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<title>October-November Voter Guide</title>

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October-November Voter Guide

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Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

There were plenty of firsts for University of Hawai‘i women's basketball head coach Khalilah Mitchell to check off during Wednesday night's exhibition game against Hawai‘i Pacific. 

 in April following a nationwide search after Laura Beeman's surprise resignation, had been an assistant under Beeman for a total of seven seasons. After hitting the recruiting trail in the spring and summer while keeping the Rainbow Wahine sharp during offseason workouts, 

Wednesday was another key step for the 'Bows; it was the team's first time taking on another squad under their new head coach. With a 7 p.m. tipoff, it was Mitchell's first time experiencing a gameday as the leader at the helm. As the Rainbow Wahine went though their pregame warmups and layup line, Mitchell sat on the other side of the court, allowing her assistants to work closer with the players. 

Once the ball was tipped, the Division II Sharks were outmatched by the Rainbow Wahine in every which way. Hawai‘i breezed to a 90-38 victory. After the game, Mitchell addressed attending media in the Stan Sheriff Center green room as part of her head coach obligations, another first. 

"As an assistant coach, I'm a lot more aggressive with refs, and today I could not do that, so that was a first," Mitchell joked. "Another first was just doing it in front of a crowd. That was really cool. Another first is honestly just doing it with [the team]. This is the way it happened, and following Coach B and just with this group of girls, I can't explain it. I tried my best to be in the moment, and that's what I really focused on the whole time."

As she takes over the program and makes her own mark on the team, one thing is clear about a Mitchell-led team: the Rainbow Wahine will play fast. 

Since the day she got the job, Mitchell has stated that her teams will play with pace on offense. On Wednesday, the 'Bows were relentless in that regard, scoring 29 fast break points. The majority of their buckets came in the paint, with 59 of their points supplied from close range. 

"We want to score. We want to be up tempo," Mitchell said. "That is what we expect to do all year."

With a major size advantage over the Sharks leading to a plethora of layups, the Rainbow Wahine limited themselves to 12 3-point attempts, making just two shots from beyond the arc. As the team adjusts back to its Division I schedule, Mitchell expects more opportunities from 3 will come the team's way. 

No player flourished under the new style of play more than Rainbow Wahine sophomore guard Bailey Flavell, who poured in 27 points on an efficient 10-for-13 shooting. 

"I think coming in the second year, definitely more comfortable having a year under my belt and just having that experience means I can come in and use my voice a bit more and be able to talk more about what I see, and also just look for my shots in different areas of my game that I probably wasn't doing at the start of last year," Flavell said. 

Wednesday's exhibition was also a return to form for senior Jovi Lefotu, who started at guard alongside Flavell. After two major knee injuries during her UH career, the ‘Iolani alumna had a healthy offseason and added nine points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal in 19 minutes on Wednesday. 

"I love playing with Jovi, and it's been super cool seeing her [return] from last year," Flavell said. "We have a great connection off the court, so I think that leads on to the court. She really suits the style of play, and she's great. She's our leader out there, so we really rely on her." 

With Wednesday's exhibition under their belts, the Rainbow Wahine will begin the regular season on Nov. 2 at Oregon, the first of 10 teams the Rainbow Wahine will face that reached the postseason in the 2025-2026 season. 

"Our word for this year is 'togetherness,'" Mitchell said. "Y'all see that nonconference schedule? How do we stay together when we face opponents where it's gonna be way more difficult? We can't lose that, we have to show up with our standard. I'm not looking at the score. I'm looking at, hey, are we communicating? Are we running our lanes? Are we showing up? Are we playing our tempo and our pace? Are we doing the things that we can control? And if we do those things, then I don't care about how the score looks. That's what the standard looks like."

Bailey Flavell 102226

<title>Hawai‘i women's basketball displays relentless pace under new leadership</title>

In the team's first opportunity to compete against another team under new head coach Khalilah Mitchell, the Rainbow Wahine showed a distinct style of play on Wednesday against Hawai‘i Pacific.

