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Hawai'i Skies

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Scott

<title>Hawaiʻi Skies: Sky show</title>

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Scott Martin on Lānaʻi.

Hawaiʻi Skies: Sky show

Today&#039;s Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Scott Martin on Lānaʻi. &quot;God provides us a nightly sky show that never disappoints.&quot; To submit your Hawai&#039;i Skies photo, visit us online or email: general@alohastatedaily.com For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Business & Tourism

t has announced its next director and CEO, David Odo, who will start on Sept. 1.

Odo, who grew up in Kailua, is currently the director and chief curator at the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia. There he oversees institutional vision and strategy, as well as fundraising, collections, educational direction, and more. 

Under Odo’s leadership, the Georgia Museum of Art had paid membership increase 67%, donors grow 8% and overall museum revenue increase 141%, according to numbers shared by HoMA.

“David brings the experience, vision and leadership that HoMA needs as we prepare to enter our second century,” said Amber Strong Makaiau, chair of HoMA’s board of trustees, in a written statement. “His record of strengthening museums through thoughtful strategic growth, sound institutional stewardship, and meaningful community engagement gives us every confidence that he is the right leader for HoMA at this important moment in our history. His understanding of Hawai‘i and international experience uniquely position him to lead the museum forward.”

, who led the museum for about a year, and former director 

, who led it for five years, from 2020 to 2025, before becoming director at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.   

He is the son of Franklin Odo, who helped found the 

 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Previously, he held leadership positions at Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Art Gallery

“I am honored to work alongside the Honolulu Museum of Art’s talented team, trustees, members, supporters, educators, and community partners at this important moment in its history,” said Odo, in a written statement. “HoMA holds a world-class collection, deep civic roots, and a community that has claimed it as its own for nearly a hundred years. What excites me is honoring that legacy while boldly positioning the museum for its next century.”

Founded in 1927, HoMA has more than 55,000 works for art from around the world. As a middle school student, Oda remembers being drawn to the sculptures in the Buddhism gallery.

“They sparked my curiosity about world religions,” he said, in a written statement. “That’s one of the things I love about art museums — they hold so much possibility to encourage one’s interest in a limitless number of subjects, and I’m excited to continue that legacy for others in our community.”

HoMA is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, with extended hours until 9 p.m. on Fridays. Admission is $15 for kamaʻāina. It is free for youth 18 years old or younger, as well as college students attending Hawaiʻi state universities or colleges, and SNAP beneficiaries. 

David Odo

<title>HoMA announces new director and CEO</title>

The Honolulu Museum of Art has announced its next director and CEO, who will assume the role on Sept. 1. Learn more about the executive, who grew up in Kailua.

HoMA announces new director and CEO

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

A civil complaint alleging that Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke violating campaign spending laws will go to the state Attorney General for potential prosecution.

Last week, the Hawai‘i Campaign Spending Commission published a 

 accusing Luke and her campaign team of 12 different violations of campaign finance laws during the 2022 election.

On Wednesday, the Commission moved to refer their complaint to the state office of the Attorney General, which is already conducting a separate investigation into financial impropriety by Luke, tied to the infamous 

 that was the subject of an FBI investigation.

The commission’s complaint accuses Luke, her husband Michael Luke, campaign treasurers Emmanuel Zibakalam, Leodoloff Asuncion Jr., and Matthew Sasaki, deputy treasurer Kalowena Komeiji, and the Friends of Sylvia Luke of mishandling campaign funds.

The complaint includes allegations that Luke signed checks for her candidate committee instead of a treasurer, that her treasurers signed checks for the committee despite no longer being listed as treasurers — some of which were to the former treasurers themselves — and that the group failed to accurately report campaign expenditures to the commission.

The complaint concluded with two options: either the Commission concludes that a violation of law likely took place and refer the matter to the Attorney General; or the Commission makes its own preliminary determination, fines Luke and her associates $28,300 and orders them to correct their campaign spending reports within 20 days. 

