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[{"type":"text","text":"It's the start of spooky season, time to get your costumes ready!"}]

Smiles 26 10 1

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026</title>

It's the start of spooky season, time to get your costumes ready!

Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

 It&#039;s the start of spooky season, time to get your costumes ready!

AKINA portrait 2

Keliʻi Akina

Viewpoints

Government & Politics

[{"type":"text","text":"We have a few victories to celebrate together. Four, in fact."}]

That’s because Hawaiʻi has received four shipments of fuel from refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast — something that hasn’t happened for at least two decades.

Moreover, one of those deliveries was propane transported aboard a bulk liquefied petroleum gas carrier, a type of vessel that has been unavailable to serve Hawaiʻi from U.S. ports for decades because there simply haven’t been any in the Jones Act fleet.

That shipment was also noteworthy because the tanker was large enough to move roughly half of all the propane Hawaiʻi has imported so far this year.

These landmark voyages, discussed at length in 

 by Grassroot Scholar and Cato Institute trade policy analyst Colin Grabow, were completed thanks to the ongoing waiver of the federal Jones Act, first ordered in March as a wartime measure to facilitate greater access to fuels and fertilizers.

The ostensible reason for the waiver is unfortunate — not only because it took overseas military hostilities to trigger it, but also because Americans deserve relief in any case from this costly 106-year-old, special-interest maritime law.

The evidence has been mounting for years that the Jones Act strangles trade within the U.S. and increases the cost of living for Americans nationwide, especially for those of us who live in places that rely heavily on water transportation for our daily needs.

This happens because the Jones Act restricts the transportation of goods between U.S. ports to ships that are U.S. flagged and built and mostly owned and crewed by Americans.

Allegedly intended to bolster national security, boost shipbuilding and ensure a vibrant merchant marine force, the Jones Act has achieved none of those goals; and it is way past time that this anachronistic law be lifted for good — if not wholly, at least in ways that would benefit Americans more generally.

When it comes to fuel, the Jones Act in normal times has resulted in Hawaiʻi importing the vast majority of its supplies from foreign sources. This is partly because of the high cost of transporting U.S. fuels to Hawaiʻi on Jones Act ships, but also because doing so is sometimes simply impossible, as is the case with certain types of vessels not existing in the ever-dwindling Jones Act fleet.

The four fuel deliveries Hawaiʻi has received from U.S. producers so far under the waiver might not seem like much, but they are a promising indicator for the future.

Nationwide, the waiver has resulted in an explosion of new shipping routes between U.S. ports. And that’s even considering its temporary nature and limited scope.

For that reason, the shipments that have come to Hawaiʻi so far under the waiver represent the floor — not the ceiling — of what could be accomplished.

Right now, the waiver is proving in real time and with hard facts that the Jones Act is a barrier to our economic well-being and our national security.

The only remaining question is why Congress hasn’t yet acted on this new information to modernize the Jones Act.

Reprinted with permission from the Sept. 26, 2026 "Presidentʻs Corner" of 

9 27 26 cartoon

President Donald Trump recently issued a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act and within 24 hours, foreign ships were being chartered to carry essential goods. When nearly every emergency, from hurricanes to military action, raises the need for a Jones Act waiver, it is time to stop issuing temporary waivers and start looking at permanent reform. 

Container ship

Community Voices: Is the Jones Act finally sinking?

The Jones Act was supposed to protect the American shipbuilding industry, but the industry has withered away despite that support. New legislation by U.S. Rep. Ed Case of Hawai‘i proposes changes to the act that could ultimately reduce shipping costs to the Islands.

I Stock cargo ship

Community Voices: Time to retire the Jones Act’s U.S.-build requirement

<title>Community Voices: Significant fuel shipments quietly head to Hawaiʻi under Jones Act…</title>

Hawaiʻi has received four shipments of fuel from refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast — something that hasn’t happened for at least two decades.

Community Voices: Significant fuel shipments quietly head to Hawaiʻi under Jones Act waiver

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

The old Restaurant Row was built in 1988, and popular eateries like Studebaker’s and Black Orchid brought crowds to the plaza. As soon as you parked your car and got out, the mouth-watering smell of burgers and steaks overwhelmed your senses. Many of us remember shooting toothpicks through straws into the ceiling at Rose City Diner. We appreciated the assortment of restaurants open late after a night out. If you worked nearby, dinner at the Row was an easy choice.

But the success of Restaurant Row was short-lived as those restaurants, once popular, began closing their doors due to decreased traffic. Some attribute the slowdown to Aloha Tower Marketplace and Chinatown’s First Fridays. But no matter what the reason, we still have our memories.

[{"type":"text","text":"And our ghost stories."}]

Stories of Waterfront Plaza, as it’s now known, begin with the history of the land and what was there long ago. Before the highrises of modern Kaka‘ako were built, this area was part of a coastal landscape of wetlands, fishponds, and salt pans. As Honolulu grew and changed, the place names remind us of what was once there.