Hawai‘i women's basketball displays relentless pace under new leadership

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Government & Politics

Columnists

 over the weekend, as clips of her teaching were reposted on 

. Jasmynn Nakasone used a lesson on Columbus to argue that “newcomers” hurt the land and push out Indigenous people to get rich.

Nakasone’s sister, Jade, is also an elementary school teacher and posts classroom content on social media. She said in a 

 that online critics have demonized her sister and are causing her life to fall apart.

Jade admitted this is a risk of being an influencer. It comes with following “an iconic roadmap we can take to generate a crazy amount of revenue here on this platform.”

These sisters are not the only teachers recording in a classroom. There’s a whole genre of videos shot in classrooms by teachers. Much of it is harmless vanity. Women record their teaching outfits or trendy room decor to share with their followers.

But some of this content is toxic. Teachers indulge in self-pity and envy, and their online followers cheer them on. In one video, an elementary school teacher sits in her car after school. She complains that her classroom doesn’t have AC while admin offices do.

Other clips expose what is being taught. In the case of Jasmynn Nakasone, the clips were not secret recordings of lessons. Nakasone shot them herself and shared them on social media. They were then compiled and shared by another account.

Nakasone’s story raises two issues about teachers moonlighting as influencers.

The first issue is that public school teachers are public servants. They are on campus to do a job. They should not be filming content in their classrooms or on school campuses.

Public goods should not be used for private gain. We already have rules to stop public officials from using state cars for personal errands. A cafeteria worker who baked pies in the school’s oven and sold them on the side would be disciplined. So too, public school teachers should not be filming content during work time or on school property.

The second issue is that the type of content produced by these teachers tends toward glorifying sin. The algorithms of social media are not trained to reward virtue. They tend to amplify vice. In pursuit of followers and likes, the teacher treads a path of sin.

If you have a tough day at work and find yourself in tears, don’t pull out your phone and record a message for social media. Rather, you should pray, or reach out to family or a close friend for support. There’s nothing wrong with a cry for help, but that cry should be shared in private, not on the internet.

But most of the “cries for help” shared on the internet are those of the boy crying wolf. The person crying doesn’t want help; they want attention. This desire for attention need not be conscious. Many of us are unaware of the sin which impels our behavior.

In part, we are unaware because we’ve been taught to follow our heart — to obey our emotions. But Scripture teaches otherwise. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.” Our feelings run quickly to sin, so we should be careful about trusting and sharing them. Rather, we are to interrogate our feelings to discern truth from falsehood.

The solution is not to listen to your heart. Rather, you must talk to your heart. You must take time to see whether your feelings are righteous or sinful. And then you must repent. The algorithm of social media weighs against solemn contemplation, prayer, and repentance.

The algorithm wants to grab and hold attention, and it rewards those influencers who do. Thus, social media rewards raw, unfiltered emotion. Hot takes are preferred over cool reason.

The instinct of the influencer is to deny indwelling sin. I’m not the problem; the world is the problem. Haters are going to hate; their hate fuels me.

Repentance is further discouraged by the subtle and not-so-subtle rewards of social media. Pray quietly, and nobody will cheer you on. No follows and likes come to the one humbled before God. But post something lurid on TikTok, and you may well go viral. The account that compiled clips of Nakasone and the mob that followed were chasing the same rush.

Elementary school teachers are the last professionals on earth who should strive for success as social media influencers. Their task is to model righteous behavior for young children, to instruct them in the way they should go.

The kindergartener needs to learn to rule over her emotions, rather than being pushed and pulled in every direction. But how can she learn this vital skill if her teacher is unmoored, blown about by the same forces?

Those who seek to teach the next generation should show first that they live lives worthy of emulation. If not, they should find another line of work.

Firefly Gemini Flash funny illustration of a teacher trying to be a social media influencer 908237

<title>Lāʻie teacher’s viral Columbus lesson shows why teachers shouldn’t be social media…</title>

A Lāʻie elementary teacher filmed her lesson, posted it, and watched it go viral for the wrong reasons. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why public classrooms are no place for content creation, and how the algorithm rewards the habits teachers are supposed to train out of children.

