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Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Due to recent NCAA rule changes, University of Hawai‘i men's basketball coach Eran Ganot thought now was as good a time as any to take his team out of the country. 

From Aug. 6-13, the Rainbow Warriors will head to Sydney, Australia for a foreign tour, the team's first since taking a trip to Japan in 2023. Former NCAA rules stated that a team could only do so once every four years, but that policy was stripped in April. 

Heading into the 2026-2027 season, the 'Bows will start almost entirely from scratch, returning only Isaiah Kerr from their 2025-2026 NCAA Tournament team. Point guard Tanner Cuff was on the roster but sidelined due to an ACL tear. With foreign tours permitting a team 10 extra practices, Ganot also sees an opportunity for his team's 12 newcomers to gel faster. 

"When I started coaching, there were very subtle rule changes," said Ganot on Thursday, who is entering his 12th year at the helm. "The last five years or so, they've been very violent and significant. And so, when it happens, we got to stay on the cusp of it. And then we sit there and say, 'Hey, here's a new rule. What can we do?' There are a lot of layers here. 

"There's a lot of work behind the scenes to make something like this happen. I'm very appreciative of our administration. I'm very appreciative of our sponsors, our supporters, our boosters, and certainly at the forefront HTA (Hawai‘i Tourism Authority), understanding the value of this global brand that is Hawai‘i and that is UH."

Leading the 'Bows on the court both in Australia and throughout the season will be Kerr, who turned down the transfer portal in March to return for his senior year. 

"I think it's going to be an awesome experience for the team. A lot of bonding," Kerr said. "You get to go to a place where a lot of guys have never been before, so that'll be cool. Not only just to be there and experiencing the place, but also the culture of the team. I'm the only returner that played last year, so just kind of instilling the same championship DNA that we had last year coming into this year's team."

While the Rainbow Warriors will have time to explore a new country, they'll also play a pair of exhibition games against the 

Illawarra Hawks on Aug. 10, followed by the Sydney Kings on Aug. 12. Both are franchises in the National Basketball League, Australia's premier professional basketball league. 

"The NBL is one of the best professional leagues in the world, and we have great respect for the talent, the coaching, for obvious reasons," Ganot said. "The goal is to come back here a little further along, a little closer together, a better understanding of who we are. ... Throw them in the fire a little bit, so you can see where their talents are at, how quickly they pick things up, and then adjust as we go. But to their credit, last year's group 

With Hawai‘i's regular season set to begin in early November, Ganot says the team will be "smart" about handling Cuff's injury, and he is not expected to play on the trip. Cuff had knee surgery approximately eight and a half months ago, and Ganot says Cuff has "done everything right and is progressing well."

Next week's trip will also serve as a homecoming for a pair of players from Australia in newcomers Bol Dengdit and Lueth Awan.

"They were all excited," Dengdit said of the reaction of his family and friends back home. "This is actually the first time they get to see me play in a while, so I'm excited."

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Hawaii men's basketball 073126

<title>Hawai‘i men's basketball set for Australia foreign tour</title>

The Rainbow Warriors will be in Sydney from Aug. 6-13 and will play scrimmages against a pair of professional teams.

Hawai‘i men's basketball set for Australia foreign tour

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Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke has been indicted for bribery by a O‘ahu grand jury.

Luke’s bail was set at $80,000 Friday after being charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and falsifying her campaign spending report.

Four others were also indicted Friday in connection with the State Attorney General’s investigation into a purported paper bag full of $35,000 paid to an unknown, but “influential,” lawmaker referenced during a 2022 federal bribery investigation.

Those others included former State Rep. Ryan Yamane, lobbyist Tobi Solidum, former chair of the state Public Utilities Commission Leodoloff Asuncion Jr., and Ford Fuchigami, airports administrator for the state Department of Transportation.

