West
Hawaiian lawmakers poised to make 'shaka' the official state gesture
- The shaka gesture, characterized by extending the pinky and thumb with curled fingers, originates from Hawaii and symbolizes various warm sentiments like greetings, gratitude and aloha spirit.
- Proposed bills in the Hawaii State Legislature aim to designate the shaka as the state’s official gesture, acknowledging Hawaii as its birthplace.
- Sen. Glenn Wakai said he anticipates minimal opposition to the measure, expecting it to pass smoothly through legislative channels.
A pinky and thumb extended with the remaining fingers curled down: That’s the “shaka” in Hawaii.
The gesture is sometimes known outside the islands as the “hang loose” sign associated with surf culture, but it was a fixture of daily life in the islands long before it caught on in California, Brazil and beyond. People in Hawaii have a variety of shaka styles and use it to convey a range of warmhearted sentiments, from hi and bye to thanks and aloha, among other meanings.
When captains of the Lahainaluna High School football team, from the Maui community devastated by last summer’s deadly wildfire, were invited to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas last month, they flashed shakas for the cameras.
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Now, a pair of bills in the state Legislature would make the shaka the state’s official gesture and recognize Hawaii as its birthplace.
Cody Matsuda, KihaaPi’ilani Makainai-Matsuda, Keli’inowelo Makainai-Matsuda and Mailani Makainai flash a shaka on March 6, 2024, in Kaneohe, Hawaii. A pair of bills in the Legislature would make the shaka Hawaii’s official gesture. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)
Sen. Glenn Wakai, who introduced the Senate version, said he can’t imagine the measure meeting any opposition and expects it to “sail through.”
Here are some things to know about Hawaii’s shaka — including its purported origin with a seven-fingered fisherman.
WHAT IS THE SHAKA?
On paper, the House bill notes that the “shaka generally consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while holding the three middle fingers curled, and gesturing in salutation while presenting the front or back of the hand; the wrist may be rotated back and forth for emphasis.”
In practice, the shaka is far more nuanced.
Some say the only requirement is an extended pinky and thumb. Others say shaking the shaka is a no-no.
Those from beach or rural communities tend not to shake their shakas. But in the capital city of Honolulu, it’s common.
“It’s just a strong movement — one movement,” said Chase Lee, who grew up just outside Honolulu. He was taught never to shake the shaka. If you do, “you’re a tourist,” he said.
But Erin Issa, one of his colleagues at Central Pacific Bank, likes to wag hers.
“I’m a very animated person,” she said. “I feel awkward if I’m just standing still.”
She prefers to flash a shaka with the palm facing outwards, as a sign of respect: “It’s shaka-ing to you, not to me.”
“As long as you get your pinky finger and your thumb out, you can wave it or you can just do just a flat shaka,” Dennis Caballes, a Honolulu resident, said while fishing at a beach park.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
The shaka carries friendliness and warmth — aloha spirit. Some hold it low when greeting a child, and some like to flash double shakas. It can convey greetings, gratitude or assent, or it can defuse tension. It was particularly useful in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were afraid to shake hands.
“It’s such a versatile gesture,” said state Rep. Sean Quinlan, who introduced the House bill at the behest of a documentary filmmaker exploring the sign’s backstory.
Big Island state Rep. Jeanné Kapela, one of the House bill’s co-sponsors, said residents are “so lucky to have a visual signal for sharing aloha with each other.”
Shakas can avert altercations when people are cut off in traffic, said Wakai, the state senator who introduced the Senate version.
“The angst toward that driver kind of just immediately gets reduced,” Wakai said.
WHERE DOES THE SHAKA COME FROM?
The prevailing story of the shaka’s origin traces back to a Native Hawaiian fisherman named Hāmana Kalili, who lived on Oahu’s North Shore in the early 1900s. Mailani Makaʻīnaʻi, Kalili’s great-great-granddaughter, wants the bills amended to include his name — something lawmakers are considering.
Kalili lost three fingers in a sugar mill accident, she said.
