes. 

NCAA student-athletes now have a continuous five-year eligibility window that starts when one graduates high school or turns 19, whichever comes first. 

Under previous rules, student-athletes had four years to compete and could gain a fifth year by redshirting. Athletes could also get a sixth year via medical hardship waiver. When the NCAA granted student-athletes an extra year of eligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, it created an influx of athletes that were able to reach Year 7 and beyond. 

The new five-year rule essentially eliminates redshirts and comes with just a few exceptions, including religious missions, military service and pregnancy. 

Because of age, not all student-athletes will automatically have five years at their disposal. But across the country, many student-athletes entering their fourth years ahead of the 2026-2027 thought they were seniors and thus would be done after the season. That is no longer the case. And in the age of NIL and the transfer portal, many will feel inclined to explore their options once their respective seasons are over. 

As coaches adapt to the five-year eligibility rule, it promises to create roster crunches for the time being. Aloha State Daily asked a handful of University of Hawai‘i head coaches how they plan to adjust to the new rule and the different aspects that come with it. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Timmy Chang, football"}]

Back when Chang was a quarterback for Hawai‘i in the early 2000s, he played five years the old school way — his sophomore season in 2001 was limited to three games because of a wrist injury. Because he played less than a third of the season, he was granted a medical redshirt. The extra season, in part, allowed him to set the NCAA passing yardage record with 17,072, though he was eventually passed by Houston's Case Keenum, who received six years from 2006 to 2011 after a traditional redshirt and medical hardship.

Prior to the 2018 season, it was announced by the NCAA that football players could play in any four games and maintain a redshirt. Although it kept players engaged and provided breathing room to not burn a season by playing a handful of snaps, that rule has since gone out the window. With 105 roster spots and no transfer limits after the season, does Chang feel inclined to play less true freshmen? 

"I think the biggest thing, if you have value here in your freshman season, whether the value comes from offense, special teams, you might not be a starter week one, but things happen. You ready? You get your opportunity," Chang said. "You get put in there. That's what we look for. Hopefully, the guys continue to develop, they grow, they understand the sense of urgency that happens and they're ready to perform."

56-21 win at Northern Illinois on Oct. 24

, true freshman cornerback Kydel Stone snagged his first career interception while true freshman running back TJ Fo'ilefutu ran for his first touchdown. 

Fifth-year senior receiver Pofele Ashlock has not played in 2026 due to a knee injury. Under the old rules, he would have been granted a sixth year in 2027 in all likelihood. Though UH has petitioned for it, they have yet to receive an answer from the NCAA. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Michele Nagamine, soccer"}]

Roster logjams across all sports are expected in the wake of the new rule. For Nagamine, that means some tough conversations with high school recruits. 

"It's something that everybody's just trying to figure out, but it's a matter of are we going to recruit players for [the high school class of] 2028 when we could possibly have a [traditional four-year] senior returning? Obviously, if we could get a senior to return that has been impactful on the field and a good member of the team, then we would we would gladly take that over [the high school recruit]. So, we've had some conversations," she said early on in the 2026 season. 

The Rainbow Wahine honored nine seniors following a 

. Standout goalkeeper Kennedy Justin was one of them, though she has already announced she will play collegiate soccer in 2027. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Joshua Walker, women's volleyball"}]

Upon getting offered and accepting the UH women's volleyball gig in June, Walker hit the ground running in the recruiting trail. Prep Dig currently ranks Hawai‘i's 2027 recruiting class as the 

. All 15 players on the current roster would be eligible to return in 2027, though outside hitter Tali Hakas recently announced the 2026 indoor season will be her last, and that she'll move on from college after playing the 2027 spring beach season with the Rainbow Wahine. 

"I don't have to make any decisions just yet," Walker said back in August. "For us, it's just getting established with this team and see how things are going to go. But as we hit towards the back end of the year, those questions kind of come up. We'll address those then."

Though women's basketball teams are permitted to have up to 15 players on the roster, Mitchell has deliberately kept 12 in her debut season. The foundation of her roster consists of star junior center Ritorya Tamilo and sophomore guard Bailey Flavell. When she brings in new players, particularly high school recruits, will they operate under the thinking that they have five years? 

"I haven't adjusted in the way of telling them, 'Hey, you get five years here.' I think because of this era, I think you take it a year at a time, and you see what works best for not just the player, but for us as well," Mitchell said. "I hope every player wants to stay here. That would be the real win of the entire season, is we identify our standard, and every single player on this roster wants to return because we've increased and tried to make sure that they had a really good playing experience.

"That's been the key to success here: consistency and retention, and that's still my number one priority. How do I recruit them every day, right? I want them to know how invested I am in them and in their professional aspirations. ... I want what they want. If I've done my job and I made them the best player they can be, and I can no longer offer them something, then absolutely, I'm their number one fan. But if they want to stay here and do this together with us, I want that as well."

 graduated high school in 2019, then went on a two-year church mission. His NCAA clock began in 2021. After suffering an ACL injury prior to the 2025-2026 season, he was granted a sixth year via medical hardship redshirt. For the first time in his life, he's teammates with his little brother, UH freshman guard Tiger Cuff. Under the new rules, that wouldn't have been permitted. 

