Hawai'i Skies

My Favorite Local Saying

Cartoons

Daily Smile

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Adopt a Pet

Daily Features

Square Kady Pascual Headshot RGZ5762

Kady Pascual

Today’s social media find comes from @Erickonda__, who definitely needs to buy another check-in bag.

Erickonda__

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: When locals become tourists

Today’s social media find comes from @ImLevz, who’s always prepared to fight.

Outdoor concert

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stink eye

Today’s social media find comes from @ItsAlyssaBlake, who broke one of the beach safety rules.

ItsAlyssaBlake

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surf report

Today’s social media find comes from @IAmShaylaTorres, with a lesson about drinking responsibly.

IAmShaylaTorres

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Story time

Today’s social media find comes from @WaikikiBrewingCo_Street, whose servers are switching places.

WaikikiBrewingCo_Street

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: The guest trap

Today’s social media find comes from @RyanFishingHI, with a new method of fishing.

RyanFishingHI

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Straight from the source

Today’s social media find comes from @L.Ganoy, who sees the unique potential.

L.Ganoy

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Hula skirt

Today’s social media find comes from @PiilaniKitchen, who has a phone call waiting.

@PIILANIKITCHEN

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Miscommunication

Today’s social media find comes from @ScoobyToobs, with waves of style.

@Scoobytoobs

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Riding into the Labor Day weekend

Today’s social media find comes from @DaCheehoos, who’s shedding light on every town.

@DaCheehoos

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Keiki with attitude

Today’s social media find comes from @_Junyaa, who might need a new ride.

_Junyaa

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: She go

Today’s social media find comes from @HawaiiCandyFactory, who’s taking things literally.

HawaiiCandyFactory

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Use your head

ASD icon blue inverse lighter

ASD Staff

[{"type":"text","text":"Some costume ideas..."}]

Smile 26 10 7

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026</title>

Some costume ideas...

Daily Smile: Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Business & Tourism

The state Public Utilities Commission kicked off a series of town halls about storm-related blackouts to sparse attendance Monday.

 on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island throughout October to collect feedback from residents about the reliability of Hawaiian Electric’s service amid this year’s many storms. The first of those meetings, held on Monday in Kailua, was brief, with only a handful of people providing vocal testimony.

PUC commissioner Naomi Kuwaye explained at the meeting that the testimony submitted during the meetings will be used for future decision-making regarding HECO’s service. While she didn’t specifically mention it, those future decisions will likely include decisions on whether to approve a 

Consequently, the few Kailua-area residents who did speak at Monday’s meeting urged the PUC to review HECO’s processes before approving any future rate increases. Kailua resident Aria Castillo said the canoe manufacturing business she works for in the Kapa‘a Quarry Industrial Park “regularly experiences power outages,” which directly impacts her own income.

Castillo said repeated shutdowns during Hurricane Lala caused damage to a canoe under production, which required the business to sell it after a loss. Despite this, that loss of revenue could not qualify for insurance coverage, forcing the business and its workers to shoulder the impacts themselves.

“This is basic infrastructure, and doing business in Hawai‘i is already so hard, and small businesses and their employees cannot continue to absorb the cost,” Castillo said, urging PUC to impose standards for HECO to account for documented business losses as a result of service interruptions.

Scot Matayoshi, state Representative for Kailua, also appeared at the meeting to suggest that the PUC establish a capped damage claim that people could file to be potentially reimbursed by HECO for losses such as food spoilage or loss of income.

“That might incentivize HECO to harden certain parts of the grid or provide backup power, generators, may batteries,” Matayoshi said. “A lot of people in my district were very deeply affected by the power outages. They lost a lot of food, the food banks in my district lost all of everything in their freezers and refrigerators, all the meat, everything.”

Another attendee, Cori Terayama, said that, whenever HECO service is lost in ‘Āhuimanu, all cell service is cut off as well, which has serious safety implications in the case of potentially hazardous weather events. Terayama asked HECO develop redundant power systems for cell towers in such vulnerable areas.

Shari Ishikawa, HECO’s vice president of energy delivery, said the company is working on equipment upgrades for East O‘ahu circuits, and is planning underground cable replacement projects next year.

“We recognize that hearing about projects underway does not make it less frustrating when the power goes out,” Ishikawa said. “We have more work to do both in strengthening our infrastructure and also communicating during outages.”

