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Sterling Higa

Jayden Kepoo Caspino

Jayden Kepoʻo-Caspino

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Richard Turbin

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Annabelle Le Jeune

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Kalani Akana

Christian Zuckerman

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Rick Hamada

Government & Politics

As of this writing, the Hawai‘i State Legislative session is in the waning days of completion. When the gavel falls signaling "Sine die" or the adjournment of the session, my question is, "Does it matter to you?"

Each year the current office holding 51 state representatives and 25 state senators convene to do the people's business. At least that's the ideal. Each elected official espouses the narrative of wanting to help the people, be the best steward of state, be the voice of the citizen, and here's the umbrella under which all politicians reside, do what's best for the keiki.

And I want to make this clear from the get go. There are those who are serving in the Big Square Building who live to serve the people they represent and more. Their mission is to make a positive impact on the lives of many. They are accessible, day or night, and will under promise and over deliver when tasked with advocating for a citizen's needs. Interestingly, I don't need to name names because those who are served know who they are and those they serve with know who they are.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Now you know there's a butt bigger than mine on its way ..."}]

Our political composition in Hawai‘i and is rife with individuals who do not subscribe to these ideals of true public service. Again, I don't need to name names because those who are NOT served know who they are, and those with whom they serve definitely know who they are. Please fill in these blanks if you are so inclined.

[{"type":"text","text":"I asked if the end of this session matters to you."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Let me share why it should."}]

My mantra on the morning show has been from the first day, "Politics touches your life every day whether you like it or not."

The state legislature is the one touching you. The governor touches you too just as each county mayor and county council. That's a bunch of touching.

One would think with that much effect and influence in your present and future life that you'd care. Well, 

 do because you're still reading this column, but there are more of you who don't.

We invoke the emasculatingly low voter turnout like it's a reverse badge of honor. The numbers of citizens casting a vote is purely embarrassing.

The 2024 Hawai‘i primary election has been widely panned as unexciting due to a lack of marquee races and fewer candidates to choose from.

[{"type":"text","text":"Voters apparently agreed, if the turnout numbers are any indication."}]

Just 269,912 of the 839,618 people registered statewide filled out a ballot. That works out to 32.1%.

It’s a significant drop from the 39.8% turnout for the 2022 primary and an even more dramatic decline from the 51.2% in 2020. The latter election was the first for the state to use all mail-in balloting system, though voters can still cast ballots in person at select locations on each island.

According to final results released by the Hawai‘i Office of Elections, the 2024 primary numbers represent 

 in the history of Hawai‘i as a state.

Thirty years ago, the 1994 primary turnout was 

I am not being purposefully selective. This was, in fact, our last primary vote, and this was the turnout. Abysmal. And the general election numbers weren't that great either.

[{"type":"text","text":"If you weren't one of the 269,912 then who did vote in 2022?"}]

I submit to you the most active, aware, motivated and encouraged voting bloc in Hawaii is ... organized labor.

In 2025, union members accounted for an estimated 24.8 percent of wage and salary workers in Hawai‘i, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. 

) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the estimated number of workers belonging to unions was 145,000.

Hold on. This is not union bashing. This is a fact. Unions are the greatest political force in Hawai‘i. Always has been, always will be. If this displeases you then embrace the notion that politics is nothing but a numbers game. It's the number of votes and dollars that's at the heart politics. Throw in charismatic candidates and convincing messages and, voila, you're in.

Once a politician succeeds in attaining his/her chosen office, they also attain power.

As of July 1, 2025, Hawaii's population is approximately 1,432,820, reflecting a slight decline of about 0.15% from 2024 due to high costs of living and residents moving to the Mainland. The state is the 11th least populous in the U.S. and has experienced population declines in five of the past six years.

Combining state and county government executive and legislative elected officials, the number of people reigning over you is 167.

That's the governor, lieutenant governor, state senate and house, mayors and four county councils. 

That's 167 individuals who exert power by the creating, passing and approving of laws that affect you every day whether you like it or not.  

In 2024, there are around 800,000 registered voters. I submit that labor comprised of 145,000 members had cast the majority of the 269,000 votes tabulated. That leaves nearly 500,000 whose voices were not heard, not considered, people who are now subjected to the decision of others who may not have their best interests at heart. And that's on you as a non-voter.