Ka‘ākaukukui is an ‘ili, or traditional land division, that was located makai (inland) of Kewalo and west of Kukuluāe‘o. Trails that crossed the region connected Kou (now Honolulu) and Waikīkī. By the time the 20th century rolled about, that landscape had virtually disappeared.

In 1900, the Honolulu Iron Works moved to a block of land at Ka‘ākaukukui. The company had become an important part of Hawaiʻi's sugar industry, manufacturing machinery for sugar mills in Hawaiʻi and elsewhere. At its height, the Iron Works employed approximately 1,500 workers, many of whom lived in Kakaʻako.

As the sugar industry eventually declined, so did the need for the mill parts that the Honolulu Iron Works manufactured. After closing its doors in 1973, its buildings were gradually converted to other uses before being demolished. The final warehouse was torn down in 1982.

In 1985, construction at the former Honolulu Iron Works site uncovered human skeletal remains. The burial pits were found less than three feet below the existing ground surface, within an older sand deposit. Archaeologists associated the burials with Kaʻākaukukui Cemetery, which was said to have been used from the 1700s into the early 1800s.

Today, after more than a century of urban development, there is no visible cemetery marking the site, but that doesn’t mean there are no lingering remnants. Iwi kūpuna, ancestral Native Hawaiian remains, associated with Kaʻākaukukui continue to be found during modern construction and utility work in Kakaʻako.

Perhaps it is no surprise that places with such histories can also become the setting for stories of the unexplained. Over the years, people who have worked in and around this area have reported encounters they could not easily explain.

, in 2005. Soon after, I did book signings where I also shared ghost stories. At one such occasion, a very tall Hawaiian woman in a business suit approached me and said she was a manager at Restaurant Row. She went on to say she was having trouble keeping security guards employed because they would quit after seeing ghosts and spirits in and around Restaurant Row, which happened at all hours, even in broad daylight.

“These are big, tough Sāmoan and Hawaiian security guards,” she emphasized.

According to this woman, the guards said they saw half-torso apparitions floating through the parking lot, or heard voices calling their names. Worse, they would see spirits of children, covered in bleeding sores.

I was shocked to hear this, as I remembered that my late boss, Glen Grant, talked about the same thing on his ghost tours and in his books.

The manager said there was also a woman they would find crying in the theater bathroom. She went on to say that customers and employees would hear the woman crying miserably in the stall. Security comes and knocks on the door, the door swings open, and a woman is squatting on the floor, covering her face with her two hands, just sobbing. The security guard asks what’s wrong, and the woman removes her hands, and she has no face.

“If this is happening during the day,” I asked. “Then what’s going on at night?”

“If a guard isn’t getting physically assaulted, then something follows them in their car,” she said.

The woman seemed more frustrated than scared because she needed guards day and night to patrol and protect the row. She left before I could get her contact information to follow up. The restaurants all changed, closed, or made way for other businesses, but I often wondered how they finally dealt with the hauntings.

A few years ago, I was doing a personal ghost tour for some staff and students from Hawaii Pacific University. They had just recently moved to their new location at the Waterfront Plaza. I met them near The Row bar, and when I heard about their move, I asked how they liked it so far.

[{"type":"text","text":"“We need it blessed,” they said. “It’s haunted.”"}]

Apparently, chairs move, computers turn on and off by themselves. The security company calls late at night because they can hear people in the offices talking, but no one is ever found. Someone even said that no one would be sitting at a computer station, but you can see the keys on the keyboard typing away.

I think they were surprised that I wasn’t phased at all by their descriptions. I just nodded and said that the place has been haunted since the beginning.

Waterfront Plaza

<title>What Haunts Waterfront Plaza</title>

Back in the day, when this complex was known as Restaurant Row, many of us enjoyed being pleasantly haunted by ’50s tunes at Rose City Diner or catching sight of celebrities at Black Orchid. But even then, some people were haunted by far more disturbing sights, perhaps owing to a cemetery that had been at the same location long ago.

What Haunts Waterfront Plaza

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

Aloha Spirit

A 24-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with last weekend’s fatal shooting in Kailua.

The Honolulu Police Department announced on Sept. 28 that homicide detectives identified a suspect who was arrested for second-degree murder and firearm offenses just before 11 p.m. Monday night. HPD arrest logs 

 Hilinaikailimakualopali Keeno as the suspect.

Keeno’s arrest was possible through the assistance of the HPD’s Criminal Investigation Division’s Forensic Video Unit. HPD had previously requested that members of the public submit photos or videos of the Kailua Fall Festival, which was ongoing at the time of the shooting, that could help identify the suspect, who at the time was described as “a local male in his late 20s.”

HPD’s announcement also identified the victim: 30-year-old Thomas Malone, the son of Michael Buntenbah, who owns the 

Friends and family of Malone gathered at the Kailua Target parking lot Tuesday to commemorate him with flowers, candles and memorabilia. Also in attendance were Malone’s old soccer coach and former teammates.

