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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"If there were ever a time to bet the mortgage on a dog, this is it....."}]

Smile 26 8 5

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026</title>

If there were ever a time to bet the mortgage on a dog, this is it...

Daily Smile: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026

 If there were ever a time to bet the mortgage on a dog, this is it.....

IMG 1445

Rick Hamada

Government & Politics

Columnists

[{"type":"text","text":"This Saturday is Primary Election Day."}]

Usually around this time there is a plethora of TV, radio and print advertisements for candidates seeking your vote and more. Interestingly, there has been a dearth of ads, proving spending is somewhat down overall. However, there are two specific races where cash is being spent.

In the 1st Congressional district race, substantial spending is apparent. And let's be honest. Saturday's vote will determine the winner and either incumbent Rep. Ed Case will return or State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole will stage an upset and become the new Congressman representing District 1. I know this is a shock and surprise but, yes, both are of course Democrats. No intentional dis but the Republican Party of Hawai‘i is not offering a competitive candidate so the general election will be a simple formality.

The comparison of spending for the 1st Congressional district and the 2nd Congressional district is no comparison. 

This is an interesting race that will come down to November. Rep. Jill Tokuda, the Democrat incumbent, is facing off against GOP State Sen. Brenton Awa and their resource investments will ramp up the day after the primary results. The general election is November 3, which will then be 86 days right after the primary. However, this race holds great interest in that the candidates are polar opposites. Rep. Tokuda has incumbency, name recognition and a D next to her name. But she espouses less content and more MAGA invocations and criticisms. Her anti-Trump rhetoric seems gleaned from social media posts and DNC talking points rather than major realistic proposals.

Sen. Awa also has some differentiations than a traditional elected member of the GOP. 

During his first term, Awa promoted policies to prevent foreigners from purchasing land in Hawai‘i in an effort to keep local residents from being "priced out of paradise." He was also instrumental in developing a tree planting program featuring ‘ulu and mountain apples to help feed people in and around Kahalu‘u and he is also known for a similar program in Haleiwa replacing the much-maligned coconut tree population devastated by the coconut rhinoceros beetle. Finally, Sen. Awa is not a sycophant regarding President Trump. He articulates his differences but embraces similarities.

[{"type":"text","text":"Again, this will be a race to watch."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"And, of course, the race for Lieutenant Governor."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Strap yourself in; it's gonna be a bumpy ride."}]

I referred to campaign spending as somewhat limited for the upcoming primary election. However, there is no doubt that Pacific Resource Partnership representing the Hawaii Carpenter's Union via the super PAC (Political Action Committee) For a Better Tomorrow and a subsidiary super PAC entitled 

The Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund PAC and others have dominated campaign donations.

 with most of those funds derived from dues paid to the Hawai‘i Carpenters Union. Of that $7 million plus, according to Campaign Spending Commission records, $2 million of the $5.2 million spent has gone to LG candidate Mayor Derek Kawakami. Further examination of the CSC report shows that of the Top 10 campaign donors eight are unions or union associations. 

You may ask why. Why so much money in politics from unions?

The 1st quarter of 2026 there was $2.09 billion dollars in construction spending.

That's only in the first three months of this year.

There has to be a bit of congratulations to organized labor in Hawai‘i.

Over the generations, labor has supplanted the Big 5, ridden the coattails of the 1954 Democrat Revolution, dominated all aspects of city and county elections (rendered non-partisan to give the illusion of bipartisanship), defeated the first governor of Hawai‘i, Republican Bill Quinn, fought against Republican Linda Lingle and despite her narrow loss in 1998 to Gov. Ben Cayetano, she went on to defeat in 2002 Lt. Governor Mazie Hirono in a spirited battle. Then, interestingly, the Democrats fielded perhaps the weakest challenge possible to Gov. Lingle's reelection: State Sen. Randy Iwase and State Sen. Malama Soloman. In searching for explanations, the conclusions ranged from the conspiratorial to the incredulous. Did organized labor and the Democrat party allow Gov. Lingle's second term because she was unbeatable or was there another reason? One thing is certain. The democrats have dominated the fifth floor and The Big Square Building ever since.

