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Christian Zuckerman

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Sterling Higa

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Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp

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Annabelle Le Jeune

Polynesian Voyaging Society

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Richard Turbin

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Kalani Akana

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Christian Shimabuku

Sports

MĀNOA — The USC men's volleyball team made quick work of Belmont Abbey in a 25-18, 25-20, 25-21 sweep on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center, setting up a national semifinal showdown against the University of Hawai‘i. 

Friday's match between the Trojans and Crusaders was a standalone contest in an 

. Although the Rainbow Warriors did not compete on Friday night, a turnstile crowd of 2,903 still showed up to take in the first NCAA Tournament match to take place on O‘ahu since 2004. 

With the win, the Trojans are set to take on Hawai‘i on Saturday at 4 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Final Four on May 9-11 in Los Angeles. 

"I hadn't even considered (Saturday's) matchup, because we have to earn our way to get into there," USC men's head coach Jeff Nygaard said following the match. "It's a real good confidence builder going into the matchup. We should have played them earlier in the year, but now we get the opportunity to play against Hawai‘i, so we're looking forward to it."

As Nygaard alluded to, Hawai‘i and USC were part of a four-team NIL tournament in February that was 

. The Rainbow Warriors and Trojans last played each other on March 15, 2025, a 

four-set win for the Trojans in the championship match of the Outrigger Invitational

. In that match, USC outside hitter Dillon Klein punished the Rainbow Warriors for 21 kills. A year later, Klein, now a senior, remains the top offensive option for the Trojans. 

"That was last year. I'm looking forward to the (Saturday's) game, though," Klein said when asked about his performance agains the 'Bows in 2025. "It was loud. There was a lot of green everywhere. But other than that, I mean, it's a rectangle with a net and a ball. Looking forward to playing some more volleyball tomorrow.

"The fans here are obviously very electric, and the atmosphere is second to none. ... The fans can be nice, they can be brutal, so I guess we're just gonna have to see."

As of Friday night, 9,723 tickets were sold ahead of Saturday's showdown between the Rainbow Warriors and Trojans. The record for attendance in an NCAA men's tournament match is 9,822 in 1998, back when UCLA and Pepperdine competed against each other in the national championship at the Stan Sheriff Center. 

"It's always fun to play in front of our fans at home, especially a big game like this, hopefully 10,000 strong," said star Hawai‘i setter Tread Rosenthal, who was named the Big West Player of the Year on Monday. 

As the national No. 2 seed, the Rainbow Warriors (27-5) will be rested and have home court advantage against the Trojans (20-7). But in order to advance, the 'Bows know they'll have to contain Klein in order to do so. 

"They're a great team. Dillon Klein is one of the best outsides the country," Hawai‘i outside hitter Louis Sakanoko said. "We have all the pieces to beat them, and then we just need to show and prove that we're a good team."

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

UH men's volleyball 050126

<title>Hawai‘i men's volleyball to host USC in national quarterfinals</title>

The Rainbow Warriors will face the Trojans at 4 p.m. on Saturday with a spot in the Final Four up for grabs.

Hawai‘i men's volleyball to host USC in national quarterfinals

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

Construction on a new affordable housing project in Central O‘ahu is complete and tenant applications are now being accepted.

Koa Vista is a new two-phase development located within Koa Ridge, Castle & Cooke Hawai‘i's 576-acre 

 situated between Mililani and Waipi‘o, that will offer a total of 192 affordable senior and family rentals in two mid-rise buildings. The project was developed by the nonprofit Homes Hawai‘i Inc. in partnership with GSF LLC.

Applications are now being accepted for the project's second phase. 

Koa Vista II has 97 one-bedroom apartment units for families with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. Income limits vary by household size. For a household of two that's a limit of $97,280, and for a family of four it's $121,600. Find 

Rents, based on income levels, will range from $1,800 to $2,280, an announcement Thursday noted.

According to that announcement, each unit includes a refrigerator and range/oven, cable and high-speed internet access, window coverings and VCT flooring. Meanwhile, common areas include a multi-purpose room, laundry and office space, a victory garden and open park. There also will be about 110 parking stalls available for residents and guests.

The Koa Vista II building is complete and has passed all inspections, a representative for the developer told Aloha State Daily. The developer hopes the first qualified tenants can move in this summer, after a certificate of occupancy is issued, they said.

Property manager Hawai‘i Affordable Properties Inc. is handling the application process. Starting Friday, May 1, you'll be able to find and submit applications online at 

. Applications can also be picked up at and dropped off or mailed to the adjacent Koa Vista I at 94-1230 Hulukupuna St.