On Wednesday, the Commission voted for the former option. The vote was unanimous, although Commission Vice Chair Danton Wong recused himself from proceedings Wednesday, citing a conflict of interest based on prior donations he made to Luke.

Eunice Park, general counsel for the Commission, said the extent of the alleged impropriety cannot be attributed to technical errors, particularly given Luke’s extensive political career. She said Luke had “ample opportunity” to correct the violations in the four years since her election, but did not.

Attorney David Louie, who represents Luke and the Friends of Sylvia Luke, spoke briefly before the Commission, but only to decline comment.

Fellow Attorney Randall Hironaka, representing Michael Luke, Komeiji and Sasaki, asked the Commission if his clients could be left off the complaint because, he said, the complaint does not allege any criminal activity by his clients, merely that untoward activity was made without their authorization.

Nonetheless, Park told Hironaka that it will be up to the Attorney General to determine the criminality of anyone named in the complaint.

Luke’s campaign finances from 2022 have come under heavy scrutiny this year as fallout continues from an FBI corruption investigation.

That investigation had previously alleged that former Hawai‘i Rep. Ty Cullen — who had turned informant for the agency — oversaw a transaction between an unknown man and “an influential state legislator” involving the $35,000 in 2022. In February, Luke denied any involvement in that transaction, but admitted that she had accepted two $5,000 checks during a 2022 dinner with former Cullen.

That admission — Luke claimed she never cashed the checks, but never reported the contributions — led to further investigations of Luke’s 2022 campaign finances. In the midst of the furor, Luke 

 in April she will not run for reelection this year, and days later 

 she would take an indefinite leave of absence, which has continued to this day.

DavidLouie

<title>State AG to investigate alleged Sylvia Luke campaign finance violations</title>

A complaint by the Campaign Spending Commission alleging 12 campaign finance violations has been referred to the state Attorney General for possible prosecution.

State AG to investigate alleged Sylvia Luke campaign finance violations

Anna O’Brien’s, the Irish pub in Mōʻiliʻili not far from the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, is under new management. The bar and performance space will have its soft opening on Friday, July 10, under the direction of singer and songwriter Tavana McMoore, who goes by the professional name, Tavana.

The pub’s upstairs space is being renamed Tavana’s at Anna’s and will be a listening room, where groups can perform. A new stage and a green room for the band are already in the works. Downstairs, Anna O’Brien’s will remain much the same as it has been in the past, with pool tables and darts, the singer and songwriter told Aloha State Daily.

“I spent my whole career here in Honolulu and have been given so much,” Tavana said. “There's so much talent out there in Honolulu, and I'm hoping that this can serve as a hub where people can come and curate their artistry and perfect it.”

Tavana started playing in this space as a teenager, more than 30 years ago. It is where he has seen some of his favorite bands, he said. The knick-knacks that the Irish pub has accumulated over the years will stay.

“All the cool quirky things about Anna's are still going to be here,” Tavana said. “It's still the same beautiful space it always has been, and I'm just showing up every single day and trying to beautify it.”

The space will continue to have its outdoor patio, he added.

“People can go out and relax outside, as well,” he said.

When the pub’s owners wanted to move on to other things, Tavana stepped in.

“The idea of it not being here was really a not fun thought,” he said. “It means a lot to me to be able to come in here and start to curate shows and try to save the space.”

Just days ago, on Tuesday, July 7, the Irish pub celebrated its 57th birthday. The space will be celebrating that milestone, plus soft opening under new management, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 10. There is a $20 cover charge.

“We got Nick Danger and Ronnie V's flying over,” Tavana said. “We got Local Mojo. I'll be playing there. A lot of other musicians are going to be stopping by. Everybody's talking about it. We're all pretty excited.”

Other events on the calendar for July include 

karaoke, comedy, and musical open mic nights, as well as live performances

Tavana

<title>Anna O’Brien’s under new management</title>

Learn what will and won't change as this Irish pub — not far from the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa — soft opens under new management on Friday, July 10.

