The Conversation

Today on The Conversation, we broadcast live from Fort Street Mall and explore plans to revitalize downtown Honolulu through the creation of a business improvement district.

HPR's Catherine Cluett Pactol speaks with Maui residents as they commemorate two years since the Maui fires; Dr. Alika Maunakea shares insights on the mental and physical health of people exposed to the Maui fires

Maya Hara, Executive Director of the Lahaina Jodo Mission, shares how she and her fellow congregants are honoring those who lost their lives in the Lahaina fire; California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild discusses the rollback of federal programs to support renewable energy

Sacred Hearts School principal Tonato Lolesio talks about plans to set up classrooms in temporary facilities while rebuilding their campus, which was destroyed in the Lahaina fire; Hawaiʻi County Council Member Matt Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder and Elaine Parlow from Action 4 Animals discuss a divisive measure that would prohibit the feeding of stray or feral animals on county property

Leadership with the Hawaiʻi Visitors & Convention Bureau discuss efforts to boost Maui's tourism economy; Kumu Paul Neves walks 300 miles across Hawaiʻi Island in support of caretakers

Theo Morrison with the Lahaina Restoration Foundation shares plans for a park under Lahaina's historical banyan tree; David Tumilowicz with the Domestic Violence Action Center discusses federal funding cuts and staff departures

Local film industry professionals form the Hawaiʻi Film Alliance; NPR "Short Wave" co-hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber dive into the ocean in a new series called "Sea Camp"

Transportation officials on the lessons learned from Tuesday's tsunami traffic jams; A community forms around a tiny race track

Gov. Green discusses the latest damage assessments after yesterday's tsunami scare; Hawaiʻi's new state fire marshal shares what she's learned during her first two months on the job

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine Dean Sam Shomaker discusses challenges and opportunities in health care as students gear up for a new academic year; Hawaiʻi Pacific University College of Business Dean Amy Nguyen-Chyung discusses a new $700,000 initiative to jump-start entrepreneurship

Former Hawaiʻi Gov. David Ige and former Hawaiʻi State Sen. Randy Iwase discuss the rule of law; Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama to give talks on Oʻahu and Maui as part of the Merwin Conservancy's "In the Green Room" series

Today, we're giving the spotlight to Hawaiʻi's lesser-known specialty crops.

Louis Erteschik, executive director of Hawaiʻi Disability Rights Center, discusses possible federal funding cuts; Hydrofoil champions Edo Tanas and Annie Reickert talk about their wins in the Molokaʻi 2 Oʻahu race across the Kaiwi Channel

United States Postal Service spokesperson John Hyatt shares highlights from 250 years of mail delivery; Fernanda Camarena with the Poynter Institute discusses the consequences of media blackouts

Rural health advocate John Desfur talks about how transportation shapes health care in rural Hawaiʻi; Investigative reporter Guthrie Scrimgeour delves into Mark Zuckerberg's land holdings on Kauaʻi

Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda discusses inspections of Hilo's historic banyan trees after human remains were found under one tree that fell over last weekend; State Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Karl Rhoads talks about an upcoming informational briefing on the rule of law with U.S. Rep. Ed Case

HPR News Director Bill Dorman shares what the elimination of federal funding for public media means for HPR; Gov. Josh Green talks about what's next for the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority and the possible impact of low vaccination rates among students

HPR News Director Bill Dorman shares the latest on the Trump administration's move to claw back federal funding for public media; Castle High School English teacher Jamie Stidger pushes the National Education Association to recognize that all students have a right to an education, regardless of their immigration status, in their national platform

The Conversation talks with experts about what federal spending cuts mean for education and health care; Chef Ippy Aiona talks about getting comfortable in front of the camera for his award-winning docuseries "Eating Our Roots"

Major General Marcus Evans discusses the U.S. Army's plan to add long-range missiles to its arsenal in Hawaiʻi; Comedian Sheng Wang talks about how he got his start in comedy

Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen discusses plans to scuttle Falls of Clyde; The Navy has released a draft environmental impact statement for the continued use of over 8,000 acres of state land near Barking Sands

On today's program, we revisit the recent changes at the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, the agency that has long overseen Hawaiʻi's largest industry.

The author of report on Filipino survivors of the Lahaina wildfire push back on a characterization of its findings by the Department of Homeland Security; HDOT director Ed Sniffen talks about efforts to modernize Hawaiʻi's airports

U.S. Rep. Ed Case shares his thoughts on immigration policy and the recently passed GOP-led spending bill; Office of Hawaiian Affairs chair Kai Kahele breaks down the agency's budget

We're opening our phone lines to discuss the crackdown on illegal fireworks. Have a comment or question? Call 808-941-3689 during the live show or email [email protected].

