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Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi
ContributorKuʻuwehi 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 until July 2024. Her commitment to her Native Hawaiian community and her fluency in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi led her to build a de facto ʻōiwi beat at the news station, covering issues important to the Native Hawaiian and Indigenous communities.
Hiraishi is currently an HPR contributor.
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International competition between Native Hawaiian and Māori soccer players wrapped in Hilo last week with the signing of an agreement, securing future competition between the two groups. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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Hawaiʻi residents with internet access problems can now tap into millions of dollars in federal funding — and a nonprofit created a tool to help take advantage of these funds.
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A Marconi Point property owner has offered to donate nearly 5 acres on O‘ahu’s North Shore to settle claims with the state totaling nearly $1.5 million. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi has the latest.
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High school students from across the islands recently spent a week in Honolulu for a hands-on look at a career in medicine. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi was there to witness the learning.
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Hawaiʻi's only Hawaiian immersion school in the Niʻihau dialect is on a mission to publish 1,000 books in ʻōlelo Niʻihau. This Kauaʻi charter school has spent the last six years writing and publishing books in Niʻihau's native tongue. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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Kahakai Park in the Hawaiian Beaches Subdivision of Puna on Hawaiʻi Island now goes by a new name — Waiakahiʻula. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports that the name change honors the original place name and the rich cultural history of the area.
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The first telescope to be decommissioned from Maunakea, the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, has been completely removed — and the site has been restored.
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HB 2074 was one of 13 bills recently signed into law by Green, marking his renewed commitment to the Native Hawaiian people.
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Nā ʻAikāne O Maui is one step closer to rebuilding its Native Hawaiian cultural center after it was destroyed in the Lahaina wildfires.
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Kohala residents now have nearly 30 acres of farm land in their community permanently set aside for growing food and future farmers.