[{"type":"text","text":"It doesn't have to be this way."}]

Regardless, if you are on the left or on the right, GOP or Democrat, we must have full participation in this representative democratic process in order to achieve quality representation and deliver true accountability to those holding office. Voting is not just your right, but it's your duty. We must have our citizenry cast conscientious and informed votes, so we collectively install a government "for the people and by the people".

This session is just moments away from ending. If you discover there were laws passed with which you disagree, then now is the time to become activated. It's an election year. You have another opportunity to cast your best vote for your best candidate. If it's a win, great. If it's not, then you'll be able to look in the mirror knowing you were a vital part of this community and perhaps the next legislation session will matter even more.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

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<title>Hamada: Political influence in Hawai‘i by the numbers</title>

A shockingly low percentage of people vote in Hawai‘i, notes ASD opinion columnist Rick Hamada. Something to keep in mind as we see what the Hawai‘i State Legislature passes this week.

Hamada: Political influence in Hawai‘i by the numbers

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

With witnesses commonly reporting incidents of moving objects, inexplicable cold spots, and numerous apparitions in locations as far-reaching as Europe, Asia, Australia, and the U.S., tales of haunted fire stations are a worldwide phenomenon.

The Pyrmont First Station in London is believed to be haunted by the ghost of a former Station Officer who reportedly sits on the end of the firefighters’ beds. Firefighters at the Sunshine Fire Station in Victoria, Australia, claimed to see doors opening and closing on their own, and the current owners of the building still report hearing unexplained footsteps and seeing human-shaped shadows with no one else around. The Bang Rak Fire Station in Bangkok is said to be so haunted that a shrine was placed in the tower to manage and appease the spirits. And in Denver, Colorado, two well-known spirits named Tom and Caleb are said to cause mischief whenever possible, like paper flying out of printers to fire bells ringing for no reason, and other odd paranormal activity.

These reputed hauntings are often attributed to historic properties, tragic events, and intense energy and emotions, which make fire stations and dormitories prime locations for sharing ghostly legends.

In Hawai‘i, we have our own haunted fire stations. On Kaua‘i, the old Waimea Fire Station used to be located on Ola Road, across from the community hall. Apparitions of a ghostly woman and a man with no head were seen on separate occasions. The firefighters at the station said they would hear knocking on the walls at all hours, but whenever they went outside to check, no one was there. Many believed that the firehouse had been built on a path that led from the old Waimea village near the rivermouth to burial grounds on the hillside, and that the spirits that walked the path were unhappy with the firehouse blocking their way. The firefighters invited naysayers to spend the night so they could experience the hauntings firsthand, but no one ever volunteered.

Other haunted locations include the Nu‘uanu Fire Station on Wyllie Street, which is said to have night marchers walk through the building, the Central Fire Station on Beretania, whose haunting was being investigated by the Hawaiian Society for Psychical Research in 1925, and the Kaimukī Fire Station that reportedly has night marchers, strange shadows, and other haunted activity.

And then, of course, we have the Kaka‘ako Fire Station in Downtown Honolulu. Newspaper articles state that men who slept in the dormitory at the old station house on South Street often reported hearing a voice calling to them to come outside. The firefighters also claimed that the rows of ti leaves planted along the walkway would rustle as if someone brushed against them on nights when there was no wind.

The original firehouse was built in 1929 near Honuakaha cemetery, where more than a thousand smallpox victims were buried. This was never a planned cemetery and grew out of desperation during a time when Honolulu found itself unprepared for the onslaught of the infectious disease.

As soon as smallpox appeared in May 1853, the government set up a hospital at Honuakaha on Queen Street, across from the KawaiaHa‘o Church graveyard. When the patients died, autopsies were performed, and many who didn’t understand the process believed the patients were being killed and their bodies desecrated. As the government tried to mitigate the spread, general panic and distrust led residents to hide their symptoms from doctors and officials.

By July, Reverend Samuel C. Damon wrote of passing a saloon on the street. In front stood a handcart loaded with two corpses while the operator of the cart was inside having a drink. Multiple deaths were a daily event by then, as were carts traveling up and down the streets carrying the bodies of those who had passed. Burying the victims was necessary, but it was nearly impossible to find people to carry out the chore, and prisoners held in the old fort were recruited in exchange for their freedom. One report states that from the hospital on Queen Street, doomed patients could view their last earthly home.