Lāʻie teacher’s viral Columbus lesson shows why teachers shouldn’t be social media influencers

WEB square crop Hayley Lehman Headshot RGZ1636

Haley Lehman

Crime & Courts

Dakota Briley was getting ready to teach a surf lesson at Chun’s Reef in June 2025 when he was run over by a car and suffered life-changing injuries. His family is now suing the City and County of Honolulu, the state of Hawaiʻi and the driver for negligence.

Briley was working as a surf instructor for North Shore Beach Boyz while he was home last summer from Point Loma Nazarene University. His father, Shawn Briley, is a 1990s Pipeline surfer, and Dakota Briley grew up at Sunset Beach.

 that an 18-year-old, identified in the lawsuit as Ikaika Viela, was driving west on the Kamehameha Highway at 1:31 p.m. on June 14, 2025, when the car crossed the road, drove onto the mauka shoulder of the highway and hit a 20-year-old male pedestrian, identified in the lawsuit as Dakota Briley. Viela and his 18-year-old passenger were not injured in the crash. Speed, drugs or alcohol did not appear to contribute to the collision, according to HPD.

Viela did not face criminal charges in connection with the collision.

Maj. Herbert Soria of HPD’s traffic division told ASD in an email Monday that the prosecutor’s office reviewed the case and declined to pursue charges. HPD declined to provide additional information.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney declined to confirm that the office reviewed the case or proposed charges.

“The Department does not publicly discuss its charging decisions in matters where criminal charges have not been filed, including the reasons charges may have been declined. This practice protects the integrity of the investigative and prosecutorial review process, as well as the rights and privacy of the individuals involved,” the spokesperson wrote by email Monday. 

According to the family’s attorney, Michael Cruise of Leavitt, Yamane & Soldner, Dakota Briley suffered a traumatic brain injury, multiple broken bones and a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

“It’s been a really hard time for him to go from an apex athlete to in a wheelchair, depending on others for basically everything,” Cruise told Aloha State Daily.

Dakota Briley was placed in a medically induced coma and spent weeks at The Queen’s Medical Center. He was transferred to Craig Hospital, a neurorehabilitation center outside Denver in August 2025.

Dakota Briley remains in outpatient therapy in Colorado and shared an update to the family’s

“I’m continuing to focus on my recovery, rehabilitation, getting stronger, working out, and healing,” he wrote. “I know I still have a long road ahead of me, but I’m taking it one day at a time and continuing to have faith.”

Dakota Briley and his parents, Natasha and Shawn Briley, filed the lawsuit on Oct. 14. The case was assigned to Circuit Court Judge Taryn Tomasa.

Since the collision, the Briley ʻohana has spent more than $3.5 million in medical expenses, according to the lawsuit. Cruise said that the amount that the family receives will be determined at trial, adding that “the best outcome on this case is that Dakota gets taken care of. He’s going to need care every day for the rest of his life.”

“There’s no amount of money that could make him trade the life that he had for the life that he has now. It’ll never be enough, no matter what it is,” Cruise said. “Hopefully he gets enough to be safe, to be fully compensated, and hopefully this inspired the city and state to get serious about what they knew they were supposed to do.”

Cruise claims that the city and state have known for years that the parking area was unsafe and placed visitors of Kawailoa Beach Park and Chun’s Reef in harm’s way.

“This was obviously something they knew was coming and it came to the surface in a really destructive way,” he said.

Visitors of Kawailoa Beach Park, which is maintained by the city, park on the dirt shoulder of the state-maintained Kamehameha Highway.

Cruise said that the city has an obligation to provide safe parking to access public parks, and the state has an obligation to maintain the road shoulder.

“The city has an obligation to provide a reasonably safe place to park to access their very popular park and they just didn’t,” Cruise said. “For the state, it is their shoulder, and them allowing their shoulder to be used as a parking lot when they know that’s totally unsafe. They post no parking signs all along that area, but no one enforces them.”

The section of Kamehameha Highway is owned by the state and maintained by the city, according to 

data. But to Cruise, the scope of the maintenance by the city and state is not clear.