Anna O’Brien’s under new management

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

If you’re a street junkie, shooting up heroin in Chinatown, the State of Hawai‘i has your back. It’ll take our tax dollars and turn them into clean needles, so you can keep on shooting safely.

Fentanyl addict? Go for it! Chances are you’ll never get busted for public intoxication (though it’s a crime), or possession (a crime), and if you overdose, the state will once again turn tax dollars into Narcan to save your life. All your emergency rooms visits? Not to worry! “The people” have you covered with their tax dollars and inflated insurance premiums.

If you’re an alcoholic, the State of Hawai‘i just doesn’t care. Legislators drink, after all, they’re not going to go after their own Heineken and Merlot. Just don’t drink and drive, that’s the only area where we see public policy put any time and money. Everyone seems perfectly confident that ID checks at the liquor store are keeping booze out of the hands of children.

Love pot? Lucky you live Hawai‘i! Hawai‘i loves pot and Hawai‘i loves you! It’s de facto legal, based on how often you can smell pot in the open. And it’s trivially easy to go the law-abiding medical marijuana route. Tell a doctor you’re anxious, get a prescription and it’s off the pot pharmacy you go. Enjoy! After all, we’ve hashed this issue out for years now and all sensible people agree that drug prohibitions never work. You have to respect people’s choices and just legalize and tax their habit.

But if you’re a smoker who’d like to quit smoking cigarettes by going to a safer but similar alternative, this same State of Hawai‘i has just two words.

, Gov. Josh Green just signed a law that as of January 1, 2027, will ban “99.9% of disposable vapes” in Hawai‘i. Flanked by public health officials and the obligatory Child For Whom We Do This, he positively beamed with pride.

Over what, exactly? Doctor Governor Green should be aware that if harm reduction works for hard drugs, it certainly does with nicotine. The UK’s NHS (formerly known as the National Health Service), which is beloved by American Democrats as an ideal model of universal health care, has 

“In recent years, e-cigarettes have become a very popular stop smoking aid in the UK. Also known as vapes or e-cigs, they're far less harmful than cigarettes, and can help you quit smoking for good. … Many thousands of people in the UK have already stopped smoking with the help of an e-cigarette. There's evidence that they can be effective. A 2021 review found people who used e-cigarettes to quit smoking, as well as having expert face-to-face support, can be up to twice as likely to succeed as people who used other nicotine replacement products, such as patches or gum.”

Our reporter asked Green about that. He replied with skepticism, saying, “The biggest problem has been getting an entire generation … innumerable middle schoolers and high schoolers hooked,” Green said. “Society has found ways to quit traditional cigarettes through medical means, through behavioral techniques; we should lean on those.”

Does he even hear himself? He said this while signing an e-cig prohibition law. Not medical means, not behavioral techniques, no, just the ban hammer. Meanwhile, actual tobacco cigarettes, the really dangerous ones we didn’t ban, remain perfectly available.

Then Green put Lola Irvin on the spot for further comment on our question. Irvin is administrator of the state Department of Health’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division. As we reported, she said adults who have concurrently used traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes are less likely to successfully quit smoking, while young people who begin using e-cigarettes are more likely to transition to smoking traditional cigarettes.

[{"type":"text","text":"So much for harm reduction!"}]

Irvin seems unaware of the NHS findings I shared above about people successfully using e-cigs to quit tobacco cigarettes or reduce their intake. There are other studies.

Efficacy and Safety of E-Cigarette Use for Smoking Cessation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

,” for example, published in 2023 at The American Journal of Medicine. Conclusion: “Nicotine e-cigarettes were associated with increased smoking abstinence in comparison with non-nicotine e-cigarettes. Furthermore, nicotine and non-nicotine e-cigarettes increased abstinence compared with conventional smoking cessation therapies, and the absolute risk of [Serious Adverse Events] was low across all trials. Overall, these data suggest e-cigarettes appear to be more efficacious than conventional nicotine replacement or behavioral smoking cessation therapies.”

, published last November. “Nicotine e-cigarettes can help people to stop smoking for at least six months,” it concludes. “Evidence shows they work better than nicotine replacement therapy, and probably better than e-cigarettes without nicotine. They may work better than no support, or behavioral support alone, and may not be associated with serious unwanted effects.”

