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[{"type":"text","text":"Came over for a visit. Stayed for the sleepover."}]

Smile 26 9 21

<title>Daily Smile: Monday, Sep. 21, 2026</title>

Came over for a visit. Stayed for the sleepover.

Daily Smile: Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

 Came over for a visit. Stayed for the sleepover.

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

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

A 1.8-acre estate in Hualālai Resort that once belonged to former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz sold in late July for $36 million, the highest residential sale in the Hawai‘i Island resort's history. The previous record was $30.2 million, which was set in October 2021.

[{"type":"text","text":"Hualālai Realty's Rob Kildow represented both the buyer and seller."}]

Located at 72-103 and 105 Lau‘eki Place, the property features eight bedrooms, nine-and-a-half baths and eight structures, with a total of 15,427 square feet under roof and 11,250 square feet of interior living space, according to information provided to Aloha State Daily. 

 that this was an off-market sale. The house was last sold for $25 million in 2015 to Schultz, the provided information noted.

The eight structures sit on two adjoining parcels that total nearly 79,000 square feet, Kildow told ASD in an emailed response to questions, noting, too, that the parcels overlook the eighth fairway and green of the Ke‘Olu golf course and that the property offers views of the Pacific Ocean, Maui, the Kohala mountains and Hualālai.

More than 7,400 square feet of elevated Ipe decks surround and connect the structures with a series of pathways and bridges, and there are "extensive" water features throughout the property, he says, adding that the interior of the home of has Ipe floors, clear cedar interior walls and clear hemlock vaulted ceilings.

"reinforces that Hualālai remains one of the most sought-after resort communities in Hawai‘i and beyond. Interest remains high regardless of price in any available residence at 

[{"type":"text","text":"There are currently only four residences for sale at Hualālai, he says."}]

"As reported, this was the highest sale since the resort opened," Kildow told ASD. "That said, there are homes that would sell for more if they were ever to come to the market. In 2025, there were a number of sales between $10.5 million and $22 million."

Hualālai Resort is an 865-acre oceanfront residential resort community on the Big Island's Kona-Kohala Coast, offering a mix of single-family custom homes, townhouses, homesites and villas, according to a fact sheet provided by Kildow. 

Membership to the private Hualālai Club is available only to resort property owners, and members have access to the members-only Ke‘olu Clubhouse and Ke‘Olu Golf Course, the Hualālai Canoe Club, unlimited golf and tennis, the amenities at Four Seasons Resort Hualālai, including beach and pool service, and more, the info notes.

Among other features and amenities, the resort also has two golf courses: the 

-designed Ke‘Olu Course and the Hualālai Golf Course, which is the first Jack Nicklaus Signature design in Hawai‘i, and home to the PGA Tour Champions "Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualālai" event since 1997, according to the provided fact sheet.

 of BDT & MSD Partners, the billionaire businessman who also serves as chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies. The resort was originally developed by The Athens Group.

Hualalai resort sale 091726

<title>This $36M sale is the highest residential sale in Hualālai Resort history</title>

The house last sold for $25 million in 2015 to former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

This $36M sale is the highest residential sale in Hualālai Resort history

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

From the late 1950s into the 1970s, discount department stores were inescapable in Honolulu. Advertised abundantly in newspapers, and on radio and TV, everyone was definitely aware of Wigwam, Gibson’s, Holiday Mart, and GEM. Here’s the story of the last one.

GEM – which was its correct name, although nearly all of us knew it as “Gem’s” in local style – was an acronym for “Government Employees Mutual” (later changed to “Government Employees Mart”). Founded in Denver, Colorado in 1956, the business’s second location was Honolulu, which opened in July 1957. This was a large facility on Dillingham Boulevard in Kalihi which is familiar to many today as the place where we’ve gone to get, or renew, driver’s licenses, since 1997.

Only members could shop at GEM, and the requirements to join were puzzlingly restrictive: Government employees, military (including veterans), teachers, union members and clergy were the sole eligible persons. No one could even enter a store until their credentials were checked in an entry room and the door was buzzed open. Given that the majority of the population was prohibited from even setting foot inside a GEM store, the business received a surprising amount of publicity.

GEM expanded to its second retail location on Ward Avenue in Kaka‘ako in August 1962. This was an 80,000 square foot building on a 7-acre site that cost $1.3 million to construct. With 29 departments inside and a parking lot that could hold 700 vehicles, there was a lot to attract shoppers to this, the largest store in the GEM chain that by then had expanded to 16 outlets in a number of American cities. Nine thousand people were estimated to have attended the opening.