The next town hall meeting will be held Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Kapolei High School. The remaining three meetings will be on Hawai‘i Island on Oct. 20, 21 and 26, at Waiākea, Kealekehe and Kā‘u, respectively.

Screenshot 2026 10 06 at 4 18 48 PM 16x9

<title>Residents weigh in on storm power outages</title>

The state PUC held the first of five town hall meetings discussing power outages caused by this year's various storms.

Residents weigh in on storm power outages

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

An inaugural event “to literally slow down and simply be” is coming to Windward O

, which was created by local mindfulness coach and clinical psychologist Gaby Toloza, will debut from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, at YWCA Kokokahi in Kāneʻohe.

The family-friendly event aims to encourage participants to unplug and connect in-person through screen-free fun and activities, a collective 60-minute pause, and chance to shop local vendors focused on food, wellness and creativity, and more.

“I’m excited about the novelty of it," she told Aloha State Daily ahead of the event. "

I’m also really excited about the beautiful space at YWCA, which is right there on the ocean."

When asked how PauseFest came to be, Toloza replied: “It came from just really wanting a more public, preventative space. I do a lot of mental therapy, often working in the reactive space … I wanted a place that allows for us to experience [things] in a healthy way without it having to be therapy. … This is not meant to be deep, therapeutic work.”

There will be messaging sent beforehand to those who sign-up on what to bring (a yoga mat or lawn chair) and expect, as well as a handful of wellness facilitators available on site, she notes. About 20 staff and volunteers will be present, and she is expecting at least 100 guests, who will be asked to turn in their phones to the "phone house." (Donʻt fret about capturing memories, there will be a photographer and photo station.)

For this experience, she adds, it will “likely be lighter and fun,” Toloza said, noting that during the collective pause in the middle of the day, participants can expect silence with some breath work and meditation built in.

“I suspect in that there will be some discomfort, and I kind of want that for people. I want them to learn to embrace their pleasant and unpleasant feelings that really are their power. … 

Mindfulness is a super power when we learn how to channel it as an individual and how it can work in a group.”

One of her goals is for the concept of mindfulness to become “a practical, usable skill [to] pause, notice and care.”

What that looks like internally, she explains, is noticing

rather than evaluating or judging. She says that the emphasis for this approach to mindfulness is to “pay attention on purpose.”

witnessing ourselves, and we need to slow down in order to do that. Our minds in particular need to slow down and pay attention to other things like our environment or what’s around us.”

Toloza adds that PauseFest aims to be a safe and accepting space, where individuals will learn to practice patience and “the benefit of non-striving or non-doing,” or "conscious rest."

Attendees of all ages can also experience “the fun zone, bubble buffet, sticker and doodle mural, mindful rebel rest stop, slow lane, conversation cafe and take what you need station, along with the Mindful Marketplace, a curated collection of local, values-aligned businesses, makers, creatives and entrepreneurs,” a recent announcement from the half-day event reads.

Vendor applications and sponsorship opportunities for this event remain open. Interested? Contact 

“The only moment we actually have is right now, the present,” said Toloza, who was born and raised in Kailua.

She shared with ASD about grief and healing after the loss of her dad and boyfriend in her late teens, early adulthood.

“What it taught me is fragility of life; tomorrow is not promised and the unexpected is sort of normative,” she said. “At the time, I got a lot of support from community and friends, and there was this almost accidental slowing down of life.

After graduating from the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, Toloza spent more than a decade working with children with autism in schools, homes and community settings before expanding her work to support teens, adults and couples. Her experience has taken her from classrooms and health centers to correctional facilities in Hawaiʻi, Oklahoma, Florida and Italy.

She launched Mindful Connections in January 2022 as her clinical practice and, more recently, Mindful Rebels Collective, “a gym membership for your heart and mind,” which includes community events. 

Toloza aims to grow both aspects of her business in the future.

As a healthcare professional, she says she continues to check herself and self-reflect, so that she knows “what it’s like to sit on the other side.”

Toloza adds that becoming a mother has made her a better teacher of mindfulness, among other life lessons.

“I wanted [my daughter] to have a toolbox that is going to be with her always, even when I’m not around. If she knows how to be mindful and how to practice that, then that’s a good resource for her.”

PauseFest tickets start at $29 per individual and $49 per family (2 adults and kids). Parking will be available at the venue. 