As for her arguments that e-cigs and vaping makes teenagers more likely to take up smoking real tobacco cigarettes, there are indeed studies that find teens given to try vices will try both vaping and smoking, sometimes in that order, sometimes the other way around. These studies find they’ll often also try pot and booze.

When you measure what youths actually do, however, the astonishing and wonderful fact is that 

peaked in 1997 at 36.4%, considerably higher than the adult rate that year of 24.7%. By 2021, the youth smoking rate dropped to just 3.8%, well below the adult rate of 11.5%.

That’s an 86% decline in just 24 years, across all ethnicities, sexes and grade levels.

And it has dropped even more since then, despite the arrival of e-cigs and vaping. As of 2024, according to the 

, just 1.4% of high school students reported any use of tobacco cigarettes.

, found that from 2022 to 2025, e-cigarette and tobacco cigarette use among youth further declined while nicotine pouch use remained low and stable.

In other words, we won the war on youth smoking, without any prohibitions at all. When our governor says that "an entire generation … innumerable middle schoolers and high schoolers" have just been "hooked" on nicotine, he is flat out lying. The exact opposite is true. 

Rather than declare victory and keep on with existing, obviously effective policies, Hawai‘i snatched a crisis from the jaws of success and enacted this ban.

Because they did so in part to “protect our keiki,” they had a student speak at yesterday's press conference, Maya Butts. The bathrooms at her school, Kalaheo High School, she said have become just “places to vape.”

That’s surely against school rules and is certainly already illegal, so this sounds like an enforcement problem to me. Except the enforcers failed to uphold existing law. Then she said:

“I’ve watched my smart, athletic friends completely lose their motivation. They got hooked on these devices that taste like candy, move on to other substances, then lose their spark altogether.”

I hate to break it to Butts, but if vaping makes her schoolmates lethargic and lazy, they aren’t vaping nicotine. They’re vaping pot.

But the ban is about more than health and protecting kids, Green said, and the text of the legislation argues. It’s about protecting the environment. In each disposable vape is a battery and these batteries are getting into the environment, they asserted, without data.

Setting aside the fact that I’ve never seen the gutters lined with thrown-away vapes the way one used to see cigarette butts, I’ll just note that this is the same state government that is forcing us to import batteries by the tons for our carbon-free solar future. A half-ton battery in every EV. Batteries the size of a Matson cargo container for the solar farms. All with no plan for their disposal or recycling.

OK, so if you dig into facts and find that there is no youth smoking crisis, and the stated rationalizations for the ban range from transparently bogus to logically inconsistent, what’s really going on here?

[{"type":"text","text":"Class warfare, that’s what."}]

Vaping nicotine is, by and large, a lower-middle class and working-class vice. Construction laborers, single moms working two or three jobs, people who ride the bus. People who rent. They have ambitions and aspirations constantly thwarted by Hawai‘i high cost of living and ridiculously unnecessary housing shortage.

They’re tired, they’re stressed. They turned, at some point in their lives, to Kool Milds and Marlboro Lights to deal with it all. They know smoking is bad, though, but quitting is hard. Smoking is a pleasure, it’s a consolation. It both calms anxiety and sharpens concentration.

Then, miracle of miracles, technology gave them a better choice. Tobacco-free nicotine they can inhale for the same soothing, sensual pleasures they got from smoking, with none of the known carcinogens, none of the pilau smell.

On the other hand, we have the upper-middle class and those who aspire to that status. Your governors, legislators, health department careerists and high school faculty. People with social capital and clout, if not vast wealth beyond the equity in their home that they own. Few to none of these white-collar, college-educated professionals ever smoked, or quit years ago. They know better.

[{"type":"text","text":"They took one look at vaping and thought, in unison:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“That looks stupid. That looks tacky. That looks low-class.”"}]

That’s it. That’s the whole mindset. All the people who pushed this ban won’t say it, because they know how it sounds. No one wants to be seen as a snob and a Karen, they want to hide that. So they prop up children as human shields, gin up a non-existent crisis and use health and the environment as fig leaves.