There are other top of mind thoughts headed into this election cycle.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Please allow me to ask you the following:"}]

I ask because these are fundamental questions that should rather easily elicit an answer.

I would appreciate any feedback, and your responses may appear in a follow-up piece.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Mahalo plenty."}]

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

State capitol 022725

<title>The races to watch</title>

ASD opinion columnist Rick Hamada talks about the races he's most closely watching in the upcoming Primary Election. Is it going to be Case or Keohokalole? Tokuda or Awa? What about the LG's race? And he has questions for you about the elections and politics in Hawai‘i for further discussion.

The races to watch

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

Real Estate

While their lawsuit against the state will continue, two Kaua‘i residents will not be evicted from their Department of Hawaiian Home Lands-owned apartment complex.

David Kalahiki and Linda Twitchell sued the Hawaiian Homes Commission 

 after they were served eviction notices ordering them to vacate their apartments at the Kapa‘a Courtyards at Waipouli apartment complex earlier this year.

The evictions were based around the DHHL’s 2024 purchase of the complex for more than $44 million. DHHL intended to offer the complex’s 82 housing units to Hawaiians on the department’s housing waitlist, which required people who did not possess at least a 50% Native Hawaiian blood quantum to vacate.

The public interest law firm Pacific Legal Foundation filed a suit against Hawaiian Homes Commission chair Kali Watson in U.S. District Court.

On Friday — the day Twitchell was required to leave her apartment — the plaintiffs’ and the state’s attorneys agreed to withdraw the eviction notices.

According to the agreement, Hawaiian Homes Commission chair Kali Watson will not order Kalahiki or Twitchell to vacate their apartments until either the end of the case or June 1, 2027, whichever is earlier. But if the case remains pending by mid-April 2027, the parties will reconsider the June 1 deadline, the agreement states.

Consequently, the plaintiffs have withdrawn a motion for a court-ordered injunction that would prevent their evictions.  

But the case itself, which challenges the constitutionality of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and DHHL’s policy of evicting tenants for not meeting a blood quantum requirement, remains active.

Like an earlier case challenging the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act — Ryan v. Watson, another Pacific Legal Foundation Case — the state has vowed to defend the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and DHHL.

The Department of the Attorney General told Aloha State Daily last week that the department “is aware of the complaint and is prepared to vigorously defend the lawsuit.”

With the eviction matter withdrawn, the next scheduled event for the case will be a scheduling conference in October.

Meanwhile, the Kalahiki case also figures into the Ryan v. Watson case. Attorneys for plaintiff Eric Ryan filed a notice last week acknowledging the Kaua‘i case and recognizing the similarities between the two cases.

The Ryan case arose in June when Ryan, an O‘ahu resident, attempted to apply for a DHHL lease and was told he “does not meet the minimum requirements” after he answered “no” to the question of whether he is at least 50% Native Hawaiian.

Unlike the Kalahiki case, the Ryan case directly seeks the effective abolishment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act by requesting that the court issue a permanent injunction against the Commission’s enforcement of any blood quantum test for DHHL leases.

Like the Kalahiki case, however, the next event in the Ryan case will be an October scheduling conference.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

DJI 0557 scaled 16x9

<title>Hawaiian Homes Commission lawsuit continues after evictions averted</title>

Two Kaua‘i renters can stay in their apartments while their suit against the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which previously attempted to evict them, goes forward.

Hawaiian Homes Commission lawsuit continues after evictions averted

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton

Aloha Spirit

Viewpoints

[{"type":"text","text":"Malia Peoples, 45, has never shied away from being her own person."}]

Growing up in Olympia, Washington, during the days of grunge and riot grrrl (a 1990s underground feminist punk movement), Peoples recognized that she stood out from the homogeneity of the local Caucasian community. In second grade, a young Peoples wrote: “I look different than everybody else here.”

But “I didn’t try to, like, hide or shrink myself,” the Seattleite added. Instead, Peoples has consistently embraced her differences — a quality that has furthered her time and again as an artist, a student and a teacher.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I’ve lived a lot of life somehow,” she said."}]

Born in 1980, Peoples is the descendant of Oregon loggers and farmers on her father’s side and Kānaka Maoli and Hakka Chinese on her mother’s side. Her mom, Harriet Kaholokula, met her dad, Philip Peoples, as students at Central Washington University.