According to the indictment, during Luke’s 2022 campaign for lieutenant governor, Solidum was seeking additional state money for Covid community testing centers. The indictment cites a conversation between Solidum and Ty Cullen — the former Hawai‘i Rep. who, at the time, had turned informant for the FBI — where Solidum was worried that the state DOH would cut funding for Covid testing centers soon.

During the conversation, Solidum reportedly told Cullen Luke was running for the lieutenant governor position, adding: “All I gotta do is give her more money.”

Solidum, Cullen and Luke all reportedly met on Jan. 20, 2022 at Morton’s The Steakhouse in Ala Moana, where Solidum’s stepdaughter Kristen Pae placed an envelope on the table containing two $5,000 checks, one from Solidum and one from Pae. Luke reportedly took the envelope.

Solidum then told Luke, “By next week we’ll have 35, so it will be halfway to our 70.”

Later during that meeting, Solidum asked Luke about the possibility of drawing upon federal funds to continue Covid testing, to which Luke agreed to follow up.

The two $5,000 checks were subsequently deposited into the Friends of Sylvia Luke bank account, the same day Luke arranged for a meeting to discuss emergency appropriations for additional Covid community testing. In February, Luke’s Finance Committee, which she chaired, passed 

, a bill approving more than $170 million in state funds for Covid mitigation measures for the next two fiscal years.

The indictment does not specifically mention an exact $35,000 transaction, let alone a paper bag, although the the transaction in Morton’s strongly resembles an event Luke described in February: she admitted accepting two $5,000 checks in a dinner involving Cullen, although she also claimed she never cashed the checks.

Asuncion’s presence in the indictment entirely stems from his role as Luke’s campaign treasurer, wherein he allegedly knowingly failed to disclose the donations by Solidum and Pae, and also his subsequent claims in March that the checks had been returned to those donors unspent. Asuncion reportedly claimed that those checks had never been deposited into the Friends of Sylvia Luke bank account, and therefore believed he didn’t need to report them.

Despite this, Deputy Attorney General David Van Acker said Friday that he believes Yamane to be the “most culpable” of the five named in the indictment.

According to the indictment, Solidum had sent money to Yamane in 2020 and 2021, and later asked about the status of health care measure 

, which failed to move forward through conference committees that year. Yamane texted Solidum “Sorry couldn’t deliver it.”

Solidum and Yamane continued to meet throughout 2021 and 2022, with Solidum repeatedly giving Yamane money. Solidum reportedly “texted Yamane in an effort to get a rival Covid testing company fined,” which Yamane assisted by forwarding Solidum’s claims about said company to the state Department of Health.

In early 2022, Yamane, Solidum and Fuchigami met frequently to discuss HB 2392. At one point, the text conversation between Yamane and Solidum turned to the federal charges against Cullen, leading Yamane to text Solidum “Might not be good to been [sic] seen with me.”

At the end of the 2022 legislative session, Yamane spoke effusively in support of HB 2392, and specifically named Luke in his thanks for getting the measure passed.

Fuchigami, for his part, received a $7,000 check from Solidum in Jan. 2022. Fuchigami, who worked for the Senate Ways and Means Committee at the time, was party to subsequent conversations with Solidum and Yamane regarding HB 2392.

Yamane was indicted for bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery; Solidum for three counts of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery; Fuchigami with use of false statements, conspiracy to commit bribery and obstruction of justice; and Asuncion with falsifying candidate committee reports, use of false statements and obstruction of justice.

“For years, people in Hawai‘i have wondered: ‘why can’t we investigate and prosecute our own public officials for corruption?’” Attorney General Anne Lopez said at a briefing Friday. “This is the reason why the Legislature created the Special Investigation and Prosecution Division [within the AG’s office] … We have a commitment to following the facts to where they lead, no matter how long it takes to get there.”

Nonetheless, Van Acker emphasized that Luke and the others in the indictment are still presumed innocent, and that the statements in the indictment remain only allegations. Van Acker and Lopez did not take questions Friday.

Luke took an indefinite leave of absence from the lieutenant governor position in April, which has continued to this day.