All those smiling faces at that press conference? That’s the look of people gloating in triumph.

[{"type":"text","text":"“We took something stupid away from the stupid people! Yay, us!”"}]

That’s all that happened yesterday, and Hawai‘i is a better place as a result. For them.

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.

Vapes i Stock 2232713126 16x9

<title>Pipikaula Corner: Hawai‘i's fraudulent vape ban</title>

On Tuesday, Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green signed into law a ban on "99.9% of disposable vapes." It's a move totally at odds with the harm reduction strategies the state uses for all other vices, argues ASD Editor in Chief A. Kam Napier. And it's in response to a non-existent crisis, in that teen smoking and vaping is the lowest it's ever been in a quarter century.

Pipikaula Corner: Hawai‘i's fraudulent vape ban

Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"\"This is the largest stick Daisy has ever selected to bring home...\""}]

Smile 26 1 28

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, January 28, 2026</title>

"This is the largest stick Daisy has ever selected to bring home..."

Daily Smile: Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

 has acquired three contiguous properties along the Kapi‘olani corridor for a combined price of $36 million.

The parcels, which total about 1.3 acres, are located at 1322, 1338 and 1356 Kapi‘olani Boulevard.

“This acquisition reflects our long-term vision for the Kapi‘olani corridor as a vibrant, high-density neighborhood within the Ala Moana neighborhood,” Tim Lee, CEO of JL Capital said in an announcement Friday. “With this site, we’re excited to continue shaping and improving the existing corridor with a thoughtfully planned and connected project that will elevate the experience of living in urban Honolulu.”

Details on a project scope and timeline will be announced as plans progress, the announcement noted.

Lee told Aloha State Daily via email that the parcels "presented a rare opportunity to secure a sizable, contiguous footprint in one of Honolulu’s most well-connected and visible urban corridors."

Their location makes the properties "exceptionally well-suited for a future project that supports the area’s evolving mix of residential, commercial and transit-oriented uses," he says.

"Another advantage of the Kapi’olani corridor is the potential for excellent ocean views due to the open sightlines over Ala Moana Center and surrounding mid-rise structures."

 last sold in August 2022 for $6.85 million. Meanwhile, 

 sold for a bit more than $10.7 million in September of that same year — a total sale price of nearly $38 million. Hoaka Heights, LLC was the fee holder for all three parcels, according to the records, which don't appear to have been updated since the JL Capital acquisition.

"We see the Kapi‘olani corridor as one of Honolulu’s most dynamic areas of growth, connecting Ala Moana, Waikīkī and Downtown with access to retail, recreation and emerging transit infrastructure," Lee told ASD when asked about the developer's focus on the area. "It's a natural location for thoughtfully designed projects that align with the city’s long-term vision for a walkable, connected urban core. Our investments here are part of a long-term vision." 

JL Capital, a real estate and private equity firm founded in 2017, has completed or initiated a number of major projects in Honolulu's Ala Moana neighborhood and along the Kapi‘olani corridor in recent years, Lee says.

, a $507 million mixed-use twin tower condominium and hotel at 1388 Kapi‘olani Blvd. 

Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa, a Marriott brand

, the developer's planned luxury high-rise at 1538 Kapi‘olani Blvd. 

. Lee says construction on this project is slated to start in 2026.

, an adaptive reuse project that will convert a five-story former office building at 

 into affordable rental apartments. A ground-up project at 

 will create another 37 affordable units.

"Each project serves a different market need — ranging from affordable rentals to hospitality and market-rate ownership — and collectively, they contribute to the emergence of a 'neighborhood within the neighborhood,'" Lee says.

In June, it also was announced that JL Capital 

 in Tournet Hawai‘i Inc., a travel and transportation agency focused on the Korea-Hawai‘i market.

Hawaiʻi Skies: Sky show

ASD Staff

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Hawaiʻi Skies: Sky show

Authors

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