Peoples is the youngest of three and the only daughter. Though her parents lived on the continent, a hāpai Kaholokula flew to Hawaiʻi with the hopes of giving birth to Peoples on the ʻāina. “For her, it was very important that we were all born there as Hawaiians,” Peoples said.

But Peoples entered the world on her own time in Yuba City, California. Her ʻohana resettled in Olympia when she was 3 years old. Her parents sold the trailer park they owned and managed, then they bought several ice cream stores, running Baskin-Robbins locations in Washington State from Tacoma to Centralia. Peoples remembers helping decorate the iconic clown cones.

In kindergarten, Peoples was asked what name she wanted to be called. She answered with her inoa Hawaiʻi, Malia. “I always knew that I was a Hawaiian person,” she said.

Peoples was a keiki of many passions. She once dreamed of being a choreographer because she loved to dance and took ballet for many years. She played piano and saxophone in the band and nurtured a budding interest in languages.

At Capital High School in Olympia, Peoples felt that she knew everyone, and everyone knew her. She sported combat boots and dyed her hair blue, orange and purple. Peoples frequented thrift stores and was enamored with Japanese street fashion.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I was, like, this weird Pacific Northwest Kanaka punk,” she said."}]

After meeting a Chinese teacher through an exchange program, Peoples took a few trimesters of Mandarin and was extended the opportunity to attend Tsinghua University in Beijing.

She graduated high school in 1998, and, one week after turning 18, she was off to China. Peoples called it “life changing.” Over a year and a half, she traveled and learned more about her ancestors from southern China. Peoples completed a program at the Beijing Language and Culture University.

At the dawn of the Y2K era, she enrolled at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Freshly returned from China, Peoples felt culture shock in reverse.

She moved on to Seattle Central College before transferring to the University of Washington as a junior. She graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese language and literature.

[{"type":"text","text":"Her goal: To work as an interpreter."}]

Peoples headed to New York City for an internship at China Labor Watch, a nonprofit that reports on labor conditions at Chinese factories. She split her time between the Manhattan office and her residence in the Queens neighborhood of Flushing. Peoples translated documents smuggled out of China into English.

“Through that whole experience, I started to realize how harmful production was to workers overseas,” she said.

It prompted her decision to go to New York Fashion Academy in Seattle. She learned how to operate a sewing machine, make patterns and other skills. Peoples finished the program with a certificate in fashion design and construction in 2007.

She stayed to teach sewing, pattern making, grading and product development for 8 years. Peoples also served as a teaching artist at the Seattle Art Museum, Atlas Obscura and the Seattle Public Library, as well as a sewing and ceramics teacher at The Northwest School’s summer program. Peoples has also worked with the Seattle Housing Authority to teach refugees how to sew and repair clothing.

“I’m not trying to gatekeep knowledge,” she said. “I’m trying to share it as much as possible.”

In 2011, she launched her brand, Other Peoples Polyester, a line of clothing and accessories made of vintage, reclaimed and designer fabrics. Two years later, she got her own workspace studio in the Belltown neighborhood.

Feeling burnt out from clothes, in 2018 Peoples branched out to explore porcelain jewelry-making.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she was drawn to learn more about her Kanaka roots — particularly through kapa making. She received a grant to travel to Oʻahu and learn kapa. While Peoples doesn’t have a kumu yet, she’s sat with several expert practitioners.

“I have learned about the process of turning a tree into fabric, but I’ve also learned a lot more about our ancestors,” she said. “All these doors to ʻike just started opening up.”

Peoples is reclaiming aspects of culture through art, which leaves her feeling excited and empowered. Now, she’s moving full steam ahead.

Peoples recently received a grant to film a documentary about kapa. She’s wrapping up her Hummingbird Indigenous Pasifika Storytelling Artist Residency and finishing art projects. She’s part of a Molokaʻi-based ʻoli group that learns chants together online. On top of that, Peoples continues to model for TCM Models and Talent.

