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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May 6 is the last day for Hawaiʻi public school employees to sign up for free Hawaiian language courses this summer.
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A Hawaiʻi County Council committee has advanced plans to help preserve 27 acres of land on the south end of ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay near the Waikoloa Beach Resort.
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A new research project is uncovering the history of reformatories or industrial schools in Hawaiʻi during the territorial period. Remnants of Hawaiʻi's first reformatory, the Waialeʻe Industrial School for Boys, still stand on Oʻahu's North Shore. As HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports, uncovering its history is part of a larger community effort.
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More than 30 years ago, the state set aside about 1,200 acres on the southeastern slopes of Maunaloa to serve as a sustainable source of koa for constructing canoes. Now, dozens of these trees are ready for harvest, and a permitting process has been approved. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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Despite concerns over cultural preservation and climate change, a small plot of state-owned land in Wailua, Kauaʻi, near the old Coco Palms Resort, will be put up for public auction. The Board of Land and Natural Resources voted 4-2 to offer the parcel to the highest bidder. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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Genealogical research out of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa offers Native Hawaiians an opportunity to reconnect with their ancestral roots. The Moʻopono Project is digitizing thousands of pages of moʻokūʻauhau, or genealogy material, dating back to the mid-1800s. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi has more.
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Disagreement between the two chambers centers on concerns raised by the state attorney general’s office that the amendment to include the Water Commission is not relevant to the original bill.
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Kauaʻi Habitat for Humanity acquired six properties in Kīlauea from non-profit workforce housing developer Permanently Affordable Living Hawaiʻi. It's estimated that the house offerings may be out as soon as the end of May.
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Nearly two dozen students from Hawaiian immersion schools on Maui have traveled to the state Capitol multiple times this legislative session with a simple message. The high court’s unanimous decision found the state attorney general's office made false statements to try to exploit the Maui wildfires to advance its own interests.
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The Polynesian Voyaging Society says it will wait until next year to resume its circumnavigation of the Pacific.