The cemetery at Honuakaha filled quickly, and by the middle of October, at least a thousand bodies, primarily Native Hawaiians, were packed into the two-acre lot. Buried close together, the graves were dug just wide enough to fit a body lying on its side. Most graves averaged only three feet deep, with barely six inches between them. A nauseating stench rose from the area, permeating everything in the surrounding area.

Nearly 75 years later, the stench long gone and the cemetery all but forgotten, construction crews broke ground on a new fire station on South Street next to Quinn Lane. For years after its opening, firefighters complained about strange occurrences in the building, like strange voices, odd shadows, and more.

As time went on and technology improved, a new fire station was built in the mid-1970s to accommodate larger fire trucks and a larger crew. The old station was placed on the State Register of Historic Places, and the firefighters moved into the new building just a stone’s throw away, fronting Queen Street.

Almost immediately, this new fire station was reported to be just as eerie as the first, with the fire captain experiencing his own haunting in the form of a ghost sitting on his chest, choking him. One firefighter refused to go upstairs to the dorm area unless someone went with him.

Perhaps it’s not the people who ended up in the cemetery that are haunting the fire station. Maybe it’s the anguish and suffering of the hospital patients stricken with smallpox, feverish, miserable, believing the only outcome was death. The massive mortality rate of the patients admitted to the Honuakaha smallpox hospital could be enough trauma to leave a lasting impression on a place.

A retired fireman explained that the hauntings at Kaka‘ako were generally accepted as a fact of life. There was nothing to be done about the ghosts and weird shadows, other than place ti leaves under your bed and try to ignore them. While he wasn’t a particularly superstitious man, he tried not to be upstairs alone if he could help it. At first, he didn’t have any problems, but after about a month of being assigned to the Kaka‘ako station, he woke up to someone bumping his bed while he was sleeping. At first, he thought it was just some fellow being inconsiderate, but when he opened his eyes, no one was there. It happened three more times on different occasions, and then the last time it happened, he awoke to a shadowy figure next to his bed. It was definitely a person, he said, but it was bent forward a little, like an old man, wearing dark colored pants and a loose, long-sleeved shirt, and the fireman could see right through him!

He told me he didn’t tell anyone at the time except his wife, but it scared him like nothing else before, and he quietly transferred to the Kailua station the following month. In all his years as a firefighter, he’s seen a lot of strange things, but the Kaka‘ako Fire Station was the only place that made him feel so uncomfortable.

“Fighting fires is one thing,” he said, “You mostly know what to expect. You have a job to do, and you do it. But ghosts? That’s not part of the job.”

Kakaako Old Fire Station

<title>The Continuous Haunting of the Kaka‘ako Fire Station</title>

Fire stations around the world, and across the Islands, are famous for hauntings. Here's a closer look at the strange experiences of fire fighters at the Kaka‘ako Fire Station, located in an area where once more than a small pox victims were buried.

The Continuous Haunting of the Kaka‘ako Fire Station

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

The state Department of Accounting and General Services has awarded a contract to overhaul the state’s decades-old financial data system.

In March, DAGS published a request for proposals for bidders to develop a replacement for the current Financial Accounting and Management Information System (FAMIS), which is 55 years old.

 Keith Regan told Aloha State Daily that, 

, DAGS has awarded that contract, totaling $63.7 million, to Virginia-based management firm Guidehouse.

“Our … financial management system is written in a language that’s not even taught in college anymore,” Regan said. “It’s written in COBOL. It’s extremely ancient architecture, and it’s hard to find people that can even program in COBOL anymore these days, and if you can they’re very expensive.”

Regan said practically every state department needs to interact with FAMIS in some capacity. But because of the system’s age, departments have needed to develop additional  subsystems in order to properly access the system at all.

“We identified 242 systems that are secondary and tertiary systems that departments have created over the years,” Regan said. “Now imagine the money and the effort that’s going into that.”

Regan said only 53 of those 242 subsystems will be retained amid the system upgrade.

“We are going to not only be changing the technology, the actual software, … but also will be changing the way that we do business within the state of Hawai‘i,” Regan continued.