As Hawaiians, “we should, as people, be so, so proud of the fact that the 5% who survived are still here,” Peoples said. “It’s a good time to be Kānaka today.”

This article is reprinted with permission from 

OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper: "Seattle Artist Reclaims Culture Through Kapa Making" by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, in its July 2026 issue, Vol. 43 No. 7. Read more at 

Malia Peoples 16x9

<title>Community Voices: Seattle artist reclaims culture through kapa making</title>

“I’m not trying to gatekeep knowledge,” she said of her school and work experience both on the Mainland and on Oʻahu. “I’m trying to share it as much as possible.”

Community Voices: Seattle artist reclaims culture through kapa making

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Toyota drivers take note: the automaker has recently recalled certain curtain shield airbag, or CSA, service parts that were used as a replacement in some Tundra and Tacoma models.

 from Toyota, CSA assemblies deploy from the roof side rails in certain types of collisions. 

Some CSA service parts that were produced from December 2021 to December 2025 and sold as replacement parts for certain 2014 to 2021 Toyota Tundra CrewMax and Double Cab vehicles, and certain 2016 to 2023 Toyota Tacomas "

may not have been manufactured properly and may not deploy as intended," the announcement notes. "This could reduce occupant restraint performance and increase the risk of injury during certain crashes."

About 4,100 service parts are involved in the recall in the U.S., the company noted.

The automaker says it will notify all owners of these Tundra CrewMax and Double Cab vehicles known to have a CSA replacement part installed after November 2021, and owners of these Tacomas known to have the replacement part installed after May 2024, and request those owners return their vehicles to a Toyota dealer.

"The dealers will inspect the vehicles for the affected replacement parts and will replace any affected curtain shield airbag assemblies that are found at no cost," Toyota said. "Owners of Tundra CrewMax and Double Cab and Tacoma models in these model years who believe one or both curtain shield airbags were replaced due to a collision, malfunction, or other issue after the dates noted above should bring their vehicle to a dealer for inspection even if they do not receive a notification.

"Dealers will also be notified and asked to identify any such parts sold to body shops/collision repair facilities and any vehicles that may have had a replacement part installed. Owners identified will also be notified as above."

Toyota will send notification by late September to owners who have vehicles known to have a curtain shield airbag replaced, while other owners will be notified as their contact information is received.

Ever-popular in the Islands, the Toyota Tacoma was the top-selling model in Hawai‘i last year, according to the 

 from the Hawai‘i Automobile Dealers Association. The Toyota RAV4, Tesla Model Y, Toyota 4Runner and Toyota Corolla rounded out the top five best-selling cars of 2025.

Unsplash toyota tacoma 080326

<title>Toyota recalls certain airbag parts used as replacements in some Tundra, Tacoma models</title>

About 4,100 service parts are involved in the U.S. recall, the company said.

Toyota recalls certain airbag parts used as replacements in some Tundra, Tacoma models

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

, president and CEO of Bishop Museum, got his first experience on the 14-acre campus in the Kapālama-Kalihi district about 25 years ago, when he was starting his Ph.D. in Australia.

He focuses on studying mammals and has discovered about 

. Expeditions have taken him to New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and parts of South America and Africa, but 

some discoveries also take place at museums

During his first visit to Bishop Museum, the campus made an impression immediately.

“It’s always been one of my favorite places to come, both for its connection to my scholarly pursuits and my love of learning [and] it's one-of-a-kind uniqueness," Helgen told Aloha State Daily in early June.

founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop

, including specimens, cultural objects, photographs and films, works of art, audio recordings and manuscripts. The museum is one of the world’s largest collections and is set apart from peer museums because it was founded in Hawaiʻi during the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, he said.

“It remains a museum by and for Hawaiʻi," Helgen added. "And amongst all the peer institutions that are similar, it's the only one that was not set up specifically in a colonial center of power. It's entirely different from almost all of our corresponding museum peers. That is an extraordinary thing.”

 for the calendar year ending June 30, 2025, according to the latest Form 990 available online. Most of that money comes from grants or contributions, which in FY2025 totaled about $23.8 million, or 84% of the total revenue.