After the mishap, Kalili worked as a guard on a train. Kids who jumped the train for a free ride would curl their middle fingers to mimic Kalili’s injured hand, giving other train-jumpers the all-clear, said Steve Sue, who researched shaka for his documentary.
Other residents adopted Kalili’s three-finger-less wave more broadly, according to family lore, and it spread, possibly fueled by the waves of tourists that began arriving after World War II.
“I love the compassion part of it, you know, where, ‘Oh, okay, he doesn’t have all three fingers. So, I’m going to say hi the way he’s saying hi,’” Makaʻīnai said. “It’s the idea that … I’m like you and you’re like me.”
There’s a bronze statue of Kalili, his right arm extended into a shaka, at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.
There are various theories about how the term “shaka” became associated with the gesture. Some have suggested that the name came from Japan’s Shaka Buddha.
HOW IS THE SHAKA USED NOW?
The sign has spread around the world since the surfing boom of the 1950s and ’60s. It’s popular in Brazil, where it’s been used by martial arts aficionados. Brazil soccer greats Ronaldinho and Neymar Jr. incorporated it into their goal celebrations.
The shaka is such an integral part of Hawaii life that it’s easy to miss, said Sen. Chris Lee, chair of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts.
Some Honolulu city buses are outfitted with a digital shaka light that bus drivers can turn on to thank motorists for letting them merge. Texters have co-opted the “call me” emoji to symbolize the shaka, and local station KHON-TV has ended each evening newscast since the 1970s with clips of people flashing shakas.
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Longtime KHON anchor Howard Dashefsky said throwing a shaka is almost a reflex when people in the community recognize him and call his name.
“There’s a lot of other places where you only get a one-finger gesture,” he said.
Shakas also come out naturally when people from Hawaii are somewhere else in the world and want to display connection to their island roots.
Businesses often use the shaka to project community belonging.
Central Pacific Bank, for example, called their digital checking account Shaka Checking at the suggestion of electronic banking manager Florence Nakamura.
“It makes people feel good when they receive one,” she said.
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West
Bryan Kohberger's Amazon records are 'catastrophic' for defense, 'smoking gun' for prosecutors, experts say
New court filings in the Idaho student murders case could severely handicap suspect Bryan Kohberger’s defense, according to legal experts – he allegedly purchased a Ka-Bar knife on Amazon months before the murders and then shopped for a replacement days after they took place.
Bryan Kohberger, a 30-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student, is accused of using a large, bladed weapon to kill four University of Idaho undergrads – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20.
According to Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt, all four victims died with multiple stab wounds. At least two of them were so intoxicated at the time of the attack that they were unable to resist at all, prosecutors wrote in court filings.
Under Mogen’s body, police found a Ka-Bar knife sheath, stamped with a United States Marine Corps logo and allegedly containing Kohberger’s DNA on the snap.
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Prosecutors allege Bryan Kohberger took this selfie photo at 10:31 a.m. on November 13, 2022 – about 6 hours after the murders of four University of Idaho students he is accused of committing. (Ada County Court)
Prosecutors revealed in court filings this week that he allegedly bought a Ka-Bar, a sheath and a sharpener on Amazon in March 2022, months before the murders. Then, in the weeks after the murders, his Amazon app “click activity” allegedly shows he was browsing for a replacement.
Experts say the shopping list will be difficult for the defense to explain away, especially based on the timing and the specific details about what Kohberger was allegedly looking at.
That is a catastrophic fact for his defense.
“There’s always kind of this lore around that using a knife in a murder is particularly personal,” said Edwina Elcox, a Boise defense attorney who has been following the case. “And then the time frame of the search that links him, if this is correct, to this murder weapon shows a significant level, or at least I’m sure the prosecution would argue, shows a significant level of premeditation.”
She said that the slate of newly revealed evidence against Kohberger indicates prosecutors may have a stronger case than previously known.
Read the filing:
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Kohberger’s defense team has asked the court to keep his Amazon records out of the trial.
“The information that is publicly available is that …the murder weapon, other than the sheath, has never been recovered,” Elcox told Fox News Digital. “And then he is searching for this very, very specific item. This is beyond a catastrophic fact to the defense…I do not know how you explain that away.”