He explained that the state’s accounting system was codified in law more than a century ago, and that dismantling and replacing FAMIS will help expose superfluous rules that lost their relevance decades ago.

“There’s little snippets that are buried somewhere right within a workflow,” Regan said. “Some of these workflows involve 40 or 50 processes …. Maybe we don’t need to do this anymore. Maybe it was okay in 1925 but we don’t need to do it today in 2026.”  

This is DAGS’ third attempt at overhauling FAMIS, Regan said. The previous two were abandoned for being too “technically led,” he said; this attempt will be driven more by how users engage with the system.

Regan said he believes the new core systems can come online in two to three years, while other modules of the system will be completed within five or six years.

Once the project is completed, essential and historical data from FAMIS will be archived, Regan said. But the 55-year-old system itself will be, effectively, destroyed.

Regan said DAGS is planning to have a “retirement party” for FAMIS once its shutdown day arrives.

“The system itself, which is on a mainframe in the cloud, will be turned off, and it’ll be a sad day,” Regan said. “Or a happy day, for many of us.”

2024 FAMIS software on computer screen 2 Courtesy DAGS 16x9

<title>State awards $63 million contract to upgrade financial data system</title>

Hawai‘i's 55-year-old financial system will get a much-needed overhaul

State awards $63 million contract to upgrade financial data system

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

More than 230 bills are going before the full Legislature on Wednesday for a final vote. I looked at all of them to find out where the state wants to spend more money. What you see here aren’t even the massive 

, that run for hundreds of pages, where other increases surely lurk. These are just the 32 new ideas that had their own legislation this session, which will add to the state’s spending if passed this week.

Combined, they add up to nearly $214 million to the state's $10 billion operating budget covered by the general fund (the total budget is more than $20 billion, including federal spending via the state). If all 32 pass, they'd take the equivalent of $288 from each of Hawai‘i's roughly 743,000 tax filers.

Most of these bills appropriate the money from the general fund, unless otherwise noted, meaning they have to come out of your paycheck or the GET you pay on every purchase. And the context here is that the session began in a panic over the budget following the Trump administration’s cuts to certain programs. There wasn’t a dime to spare, we were told, and the recently promised tax cuts were no longer possible. 

While the Legislature seems poised to preserve some of those cuts, nevertheless, the message was one of freaked-out austerity. 

From largest to smallest, here are the year’s spending bills with a side of commentary. You may love or hate these bills; either way, you have until Wednesday to nudge your legislators on these bills, to vote for them or against them.

[{"type":"text","text":"Links go to the final draft of each bill."}]

 in hazardous duty pay for unionized state workers who totally got to keep their jobs and weren’t shut down like the rest of us during the Covid-19 lockdowns. In fact, they work for the entity that shut us all down. The state can’t afford tax cuts, but can afford to pay extra money for its own employees. And this is on top of the $600 million that the state has already paid its workers in hazardous duty pay related to Covid in recent years. 

 out of the stadium development special fund for, well, a lot of things, it’s a lengthy bill, but in brief, for infrastructure improvements to the stadium area to make possible the larger redevelopment beyond just building the stadium itself. I’m including this because of its size and the nice-to-have versus need-to-have nature of the stadium project. 

 to replace money that used to come from the federal government for SNAP and health insurance. You might recall that these cuts were the reason Gov. Josh Green hit the panic button on the budget and suddenly tax cuts for us had to go, and yet, this is hardly the biggest expense of the Legislative session. 

 to subsidize the University of Hawai‘i’s Name, Image, Likeness program for student athletes. Of this $10 million, the bill says the Legislature will appropriate to $2.5 million while UH is required to take $4 million out of its tuition and fees special fund and raise another $5 million through gifts, grants and donations.

