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[{"type":"text","text":"This is going to be a long walk back..."}]

Smile 26 9 20

<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026</title>

This is going to be a long walk back...

Daily Smile: Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Mauna Kea is the only possible site for the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope, after an alternate site in the Canary Islands has reportedly been nixed.

, sources within Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities confirmed that the TMT International Observatory has rejected a bid by the Spanish government to have the long-planned telescope built on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.

The news comes little more than a month after TMT itself 

 that Spain had proposed a “financial framework” to build the observatory on La Palma, a proposal involving multiple Spanish government agencies and the European Investment Bank. That proposed framework 

 up to €1 billion (about $1.1 billion) for the project. 

, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities announced the rejection on Friday, but the reasons for that rejection were not publicly disclosed.

While Mauna Kea has always been the primary site planned for TMT, La Palma had been proposed as a potential alternative. The island hosts several telescopes at its Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, as its height and equatorial position makes it well-suited for astronomy in the same way that Mauna Kea is.

 of TMT by the National Science Foundation noted that the La Palma contingency was not developed to the same level of detail as the Mauna Kea plan. 

With La Palma seemingly out of the picture, TMT’s only remaining potential site is, once again, Mauna Kea. 

But the future of the project remains murky. In 2024, the NSF named both TMT and the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile as potential linchpins of a “U.S. Extremely Large Telescope” project, but also that only one could feasibly be funded, putting the two telescopes in competition with each other. 

 a budget request that mentioned that it was no longer considering TMT for the Extremely Large Telescope project, wiping about $1.6 billion in federal funding off the table for TMT.

 earlier this year stipulating that NSF continue to consider both TMT and the Giant Magellan Telescope through its final review process, although no funding for either project was guaranteed in that bill. 

Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Green and the state’s Congressional delegation have 

 TMT to consider building the observatory in the footprint of a previously existing telescope on Mauna Kea, rather than on untouched summit land. TMT project manager Fengchuan Liu told the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority in April that this could be feasible.

[{"type":"text","text":"Aloha State Daily has requested comment from TMT."}]

ZOA 2023 7950 tio tmt 0018 16x9

<title>TMT reportedly rejects Spanish bid to build on Canary Islands</title>

A €1 billion proposal to build the Thirty Meter Telescope in La Palma has reportedly fallen through.

TMT reportedly rejects Spanish bid to build on Canary Islands

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Columnists

The headline this week is $300,000 for lawmakers and state staff to fly somewhere and study transit-oriented development. Nobody knows where the trip is going.

Readers will see that headline and file it under government waste. That’s the easy reading, and it’s usually right. But it doesn’t have to be.

The appropriation went to the Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority, which voted two weeks ago to transfer the money to the Department of Health. I chaired HCDA’s board until June. The vote came after I left.

Coordinating big infrastructure is one of the few things government exists to do. State and county governments own the ports, the airports, the highways, and the bus and rail networks. Those systems decide where housing can go, how much of it can be built, and what it will cost. A rail line is a housing policy whether anyone calls it that or not.

And these decisions are close to permanent. A rail line reconfigures a community for generations and costs billions. The price of getting it wrong is not only the money spent. It’s the century of consequences that follows. $300,000 is a small price to pay for better decisions. Sen. Chris Lee, who used to chair the Senate Transportation Committee, said the state shouldn’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish. He’s right.

Lawmakers should fly coach, sleep in modest rooms, and skip the room service. But 

, and I expect they’ll follow the receipts. The question isn’t whether the trip should happen. The question is where it should go.

The biggest fight in Hawaiʻi government over the last decade has been Honolulu against the state, and the fight has been about transportation money. The counties want more of it. The state thinks the counties spend it badly. It wants proof of return, either in tax revenue or in something the public can point to, like affordable housing. Rail sits at the center of that fight, with a slice of the general excise tax feeding it.

Critics are right that ridership is low. Skyline carries 11,000 to 12,000 riders on a weekday, against the 84,000 the city hopes for once the line reaches Ala Moana. They’re also right that development around the stations has barely moved, more than a decade after the route was drawn.