Though redshirts are out of the picture, Ganot says he and his staff will continue to be flexible towards new rule changes. In the 2026-2027 season, his roster of 15 consists of 13 newcomers. 

"We haven't burned any redshirt years since we've been here. Now it's out of the equation, so it's kind of all hands on deck," Ganot said. "Certainly when you have injuries, I think in terms of the landscape of college athletics, and even with the five-for-five, you've seen what we've done. We're like chameleons. You've seen the new world. I feel like we can still bring in some young prospects that we can develop. We've done a really good job with even looking outside the box with two Division II players that we feel are really good [in 

 and Isaiah Kerr]. Obviously over the years we've brought in some junior college guys. We bring in the global component, and we incorporate the transfers. So, I feel like working to continue to do that in this new world, even as you bring in the five in five, we will be flexible in terms of balance of our roster of where we're bringing them from."

Wade says he knew the five-year rule was on the horizon, and it's informed the way he's managed his roster in recent years. His son, Kainoa, could have redshirted as a true freshman in 2025, but Charlie Wade saw no point in that.

"I've known it's coming for years," he said. "I was one of the few people that was saying it's coming, and so redshirt's not really been a thing, right? Kainoa came in [as a spring semester enrollee] and we played him. Even last year with [middle blocker] Roman [Payne] hurt, he redshirted only because of injury. Everybody knew that the five-for-five was going to come in, and you're not going to get a sixth. So, redshirt really hasn't been a thing for a few years. Just get guys out there, start playing them, start to develop them even more."

 have some tantalizing options as it pertains to players getting an additional year. Kainoa Wade is one of them. Setter Tread Rosenthal was just 17 when he enrolled at Hawai‘i in 2024, and the 2027 season would have been his senior year. The new rule allows him to come back in 2028. But would a player of his ilk stay another year in college instead of go pro? 

"Everybody's looking at it like, 'OK, we have a chance [to play an extra year].' I think most of the core guys are going to go pro, right? I know Kainoa is already talking about getting his masters, and Travell [Jordan] may stick around for year five, but a lot of the other guys, they've been turning down professional offers for quite some time," Wade said. "And then you have to you sync it up with graduation, also. A lot of them are graduating, and so coming back, you can't just come back and play a fifth year. You actually have to go to school, and you have to be in a grad program. So, it really will be more of a case-by-case thing. I'd like to have them all back, but yeah, what's it worth to the [athletics] department to pay those guys in rev share to come back for a whole other year?"

Charlie Wade 110626

<title>UH coaches dish on NCAA's new five-year eligibility rule</title>

With an extra year for some players to work with, recruiting strategy and roster construction has changed for every sport.

UH coaches dish on NCAA's new five-year eligibility rule

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

, which has a trailer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, is opening its first brick-and-mortar cafe tomorrow in Kakaʻako.

The cafe is in the former space of Poke Stand by Shokudo on KawaiaHa‘o St

The business specializes in matcha sourced from Fukuoka, Japan, according to business owner Ryo Hirayama.

“I’m from Fukuoka; all the matcha on the Island is mostly coming from Shizuoka, and a lot of it is Uji matcha,” Hirayama says. “My family has a shop in Fukuoka that sells matcha utensils and chawan (the traditional Japanese vessel used to prepare matcha).

“I grew up on Yame matcha; Yame is a region in Fukuoka,” he adds. “When I came to Oʻahu, I was like, ‘How come there’s no yame?’ I did more research on it. I just wanted to spread awareness of the goodness and quality of yame matcha.”

Hirayama, who says he "always wanted to do something with matcha," explains that a double roasting process results in the matcha’s nuttier flavor.

“It’s a double roasting process that makes it unique,” he confirms. “We don’t use any artificial sugars for our regular matcha base.”

Hirayama says the menu at the Kakaʻako store is similar to the one at the business’s UH Mānoa location. However, the larger cafe space allows the business to expand its menu in the future.

“It’s (the cafe) got a freezer, so we can expand more toward shakes, we can use ice cream, too,” Hirayama says. “My soft serve machine is on the way. There are so many things I can’t do in a trailer.”

Popular drinks include Yame signature matcha or hojicha ($8), Yame Einspanner ($8.75), banana dream ($8.50), and Okinawan brown sugar hojicha ($8.50).

Hirayama notes that there’s 6 grams of matcha in each drink, with the exception of the Einspanner — known for its concentrated matcha base — which has about 10 grams of matcha.

“People love the Einspanner,” he says. “Right now, we are doing a seasonal maple cookie hojicha. It started about a month ago; the Okinawan brown sugar hojicha is also a favorite.

“People that like sweeter drinks like our salted vanilla caramel ($8.50) and salted vanilla ($8.50),” he adds.

Yame Matcha House’s Kakaʻako cafe will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays (closed Mondays).