As time passed, GEM’s membership requirement was dropped. A store in Hilo came and went, two others opened on O‘ahu in Waipahu and Kaneohe and the last was located in Līhu‘e, Kaua‘i. The company merged with Parkview Drugs of Missouri in 1965 and changed its name to Parkview GEM. In 1979, the Hawai‘i stores were purchased by Seibu, a Japanese corporation.

As with many businesses that come to town in a flash of excitement, expand quickly and then settle down into just being part of the landscape, GEM gradually did the same. In December 1993 it was announced that three of the four remaining stores would close in two to three months, leaving only the Kaka‘ako location open, but this merely lasted till the following year. In late 1994 the former GEM became Sports Authority, which is how most people today will remember it. This lasted till the entire national Sports Authority chain was closed due to bankruptcy in 2016, which ended all eight of the company’s stores in the Hawaiian Islands.

This enabled multiple artists to use the now-empty building’s interior to show their works in the first Honolulu Biennial from March 8 to May 8, 2017. The Howard Hughes Corporation and Ward Village were major sponsors of this enjoyable cultural event, with art displayed throughout the entire district in addition to “The Hub” (the former GEM) which was then the largest space of what was called the Ward Gateway Center that housed various commercial tenants.

Finally came the ‘Ohana Hale Marketplace in October 2018. Based on the business model of a self-storage facility, the Marketplace contained 225 small individual vendor spaces, each available for rental. By December of that year, 162 were occupied. Over the next few years, tenants came and went, some moving out into the world into bigger commercial spaces. But by April 2022 the Marketplace ended in Kaka‘ako for – not surprisingly – the construction of a new and massive highrise condo on the site.

Don’t go looking for what was once GEM today — it’s completely vanished. In fact its former site is now bisected by a newly-opened street, to make the disappearance even more final.

1 GEM 64 16x9

<title>Changing Kaka‘ako: GEM Is The Big One!</title>

Back in the day, kama‘āina used to refer to these department stores as "Gem's." Here's the real history — and the real name — of these stores that once spanned the Islands.

Changing Kaka‘ako: GEM Is The Big One!

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

, known for its affordable bentos, just opened its third location on Young Street. This store is in the former space of J-Shop.

U-Kitchen offers a variety of musubi, bentos, bowls and curry. The menu is the same here as its downtown Honolulu store, according to business owner Yudai Fukuda.

Popular bentos include butterfish ($13.99), mochiko chicken ($10.99) and chicken katsu ($10.99). The musubi selection ranges from salmon ($2.99) and spicy tuna ($3.19) to unagi ($4.79) and mentai mayo ($3.29).

U-Kitchen’s original location is in Kalihi; its downtown Honolulu store, which is in Topa Financial Center, is currently closed due a power outage in the building, according to Fukuda. He says the downtown Honolulu store — 

“Our peak time (at that location) was from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” he says, nothing the shop’s popularity with the downtown Honolulu lunch crowd.

He says that Topa Financial Center was supposed to reopen on Aug. 24, but says the re-opening was delayed further after Hurricane Lala.

U-Kitchen’s Young Street store is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays. Customer parking is available in the shop's lot.  

Open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays, closed Sundays

U Kitchen Young Street worker 081826

<title>U-Kitchen opens a new bento and musubi cafe</title>

The business, whose original location is in Kalihi, just opened a third location on Young Street in the former J-Shop space. The business’s Downtown Honolulu store has been temporarily closed since July 23, according to U-Kitchen owner Yudai Fukuda.

U-Kitchen opens a new bento and musubi cafe

Crime & Courts

Igor Lytvynchuk, the Washington man charged with throwing a rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal, had his first court appearance in Honolulu on Wednesday.

Lytvynchuk, 38, appeared in U.S. District Court to plead "not guilty" to two charges of illegal taking of an endangered marine mammal. Those charges stem from 

 on May 5 when a man — later identified by investigators as Lytvynchuk — was recorded on video hurling a rock at a monk seal on a Maui beach, seemingly only narrowly missing the animal’s head.

As any form of harassment of an endangered seal violates both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, that single rock incurred two charges. Both charges are misdemeanor offenses, carrying a maximum possible sentence of one year in prison each, although Magistrate Judge Rom Trader told Lytvynchuk Wednesday that there is no guarantee, if he is found guilty, that he will face the full maximum sentence.

Lytvynchuk was arrested May 13 near Seattle by special agents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Following an initial court appearance in Washington, the case was transferred to the District of Hawai‘i.

Lytvynchuk had little opportunity to speak at Wednesday’s hearing, confirming in one or two words that he understood Trader’s description of the legal process ahead of him. While his “not guilty” plea drew murmurs from the several dozen people in the gallery, he made no statement about his actions during or after the hearing.

However, a lawyer for Lytvynchuk had previously told media that Lytvynchuk had supposedly believed the seal to be a sea lion threatening sea turtles.