Cruise compared the parking at Kawailoa Beach Park with the parking at Laniākea Beach, which is not maintained by the city as a beach park, about a quarter mile down the highway. Visitors parked on the shoulder of the ride prior to 2012, when the city and state opened a dirt or graven parking area on the mauka side of the highway.

The City and County planned to improve parking, add bathrooms and an outdoor shower area, and install a lifeguard tower at Kawailoa Beach Park, according to an 

environmental assessment published in 2005

. The $2 million project would have added 80 to 100 parking stalls in a dedicated parking area on the mauka side of Kamehameha Highway, as well as crosswalks or blinking lights for pedestrians.

The report states that “existing problems” would continue at the site if no action on the proposed project was taken.

“Parking of vehicles along the roadside would continue in a haphazard manner, with rutted dirt parking on both sides. Pedestrian crossing of the highway would continue to be random and hazardous due to the obstruction of vehicles parked along the roadside and the lack of a crosswalk,” the report states. “This situation if left unchecked could pose a risk to health and safety.”

 from 2011, improvements were planned to provide “adequate parking and related support facilities” at several popular beach parks on the North Shore, including Kawailoa Beach Park.

Cruise told ASD, “The city’s responsibility and the state’s responsibility came from their own statements, documents, studies that have gone back many, many years. They foresaw the danger, they easily could’ve prevented it and for reasons we will find out, they just never did. It would’ve been very easy to make this completely safe if that had just followed their own rules and their own studies and their own recommendations.”

Spokespersons for the City and County of Honolulu and state of Hawaiʻi declined to comment due to pending litigation.

Briley Ohana 16x9

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

A GoFundMe page identifies 20-year-old Dakota Briley as the pedestrian “pinned between two vehicles” on June 14 at Oʻahu’s North Shore. As of Tuesday, more than 1,000 donations amounting to nearly $120,000 have come in to help cover his medical expenses.

Dakota Briley, son of Big Wave surfer Shawn Briley, in critical condition after recent pedestrian-vehicle collision in Hale‘iwa

Now through Sept. 15, bid on items like signed Kelly Slater and John John Florence surfboards, signed guitars and ʻukuleles to golf and stays at The Ritz-Carlton O'ahu, Turtle Bay, gift cards to local restaurants and tour excursions, art and more — all benefiting Briley’s journey toward healing.

Auction supports surfer Dakota Briley’s recovery from pedestrian-vehicle collision

<title>Sunset Beach surf family sues over pedestrian-vehicle collision</title>

A lawsuit filed by the Briley family alleges that the City and County of Honolulu and the state of Hawaiʻi knew about an unsafe parking area on the North Shore and failed to do anything about it. In 2025, 20-year-old Dakota Briley was hit by a car and sustained serious injuries.

Sunset Beach surf family sues over pedestrian-vehicle collision

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Business & Tourism

Food & Dining

, which specializes in authentic Japanese yakiniku, is opening on O

, Japan, will be located in Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa.

Aloha State Daily got a preview of what’s to come to the Hawai

i location during a hosted media experience at Yakiniku Haretoke’s Kawagoe eatery.

Yakiniku Haretoke is unique because it will be the only restaurant in Hawaiʻi to serve Joshu wagyu, which is raised exclusively in Japan’s Gunma prefecture. Joshu wagyu is a rare breed, according to chef Masanori Tsuda, who will be the executive chef at Yakiniku Haretoke Hawai

Tsuda is currently one of the chefs at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery, and he explains that Joshu wagyu is known for its lean meat and fine marbling. He notes that Joshu wagyu will be available in Hawaiʻi through an exclusive direct purchase-and-ship relationship with Gunma.

“We will buy the whole cow and break down everything (from nose to tail) to serve every cut; that’s the restaurant concept,” he explains. “Joshu wagyu has a lighter taste, but still has that umami flavor. Some Japanese wagyu is super fatty and has a strong flavor; after eating one bite, that’s enough. But Joshu wagyu is easy to eat.”

