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[{"type":"text","text":"Everyone knows whose boss......"}]

Smile 26 9 11

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, Sep. 11, 2026</title>

Everyone knows whose boss......

Daily Smile: Friday, Sep. 11, 2026

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

Hawai‘i is being sued by the federal government over its illegal immigration policies.

 against Hawai‘i Thursday over a state administrative rule that the department alleges undermines federal law by providing unfair support for undocumented immigrants that isn’t available for U.S. citizens.

, which is part of the rules governing the University of Hawai‘i and the terms for which in-state tuition can be established. For most prospective students, students must prove they have been a resident of Hawai‘i for at least the 12 consecutive months before applying for in-state tuition.

However, the rule in question states in full: “An alien may establish residence to the extent permitted by the Immigration and Nationality Act. The date of approval of such status shall be the earliest date upon which the twelve-month residency requirement may begin to accrue.”

includes several provisions concerning illegal immigrants and their resident status. But, the DOJ lawsuit states, the Act does not in any way bar an illegal immigrant from establishing their residency within the U.S. or within a specific state.

In this way, the DOJ argues, the administrative rule allows illegal immigrants to be eligible for in-state tuition while denying non-resident citizens the same benefits.

Because Congress has prohibited states from providing these sorts of education benefits to illegal aliens without making them available to all U.S. citizens, the suit states that Hawai‘i’s rule is a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which prohibits state laws from superseding federal laws.

“This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Brett Shumate, Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Division said Thursday. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”

The suit concludes with a request for the U.S. District Court for Hawai‘i declare the rule unconstitutional and issue a permanent injunction against the rule being enforced. The request also asks the court to prohibit the state from offering in-state tuition to illegal aliens by any other means.

The suit against Hawai‘i was one of four the DOJ filed on Thursday, alongside similar complaints filed against Arkansas, Utah and Washington D.C. The DOJ has filed suits against 24 states in total, along with D.C., over state laws providing in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

Some of those suits have already ended in the DOJ’s favor: a U.S. District Court judge in Kansas issued an 

 Wednesday against that state’s law allowing for in-state tuition to certain immigrant students.

Most of the other suits — including complaints filed against New York, Minnesota, Washington and elsewhere — are still pending.

Manoa miro rur rankings 16x9

<title>Hawai‘i sued over illegal immigrant tuition law</title>

U.S. Department of Justice challenges state policy allowing illegal immigrants to be eligible for in-state tuition.

Hawai‘i sued over illegal immigrant tuition law

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

A former office building, located a short distance from Ala Moana Center, has been transformed — it now offers dozens of affordable rentals in Honolulu's urban core. 

JL Capital on Thursday celebrated the completion of Amana Lofts, an adaptive reuse project that turned what was once a five-story office building at 765 Amana St. into 64 affordable rentals. A dedication and blessing ceremony marked the end of the project.

The developer retained the building's existing concrete structure, but nearly everything else — including plumbing and electrical systems, windows, interior walls and finishes — were replaced or newly constructed, an announcement from JL Capital noted. 

BKF & Associates was the project architect and Island Structural Contracting was the general contractor.

Amana Lofts includes 32 studios, 20 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom residences, all of which are reserved for households earning up to 80% of the area median income. Income limits vary depending on household size; you can find the current income limits for the City and County of Honolulu 

Units span from 289 to 561 square feet, and include large windows, ceiling heights of more than 10 feet and appliances that include a refrigerator, range/oven, built-in microwave and garbage disposal, the announcement notes. Meanwhile, the building itself has a secured lobby, elevator, on-site laundry facilities, trash chutes on each floor, a bike rack and car share.

$1,875 to $2,014 for studios; $1,995 to $2,142 for one-bedroom residences; and $2,475 to $2,536 for two-bedroom residences, according to the announcement, which noted, too, that electricity, cable and internet are additional, and limited covered parking is available for rent.

“Amana Lofts demonstrates that there are creative ways to add housing in Honolulu without always starting from the ground up,” 

 said in the announcement. “We hope this project can serve as an example of how existing buildings can be reimagined to help address our community’s housing needs.”

According to the developer, affordable rental units will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Each application will be time-stamped when the developer or its agent receives the fully completed form. Applications will be reviewed for completeness and eligibility, and applications from qualified households will be submitted, in the order received, to the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting for review and approval.