Trader ordered Lytvynchuk to be released on an unsecured $25,000 bond with several conditions, including that Lytvynchuk surrender his passport and all travel documents, that he not change addresses without approval from his pretrial officer, and that his travel is restricted to the Western District of Washington — a U.S. court district covering the state west of the Cascade Mountains — and O‘ahu for court purposes only.

Furthermore, when on O‘ahu, Lytvynchuk is prohibited from accessing any beaches or approaching any marine wildlife, Trader said.

“I think that’s an appropriately tailored restriction, given the circumstances,” Trader said.

Failing to comply with these conditions could result in a warrant for Lytvynchuk’s arrest and put him in jail until trial.

Lytvynchuk is also required to be present at future court hearings. However, Trader said he is inclined to waive that requirement for certain minor hearings and allow Lytvynchuk to appear remotely.

For example, the next hearing date is scheduled for June 9, where attorneys for both sides will set a mutually agreeable trial date and other deadlines. Trader agreed with Lytvynchuk’s attorney Sean Fitzsimmons that Lytvynchuk’s physical presence at that hearing will not be necessary.

Screenshot 2026 05 27 at 3 58 24 PM 16x9

<title>Lytvynchuk pleads 'not guilty' in monk seal case</title>

Igor Lytvynchuk will be barred from O‘ahu beaches as his court case over an alleged attack on a Hawaiian monk seal continues.

Lytvynchuk pleads 'not guilty' in monk seal case

Business & Tourism

Jonathan Wong, owner of O‘ahu Ace Handyman Services, wanted to make sure the franchise, which opened in mid-October, “was not a cookie-cutter, Mainland operation.”

Originally from the Islands, Wong says he knew that Hawai’i is “very different” in regard to the culture around starting and operating a business.

“I knew that it took a little bit more effort,” he told Aloha State Daily Friday. “And I know a lot of times, Mainland operations don’t understand that. It took a lot of working back-and-forth with the team, collaborating [to] understand how we can make this work specifically for the local communities. That’s really what I wanted to do. I wanted to not just make this, again, a cookie-cutter operation, but something that enabled people to get high-quality, trustworthy handyman services and also make good jobs. That’s really what I wanted.”

A part of the Ace Hardware family, this is Ace Handyman Services’ first franchise in the Hawai‘i. It offers just what you’d expect — handyman services across O‘ahu. Wong says they can do almost anything except jobs that requires a license or permitting, like full electrical, plumbing or HVAC work.

Some of the most common repairs and services the company provides include drywall repairs, flooring, painting, fixing fence posts and the installation of “grab” bars in showers, he notes.

Wong says he loved that Ace was “really open to the idea of creating something that was local,” and in understanding that in Hawai‘i, “we just kind of do things a little bit differently,” were willing to work with him on service offering and marketing perspectives.

Although Ace is a nationwide brand, Wong says it’s nice that there are “trusted Ace Hardware stores here,” which lends to the franchise’s credibility. A store locator identifies nearly two dozen Ace Hardware locations across the Islands.

The company’s O‘ahu Ace Handyman Services name also gives it a local feel. Wong says they hire people who live here and it’s run by a leadership team from Hawai‘i.

 kind of make us the best of both worlds."

Wong says the company is insured and bonded; background checks and drug tests are conducted on its craftspeople; a one-year warranty is offered on the work performed; is supported by the Ace brand name; and “we try to always respect people’s time.”

This isn’t Wong’s first entrepreneurial endeavor.

Wong, a Punahou School grad who majored in accounting and IT at Santa Clara University and received an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, worked on the Mainland for a number of years, including nearly a decade at First Republic Bank.

He returned to the Islands nearly two years ago and started Hele Logistics, which he says was the first locally owned Amazon delivery service partner to operate in Hawai‘i. That company now employs about 130 people.

When asked how he got involved with Ace Handyman Services, Wong says the “entrepreneur bug definitely kicked in.”

“I knew that I wanted to do more and be a part of another company, so that’s when the search really started.”

There were discussions with family trying to find people to do a variety of handy work.

“We just couldn’t find people to do simple-ish tasks.”

But a business school classmate — who does this in Oregon — tipped the scales.

Wong says he didn’t want to pursue just any opportunity, “because every place could use a lot of things. But it’s picking the right type of business, offering the right type of product [and] service that really makes the most sense, provides the most value and supports two ways — providing really good jobs and then as well as providing a needed service.”

Since opening, Wong says response has been good and they’ve been getting a number of repeat customers already.

His long-term vision is to expand to the Neighbor Islands, although there’s no timeline in place for such an expansion.

. You can also reach the office at 808-460-8338.

Daily Smile: Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Monday, Sep. 21, 2026

Authors

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