Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi
General Assignment ReporterKuʻuwehi Hiraishi is an award-winning journalist and founding member of the ‘Ahahui Haku Moʻolelo (Hawaiian Journalism Association). She was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, and was one of the first graduates of the Hawaiian language immersion school Ke Kula ʻo Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu.
She went on to study Journalism & Mass Communications at Seattle University, and returned home to work on the Hawaiian language television news program ʻĀhaʻi ʻŌlelo Ola, which aired on Hawaii News Now’s Sunrise morning program.
Her unique skillset of Hawaiian language fluency and journalism were valuable assets in building the Hawaiian news media industry with the launch of ʻŌiwi TV, an on-demand television news station with programming produced by and for Native Hawaiians. Her in-depth research and reporting on Native Hawaiian water rights earned her and the ʻŌiwi TV team their first international journalism award at the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters’ Network Journalism Awards in 2012.
After a brief hiatus working in communications for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, she returned to journalism as a general assignment reporter at Hawaiʻi Public Radio. Her commitment to her Native Hawaiian community and her fluency in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi has led her to build a de facto ʻōiwi beat at the news station, covering issues important to the Native Hawaiian and Indigenous communities. Contact her at khiraishi@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is urging homestead customers of Sandwich Isles Communications to immediately switch phone and internet service providers.
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The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is attempting to intervene in the state's selection process for curator of the Mauna ʻAla Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu. OHA is urging the Department of Land and Natural Resources to pause the appointment until the agencies can review the selection process in consultation with Hawaiian beneficiaries. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi has more.
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The resting place of Hawaiian royalty has had 15 curators since the mid-1800s. A majority have been descendants of families who served aliʻi for generations. DLNR announced this week that it was breaking tradition and selecting a curator who was not a lineal descendant of these families and had not trained under previous kahu. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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Community members in Mākena on the southeast coast of Maui are invited to take part in the construction of a traditional Hawaiian hale, or house, beginning this Friday in Waipao.
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Akaka Falls State Park on Hawaiʻi Island will temporarily close on weekdays starting Wednesday to undergo rockfall mitigation work.
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The Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the purchase of more than 250 acres of watershed lands in southwest Maui known as Pōhākea or Māʻalaea Mauka for $8.2 million.
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Condominium residents of the Courtyards at Waipouli Apartments on Kauaʻi are concerned that they will be displaced once the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands acquires the property.
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A 1,200-foot-long ti leaf lei made by the Kohala community on Hawaiʻi Island was draped across Pololū Valley over the weekend. As HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports, the lei ritual is a reminder of a growing community of residents opposed to increased development in the area.
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The Windward Planning Commission has paused the 434-acre project in Punaluʻu on Big Island as Native Hawaiian and environmental groups prepare for a contested case hearing over the controversial development. Black Sand Beach LLC proposes 225 residential and short-stay units, with a supporting village. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports on the latest changes.
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The National Science Foundation has until September to decide on advancing the Thirty Meter Telescope to the final design stage. The TMT is competing against a telescope project in Chile for limited NSF funding.