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
For Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and cold case investigator, the Amazon business records are yet another tool in the digital era that he believes will increasingly help law enforcement solve crimes going forward.
“Electronic evidence is gonna bring this case to a head for sure – it’s amazing,” he told Fox News Digital. “I said cellphone records, internet records and video surveillance are things that are gonna solve most cases going forward, but having this type of information is extremely damaging.”
WATCH: Father of slain Idaho student speaks out on new evidence in the case
Prosecutors made the revelation in response to Kohberger’s defense team trying to have evidence of his Amazon activity kept out of the trial, arguing in part that the retail giant’s algorithm “shapes user behavior” by serving up items it predicts shoppers want.
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A screenshot of Amazon.com shows a Ka-Bar knife for sale for under $100 on the shopping website. (Amazon)
“Applying the test for relevancy, first, Kohberger’s click activity which shows a purchase of a Ka-Bar knife and sheath before the homicides, makes it more probable (than it would be without the evidence) that the Ka-Bar sheath found at the crime scene was Bryan Kohberger’s,” Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Jennings wrote in a court filing made public Wednesday evening.
“Second, Kohberger’s click activity after the homicides makes it more probable (than it would be without the evidence) that Kohberger had a reason to search for a Ka-Bar knife and sheath after the homicides.”
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Bryan Kohberger arrives at Monroe County Courthouse in Pennsylvania in January 2023, prior to his extradition to Idaho to face murder charges. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
Judge Steven Hippler this week denied Kohberger’s request to have an expert testify about the Amazon data at a hearing next month. He has not yet ruled on the motion to exclude the evidence.
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“This is the smoking gun evidence in the case,” said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who has been following the case.
WATCH: Former prosecutor breaks down Bryan Kohberger’s Amazon history
The DNA connects Kohberger to the crime scene, and his Amazon history undermines a defense theory that it could have been planted, he said.
“This was a big mistake by Kohberger, who was otherwise very careful about covering his tracks,” he added.
The house at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, behind police tape on Nov. 15, 2022. Police say four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death inside on Nov. 13. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
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Kohberger was pursuing a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University, just 10 miles down the road from the University of Idaho crime scene.
“I think he fancies himself…as remarkably intelligent, but as somebody who has studied this field, you know that law enforcement and their searches cast a wide, wide net,” Elcox told Fox News Digital. “Having this in a searchable history format is…OK, you just have to wonder, I don’t think you’re maybe as smart as you thought you were.”
University of Idaho students from left to right: Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. (Jazzmin Kernodle via AP/Instagram/ @kayleegoncalves)
Prosecutors have also alleged they traced his car, a white Hyundai Elantra, to and from the crime scene, that an eyewitness saw a masked man inside the home just after the murders, and that phone records also corroborate their alleged timeline of events. But Kohberger was not identified as a suspect until more than a month after the slaying with the help of investigative genetic genealogy.
While legal experts say the Amazon history is damming evidence, it also raises new questions for people who study the criminal mind, a topic Kohberger himself had studied at the graduate level. Was a suspect looking to replace a missing sheath, after leaving one behind at the crime scene, or a budding serial killer taking steps toward another kill?
State police forensics look for clues in Moscow, Idaho on Monday, Nov. 21, 2022. Four University of Idaho students were slain on Nov. 13 in this house. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“I don’t think this killing was a one off – I think…whoever did this, they were likely to kill again,” Dr. Kris Mohandie, a criminal psychologist, told Fox News Digital. “If it was him, why would he kill like that unless he enjoyed it? Further, he was interested in serial killers.”
And although whoever committed the crime is believed to have taken steps to conceal their tracks, he added killers always make a mistake that catches up to them.
“I’ll guarantee you that scene didn’t have one fingerprint of his on it, nor did it have anyone else’s,” said John Kelly, a criminal profiler who has been following the case. “Because whoever did it wiped it down so well.”
Bryan Kohberger’s former apartment at Washington State University, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
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While search warrants show police recovered knives after Kohberger’s arrest, none have been publicly identified as a potential murder weapon.