Why? Zoning at the county level came slowly. Some areas lacked the sewer and water capacity to support redevelopment. Nobody had the capital to build at scale. And Hawaiʻi has almost no firms that know how to redevelop whole districts around a transit line. Those four gaps are the whole story of rail’s disappointment.

So the trip has to answer four questions at once. Which country zones well? Which one matches its transit buildouts with the infrastructure to support them? Which one has capital looking for a home? And which one has companies that specialize in redeveloping around stations?

 Singapore’s public housing, and he’s also fond of Vienna’s social housing, much of it built under socialist governments. Both are worth understanding. Neither is a model Hawaiʻi can copy. Our state leans toward overreach, but it has neither the ideological unity of Red Vienna nor a leader with the standing of Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore also runs on a civil service whose professional culture rivals its best companies, and it pays accordingly. The prime minister’s salary was recently raised to $2.8 million. Nobody at the Capitol is proposing that.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Go to Japan."}]

Japan lives with the constraints we live with. Scarce urban land, earthquakes and typhoons, imported food and energy, an aging population.

It has one of the best zoning systems in the world. Small urban parcels can be 

, which is why its cities feel alive in a way few others do. It’s a slow-growth economy sitting on enormous capital that needs somewhere to go. A delegation could come home with investors, not just design notes. And nearly everything standing in Tokyo was built after 1945, because the war leveled it. Few countries have more recent experience rebuilding cities.

Anyone who has hired a contractor knows the fear. What if he takes the deposit and vanishes? What if he goes under halfway through? That fear shrinks when your partner has been in business for a century and is counted among the best builders in the country.

Consider Tokyu Corporation, which has run commuter rail across greater Tokyo since 1922. Tokyu doesn’t just operate trains. It masterplans the districts around its stations and develops them. Shibuya, home to what’s often called the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing, grew up around a Tokyu terminal that once served about a dozen passengers a day. Projects like 

 remake entire neighborhoods by the time they open. 

And Tokyu is already here. Its transit-development expert has sat on the governor’s advisory committee since 2024. Last October he walked the committee through 83 slides on the Skyline, including a fix for something HART never designed: passing tracks so some trains can run express. The state is now negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the company.

Japan and Hawaiʻi share a love of baseball. For years Hawaiʻi has refused to swing big. It bunts. It settles for singles. That habit shows up most clearly in infrastructure. The state rarely attempts real masterplanning. When it does, it can’t manage the work over time, so projects drift and die. It parcels out work through RFPs and gets piecemeal results. Playing small yields small returns, when it yields any. But there are teams that play big and win big in development, and Japan has several of them.

You don’t meet those teams by reading. Gov. Josh Green learned that on his first trip to Tokyo after taking office. He thought he was going to 

, he said, and “was actually talking about partnerships.”

If the goal is to learn how transit networks work, buy a book. If the goal is to actually redevelop Honolulu around its rail line, you visit the people who build cities around theirs. And you build relationships that outlast the trip. Hawaiʻi has spent years counting the cost. It has even sat down with people who have finished the work. Now it’s time to take them seriously.

Relationships in Japan aren’t made by one traveler with a per diem. Seriousness means a full delegation, receiving the hospitality of hosts, and returning it here. That will cost more than $300,000. It’s still cheaper than another decade of empty lots beside the stations.

That’s how you tell a partner you’re ready.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Is Hawaiʻi?"}]

HART rail car

<title>Hawaiʻi’s $300,000 transit-oriented development trip should go to Japan</title>

Lawmakers and state staff have $300,000 to fly somewhere and study development around rail stations. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why the trip is worth taking, why Singapore and Vienna are the wrong models, and why Hawaiʻi should book Tokyo and stay long enough to make a friend.

Hawaiʻi’s $300,000 transit-oriented development trip should go to Japan

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

An ongoing initiative between Chick-fil-A restaurants in Hawaiʻi and nonprofit 

 is simultaneously helping to divert thousands of pounds of foods from landfills, while making meals for community members in need.