Helgen joined Bishop Museum almost a year ago, on Aug. 1, 2025, succeeding interim CEO 

partnered with the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design

 to serve as one of two museum partners that are transportation hubs for the center, which is located in a residential neighborhood.

Looking ahead, Helgen plans to prioritize revitalizing historical buildings and digitizing the collection at Bishop Museum. The museum is also planning to expand its staff and 

is opening recruitment searches for three new natural sciences curators. It recently hired a marine biologist and is in the process of bringing on a new botanist and entomologist.

Prior to moving to Hawaiʻi with his wife and 12-year-old son, Helgen was the chief scientist and director of the Australian Museum Research Institute at the Australian Museum, where he oversaw 120 staff members in research and collections capacities.

“As a family, we have just been thrilled with the move to Hawaiʻi and the extraordinary spirit — the connection and welcome that we felt here,” he said. “It's just been a wonderful move.”

Helgen also previously worked at the Smithsonian Institution, where he was a research zoologist and curator for the division of mammals at the National Museum of Natural History, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

He spoke with Aloha State Daily ahead of his one-year anniversary on the job.

There's so much to absorb when you come into a new organization. What has been the biggest thing you've learned in your first year? 

I had never lived here in Hawaiʻi before. I had a lot of connection to Bishop Museum, kind of what pulled me here like a magnet when the opportunity came. But there aren't many times in our lives and careers that we get to sort of transplant into a completely different cultural setting, and that is something that has just been absolutely thrilling for me. I've loved every minute. 

Bishop Museum is such an important place for Hawaiʻi — for our understanding of history and culture and nature. One of the things that I've been learning most is the importance of the daily usage of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi here on campus. ... Language is one of the most foundational aspects of place, and here at Bishop Museum, we are all about helping to connect to place and to ground to the very history of the land where we are on this campus. Every day, as I learn more of the daily uses of ʻŌlelo Hawaii around here, I learn more and more about Hawaiʻi.

What were some of the most urgent problems the nonprofit museum's board asked you to take on in this role?

 We have a lot of things that we want to do, and one of the things that has been really pressing is — like any historical museum — the fact that we have so many infrastructure needs. We have old buildings. We have huge collections that we have to steward with great responsibility.

What are you most proud of from the past year? 

A lot of things. It's all about the people here. It's all about the achievements of staff. I'm proud that I feel like there are many things that have a different feel on campus already since August [2025], when I took over, and some of those are easy to explain. For example, in that time, we've opened an actual restaurant on campus, 

Tūtū’s Place, and that's in partnership with Highway Inn

. ... Likewise, with the gift shop, we started a new partnership with Hawaiian Council, [which owns and operates] Nā Mea Hawaiʻi, and so we have changed from a more generic provider to an entirely local set of business connections that stock that shop. As people may know, 

 for a long time, and that has now changed; they're no longer based at that location, so this is their location here at Bishop Museum. Having Highway Inn serving Hawaiian food every day and having Nā Mea Hawaiʻi here along with 

 — those are just 'enter the door and feel a little bit different' aspects, but there are others, too. 

Our team, especially in public programs and education, has been really focused on community engagement around reactivation or revitalization of particular core objects or pieces, things that have been behind the scenes for a long time. One we might have spoken about was the 

Aʻa, which was Prince Kūhiōʻs famous koa racing canoe

, and so that gorgeous canoe was sort of rehabilitated by canoe experts. ... And in November, [the canoe] was launched back out into the ocean for a wonderful event with koa canoes from all around Hawaiʻi.

What's the biggest challenge you see facing the museum today? You mentioned infrastructure, is that No. 1, or are there others? 

I think that's the most pressing. For example, people know Hawaiian Hall, and when they think of Bishop [Museum], that's almost synonymous with imagining that wonderful volcanic stone building. But its sibling is Bishop Hall, just across the way here, that is the earlier building. ... As many know, Bishop Hall was the original site of Kamehameha Schools and remained a core site of the school and the boys school in particular through the 60s. I regularly meet people out in the community that know this campus in part because they went to school here. That has been a facet of this campus for 

 and so I bring up Bishop Hall, because right now it's closed to the public because the structure is not fit for any activity right now. ... This is part of my responsibility to revitalize this really important piece of Honolulu heritage, Hawaiʻi heritage, and figure out how to bring that back to life, especially as a community space.