Lee told Aloha State Daily following the blessing ceremony Thursday that the company acquired the property in 2019 for close to $9 million with a conversion in mind.

"When we bought this property, it was always intended to do a conversion," he says. "Just given the location, we love the location, and we just saw a lot of potential in this property. So from the time we bought it, we always intended to turn this into [an] affordable rental project."

[{"type":"text","text":"Location is important."}]

“Where we build housing matters,” Lee said in the announcement. “Ala Moana is vibrant, accessible and connected. Creating affordable homes here gives residents the opportunity to live closer to jobs, transportation and the things they need every day. We believe that is an important part of addressing Honolulu’s housing needs.”

Lee told ASD that the total cost of the project, including the purchase price, was roughly $25 million.

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.

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

Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa, a Marriott brand

 several other contiguous properties along Kapi‘olani Boulevard for a combined price of $36 million last fall.

Most recently, JL Capital announced that demolition preparation activities at the future site of its newest development, 

, located at 1538 Kapi‘olani Blvd., are expected to begin in October, following the relocation of Central Pacific Bank to the nearby Pan Am Building. 

The developers also have recently introduced new pricing on a number of residences. You can read 

The planned 39-story Muse Honolulu was designed by architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and local partner Benjamin Woo Architects. 

Muse Honolulu will include 315 residences — a mix of penthouses, tower residences, urban lofts and two-story townhomes — and amenities across three levels.

Amana lofts studio 091026

<title>JL Capital completes Ala Moana affordable housing project</title>

Amana Lofts, an adaptive reuse project in Honolulu's urban core, has transformed a former five-story office building into 64 rental units.

JL Capital completes Ala Moana affordable housing project

Tamara McKay

Ralph S. Cushnie

Viewpoints

Hawai‘i just came through the most extraordinary election in memory.

A state House race decided by one vote, then tied, then settled by drawing an egg from a lauhala basket at the State Capitol. A second tie in a Senate district the same day. A council chairman whose eligibility was not resolved until the Hawai‘i Supreme Court ruled — after voters had already marked ballots bearing his name. Honolulu has since acknowledged that two voters were handed the wrong district's ballot and voted in a race whose margin was zero.

Under oath last week, Hawai‘i's chief election officer testified there is no administrative rule, no written manual, and no standard procedure governing how a tied election here is decided. He chose the method himself, days before using it, and it was never tested for fairness. A justice asked whether he had consulted the Elections Commission first.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He said no."}]

He could not have. The Commission has not been able to meet since June 30.

On Sept. 4, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the tiebreaker was invalid because the Office of Elections never adopted a rule for it, and that the two misissued ballots were enough to determine the race. District 43 voters will vote again on Nov. 3.

The Elections Commission is the body the Legislature created in 2004 to oversee the Office of Elections. It appoints the chief election officer. It evaluates him. State law charges it with advising him on election matters and receiving complaints about how elections are run. It is the public's check on the office that administers Hawai‘i's elections.

It has no chair. The previous chair's term ended June 30. On June 10 Michael Curtis announced the Commission would meet June 24 to choose his successor. On June 15 he cancelled that meeting.

There is a straightforward remedy, and it is not our invention. On Feb. 4, all nine commissioners voted to adopt Robert's Rules of Order as the Commission's parliamentary authority. Robert's Rules addresses exactly this: when a body has no presiding officer, any member may call the meeting to order, and the members elect a chair pro tempore by majority vote.

At the Commission's June 10 meeting, the deputy attorney general assigned to advise us said on the record that electing a chair pro tempore was an available option, that it should come from a sitting member, and that it would take a simple majority. Twelve days later he issued a written opinion concluding the Chief Justice would select the chair if the Commission did not act within 15 days.

Since July, we have asked the Office of Elections repeatedly to do what it has always done for Commission meetings: post the public notice, provide the video conference link, and email the notice to people who signed up on the state's own website to receive it.

The answer has been refusal, then silence. No explanation. No legal basis. In August, multiple requests received no reply at all.

We are told a single commissioner cannot call a meeting. But the Sunshine Law bars three or more of us from coordinating outside a noticed meeting. If calling a meeting required a vote of the Commission, that vote could never happen. The law written to keep government open is being used to keep this body closed — and the Office of Elections is actively preventing anyone from stepping into the gap.