May 21 is the deadline to submit an application, which must be postmarked on or before that date to be accepted.

A blessing and dedication ceremony for the first phase of the project and a groundbreaking ceremony for the second phase 

. The general contractor for the $28 million second phase is 

, which opened to qualified seniors in the spring of 2025, is a $39 million, seven-story, 95-unit rental apartment building available to seniors who make between 30% and 60% of the annual median income, ASD previously reported.

 after two decades of planning and development, and welcomed its 

, its website notes. Approximately 3,500 new residential homes are planned for the development, along with shops and retailers, restaurants, parks and more, 

For more information on the application process, contact Jeanette Orrantia at 808-677-0309 or 

Koa Vista II apartment building 1

<title>Applications opening for new affordable rental project in Central O‘ahu</title>

The second phase of Koa Vista, a new two-phase development located within Castle & Cooke's Koa Ridge, has 97 one-bedroom apartment units for families with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income.

Applications opening for new affordable rental project in Central O‘ahu

[{"type":"text","text":"The Tokyo Toe is Las Vegas bound. "}]

, the former University of Hawai‘i star kicker who taught himself how to kick via YouTube, has signed a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. 

As a senior in 2026, Matsuzawa finished as a 

 given to college football's top kicker. After starting the 2025 season with a 

, Matsuzawa went on to make his first 25 field goal attempts of the season, finishing the year 27-for-29 on field goals and a perfect 40-for-40 on extra points. 

Matsuzawa made history in various ways for the Rainbow Warriors, becoming the program's first consensus All-American. By signing with the Raiders, he also became the first player from Japan to sign with an NFL team through the International Pathway Program (IPP). 

Earlier in the draft, 2020 Kapolei graduate De'Zhaun Stribling was the 33rd pick overall, getting selected by the San Francisco 49ers. He was the first pick of Day 2, as well as the first pick of the second round. 

In addition to Matsuzawa, a bevy of players with Hawai‘i ties signed with NFL teams immediately following the draft:

Kansei Matsuzawa 101725

<title>Hawai‘i's Kansei Matsuzawa signs with Las Vegas Raiders as undrafted free agent</title>

Matsuzawa signed with the Raiders in the immediate minutes following the 2026 NFL Draft and will look to compete for the starting job at kicker.

Hawai‘i's Kansei Matsuzawa signs with Las Vegas Raiders as undrafted free agent

Arrasmith Portrait

Perry Arrasmith

Hawai‘i History

I found myself walking down a stretch of the King’s Highway in Waikōloa a few months ago. The graveled lava rock was a little unstable, but the relatively flat and straight path in a decent pair of shoes was pleasant.

It was a quiet and clear morning. There were few clouds. The golf courses around the trail were empty. A solitary Japanese tourist lingered behind me some hundred-or-so yards back on the ground. He stopped to take a break at some unknown point and disappeared.

The heat made my haole skin sweat in short order. There were no trees along the brief trail. Although it was morning, the sun already felt harsh among the volcanic rock. The only sound was the crunch of the small volcanic rocks.

While staring up mauka towards Mauna Loa, a dead writer started talking to me.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Journey of 300 Miles"}]

Bob Krauss passed away in Honolulu in 2006. More than four decades earlier, he had joined a crew of well-supplied pilgrims to trek across the entire island — a span of approximately 300 miles.

My little walk was less than a percentage point of their journey. Waikōloa was towards the end of his original route across the entire island.

The route started in Kailua-Kona, but trailed in the opposite direction to the southernmost tip of the island before turning towards Hilo, proceeding to the northernmost point of the Island near Waimea before turning south again back towards Kailua-Kona.

There was no music to block Bob’s thoughts on the walk. His thoughts were all he had on the walk, and so he kept meticulous notes. Those notes inspired the publication of "

 in 1975. As its subtitle explains, the book evolved into an account interspersed “with inquiries into Island behavior and an Island approach to our global future.”

It was more than a travelogue full of opinionated visions. In fact, his semi-religious odyssey was an unwitting political vision for Hawai‘i’s future. As a result, it resides as a forgotten fever dream. While it is long out of print, maybe you can find a copy at the annual Friends of the Library book sale in Honolulu.

As I walked along that trail for less than an hour, I started to wonder where an island way would take Hawai‘i in 2026, and whether we need more people to walk along that journey.

There is a clear and present case for taking Bob Krauss’ walk across Hawai‘i Island, in part thanks to its enduring influence over Hawai‘i’s culture.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Island Way and Palaka Power"}]

Perhaps no figure reconciles the vision of "The Island Way" with Hawai‘i’s political journey more than former Governor John D. Waihe‘e.