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<title>Luke indicted for bribery</title>

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and four others have been charged in Attorney General corruption investigation

Luke indicted for bribery

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

It has been a busy couple of months for Kumu Hula Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu. His hālau, the Oakland-based Academy of Hawaiian Arts, competed in Merrie Monarch, which ran from April 20 through 26. This week, when Disney’s live action version of “Lilo & Stitch” debuts in theaters on Friday, May 23, his voice will be part of the soundtrack.

, the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus, and the North Shore-based brothers 

. Of that group, only Hoʻomalu and the director of the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus, 

can say they were part of creating the soundtrack for the original movie.

Hoʻomalu did the singing and some of the composing for the 2002 movie’s “He Mele No Lilo” and “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride,” performed with the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus.

This year, at Merrie Monarch, the wahine in his hālau’s performed “Kuʻe Hao O Ka Lanakila,” a mele about a railway line that stretched from Moanalua to Waiʻanae. The oli that started the performance included parts of 

which was also featured in “He Mele No Lilo” in the original “Lilo & Stitch” movie.

“On the Merrie Monarch this year, the girls kahiko, 

. We did get recognized: ʻOh, that's the oli that he did for ʻLilo & Stitch,” the original, which is called ʻKa Wohi Ku Ka Moku,’ ” he told Aloha State Daily. “It was really nice because everybody in the audience was singing. … What a beautiful gesture to the queen.”

Going into Merrie Monarch, the practice schedule for the kumu hula included hula classes every day, with kāne on one night and wahine the next, Hoʻomalu told ASD. 

“I’m different because I don't see hula and the sound of hula as the same thing,” he said. “The sound is a whole other element that’s for the hoʻopaʻa, that’s for the chanters. … Hula is for the eyes and the leo — the sound — is for your ear. It's not the same thing, but they should both make your brain dance.”

The annual competition brings Hoʻomalu back to the Hawaiian Islands. After the competition on Hawaiʻi Island, he spent time with family on Oʻahu, he said.

“It allows me to come home and to bring hula home that Hawaiʻi is not doing,” he said. “Being away from Hawaiʻi allows me to not get caught up in what everybody else is doing. … By osmosis you become like everybody else. It was like that 50 years ago, and I don't want to be like that.”

The  kāne kahiko performance of “Holo Mai Pele,” was a mele that dates back to at least 1860 and tells the story of the migration of Tūtū Pele to Hawaiʻi, he said.

“Everyone in Hawaiʻi who has done it has done it the way that the Kanakaʻole family has done it,” he said. “That's where they learned it from, and they present it that way.”

But Hoʻomalu choose to share the story as a migration from the ocean, he said. In fact, his dancers brought outrigger canoe paddles to the stage.

“He's talking about a migration, sailing from Tahiti and I am bringing it from the ocean — not land locked, but from the ocean — and presenting a new rendition of an old mele,” he said.

of other 2025 Merrie Monarch performances. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

Kumu Hula Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu

<title>Mark Keali‘i Hoʻomalu: Oli moves from Merrie Monarch to Disney – Aloha State Daily</title>

Kumu Hula Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu reflects on Merrie Monarch and how hula and music are not “the same thing, but they should both make your brain dance.” An oli he performed at Merrie Monarch this year had the audience singing. It appeared in the original animated version of ʻLilo & Stitch’ in 2002. It will also be part of the soundtrack for Disney’s live action version of the movie, which debuts Friday, May 23.

Kumu Hula Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu shares how the same oli was featured at Merrie Monarch and in Disney’s new “Lilo & Stitch” movie

Senators

<title>Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, and Sen. Troy Hashimoto</title>

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, and Sen. Troy Hashimoto

While tax relief puts vital funds back into the pockets of working families, the state cannot stem the tide of out-migration without taking aggressive action on housing.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, and Sen. Troy Hashimoto

Latest from Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, and Sen. Troy Hashimoto

Beyond Tax Relief: Delivering Real Housing Solutions for Hawaiʻi

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