Follow that logic to its end: a commission with no chair may not convene, because it has no chair. That is not a rule. It is a trap, and it renders a body created by statute permanently inoperable.

Error is what oversight exists to catch. A commission that meets asks how two voters got the wrong ballot and whether the procedure has been fixed. It asks why the method for deciding a tied election was chosen in three days by one person with no rule behind it. It receives the complaints citizens have filed all summer — complaints that now reach no one, because no body is assembled to receive them.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"None of that happened. None of it could."}]

Article I, Section 1 of Hawai‘i's Constitution provides that all political power is inherent in the people. The Elections Commission is how the people exercise that power over their own elections.

Every request and every non-answer is documented in the public record of Cushnie and McKay v. Nago, filed in July and still pending before the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. An entire election cycle has passed. The primary was held, contested, and litigated before that same court — while the body created to oversee how it was administered has been unable to hold a single meeting.

We are asking for one meeting, with one item on the agenda: elect a chair, so the Commission can function again.

For two months, that has been too much to ask.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

Ralph S. Cushnie and Tamara McKay are members of the Hawai‘i Elections Commission, representing Kaua‘i County and Maui County. They are petitioners, appearing pro se, in SCPW-26-0000498.

Tie breaker election drawing 16x9

<title>Community Voices: Hawai‘i's elections watchdog has been locked out of its own room</title>

Two members of the Hawai‘i Elections Commission want readers to know that their office has been prevented from meeting, even as voters have endured an election marred by irregularities.

Community Voices: Hawai‘i's elections watchdog has been locked out of its own room

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 just launched Sunday brunch. The iconic Hawai

i Kai restaurant offered brunch for special occasions, like Mother's Day, but now features Sunday brunch every week from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The brunch menu features a variety of sweet and savory dishes; some include notable staples from the restaurant’s dinner menu.

If you prefer sweets for brunch — or want something shareable for the table — go for the souffle pancakes ($28). They’re covered with blueberries and bananas, crème anglaise and maple syrup.

Note: The souffle pancakes take 20 to 30 minutes’ cooking time, so plan accordingly.

So far, Roy’s crab cake eggs Benedict ($39) and open-face Roy’s blackened ‘ahi sandwich ($36) have been popular choices. The eggs Benedict features a toasted English muffin with petite crab cakes topped with foie gras essence hollandaise and two eggs, and served with red bliss potatoes.

Meanwhile, the sandwich was previous featured as a special during the restaurant’s Mother’s Day brunch. The focaccia bread is topped with avocado, blackened ‘ahi, burrata, Romaine, tomato, bacon and sweet-soy balsamic.

Ask about any featured off-menu specials during your visit. During our brunch, a panipopo cinnamon roll ($12) was available. The cinnamon roll was topped with haupia sauce, caramelized pineapples and macadamia nuts. Featured brunch specials will change weekly.

The HK meatloaf loco moco ($32) and 48-hour sous vide short rib steak and eggs ($47) are ideal for those who are craving something heartier. The loco moco features the popular “Yama’s Mama’s beef meatloaf” — one of the eatery’s signature dinner entrees — served with two sunny side up eggs, garlic fried rice, and shimeji mushrooms. The 7-ounce short rib steak comes with two sunny side-up eggs and red bliss potatoes.

Other brunch options include a smashburger ($29), Roy’s misoyaki butterfish ($62), avocado caprese tartine ($27) and more.

Signature brunch beverages range from Bloody Marys ($15) and house mimosas ($14) to Roy’s Hawai

i Kai mai tai ($22) and Roy’s signature Hawaiian martini ($19).

Sunday brunch at Roy’s Hawaiʻi Kai is weekly from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reservations are highly recommended.

6600 Kalanianaʻole Hwy Ste 110, Honolulu

Roys Hawaii Kai souffle pancakes 090826

<title>Roy’s Hawaiʻi Kai just launched Sunday brunch</title>

The Hawaiʻi Kai restaurant has offered brunch for holidays and special occasions, but brunch is now weekly from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feast on dishes like souffle pancakes, crab cake eggs Benedict, meatloaf loco moco and more.