’s corporate social responsibility strategy, has equipped 

Owner-Operators to donate surplus food to charitable organizations in their community since 2012. To date, 50 million meals have been created across the country by more than 2,700 restaurants.

The program launched in the Islands in fall 2022, ahead of the first Chick-fil-A restaurant opening on Oʻahu in Ala Moana Center’s Makai Market Food Court.

“It was as easy as a phone call, but it’s not every day you get a call like that,” 

Aloha Harvest Executive Director Mele Pepa Latu told Aloha State Daily. “They wanted to learn more about what Aloha Harvest does, what our needs were and how they could help. I just remember excitement around it and what it meant to the team.”

“And several years and stores later, they still show up in different ways, whether that

” she continued. “It’s just like one big family, and in Hawai

ʻi, family is everything, and I think food is right up there, too.”

As of July, Chick-fil-A restaurants in Hawai

have helped divert 70,251 pounds of food from landfills, while creating 64,505 meals from surplus food, according to the company. Latu estimates 

location donates on average 100 to 300 pounds per week, or 1,099 pounds of food combined in total.

Aloha Harvest drivers pick up surplus food from all participating 

Chick-fil-A restaurants, among other donors, and deliver the food for it to be repurposed and consumed that same day, according to Latu. For Chick-fil-A, the food donated Monday through Friday benefits nonprofit 

There can be up to 80 food donors per day, seven days a week, she said, adding, “It’s a big logistical puzzle, but we have it down to a T and can still fit in on-call donations.” Aloha Harvest has nearly 20 staff and over 1,000 

Established in 1999, the nonprofit has redistributed more than 46 million pounds of food altogether.

Chick-fil-A Kamokila Owner-Operator Nick Lovan

, partnering with Aloha Harvest has been a blessing. His role is to ensure that the donated food is safe before it goes out.

Chick-fil-A has a very high standard when it comes to food safety… So anytime we have a surplus, we have to make sure that it gets to a certain temperature within a certain amount of time. That’s something all my leads are trained on. Chick-fil-A helped teach us this process when we first opened.”

 will celebrate its one-year anniversary this Thursday with a community event.

When asked what Lovan prioritized in the first year, he said, “continuing to know guests and serve them better.”

He’s also spent time investing in his 80 staff members, who primarily live on the west side, he noted. Through a partnership with Cumberland University

, 10 employees will get online college classes and book materials for free, he said.

As a leader, Lovan hopes to continue making a positive influence on the community and those he serves with.

“I hope our relationship continues to grow with Aloha Harvest. I’m very excited for the future.”

Latu is also hopeful for the future — Aloha Harvest recently surpassed its fundraising goal of $120,000 at its Fuel the Rescue Gala to invest in a new refrigerated truck, which will join its fleet of trucks and vans distributing food around the island.

When asked what this will allow the organization to accomplish, she said that though it will take six months to a year to build, “it is going to allow us to increase the amount of food we pick up and our capacity.”

“I’m learning to have grace with myself, ask for help and lean on my team,” Latu said. “I am thankful that Chick-fil-A found Aloha Harvest, and that it is committed to helping our neighbors in need.”

Shared Table 171

<title>Aloha Harvest and Chick-fil-A partnership combats food waste, hunger</title>

The Chick-fil-A Shared Table program turns surplus food into free meals for local organizations and individuals. Aloha State Daily spoke with a couple of the local leaders involved to learn more about the process and overall impact.

Aloha Harvest and Chick-fil-A partnership combats food waste, hunger

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Like the Hawai‘i prep football icons that came before him, Hunter Fujikawa is poised to become the next great quarterback to come out of Mililani High School. 

, Fujikawa, a junior with the Trojans, is hoping his name can be uttered in the same sentence by the time it's all said and done. 

 from schools such as Ohio State, Alabama and Oregon, Fujikawa, a 6-foot-2 four-star quarterback, is on pace to have been on the list of notable alumni regardless of the school that produced him. And prior to this summer, that school would have been Punahou. 