Gaby Toloza

<title>Press ‘pause’ at this upcoming event on Oʻahu’s east side</title>

Kailua-based mindfulness coach and clinical psychologist Gaby Toloza will debut PauseFest on Oct. 24 at YWCA Kokokahi in Kāneʻohe. The family-friendly event aims to encourage participants to slow down, unplug and connect in-person through screen-free fun and activities, a collective pause and chance to shop local vendors focused on food, wellness and creativity. Toloza says come as you are.

Press ‘pause’ at this upcoming event on Oʻahu’s east side

Crime & Courts

The woman charged with murder after allegedly fatally shooting a man in Kailua last weekend was turned in by her father the day of the event, according to a Honolulu police report.

Hilinaikailimakualopali Keeno, 24, was charged on Sept. 30 with second-degree murder, carrying a firearm in the commission of a felony and improperly keeping a pistol or revolver. She is being held pending a $1 million bail.

An HPD document — which was submitted on Tuesday, Sept. 29, to the Honolulu Circuit Court to establish probable cause to detain Keeno without a warrant — states that Keeno’s father brought her to the Kailua Police Station less than an hour after 

was declared dead of a gunshot wound to the neck in the Kailua Target parking lot.

The report states that HPD special duty officers, who were working security at the Kailua Fall Festival that day, were called to assist with a group of festivalgoers involved in an argument at about 8:26 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26.

Officers escorted the group out of the festival and watched them head toward the Target parking lot, only to hear another altercation begin among the group minutes later.

During this new altercation, a pop resembling a gunshot was heard, and officers saw two men — one of whom was Keeno’s brother — assaulting a third. Both assailants were placed under arrest for disorderly conduct, while officers discovered Malone on the ground, covered in blood.

[{"type":"text","text":"Malone was declared dead at the scene by 8:43 p.m."}]

At 9:39 p.m., Keeno was brought to the Kailua Police Station by her father, who told police she was involved in the incident and wanted to provide a statement in the presence of her attorney.

According to the HPD report, no interview was conducted with Keeno that night. Subsequently, HPD sought photographs and videos from the public to help piece together the event and identify the shooter.

On Sept. 28, another witness identified Keeno as the shooter, and HPD confirmed that Keeno has one firearm registered in her name, a Sig Sauer P365 handgun.

[{"type":"text","text":"Following this, Keeno was placed under arrest."}]

Keeno’s preliminary hearing, when she will plead guilty or not guilty to the charges, will take place Monday, Oct. 5. She remains in custody.

Hpd 16x9

<title>Woman charged in Kailua shooting turned in by father</title>

Hilinakailimakualopali Keeno faces a $1 million bail for a second-degree murder charge.

Woman charged in Kailua shooting turned in by father

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

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

On Tuesday afternoon, the O‘ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association announced that it was canceling the 2026 Na Wahine O Ke Kai, which was set for Sunday morning. 

The OHCRA's race committee reviewed a developing storm system heading toward the Islands and the impact it would have on the ocean, wind, and logistics of the event before making the call. 

, takes place across the Ka‘iwi Channel, a 40.8-mile trek from Molokai to O‘ahu. 

“This decision is not a reflection of our paddlers’ ability to navigate the Kaiwi Channel,” OHCRA race director Kapuni Patcho said in a statement. “These women are among the strongest and most accomplished paddlers in the world. Our responsibility, however, extends to everyone required to make this race possible — from our paddlers and escort crews to our officials, volunteers, partners and the Molokai community.”

Holding the event also depends on a fleet of escort boats that first must make it to Molokai for the beginning of the race. Safety considerations in doing so were also a major consideration for OHCRA.

“A channel race begins well before the paddlers cross the starting line,” said assistant race director Luana Froiseth. “We must consider whether the entire escort fleet can travel safely, get into position and provide the support each crew may need. Looking at the complete operational picture, caution is the responsible decision.”

OHCRA also says another determining factor was the desire to protect Molokai's limited emergency and community resources in the event of severe weather. 

The 2026 Na Wahine O Ke Kai was the penultimate event of the OHCRA season. The Molokai Hoe is scheduled for Oct. 11, though OHCRA says it will also monitor conditions prior to the race. 

Team Bradley won the 2025 Na Wahine O Ke Kai

. The race itself commemorated 50 years of 