Roy’s Hawaiʻi Kai just launched Sunday brunch

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

On a recent hot summer’s Thursday afternoon at 

St. Augustine by-the-sea Catholic Church in Waikīkī, guests had arrived for snacks and a meal, showers, haircuts, prayer, and more, as music and chatter filled the air.

That day, River of Life Mission had supplied its 

 snack bags, along with 50 hot meals, and volunteers who ministered to homeless in the area at one of its weekly hub and service sites.

“The most important thing is building relationships,” said Hub and Ministry Manager Aleni Snell.

Gavin Tsuda, who heads the site and is pastor of One Church, added, “To gain trust, you gotta put stakes in the ground; that

’s when the shift in atmosphere happened.”

Tsuda told Aloha State Daily that what started as five volunteers has grown to nearly 30, all from various churches and community organizations. For example, Danica and Craig (no last names given) run the 

 shower truck, offering on average more than 50 showers on site per week, while Bluewater Mission church supplies clean clothing and towels. Meanwhile, a volunteer named Gina with Surfing the Nations was cutting hair and 

 was operating a student-run, mobile health clinic.

“This is our volunteer work, not our full-time job,” said Danica, who attends First Presbyterian Church. “The concept came from a mission trip and evolved from laundry; the showers have been here since January 2020, right before Covid. About a year ago, we partnered with River of Life, and it’s been great to see everyone come together. It’s also been a good working relationship with St. Augustine and 

. There’s no way we could do it on our own.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“Each week, I see hundreds of new faces come through,” she noted."}]

For Roy, who is a volunteer pastor in training, learning tools to take with him to another hub in Kalihi was on his mind. “The regulars here so comfortable,” he said with a smile, adding that part of his job is handing out Bibles, listening and praying with people.

River of Life Mission’s hub model, or mobile homeless ministry, launched four years ago and now has 240 events across Oʻahu supported by 50 teams that distribute more than 16,000 meals a month, along with a Gospel message of hope.  

Blake Spinak is the hub and ministry director. Its Chinatown location serves as offices for staff and headquarters for meal production and resource replenishing, as well as strategy and coordination. On Thursdays, it also serves as a space for staff to reconnect through worship music and Bible study.

Keali‘i Kane Gray joined the organization as executive director in October 2025, and a month later celebrated River of Life Mission’s 40-year anniversary 

with a recognition by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi

“Over the last nine months, we’ve really tried to, one, just fortify our model, as well as be a little more innovative in how we are able to steward our resources,” she told ASD last month.

She’s also proud that they’ve been able to help nearly 100 people transition off the street toward a home annually.

, (PITC), a federally mandated census conducted by Partners in Care with more than 300 volunteers on Jan. 26, the report identified 4,539 individuals “experiencing homelessness in [Oʻahu] shelters, streets, beaches, cars, or other places not meant for human habitation.”

“Partners in Care is doing amazing work …but there’s only so much you can do in one night. It’s really hard to truly get a total number.  It’s a good place to start. There’s a lot more people living in crisis,” Kane Gray said. “The demographics with regards to the number of Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders that are represented in the homeless population per capita is heartbreaking.”

 program is what happens next after the individual responds to the journey, which includes a continuum of health care that leads to treatment, employment, shelter and stability.

“It’s case by case, so with some people, you have quick transitions and others are more of a process,” he said. “The crisis is real and people are living in darkness, right? So, the goal is to be light bearers, love people and … help others in community to take ownership of its own neighbors in crisis.”

“What’s next for us is to get in front of crisis with curriculum and to train the next generation,” he added.

Kane Gray said that the organization’s Road to Redemption program just made a year old and could use support for its transition and treatment programs, in addition to other 

“Additional funding could make all the difference. We want to love our guests back to new life and give them the tools to sustain that new life,” she said. 

River of Life Mission is funded by individual and private donors, as well as 

ROLM pastors

<title>River of Life Mission expands homeless ministry</title>

Over the summer, Aloha State Daily visited one of the nonprofit's weekly hub sites in Waikīkī, where guests were treated to haircuts, showers and meals thanks to combined efforts of various church members and community organizations. We talked with leadership about what they've been working on and toward, in light of this year's Point in Time Count findings.

Daily Smile: Friday, Sep. 11, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Friday, Sep. 11, 2026

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