... Bishop Hall is not at all our only need. A lot of the needs are less visible, and they have to do with collections facilities that are behind the scenes, but are aging or need to be updated to best practice. One thing we've done during this year is from scratch, we've gotten started and built a new warehouse facility on the Bernice and Kalihi street corner. It's brand new. It has air conditioning, humidity control. And that is a facility that, for example, we're going to move all the canoes into that space. For the first time in 100-plus years, we'll have a really museum best practice purpose facility fit to look after those extraordinary objects. The need to bring our campus up to modern standards is one of the things that's just most top of mind, and that includes spaces like Bishop Hall, that should be public and activated again, as well as core spaces where we look after our most important materials.

Are staff still working on digitizing collections?

 Digitization is one of those core priorities that we have here, too. When you think about museums and the responsibility that we have holding these materials in public trust — making them as accessible as we responsibly can is a really important piece of that. Museums have come to realize that digitization is a really important part of doing that. We can only, of course, showcase a very limited percentage of things in the museum out on the public displays, but by expanding our efforts to image and document data around materials behind the scenes that's how we are going to meet some of our commitments to the broader public — and the world at large — around accessing our materials. 

Our digitization program started in earnest around five years ago. We've had smaller initiatives at times and now that is really gaining a lot of steam. ... It turns out — and this is so important for the public to realize — that the core most important resource that Hawaiʻi actually has to understand things like endangered [or] invasive species is part of the collections that are here. ...

I'd like to see us even more involved in that scientific capacity — through digitization, through the genetic work that we do here at the museum — in creating tools that are really useful for the state to meet the moment in terms of conservation, climate, endangered species, biosecurity. The museum has a pretty strong future ahead in that.

Given your extensive research and expedition experience, what is the appeal of an administrative job? 

For the last 15 years, I've been ever more involved in museum management, and all along that's meant being a scientist and a scholar, working especially in Pacific communities. But, part of it came from realizing that my career would be focused on museums and becoming very excited about that. Many people don't necessarily realize that — particularly in the natural sciences — it's behind the scenes in the laboratories and collections of the world's biggest museums that some of the most important work is taking place. So, as I realized that and I moved up the ranks as a scientist, I noticed what people might notice in any workplace, which is that there were things that I wanted to see done maybe different or better or more efficiently.

What strategies have you implemented to help retain staff? 

Some of what we focused on as an executive team most strongly in this first year have been on the well-being of staff. And that's included a deep dive into benefits, paid time off — improving both of those things. Thinking about how we can support people in matching and saving. Thinking about what we can do with professional development. ... As much as I have aloha for the museum, I knew I had so much to learn, and that has meant that for much of my first year here, I've spent that time really listening, and through that listening, thinking about, 'What am I hearing that the museum does need most?' And just the fact that we are on a better financial footing than we were a few years ago, the staff has wanted to be able to feel that in their own life, connecting through to the work they're doing here and the stability that they feel.

You recently visited the British Museum. Can you share what brought you there? Are there items from Bishop Museum on loan there? 

 in London. It was an extraordinary show, curated by 

, who was previously a staff member here [at Bishop Museum] on our cultural team. ... She was able to work at the museum to put together an absolutely remarkable exhibit. ... It was closing on May 25 and I was there, including for the closing ceremony and protocol, and it gave me an opportunity to chat with Alice, others involved in the exhibition, other leadership at the museum, including their director, Nicholas Cullinan. And just thinking about the potential for interaction between British Museum — which has the largest set of Hawaiian objects outside of the Bishop Museum — and our museum. ... And yes, we do have a couple of things that were on loan to that wonderful exhibition, and they were specifically gorgeous silver pieces that were gifted from the Royal Family of the UK to the Royal Family of Hawaiʻi. ... And until this moment had never been back in the UK.

Looking ahead, what are your goals for the next five years? 