Look, we like UH sports. We cover UH sports because we know you like UH sports. Heck, we even pay a lot of money to advertise ASD at UH games in a variety of sports. We do so voluntarily. That said, I do not care for UH leaning on the Legislature to steal a buck from every man, woman and child in the state of Hawai‘i just because it can’t get enough money out of donors and alumni to compete with the money student athletes can make at Mainland universities through NIL deals. The Legislature should have told UH to try harder. This is not a core function of government, and while I know it means a lot to some student athletes, UH sports are a form of entertainment enjoyed by only some of the state’s taxpayers. I’d say the same for the proposed subsidy for the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, but that bill seems to have died. 

more in hazardous duty pay for still more unionized state workers who faced no more risk than anyone else in Hawai‘i.

to create a state construction manager pilot program for Department of Education schools located in Neighbor Island counties, includes one new manager and five staffers. 

 to “establish a Hanai memory network program … to support individuals with dementia and their caregivers.” 

 to buy one patrol boat and 20 patrol vehicles for the Hawai‘i Island conservation enforcement division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. 

 to increase the amount of money made available to candidates running for office through Hawai‘i's partial public financing program. The amount hasn’t been increased since 1995 and wasn’t pegged to inflation so this spending is to catch up on the buying power of the funds. The bill still neglects to tie the funding to inflation, however, so legislators will have to fix this again in the future. 

 to hire state government fire marshals and fund their operations to inspect state government buildings, work that used to be done by county fire departments. Also establishes a State Fire Code to supersede all county fire codes, in which case, how many fire departments and fire codes in how many governments do we need anymore? 

 to create and launch a KupunAloha pilot program “to provide in-home health care and support services for individuals who do not qualify for existing government programs and cannot otherwise afford these services.” 

, max, per year, plus $55,200 per year for an administrator, to create and manage a pilot project that would reimburse Hawai‘i ranchers and farmers for transportation costs. 

 to develop and implement a program offering taxpayer-funded colorectal cancer screenings and treatment, including hiring a manager for the program. 

 to help Leeward O‘ahu care homes improve their facilities to better withstand disasters. 

 to raise the pay for jury duty from $30 per day to $50. What’s this? A raise … for us? Sign me up! Clearly, I’m very judgy. 

 to add Hilo’s Banyan Drive area to the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority list of regions to redevelop. Includes money for administration and one staffer. Crazy idea, but what if … just suppose … the state got out of the Banyan Drive business entirely, sold the land, and let the private sector do its thing? 

 for the state to develop a program to pay off people’s medical debts. 

 for three positions in the UH system to help create more multilingual translators in Hawai‘i. 

 to establish a bachelor’s degree program in agricultural science at the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu campus, including hiring an administrator. 

 to create an Office of Community Culture, Arts and Innovation within DBEDT as a “sister entity to the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.” Pays for one executive director and one staffer to literally just write reports. Remember, folks, you can’t make art or innovate unless the government helps you! 

 to create an office that certifies community behavioral health clinics and hire its executive director. 

 to create and fund the Hawai‘i Braille Literacy Education Act. There are about 170 kids in K-12 public schools in need of Braille instruction, but only 10% of them have this service in their special education programs. No critique here other than surprise.

 to create and fill a full-time program management position for the cesspool conversion revolving loan fund. Hawai‘i’s cesspool problem is truly its biggest environmental disaster, and one we can actually solve, unlike climate change. Every penny of the new Green Fee on tourism ought to go toward getting rid of these things as a public health menace, if you ask me. So my critique here may surprise you — we aren’t spending enough on closing cesspools.  

 for the state hire an outside contractor to train child welfare services staff on domestic violence issues. 

 to develop a pilot program requiring each county, “to establish a summer streets pilot program that temporarily closes vehicular traffic and repurposes roads for pedestrian and cyclist use, outdoor events, temporary installations, and other community-driven activities.” I mean, we have perfectly good parks, parks equipped with parking lots, where these activities could happen. But let’s instead make taxpayers pay for temporary traffic jams to teach them a lesson about the good life they could have if they just walked everywhere. 

 to establish a commission to figure out which public schools the state will need to close or consolidate in face of declining enrollment. “Projections from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education indicate that Hawai‘i is expected to experience the nation's steepest decline in high school graduates over the next 16 years, with enrollment decreases likely to accelerate,” the bill notes. Can you say, middle-class flight?  

 to commission a University of Hawai‘i study into how to pay for the growing long-term care needs of Hawai‘i expanding senior population. 

  for the state Health Planning and Development Agency to “develop a comprehensive state plan on hearing loss focused on improving access, affordability, awareness, and early detection of hearing loss in collaboration with community stakeholders, relevant advisory boards, and state agencies.” 

 to hire a disability integration specialist to make sure the state’s disaster planning includes the needs of people with various disabilities. This position satisfies a new demand on the states by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

 for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to create a program that would raise awareness among business owners about how dementia might be impacting their employees and customers. 

for the Department of Education to “establish a two-year student-authored book publication pilot program in which students research, write, and publish original works” in Kalihi, Nānākuli and Wai‘anae elementary schools. This sounds terrific, and so obviously good that my question is — why does this require a law? The DOE has an annual budget of more than $2 billion dollars. Is it completely incapable of figuring out how to get a mere $50,000 into a new program without lawmakers telling them to do so?

 to be paid to the City & County of Honolulu for feral chicken eradication. What can I say here that would be funnier than that? 

