Hawaiʻi Public Radio

07/18/2025

Matson has told customers in a letter that it will stop transporting not only electric vehicles to Hawaiʻi but also plug-in hybrids because of the fire risk.

Hawaiʻi's largest shipping company told customers this week that it won’t ship electric vehicles to Hawaiʻi anymore. Matson says it’s because of the fire risk of shipping lithium-ion batteries. We get more on that story from Pacific Business News Editor in Chief Janis Magin.

07/18/2025

Congress has voted to eliminate previously approved funding to public media for the next two years.

Hawai‘i Public Radio is grateful for strong community support. 94% of our annual revenues come from donations and sponsors. Federal grants make up 6% of our budget. This loss of federal funding opens up the opportunity for HPR to become 100% community supported.

Here are 3 ways you can help:

1. Donate to Hawaiʻi Public Radio. We are planning an emergency "Protect HPR" campaign on July 23 and 24. We aim to attract new supporters to help us right now in this unprecedented moment.

Give us a head start.
Visit hawaiipublicradio.org to donate.

2. Bring your +1 into the HPR tent. Only 10% of listeners donate to HPR. That number should be 20% or more. If you listen or visit us online and you aren't giving, right now is the time to stand up for HPR. If you are a current member, mahalo. You can help by bringing a plus one into the HPR tent.

Email your friends, family and others in your network. We’ve put together an outreach kit with an easy email template to help you get started: hawaiipublicradio.org/protect

3. Refer potential sponsors. We’re reaching out to local businesses, foundations and major donors to help support HPR with significant gifts. If you or someone you know can support HPR with a five, six or seven-figure gift, please reach out to Assistant GM Valerie Yee at [email protected].

Please join us now and help us shift HPR into being 100% community-backed. We’re proud to serve Hawai‘i — now and for years to come.

07/18/2025

One of the tenants, Keahole Point Hatcheries, better known as Blue Ocean Mariculture, filed a complaint in May, arguing that the state breached a contract with the company to provide “pristine” seawater to its tenants.

The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority delivers ocean water to HOST Park tenants, including companies that raise oysters, shrimp and other seafood. But since 2021, the water has led to lower survival rates for larvae of those species.

07/17/2025

Each eruptive episode has produced about 1.6 billion gallons of lava — enough to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York City. Since last December, more than 31 billion gallons of magma have flowed, raising the crater floor by about 200 feet in some areas.

The eruption is also changing the landscape outside of the crater — adding tephra, fragments of volcanic rock.

HPR contributor Betsy Brown spoke with a USGS geologist during the last eruptive episode to find out what’s causing this eruptive pattern and how it’s changing the landscape inside the crater and beyond.

07/17/2025

Public school teachers return to the classroom for the new school year in exactly two weeks. Students are soon to follow.

The Conversation talked to the Hawaiʻi DOE about what families need to know about a freeze on federal funds and how that may translate to the classrooms, school lunches and after-school programs.

Hawaiʻi DOE's Tammi Oyadomari-Chun spoke to The Conversation's Catherine Cruz about how education officials are preparing for thousands of students to return to the classroom in just a few weeks — all amid changes at the federal level.

07/17/2025

Get up close with classical music — Live from the Atherton!

Tickets are on sale now at for our Classical Music Performance Series featuring:

Aug. 9 - Clara Kim (violin)
Aug. 16 - Alex Hayashi (oboe) & Shuo Li (bassoon)
Aug. 23 - Megan Conley (harp)
Aug. 30 - Honolulu Brass Quintet

Seating is limited in our intimate performance space, so grab your seats early and experience the beauty of classical music performance up close while celebrating the power of music and the arts!

Mahalo to HMSA for their sponsorship of Live from the Atherton. Visit hprtickets.org to secure your seats today!

07/17/2025

Rough estimates by the Healthcare Association of Hawaii show that in Hawaiʻi, about 10,000 people on Obamacare and about 30,000 on Medicaid could lose their coverage.

That would double the number of uninsured people in the state, which is currently just 3% of the population – one of the lowest rates in the country.

President Donald Trump’s tax legislation will make a series of changes to Medicaid and Obamacare. One likely result: Some people will lose access to health insurance starting largely in 2027. These changes will impact Hawai‘i’s hospitals and health centers, and some are already starting to pre...

07/16/2025

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation is looking for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One idea they’ve floated? Limiting cruise travel.

A new climate roadmap would cut cruise ship travel to Hawaiʻi in half by 2030 and restrict it almost entirely by 2040.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation is looking for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One idea they’ve floated? Limiting cruise travel. HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote has more.

07/16/2025

As the state continues to consider how to replace the overcrowded and deteriorated Oʻahu Community Correctional Center, the Correctional System Oversight Commission is considering alternatives to a new, bigger jail.

As the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation continues to consider how to replace the overcrowded and deteriorated OCCC, the Correctional System Oversight Commission is considering alternatives to a new, bigger jail.

07/15/2025

Waiʻanae and Lahaina are both situated on parched western island coasts, with road access pinched by topography, and are bastions of Native Hawaiian culture.

Both have sections crisscrossed by overhead power lines atop aging wooden poles, like those that fell in high winds and caused the Lahaina fire, the AP reports.

Lahaina Street runs through the heart of Mākaha, a neighborhood in a West Oʻahu community that's a lot like Lahaina on Maui, which burned down in a deadly wildfire in 2023. Residents on Oʻahu's Waiʻanae Coast have long known about similarities that make them prone to wildfires, including geograp...

07/15/2025

The Florida-based firm Shipwright plans to haul the nearly 150-year-old vessel at least 12 miles offshore. The project, including upgrades to the hull, is expected to cost $4.9 million.

The Conversation talked to state Transportation Department Director Ed Sniffen about this latest development in the Falls of Clyde saga.

07/15/2025

American impressionist Mary Cassatt is known for her radical take on art with feminine subjects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But few may know that she was influenced by Japanese art.

Mary Cassatt is an American impressionist known for her radical take on art with feminine subjects. The exhibit called "Mary Cassatt at Work" will be on display at the Honolulu Museum of Art until Oct. 12.