Waihe‘e’s involvement in state politics took shape in the ’70s, and was indelibly shaped by the meeting of the Island Way with David Hagino’s tract "Palaka Power." The latter tract appeared shortly before the 1978 Constitutional Convention, and would go on to provide a framework for delegates like a young Waihe‘e, who himself was raised along the Hamakua Coast of Hawai‘i Island.

While Krauss wrote Island Way a few years before Hagino’s manifesto, the two were products of the same decade of political, economic, and socio-cultural transition in the young State of Hawai‘i.

“Politically speaking, David [Hagino] was the first person that clearly articulated that dichotomy, and Bob Krauss was writing a book in a political context,” Waihe‘e explains. “Bob Krauss was doing it more as a social-cultural expression, but they both were heading to the same place.”

Krauss, through "The Island Way," also provided a critical political lens that had been lacking in the State of Hawai‘i up to that point. More than three years after its publication, "Palaka Power" expressed Hawai‘i’s unique political culture through the working-class fabric of cloth adorned by plantation workers, dock laborers, and paniolo.

To some, its succinct and sharp tone could be seen as divisive in how it sought to distinguish Hawai‘i’s people and culture from the rest of the United States. Meanwhile, Krauss produced a long, expressive, and observational tome that neutralized the provocative manifesto.

“'The Island Way,' for me, was like a diplomatic version of 'Palaka Power,'” explains Waihe‘e.

"The Island Way" foregrounded the uniqueness of Hawai‘i in greater depth. “There was a difference between how we live and function on an island versus how we live and function on a continent,” he clarifies. “David [Hagino] went on to discuss, in 'Palaka Power,' how that philosophy was being represented — or challenged —by various institutions politically in our society.”

Waihe‘e interpreted "Palaka Power" to argue that the values of Hawai‘i’s institutions needed to be grounded in an island context, not a continental context. His reading of "Palaka Power," however, is only underlined by "The Island Way."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Limitations of An Island Society"}]

"The Island Way’s" philosophy is informed by the transformation of the world into a singular island community, where globalization left people more reliant and vulnerable to global trends. Naturally, such a shrinking world needed to treat the world’s resources in a finite capacity.

While Hawai‘i was becoming more like America, the world was becoming more like Hawai‘i.

There were variants of an Island way of living to be found in the high cost of island living, the politics of dealing with people, the role of the individual, religion, environmental destruction and environmental renewal, housing, warfare, and even romance.

They were all informed by the limited resources and communal nature of an island society.

“Our basic reality of an island is limitation,” Krauss concluded in 1975.

 found Krauss to be bombastic in his diagnosis of society’s ills. “At times,” Warren Iwasa of the Observer wrote, “he allows a commonplace incident or a mildly worrisome set of circumstances to conjure up the specter of a futurist nightmare.”

The Hawai‘i Island explored by Krauss was subject to limitations. “Rising land prices all over reflect an island limitation to land. Re-occurring shortages in grocery stores and shopping centers and gasoline stations are clues to limitations of food, oil, fertilizer, metals, paper, rubber, and all the rest. Limitation to space has prompted concern and disputes over zoning, shoreline development, population control, protection of the environment and exploitation of the ocean.” 

The rhetorical division of palaka power — when layered over the ideals of the Island Way — is what appeared to power the energies and vision of the 1978 Constitutional Convention. There was a need to preserve Hawai‘i from an apocalyptic future beset with cultural erasure and environmental decay. History seemed to suggest that the antidote to society’s complexity was the past’s simplicity. 

The answer was the Island Way. Simplicity could be realized by a return to the Island Way, or perhaps through the development of a new Island Way through such documents as the 1978 Constitution. 

It’s a feeling confirmed by Waihe‘e. “I think the idea that planet Earth is an island, in my opinion, is as compelling as the idea that Hawai‘i was an island and needed to be treated as such in 1978.”  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Taking a Walk"}]

Some hours after my walk, I relaxed a rain forest on the other side of Hawai‘i. A mist gently floated down to the earth. I stood on a beaten path masquerading as a road for automobiles. Dense thickets of invasive guava formed walls along the path. 

Few people in this world are ever afforded the opportunity to trek across the island of Hawai‘i. We never get to live like Bob Krauss and survey all the towns and people of our islands in minute detail. We are not afforded such opportunities by the conveniences of a continental lifestyle and the subsequent demands set on such finite resources as time. 