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

Hawaii State Capitol 7 29 25

<title>Pipikaula Corner: State broke, keeps spending</title>

Thirty-two bills have a combined total of nearly $214 million in new spending. They will be voted on this Wednesday. ASD editor A. Kam Napier pulled together this digestible overview, with commentary, so you know where your money might be going.

Pipikaula Corner: State broke, keeps spending

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Food & Dining

Award-winning chef Roy Yamaguchi is set to bring a new, oceanfront dining experience to the Outrigger Kaua‘i Beach Resort & Spa in Līhu‘e.

Ocean House by Roy Yamaguchi is scheduled to open in June. Executive Chef 

"We share a common vision of celebrating culture through food, and this felt like a great opportunity to tell the story of Kaua‘i through what we put on the plate," Yamaguchi told Aloha State Daily in an emailed response to questions. "Partnering with a brand that genuinely respects and supports local culture — and the ocean — was an easy decision."

Yamaguchi, who won the James Beard award for Best Pacific Northwest Chef in 1993, was born and raised in Tokyo, his 

, which can be found on O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i Island, include the namesake Roy's, Eating House 1849, Beach House, Goen Dining + Bar; and Humble Market Kitchin.

With the new concept, Yamaguchi says, "Our goal is to create a menu that exists only in this space. It's a dining experience you simply can't replicate anywhere else."

According to a recent announcement from Outrigger, Ocean House will serve breakfast and dinner.

Hungry? Signature dishes on the dinner menu include the "Kaua‘i Bag & Boil," which includes Kaua‘i shrimp, fresh daily catch, clams, Portuguese sausage and corn in a brown butter coconut sauce; a selection of fresh sashimi and "creative" sushi rolls; a lū‘au plate "celebrating the full flavors of the Islands;" and hand-crafted noodle dishes.

The chef says that the Kaua‘i Bag & Boil is his favorite item on the new menu.

"It's a dish that speaks directly to Kaua‘i through its ingredients and its sense of place."

Chef Roy Yamaguchi is a true culinary icon and it's an honor to have his vision anchoring the dining experience at Outrigger Kaua'i Beach Resort & Spa," 

Sean Dee, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Outrigger, told ASD in an emailed response to questions.

 "His pioneering role in Hawai'i regional cuisine, his commitment to local farmers and fishermen, and his ability to create experiences that feel both refined and approachable made him the natural partner for Ocean House."

Dee says that Outrigger's relationship with Yamaguchi runs deep.

The chef's signature Roy's restaurant in Waikīkī "sits on the corner of Waikīkī Beach Walk, a development Outrigger spearheaded more than 15 years ago and continues to manage today, and we've further built that connection through collaboration on Hawai'i Food & Wine Festival events," he explained. "When the opportunity arose to bring his vision to Kaua'i, it felt like the natural next chapter."

When asked how the opportunity came about, Yamaguchi says that knowing Dr. Richard Kelley, the son of Outrigger founders Roy and Estelle Kelley, was the start. But when Dee reached out about an opportunity to collaborate with the Garden Isle resort, "I jumped on it immediately."

"I want guests to feel genuinely connected to the ocean, the island and the place itself, as well as to the farmers, fishermen and ranchers who supply us, and the people who made the entire experience possible," Yamaguchi says when asked what he hopes people will take away from a dining experience at Ocean House.

Dee says Ocean House is the is the "dining centerpiece of a much broader transformation rooted in a sense of place vision that touches everything from architecture and art to programing and dining."

All guest rooms and suites, along with two meeting rooms have been completely renovated and by early next month, guests will experience a "fully reimagined arrival with a gorgeous, updated lobby," Dee told ASD. A new Kawelo Cultural Center, fitness center and Voyager 47 Club Lounge will follow in late summer or early fall.