Kohberger’s trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 11 in Boise.
He could face the death penalty if convicted. A judge entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.
Read the full article from Here
San Francisco, CA
Video captures suspects stealing ATM, safes from San Francisco North Beach taqueria
Taqueria Zorro, a Mexican restaurant in San Francisco’s North Beach, was burglarized early Tuesday morning by what the owner described as the “SWAT of stealing.”
Tarik Kassis, the restaurant’s owner, provided CBS News Bay Area surveillance footage of the burglary.
The video shows several masked individuals, including some who appear armed. A crowbar and bolt cutters were used to break into the restaurant on Columbus Avenue and its office.
Video also shows the suspects driving in a white Honda Odyssey minivan with a clear shot of its license plate: 8GWX875.
An ATM and two safes were stolen, according to Kassis. He estimates about $10,000 was stolen.
The repairs to the restaurant are expected to take several weeks and costs an estimated $25,000, according to Kassis.
“They’re not just randomly hitting these places. They’re studying them. They’re hitting them. They have standard operating procedures. It’s a business for them. They know what they’re doing,” Kassis said. “They’re calm. They’re nonchalant. They’re not frantically moving around… They’re clearing rooms, making sure there’s no one down there. They’re like SWAT of stealing.”
No arrests have been made and the investigation into the burglary is ongoing, according to SFPD.
Kassis is offering his own reward in an effort to help solve the case. He’s offering free lunch for a month to anyone who provides information that leads to the identification and arrest of the suspects.
“Bring a friend,” he smiled. “Mi casa, su casa.”
Denver, CO
With contracts near expiration, Salvation Army's future with City of Denver's hotel shelters unclear
DENVER — Contracts allowing the Salvation Army to oversee two of the City of Denver’s hotel shelters are days away from expiration.
According to Denver City Councilwoman Shotel Lewis’ office, the current contracts for the former DoubleTree and Best Western Hotels along Quebec Street expire on March 31. It’s unclear if the city will renew the contracts with the Salvation Army or choose another service provider.
Lindsey Torres and her dog, Flynn, haven’t had an easy road.
“It’s been about a year almost,” said Torres, referring to her time living in city-owned shelters.
Now, she calls the former Best Western home.
“But sometimes I’d almost rather be outside,” admitted Torres.
Inside the hotel shelter is a lack of hot water, bugs and drug use, according to Torres.
“They do have roaches here. I was getting in the elevator and I could hear it walking on the wall,” said Torres.
There’s also a history of crime. Last week, the Denver Police Department arrested an employee accused of sexually assaulting a woman staying at the 4040 Quebec St. shelter. Last March, the former DoubleTree was the scene of a double homicide.
“You don’t want to have homicides happening within facilities in which we have stood up to house folks to get them off the streets,” said Councilwoman Shontel Lewis.
On Monday, Denver City Council rejected another nearly $3 million contract with the Salvation Army for homeless services.
“I would say my experience with the Salvation Army has been disappointing,” said Lewis.
- Hear from Councilwoman Shontel Lewis in the video player below
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The councilwoman said it’s time to turn to community-based organizations for help.
“We have organizations that are providing food for hundreds of families on a weekly basis. We have community organizations that provide housing. We have community organizations that provide behavioral support. What they don’t have is the investment of the city,” said Lewis.
Denver7 took that idea to Amy Beck with Together Denver.
“Some of the people in the grassroots organizations already have connections with the folks here, already treat them with compassion and love and kindness, so it just makes sense,” said Beck.
But Beck said it all comes down to if the city wants to change course with its current plan.
“It comes down to if the mayor’s office wants to move in that direction because he’s already created this homelessness response and it’s not working,” said Beck.
We asked the Salvation Army about the possibility of losing the contracts. In a statement, a spokesperson said, “The Salvation Army is a proud partner of the city of Denver and would like to continue the Housing Now program together. If that’s not possible, we will continue the program with other funding for as long as it’s deemed possible
“We think we’re doing this work well. And we’re doing it from a place of deep care for our neighbors.”
If the contracts do expire, city officials said there are no plans to close the two shelters.
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