“Joshu wagyu is a good balance of fat and meat,” adds Rika Tsuda, current manager at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery. Tsuda will be a restaurant manager at Yakiniku Haretoke Hawai

Yakiniku Haretoke’s Kawagoe location opened in 2023. The restaurant name stems from bringing the extraordinary (“hare”) and the everyday rhythms of life (“ke”) together; the eatery is designed to be a place to celebrate special occasions, but also provide a welcoming atmosphere for everyday dining. The Kawagoe eatery seats around 48 guests — including seating in its private room — and the Hawai

i restaurant can seat around 65 individuals, according to Masanori.

The Hawaiʻi restaurant’s menu will be similar to the one in Kawagoe, he notes, but the Honolulu location will feature locally sourced vegetables. Like the Kawagoe location, the Honolulu restaurant will have pre-set course menus, as well as a la carte options. (At the time of our interview, the menu for the Honolulu restaurant had not been finalized.)

The Kawagoe location offers two pre-set course menus — the Haretoke course, and the Harenohi course, according to Rika.

“Both courses include special cuts (of meat), but Harenohi is more expensive,” she says. “It also includes seafood and meats like marbled sirloin with grated radish.”

Yakiniku Haretoke Kawagoe’s a la carte menu includes tri tip, flap meat, seared marbled short rib yaki-shabu with grated daikon ponzu, premium beef loin (served yaki-shabu style, with Tsukimi egg yolk sauce), short ribs, filet mignon, wagyu beef tongue with salt, and more. Everything is hand-cut and served for diners to grill, according to Masanori.

“There are so many yakiniku places now; we have to make ours special,” he says.

He explains that cutting the whole cow is a process; he likens it to a high-grade Michelin star sushi chef breaking down a fish. He trims the fat off the meat before breaking each piece down further.

“The yakiniku style is different here; he (Masanori) has to learn the special cuts of the cow,” Rika explains.

Rika says her favorite cut is the premium beef loin, which is served yaki-shabu style. It’s lightly grilled and served with Tsukimi egg yolk sauce.

“It’s a thinly sliced cut, so you just put it on the iron plate for a few seconds and you dip it in the egg yolk to enhance the umami flavor,” she says. “It’s sukiyaki-style; it will be popular in Hawaiʻi.

“For the egg sauce, we are going to use Japan eggs in Hawai

i — it will be very fresh eggs,” she adds. “We actually sell eggs imported from Japan at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery.”

“Everybody likes kalbi, and the yaki-shabu is the most popular (option) at the Kawagoe location,” Masanori adds. He says his favorite from Yakiniku Haretoke Kawagoe’s menu is shinshin, a rare, tender cut near the tri-tip.

At the Kawagoe eatery, the meats are served with two sauces; one features a soy garlic base, while the other is made with fresh lemon. The staff will give recommendations for pairing the sauces with various cuts of meat; for example, Masanori recommends dipping shihshin in the shoyu sauce, while the wagyu beef tongue pairs well with the lemon sauce.

Other a la carte options include seafood (prawns, squid and scallops), vegetables (grilled shiitake mushrooms), appetizers like assorted kimchi, and soups, including a comforting beef bone broth.

Yakiniku Haretoke will also feature a hand-selected sake list designed to complement each cut of beef.

i currently has a food truck — which is parked at Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery — that is participating in events across O

ahu to promote the new restaurant. The truck was recently at the Lotte Championship presented by Hoakalei, where it showcased its Joshu wagyu beef yakiniku bowl.

The Hawaiʻi location’s hours and prices are still to be determined, but the restaurant is expected to open for lunch and dinner. For updates, follow the biz on 

Yakiniku Haretoke chef 101826

<title>Yakiniku Haretoke is opening in Honolulu</title>

The Japanese yakiniku restaurant’s original location is in Kawagoe, Japan. Yakiniku Haretoke — expected to open this winter in the Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa — will be the only restaurant in Hawaiʻi to serve Joshu wagyu, which is raised exclusively in Japan’s Gunma prefecture. Aloha State Daily got a preview of what’s to come for the Honolulu restaurant by visiting the Kawagoe location.

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