Catherine Cruz

Catherine Cruz is the Host of The Conversation and a member of HPR’s news team. She has been a television reporter in Hawai‘i since 1983 and has won a number of awards and respect from a statewide audience. She spent more than thirty years at KITV, covering beats from government to education and health. Originally from Guam, Cruz is also a co-founder and former Board member and programming chair of Pacific Islanders in Communication (PIC). Catherine is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

Roadways on Maui, Oahu, and Hawaii Island have been shuttered by landslides in recent days. Even more are threatened by erosion that is expected to worsen in the coming years. The State Department of Transportation rushed an emergency request to state lawmakers for $15 million in funds to repair the Pali Highway that connects Honolulu to Windward Oahu.

If you grew up in Hawaii you are probably aware of privately taught Japanese language classes offered throughout the state, after school and on weekends.

But Maryknoll School here on Oahu took the bold step of beginning a Chinese language immersion program.

This Chinese new year it announced it was expanding it from Kindergarten up through 6th grade. We listened in on a kindergarten class where Mandarin lessons were the focus and English was checked at the door.

It’s coming up on two weeks since a storm downed trees in Waikiki including one at the Honolulu Zoo which allowed two rare birds to fly the coop. Zoo staff were able to lure one of two African Ground Hornbill birds back to safety-- Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos joins us live with an update.

Last week’s arrest of Philippines journalist Maria Ressa by the government of President Rodrigo Duterte shocked many. She was recently named as one of Time Magazine’s “Persons of the Year” for her efforts to maintain an independent voice for news in the Philippines--by way of the news website she founded Rappler.com.

A newly organized group in Hawaii is rallying to support free speech for her--and for other journalists in the Philippines.

Catherine Cruz spoke with Arcy Imasa and Ellen-Rae Cachola about what they see as human rights violations in the Philippines.

In our recurring egment on Hawaii's gardens and forests, we focus on an urban garden in our Honolulu. Foster Garden is on the National register of historic places. It covers some 14 acres and was founded in the 1850’s.

We were there at the gardens this past Arbor Day to chat with Foster Garden’s Director Joshlyn Sand about what's in store for this historic city garden going forward.

The bombshell drug dealing indictments in the Katherine Kealoha case, and the petition by the state attorney general to suspend Keith Kaneshiro as City Prosecutor because of a conflict of interest are the latest developments in a public corruption case by federal prosecutors.

We invited Loretta Sheehan, the Chair of the Honolulu Police Commission to sit down with us this morning. She served as a deputy prosecutor under Charles Marsland and Keith Kaneshiro. She also served as an assistant US district attorney and now serves in private practice.

2018 was quite the year for Hawaii County with natural disasters walloping the economy. Recovery is top of mind as lava and flash flooding only made our housing and homelessness problems more acute. Legislators at the capitol appear to want to fast track money to help in that recovery effort but many residents want to know more about a timeline for getting roads reopened to help communities back to normal.

The Garden Isle lawmaker traded his seat in the State House for the top county job.

It’s a different view from when he previously served on the County Council. Kawakami appeared before the legislative money committees with his hands outstretched in the annual mayor's trek to the Capitol to argue their case for a larger share of the hotel room tax.

That’s been a guiding principle for Joe Ferraro, incoming head of the Hawaii Chapter of American Institute of Architects. And its an idea that goes hand-in-hand for the AIA’s sustainability focus for this next year as all eyes are on how do we adapt to our changing climate.