Perhaps more people need to make a trek across Hawai‘i in the same vein of such pathways as the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route in Europe that ends in the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela. One popular version of the route starts in France, spanning about 500 miles.

I had no time to take a walk around Hawai‘i. Instead of treking down towards the South of the island from Waikōloa and then beating back up towards Na‘alehu and the Puna district, I drove a car across the island. The car itself was imported from the continental United States, along with the gasoline that enabled me to make the trip in a few hours. 

I try my best not to see Hawai‘i as a mystical place. It is another island in the Hawaiian archipelago, albeit a unique one. If I was not careful, O‘ahu could feel continental, a place dominated by reliance on Costco shipments. 

While Hawai‘i Island is much larger than O‘ahu (and every other island in the archipelago), it also relies on Costco shipments, too. In many respects, the islands are more continental than they’ve ever been. Like people in Honolulu, people in Hilo and Kailua-Kona live continental lives, too. While Hawai‘i has arguably become more connected to the United States, the world has also become more of an island.

To an O'ahu urbanite, the Hawai'i of Bob Krauss is a foreign place. It was not accessible by car or plane. It was a romantic vision of the past and a political ideology enshrined in such living documents as Hawai‘i’s Constitution. 

When Krauss was walking across Hawai‘i in 1973, the 

 of Hawai‘i Island stood at 76,400 residents. Today, it surpasses more than 200,000 residents. The islands are taking new paths. 

We’ve embraced the necessity of weighing natural limits to an island lifestyle, but we also enjoy the luxuries of continental connection. We’ve embraced the Island Way, but only on a selective basis. 

In many respects, understanding the evolving nature of these islands requires pilgrimages in the style of Krauss. “I think it would be great if someone did an update of it because what his book was about was getting to know people–getting to know Hawai‘i,” Gov. Waihe‘e notes. 

We should spend some more time getting to know Hawai‘i. There are still pieces of the Island Way among the living, even if it is difficult to survive under absolute island conditions.

I can’t say how hard it is to find the Island Way, but I think it is worth a try.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Krauss HI Observer Image 1975 16x9

<title>The Pilgrimage of Bob Krauss</title>

A half-century ago, legendary journalist Bob Krauss joined a 300-mile trek across Hawai‘i island, inspiring his 1975 book, "The Island Way." In it he explored "an Island approach to our global future" that was influential on local politics at the time and very much worth revisiting today.

The Pilgrimage of Bob Krauss

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 — a brand-new condo with 972 residential units and two, 44-story towers — is also home to a new food hall.

Located on the ground floor of the Liona Tower, 

 is celebrating its grand opening from 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, Jan. 17. The food hall is soft opening with limited hours (11 a.m. to 8 p.m.) from Jan. 9 to 16.

[{"type":"text","text":"The food hall features both indoor and outdoor seating."}]

The space features 12 locally owned restaurants, and offers customers a variety of local and international flavors. Not all of the vendors are open yet; some have limited menus for the soft opening.

Vendors include FEAST by Jon Matsubara, King Thai Cuisine, Mangiamo Gelato, Middle Eats, Ninja Sushi, Sadie’s BBQ Honolulu, Serg’s Mexican Kitchen, Soul Chicken and more.

During today’s friends and family preview, participating vendors were serving samples and were open for business.

Serg’s Mexican Kitchen features the same menu as its Mānoa location. Meanwhile, the food hall is the first location for new vendors like Mangiamo Gelato.

On grand opening day, families are invited to enjoy keiki activities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

To access Midtown Eats, customers can enter the parking garage from the building’s Liona Street entrance and park on floors 1 to 2.5. Validated parking will be available.

Midtown Eats interior 010826

<title>New Honolulu food hall is now open</title>

Midtown Eats, the new food hall at The Park on Keʻeaumoku, is celebrating its grand opening from 10 a.m. to midnight on Jan. 17. The food hall is soft opening during limited hours from Jan. 9 to 16. Aloha State Daily got a tour of the new space.

New Honolulu food hall is now open

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

[{"type":"text","text":"What does it cost to run Honolulu’s buses?"}]

The City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Service 2025 fiscal year budget was a little over $438 million. Of that, O‘ahu Transit Services, Inc., the nonprofit contractor that manages TheBus and TheHandi-Van, took the lion’s share, taking $325.9 million. A proposed budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year would increase the OTS budget to $341 million.

[{"type":"text","text":"But where does that money go?"}]

 a fleet size of 542 buses, with an average age of nearly 10 years, along with an additional 180 Handi-Vans.