Open from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays (closed Mondays)

Yame Matcha House staff 110526

<title>Yame Matcha House is opening in Kakaʻako</title>

The business, known for its matcha from Fukuoka, Japan, is opening its first cafe in Kakaʻako. The biz has a trailer that pops up at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa from Mondays to Fridays; its Kakaʻako cafe grand opening is Nov. 7.

Yame Matcha House is opening in Kakaʻako

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A lawsuit over whether elephants are entitled to human rights will go before the Hawai‘i Supreme Court next week.

A 2023 petition that argued that two elephants at the Honolulu Zoo, Mari and Vaigai, have a common-law right to live free from imprisonment, goes before Hawai‘i’s highest court on Monday, Nov. 9.

The petition was filed by Florida-based nonprofit Nonhuman Rights Project, which argued in Honolulu’s First Circuit Court that Mari and Vaigai have a right to bodily liberty, and requested that the elephants be released to an elephant sanctuary. When the First Circuit and Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled against the NhRP — with Judge Keith Hiraoka writing for the appellate court that common law considers a “person” and an “animal” distinct legal concepts — the Supreme Court 

Since then, the elephants have gathered supporters from across the nation. Several groups have submitted 

 briefs — opinions from parties interested but unaffiliated in an ongoing case — in support of Mari, Vaigai and the NhRP.

One such brief was submitted by four experts on elephant cognition, who argued that the enrichment provided by zoos “cannot supply the scale, ecological diversity, social complexity, sensory stimulation, foraging opportunities and meaningful choice that elephants have evolved to require.”

Another brief was submitted by Edwin Cameron, a retired justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, that country’s highest court. Cameron wrote that South Africa follows national standards for the care of elephants that “recognize their sentient nature, highly organized social structure and ability to communicate.”

Cameron wrote that South Africa proves a legal system “can respond incrementally to what is known about elephants without resolving every question concerning the legal status of nonhuman animals.” Consequently, he wrote that a ruling in favor of Mari and Vaigai wouldn’t inherently call into question the rights of every animal in captivity.

Other briefs were submitted by members of the Los Angeles County Bar Association with expertise in animal law, as well as 20 law professors throughout the U.S. who specialize in the same field. Another was sent by a group of UK legal scholars, and yet another by a retired New York appeals judge.

The defendants in the case — the City and County of Honolulu, the Honolulu Department of Enterprise Services, DES Director Dita Holifield, and Honolulu Zoo Director John Berry — submitted rebuttals to each brief. Regarding Cameron’s arguments, the defendants countered that South African law has a different lineage than Hawai‘i law, which would be undermined by extending legal personhood to animals.

Meanwhile, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredited the Honolulu Zoo, submitted its own 

 in opposition to the Nonhuman Rights Project. The AZA argued that the critically endangered ‘alalā, or Hawaiian crow, is another cognitively complex and sophisticated animal that only exists today because of captive populations.

Granting Mari and Vaigai the right to not be imprisoned would turn the confinement of ‘alalā populations into a legal wrong, the AZA argued. The crows would therefore need to be released, and would likely face extinction.

The Supreme Court will consider these various arguments at a hearing on Nov. 9 at Punahou School’s Dillingham Hall.

Honolulu zoo elephants

<title>Elephants go to court next week</title>

Hawai‘i Supreme Court to hear arguments over whether Honolulu's elephants have legal personhood.

Elephants go to court next week

When you try to help the plumber with important installations. It needs zero golden retrievers but you try to help anyway...

Smile 26 11 3

<title>Daily Smile: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026

elevated dining concept called Girl Dinner

The restaurant is bringing back Girl Dinner for the holidays, and this 2.0 version is designed to share, according to chef Chris Murakami.

“It’s like a revamp of the original Girl Dinner; it’s reinvented, but still has the same things that everyone loves,” he says. “Instead of a marshmallow, we have a peppermint bark (for dessert).”

Girl Dinner is available from today until the end of January 2027. Diners can choose from the holiday classic ($190) or the holiday reserve ($290); both options are designed to share between two and four people, and they are served on a platter.

The holiday classic includes 2 ounces of ikura with crème fraiche, chives, cornichons and olives; Caesar salad; crispy chicken nuggets; Maui Onion chips; golden hash browns; and chocolate peppermint bark and signature lips lollipops for dessert. The spread also includes four martinis or one bottle of Champagne.

The holiday reserve includes all the same contents, but features 2 ounces of caviar instead of ikura.

Individuals could swap out the martini for a glass of wine instead, according to general manager Sarah Mendoza.

“It’s our take on ‘home for the holidays,’” she says. “We’re really bringing the ladies together to sip and gift exchange.”

The Dotted Line girl dinner 2 0 110226

<title>Girl Dinner returns to Honolulu for the holidays</title>

Earlier this year, The Dotted Line launched an elevated dining concept called Girl Dinner, in line with the social media trend. The downtown Honolulu restaurant brought back Girl Dinner 2.0 for the holidays; this version is designed to share among two to four people, and includes festive desserts like peppermint bark.

Daily Smile: Friday, June 26, 2026

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Daily Smile: Friday, June 26, 2026

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