Malone had a decorated athletic career during high school, having played football, soccer and track and field at Kaiser High School. Hawai‘i sports website ScoringLive 

 Malone their Offensive Player of the Year for the 2013 football season, saying that Malone — then a senior going by the name Buntenbah-Leong — accumulated 149 points over 12 games.

Aloha State Daily's Christian Shimabuku and Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros contributed to this article.

 The Honolulu Police Department is seeking photos and videos of the Kailua Fall Festival that can shed light on the shooting death of a 30-year-old man.

On Sept. 26, shortly after 8:30 p.m., a gunshot was reported in the parking lot of the Target in Kailua, where a 30-year-old man was found with a fatal gunshot wound and was declared dead at the scene.

Initial investigations by HPD determined that two groups of people got into an argument at the Kailua Fall Festival, which was adjacent to the parking lot. That argument spilled into the lot, where somebody pulled out a gun and shot the victim.

The shooter, however, was unidentified beyond the description: “a local male in his late 20s, wearing a black sweater and his hair in two braids.”

HPD has initiated a murder investigation and has received surveillance footage and other pictures from the festival. However, detectives are requesting additional photos from the event that could help identify the shooter. Even photos that don’t explicitly show the shooting can still contain relevant information, HPD has stated.

People with information or recordings regarding the incident are asked to call 911 or CrimeStoppers at 808-955-8300.

[{"type":"text","text":"The investigation remains ongoing."}]

Kailua shooting victim memorial

<title>UPDATED: Woman arrested for weekend Kailua shooting</title>

On Sept. 28, HPD identified the alleged shooter from the Kailua Fall Festival this past weekend and also named the victim: Thomas Malone, 30, who had a decorated athletic career at Kaiser High School, where he played football, soccer and track and field. Friends and family of Malone gathered at the Kailua Target parking lot Tuesday to commemorate him with flowers, candles and memorabilia.

UPDATED: Woman arrested for weekend Kailua shooting

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

With a quick gesture, fuel to the fire in the rivalry between the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team and Long Beach State was amplified.

 took a pair of road matches against The Beach

 in late March, the two teams met up again in the Big West Conference championship match on April 25 in Irvine, Calif. The Rainbow Warriors had a 2-1 lead and served for match point five times until The Beach survived to force a fifth and final set.

The Beach jumped out to a comfortable 10-4 lead in the deciding set on a 

Wojciech Gajek kill. Gajek, a freshman opposite hitter, 

flashed double shakas to the Hawai‘i-partisan crowd before flipping his hands upside down

. Long Beach State went on to win 20-25, 27-25, 22-25, 30-28, 15-11, winning the Big West tournament after Hawai‘i 

Hawai‘i went on to earn the national No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, while Long Beach State earned the 3 seed. UH hosted USC in the national quarterfinals and 

won in four sets at the Stan Sheriff Center

, while Long Beach State swept Loyola Chicago, setting up another matchup between the 'Bows and The Beach, this time in the national semifinals. The rivals will go at it on Saturday at UCLA's Pauley Pavillion at 3:30 p.m. HST on ESPN+, with the winner advancing to Monday's national title match. 

While the action could be compared to the 'Horns Down' gesture meant to taunt the University of Texas and its 'Hook 'Em Horns' sign, the 

 represents more than the University of Hawai‘i. In 2024, the shaka was 

officially declared by Hawai‘i as the state's official hand gesture

Before the Rainbow Warriors boarded the team bus for the airport on Wednesday, multiple players were asked about the upside down shaka gesture. The memory remains fresh in their minds. 

"It touched us, too," Hawai‘i standout outside hitter Adrien Roure said. "I think that's bad for them, because it's going to fire us even more. And we're really, really excited for that game and to get revenge."

[{"type":"text","text":"Did UH players take the gesture personally? "}]

"Of course we take that personally," said UH junior Louis Sakanoko, who was named to the AVCA All-America first team on Wednesday. "At the same time, I don't think it should matter that much. We should just play our game. We're not here to get too mad and play a game that we're not playing. So, we should just focus on what we know and what we will do, and the celebration after we win the national championship is the best thing to actually brag about."

The first national semifinal on Saturday will be a matchup featuring UC Irvine, which shocked No. 1 UCLA on its home floor on Saturday, taking on No. 4 Ball State. 

Since the Big West branched off from the MPSF to create its own six-team men's volleyball conference in 2018, Hawai‘i and Long Beach State have been the standard-bearers from the get-go. The 'Bows and The Beach are the only two teams to have won regular season titles in the conference's existence. Additionally, one of the two programs have won every single conference tournament, with the exception of UC Santa Barbara in 2021. LBSU has won three national titles since 2018, while UH has won two.

On Saturday, the team looking to advance to the national championship match will have to beat their chief rival in order to do so. Hand gestures aside, that alone should provide enough motivation. 

"Regular season, postseason, seems any time we're playing each other, it means something," Hawai‘i head coach Charlie Wade said. "Both teams are always highly ranked. League postseason or national postseason, they're big-time matches, and this one should be no different."

Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

Authors

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Reporter

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