According to OTS budget documents, the greatest single expenditure in the bus and paratransit budget during the 2025-2026 fiscal year was salaries and wages. Employee pay is projected to cost $168.6 million between July 2025 and June 2026.

 that it employs a total of 1,919 employees. Of those, 1,211 are drivers — 901 bus drivers and 310 Handi-Van drivers.

Other employees include 358 maintenance staff — the majority of which are bus maintenance — 251 support staff and 109 administrative jobs.

This would average out to, very roughly, yearly wages of $87,800 per employee, although pay varies wildly between positions. A 

 for a paratransit operator — a driver of a vehicle specialized for handicapped passengers — sets wages at $21 per hour, while another listing for a paratransit mechanic offers a hiring rate of $30 per hour.

Beyond wages, another $167 million out of OTS’ projected budget this year will cover the wide-ranging expenses of maintaining a fleet of vehicles. For example, diesel fuel is expected to cost about $19 million by the end of the fiscal year, and unleaded gasoline another $4 million.

[{"type":"text","text":"Other major expenses include:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Bus parts, $16 million this year"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Retirement plans for union workers: $23.9 million"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Healthcare plans for union workers: $37.5 million"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Trust fund contributions: $23.5 million"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Materials and supplies: $5 million"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Security services: $1.6 million"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Electricity costs: $2.1 million"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Firefighting equipment: $265,000"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"But how does that budget square up against other bus systems nationwide?"}]

The American Public Transportation Association — a nonprofit industry advocate group for public transportation organizations throughout the country — 

 Honolulu’s transit system among the 50 largest in the U.S. in 2023. That year, it found that TheBus passengers had collectively traveled 182 million miles, comparable to the Maryland Transit Administration (183.6 million miles) or Las Vegas’ Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (183.4 million miles).

 for the 2024 fiscal year allocated about $450 million to bus operations. Its cost per passenger mile for that year was $2.46.

Data from the U.S. Department of Transportation 

 that OTS spent $1.30 per passenger mile in 2024. Transit systems with a similar cost per passenger mile include the University of California Davis’ Unitrans bus system, which had a roughly $8.4 million operating budget in 2024; the Nassau Inter-County Express in New York (2024 operating budget: $131 million) and the Flint, Mich., Mass Transit Authority (2024 operating budget: $17 million).

The U.S. DOT data also found the OTS system spends $5.96 per passenger trip and spent $173.70 per hour.

Meanwhile, OTS generated about $45 million in fares last year, compared to a $245 million operating budget. DTS Director Roger Morton 

 told ASD that only about $11 million of that comes from cash users.

Based on the 2020 Honolulu census, which set the population at 853,000, APTA determined the city’s ridership per capita — in other words, the average number of annual bus rides taken per person — to be 45.9, the 10th highest in the nation. The next-highest, the Seattle-Tacoma transit system, has a 41.8 ridership per capita, while the New York-New Jersey-Newark system — with the highest ridership per capita — sits at 163.5.

However, TheBus ridership seems to be declining. OTS 

 in June that average ridership that month had dropped by 2% from the same month in 2024, while ridership is about 33% below pre-pandemic level: the total monthly ridership in 

monthly ridership was 4.9 million, which itself was a decline from January 2019.

[{"type":"text","text":"Aloha State Daily reached out to APTA for comment."}]

Three buses get new wrap

<title>The money in TheBus</title>

O‘ahu Transit Services, Inc., the nonprofit contractor that manages TheBus and TheHandi-Van, has a $325.9 million budget. ASD looks at where the money goes, and how The Bus stacks up in comparison to bus systems in other cities.

The money in TheBus

Jayden Kepoo Caspino

Jayden Kepoʻo-Caspino is a Waiʻanae-raised Native Hawaiian who moved from Oʻahu to Oregon in 2019. Now serving as the communications & marketing director at Ka ʻAha Lāhui O ʻOlekona Hawaiian Civic Club, Jayden shares his passion for Indigenous storytelling with poʻe Hawaiʻi living on the continent.

<title>Jayden Kepoʻo-Caspino</title>

Jayden Kepoʻo-Caspino

Aloha Spirit

Oregon- and Washington-serving nonprofit Olekona Hawaiian Civic Club's vision continues to center on Prince Kūhiō’s call to uplift the lāhui beyond the pae ʻāina. This is accomplished through scholarships, support for Native Hawaiian artists and businesses, increased access to health and traditional food services, the opening of spaces to learn mele, hula, oli, and traditional crafts, and culturally immersive summer programs.

Jayden Kepoʻo-Caspino

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