The design draws on two foundational Hawaiian legends: the story of Pele, the fire goddess, and the ocean journeys of Kawelo Lei Makua, a native hero born in Hanamā'ulu, directly adjacent to the resort — with original works throughout the property by local artists, including Allegra Scribner, Noah Harders, Dane Ishikawa, Shianne Schorr and Garret Kojima," Dee says. "Beyond the physical spaces, guests can join the E Ala E sunrise ceremony, the weekly E Komo Mai cultural celebration, hands-on hula, lei making and ukulele lessons, and our Malama Nukoli'i beach cleanup program — all designed to connect guests more deeply to the island."

Roy yamaguchi

<title>Chef Roy Yamaguchi to launch new oceanfront restaurant on Kaua‘i</title>

Ocean House by Roy Yamaguchi is set to open next month at Outrigger Kaua‘i Beach Resort & Spa in Līhu‘e.

Chef Roy Yamaguchi to launch new oceanfront restaurant on Kaua‘i

 last week. In that suit, the former chief of staff to Maui Mayor Richard Bissen alleges that in March 2024 he found a $45,532.32 invoice in the County’s Office of Economic Development.

The invoice was dated August 16, 2023 — about one week after the Maui fires.

The company on the invoice was RTFEX Depot. The address listed was in Scottsdale, Arizona. Caires called the number on the invoice. An answering machine picked up. It did not say the company’s name. He called the Arizona Corporation Commission. It had no record of the company.

Caires was a former commercial banker. He suspected fraud. He asked Maui’s Corporation Counsel for advice, and they recommended a formal investigation.

During the investigation, Caires says he found that one of Bissen’s executive assistants was part of the deal. The assistant was Mayson “Pono” Asano. Asano said he picked up the equipment in the parking lot of the Kahului Target. He said he would deliver it to the grantee on Moloka‘i. But when Caires asked for receipts and bank records, Asano had none.

Caires also spoke with Cynthia Lallo. She supervised the mayor’s executive assistants at the time. Lallo said Asano had acted as an agent on other grants. That work had nothing to do with his job.

Caires believed Asano was breaking the terms of the grants. He believed it was fraud. A mayor’s office employee was defrauding the County of Maui.

When Caires gave the mayor an update, Bissen told him to back off. Bissen also told him to turn the investigation into an audit.

When Caires kept going, he was cut out of meetings, then demoted and finally fired. Lallo replaced him as chief of staff.

This is not the first time Bissen’s team has been in the news for alleged misuse of funds.

 marketing contract with the County. Both Lallos had worked on Bissen’s campaign, with Rachael building Bissen’s website and designing logos, lawn signs and digital ads. In 

, Rachael listed Bissen’s campaign chair, Charlene Schulenburg, as a reference. That contract was later 

Luana Mahi was the director of Maui’s Office of Economic Development. She was placed on paid leave after nonprofits tied to her family 

in county grants. Mahi’s former business associate also 

In February 2026, the County of Maui released a 

. The County Auditor had ordered it. Spire Hawai‘i LLP wrote it. The assessment found that the County’s controls against fraud are “not adequate to mitigate likely fraud risks.”

Spire surveyed the people who run the County. Ninety-five percent of department heads rated their own department’s fraud risk as low. None said it was high. The elected officials — the mayor and councilmembers — answered the other way. Eighty-six percent rated the County’s fraud risk as medium. Fourteen percent rated it high. None rated it low. The people closest to where fraud would happen were the most convinced it could not happen.

According to Caires’ complaint, he reported what he had found up the chain. The mayor first sent him to the OED director. When Caires pressed on, the mayor told him to stop the investigation and turn it into an audit. Corporation Counsel attorneys did not agree.

The Office of Economic Development is where Caires says he found the invoice. But the Office of Economic Development is not its own department. It is a program inside the Office of the Mayor.

ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa sees a pattern on Maui, where Mayor Bissen's former chief of staff has filed a whistleblower lawsuit over how he was allegedly treated after reporting what he considered fraud in county government and where a recent fraud risk assessment commissioned by the county found that controls were inadequate to prevent fraud.

Edna Magpantay-Monroe

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