Fujikawa won the starting job on Punahou's varsity team as a freshman and in all likelihood would have held the role for all four years. 

"Just a great opportunity to play under coach 

 and (offensive coordinator) Samson Satele," Fujikawa told Aloha State Daily of his decision to transfer. "Being able to have that caliber of coaches to help me develop and get to the next level. God closes one door and opens another."

Fujikawa is far from the only former Punahou standout to join Mililani this offseason. Star 6-foot-4 receiver Zion White, who began his high school career with the Buffanblu, transferred to national powerhouse IMG Academy for his junior season. White returned to the Islands for his senior year and will suit up for the Trojans alongside Fujikawa. 

"It's been great so far," White said. "Over here, all the boys just have their heads down 24/7, just working super hard."

White and Fujikawa grew up playing against each other on the youth circuit — White for the ‘Ewa Beach Hammerheads and Fujikawa for Fiyah Squad. Fujikawa was a freshman when White was a sophomore racking up college offers before Fujikawa went on to do the same. 

"I knew he had potential," White said of Fujikawa. "We kind of just had to build that relationship. We spent multiple hours just throwing together and just spending time together. And the connection, honestly, hasn't gone anywhere. It feels like a brotherhood in a sense."

In addition to Fujikawa and White, the Trojans will also feature a trio of Satele brothers in linebacker Toa, and defensive linemen Trison and Tayden. Toa and Trison have already committed to Oregon, while Tayden is entering his freshman year. Their father and offensive coordinator, Samson Satele, is a former University of Hawai‘i standout offensive lineman and eight-year NFL veteran. 

"It's been great so far," Fujikawa said of the transition to Mililani. "I love the boys. This team, we should have a great year ahead of us."

White, who is entering his senior year, has already committed to California, choosing the Golden Bears over a 

. Fujikawa, meanwhile, says he's putting his recruitment "on pause" in order to focus on his junior season. 

"Recruiting is going to keep going, but I just want to continue to build relationships with coaches and focus on the season, and then see what happens after," Fujikawa said. 

Mililani's season officially begins on Aug. 14 with a home game against Liberty High School of Henderson, Nev. As a program, the Trojans have two state titles to their name: one in 2014 as the HHSAA Division I champions, their lone top-tiered state crown. Mililani won the 2016 Division I HHSAA state title, but it was the same year the state introduced a new top tier in the Open Division. 

"What everybody wants to do and everyone's vision is winning the state championship," Fujikawa said. 

Added White, when asked about his individual goals for the 2026 season: "I have personal goals, but honestly, I'm a team-first kind of guy and I just want to win states above all." 

Mililani football 080328

<title>Mililani's new dynamic duo looks to take Trojans back to HHSAA mountaintop</title>

Former Punahou teammates Zion White and Hunter Fujikawa are reunited at Mililani and have the Trojans thinking big ahead of the 2026 high school football season.

Mililani's new dynamic duo looks to take Trojans back to HHSAA mountaintop

Arts & Entertainment

 of people who move from Hawai‘i to Las Vegas every year, about 100 are inside the Beach House Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon. 

Located about 15 miles southeast of the Las Vegas strip, the Beach House is a Hawai‘i-themed bar and grill owned by Kāne‘ohe 

natives Ona and Roz Souza. Dropped inside of it, and one would be more convinced they're in West O‘ahu rather than the Vegas suburbs. Plates of garlic chicken and pitchers of beer are being transported to multiple tables while Island reggae plays on the speakers. 

It is estimated that the vast majority of the Beach House's customers are natives of the Aloha State who immigrated to the so-called ninth island. Whether they move to Las Vegas because of financial or family reasons, customers come to the Beach House in search of a taste of home. And on this day, they're certainly going to get it. 

"Uncle Frank will be here in five minutes! Five Hawaiian minutes," an emcee jokes. 

In January 2025, Hawai‘i comedy legend Frank De Lima became another member of the Island diaspora, relocating to a retirement home in Las Vegas after facing mounting health issues. 

De Lima, who turned 77 on July 8, ended his birthday week with a show at the Beach House. One hundred tickets, priced at $20 apiece, were quickly sold out. 