Keith Vieira with KV & Associates Hospitality Consultants shares his outlook on tourism; Genealogist Jari Honora talks about Pope Leo XIV's ancestry as Hawaiʻi marks nearly two centuries since the first arrival of a Catholic priest in the islands

DBEDT director James Tokioka discusses next steps for the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority; "Chief of War" co-creator Thomas Paʻa Sibbett shares why he wants to bring the story of the unification of the Hawaiian islands to an international audience

University of Hawaiʻi's Institute for Astronomy Director Doug Simons discusses the proposed federal funding cuts to science; Former Gov. Ben Cayetano reflects on the origin of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority as the agency faces restructuring

What's next for the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority?; Maui County conservationists work to restore the island's sand dunes with native plants

Gov. Josh Green discusses the Hawaiʻi Tourism Agency's restructuring, proposed Medicaid cuts; HART officials share progress on the Skyline, which is expected to open its second segment in October

Hawaiʻi Chief Energy Officer Mark Glick discusses Hawaiʻi's dependence on oil amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East; The National Council on Teacher Quality rates Hawaiʻi's math teacher training as "unacceptable"

Oʻahu resident Maseeh Ganjali shares what he's been hearing from family members in Tehran; Travel writer Kelsey Timmerman dives into a decade-long legal battle over pesticide use on Kauaʻi

HPR's Bill Dorman reports on how the recent U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran affect military operations in the Indo-Pacific region; The University of Hawaiʻi names a new athletics director;

Today, The Conversation is digging into its archives to revisit interviews with local businesses that have been part of Hawaiʻi's landscape through multiple generations.

Maui Brewing Co. CEO Garrett Marrero discusses the state of small business in Hawaiʻi;

Researcher Chris Kyriazis explains the "extinction vortex" facing some endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers; Authors Manny Veincent and Kim Ann Curtain recount the founding the Kawaihae Canoe Club in their new book "Born of Two Oceans"

HPR speaks to participants of the "No Kings" protests in Honolulu; L&L's Eddie Flores Jr. chronicles his journey in the new book "Franchising the American Dream"

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa interim provost Vassilis Syrmos explains how proposed cuts to federal funding would affect research; Grammy-nominated jazz harpist Brandee Younger is recognized by the Doris Duke Foundation

U.S. House lawmakers have voted to cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Advocate Austin Haleyalpiy with COFA CAN discusses concerns in the COFA community about immigration raids

HPR's Bill Dorman breaks down the brewing fight over public media funding; A Yale professor digs into her family history after she unexpectedly inherits kuleana lands

Honolulu's new Special Agent in Charge discusses the priorities of the FBI under Trump; Pint + Jigger co-owner Dave Newman makes it to the final round of a new cocktail service category of the James Beard awards

Today, the Conversation is revisiting interviews with the creators and performers in Cirque du Soleil's ʻAuana!

Dr. Jim Ireland with Honolulu EMS discusses the response to a major crash between a city bus and a pick-up truck; South Korea has elected a new president months after the country faced a martial law crisis

John De Fries, executive director of the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, responds to TMT funding cuts; State Comptroller Keith Regan provides an update on repairs to the Hawaiʻi Convention Center's leaky roof

Mayor Kimo Alameda, community members react to the National Science Foundation's decision to cut funding for the Thirty Meter Telescope; HPR joins an early morning Point-in-Time count in Waikīkī

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke says Hawaiʻi stands to lose $6 million in broadband funding under President Trump's proposed spending bill; Tips on how to identify Medicare scams

Conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against President Trump's move to relax protections in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument; The UH Institute for Biogenesis Research provides an update on advances in gene editing

Byron Goo, CEO of Tea Chest Hawaiʻi, talks about how tariffs are affecting the tea trade; Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, discusses developments in gene-editing with CRISPR

Ralph Gaston of Rusty's Hawaiian Coffee lays out how tariffs are affecting Kona coffee growers; Overstory's Noelle Fujii-Oride reports on a new program to support mental wellness among farmers

Designer Jalene Kanani of Noho Home talks about how tariffs are affecting her textile business; Kaila Chung, director of Hui Kaululehua, leads the first Polynesian Cultural Festival in Louisville, Kentucky