I want to continue, of course, our footing of being a well-managed museum. Obviously, that means a firm and strong, sustainable financial footing. I want to lean into our strengths, which include historical strengths like the role we play as a Pacific-wide museum role model with our peer museums around the Pacific region. And that might include more engagement and partnership, and fellowship opportunities, other ways of engaging with Pacific partners. 

Bishop Museum CEO Kris H with shark

<title>Q&A with Bishop Museum CEO Kris Helgen</title>

This mammal-discovering scientist is now the president and CEO of Bishop Museum. Helgen shares some of the biggest challenges and accomplishments of the past year, which is his first 12 months in the role.

Q&A with Bishop Museum CEO Kris Helgen

[{"type":"text","text":"It's a first for James Campbell Co."}]

The Hawai‘i-based, nationally diversified real estate company recently acquired its first multi-family property: The Element, a garden-style apartment community in West O‘ahu's Ho‘opili master-planned community.

Built in 2020, The Element offers 318 one-, two- and three-bedroom rental apartments, 20% of which are reserved for households earning no more than 80% of the area median income, according to a recent announcement. Income limits vary by household size, but you can find current limits for the City and County of Honolulu 

"The Element is an exceptional, relatively new (only 6-years-old) Class A apartment community in one of the fastest growing regions on the island," JCC President and CEO Kevin Penn told Aloha State Daily in an emailed response to questions. "The property’s ideal location near University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu, Skyline Keoneʻae rail station, Ho‘opili and access to major employment centers coupled with a very limited supply of comparable Class A rental properties make it a compelling long-term addition to our portfolio. It is also a strategic complement to Nāliko, our 300-unit apartment community in Kapolei currently under construction with completion expected in late 2027. 

"We’re committed to investing in the future of West O‘ahu, where we have longstanding roots, and this brings a high-quality multi-family property back under the ownership of a local company, reinforcing our role as long-term stewards of this residential community."

 late last year. Penn told the crowd gathered in November that it was the first time the company was developing a housing community it intended to keep as part of its long-term portfolio, ASD reported at that time.

James Campbell Co. has assets totaling $4.8 billion with more than 22 million square feet of properties and 2,300 acres of land across 11 states and Washington, D.C. 

It has played a pivotal role in the development of Kapolei.

Penn declined to comment on The Element's acquisition price, citing company policy. 

 from the City and County of Honolulu show that the land and building have a total assessed value of nearly $89.4 million.

When asked how the purchase of The Element plays into the company's current business strategy, Penn says: "We know quality housing is an important long-term need in Hawai‘i, particularly in West O‘ahu, and The Element provides an opportunity to expand our multi-family presence through a high-quality asset in a market we know well. Adding multi-family properties enhances our portfolio diversification, while balancing our existing portfolio with a new asset type and complementing our ongoing residential development, Nāliko."

According to the announcement, The Element will continue to be managed by Greystar. Amenities include a resort-style saltwater pool with cabanas, an indoor-outdoor clubhouse, co-working facilities, shared outdoor kitchens and barbecue areas, a coffee shop and a two-story fitness center.

And ICYMI: It's not a residential development, but JCC also held a blessing ceremony last month for 

, the redevelopment of the former Paradise Cove Lū‘au site adjacent to the Ko Olina resort area, last month.

That redevelopment is being led by Cove Campbell Kobayashi LLC, a joint venture led by James Campbell Co. in partnership with Kobayashi Group, a locally owned and operated real estate development firm; and BlackSand Capital, a Hawai‘i-focused private real estate investment firm.

As ASD reported then, citing an announcement in May, 

Waianiani will include a new oceanfront entertainment amphitheater with nightly lū‘au shows from Tihati Productions; three full-service restaurants, including Duke's at the Cove, the chain's first West O‘ahu location; a cultural pavilion and open-air activity lawn; and a 20,000-square-foot "village walk" marketplace, with retail space that aims to showcase local artisans and produce. Meanwhile, an existing wedding chapel will be retained and improved for future use.

Penn told ASD last month that Waianiani was just one of five active development projects in progress for JCC, a "high water mark" for the company and its history.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Daily Smile: Monday, Aug. 3, 2026

Daily Smile: Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026

Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

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