Emerging from a door and onto the stage, De Lima's presence drew rousing approval and applause from the crowd. Dressed in a sumo costume, he immediately broke into song, parodying Bruno Mars' "24K Magic," PSY's "Gangnam Style," and Silentó's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)."

In De Lima's 90-minute 77th birthday show, he switched between dialogue and song. Following his opening number, he thanked the crowd for coming out. He then asked the Hawai‘i-heavy crowd how many had watched the 

UFC 329 fight the night before between Wai‘anae's Max Holloway

 and Ireland's Conor McGregor, referring to McGregor as "the babooze who wen broke his adda leg."

De Lima then went on to more songs, poking fun at seemingly every demographic in Hawai‘i, as he is wont to do. He welcomed and worked the crowd simultaneously, displaying he still has the wit at his age to make locals laugh. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"De Lima: Any Chinese in here? "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Audience member: Here! "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"De Lima: What's your last name? "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Audience member: Ah-Hee"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"De Lima: Ahi? That's Hawaiian! "}]

In the days following his 77th birthday, De Lima was in a reflective state of mind. He reminisced about being on the cheer team instead of the football team at Damien, then years later leaving the parish to pursue show business. He fondly looked back at his career beginnings, particularly shows at the Noodle Shop. He told a story about performing in front of 100 people, then 50,000 at the old 

"All these years later, here I am in front of 100 people," De Lima said, which drew more raucous laughter from the audience. 

"Tita Turner" and "Filipino Christmas" were some of the hits De Lima played, but he also broke out some new material. A recently written song described how he went from 320 to 190 pounds thanks to swimming, walking, and most of all, Ozempic. 

Following the show, the audience sang Happy Birthday to De Lima, and he stuck around for photos and autographs. 

Despite moving away from home, De Lima says he's comfortable and happy in Las Vegas. 

"I enjoy it," De Lima told Aloha State Daily after the show. "I live in a brand new senior home, very reasonable. My family lives here. My sister, my cousins, and a lot of friends."

De Lima's relationship with Las Vegas began back in 1985. He had a big fan and friend in renowned casino developer and entrepreneur Sam Boyd, and he'd stay at one of his hotels, the California Hotel & Casino, every year for 25 years while he continued to sell out shows in Vegas. 

As De Lima alluded to in his birthday show, his health issues, which include diabetes, forced him to retire from his all-time favorite gig: the Frank De Lima Student Enrichment Program, where over the course of over four decades, he visited with every school in the state multiple times. 

Comedy keeps De Lima young, sharp, and happy. His day-to-day life in Las Vegas includes keeping up with the news back home and writing jokes on his computer. He's in good health and good spirits due to his recent weight loss, but it hasn't limited the doctor visits. 

"Like every senior, we all gotta go doctor twice a month. We all get like eight doctors to go to, and that doesn't include X-ray and all that kind of stuff," he lamented. 

Though De Lima hasn't stopped performing since moving to Las Vegas, his shows are far more spread out, both in time and location. He's done three shows at the Beach House, and a few more are on the way, but at the pace of about one a month. He's also performed in Utah and California. In November, he'll perform multiple shows in Hawai‘i for the first time since moving away, including a Nov. 21 show with Augie T and Andy Bumatai at the Hawai‘i Theatre. 

Without a doubt, De Lima misses the people back in Hawai‘i. "But then there's plenty (of locals) up here, so, you know, hard to say," he joked.

[{"type":"text","text":"Who does De Lima miss the most? The keiki. "}]

"The number one thing I think I miss the most that I don't think I'll ever change if I had to go back and do it again, is assemblies. The students. That is the most wonderful thing that happened," De Lima said. "I miss the students the most."

[{"type":"text","text":"After his birthday show, a long line of fans approached De Lima. "}]

“You talked to my school when I was in the fourth grade," a woman told him. 

[{"type":"text","text":"De Lima's eyes glistened as he smiled and nodded. "}]

Daily Smile: Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026

Authors

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