June 2024 Gleanings
Legislative alert, member news, more
Calling all members! We need your help persuading Gov. Green not to veto our bill allowing the media to continue alerting the public during declared emergencies. Please send him an email at https://governor.hawaii.gov/contact-us/contact-the-governor/ . Read on for the details.
Interested in joining a committee? Want to serve on the BIPC board next year? Email President Tiffany Hunt: newswoman@mac.com
We're already planning our Torch of Light luncheon with this year's winner, retired Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Daniel Foley. Save the date -- December 14 at Pueo's Osteria in Waikoloa.
And, don't forget to renew your membership and pay your dues! Have news to share? Just email Gleanings editor Nancy Cook Lauer at nclauer@gmail.com for inclusion in an upcoming issue.
Next Meeting: 9 a.m. July 27 via Zoom. Email Director Jim Wilson at jimwilsonvolcanocottage@gmail.com for a link.
Message from the president
Aloha, BIPC membership and fellow board members,
As you know from press reports, Michael stepped down to pursue politics and my vice presidency made me next in line to take over. I will see this position through the remainder of the year, until we have our election at the Torch of Light event in December.
Speaking of which, save the date for our Torch of Light event to be held at Pueo’s Osteria, an Italian restaurant in Waikoloa where our signature event was held last year. The auction piece that we held last year is currently being planned to, once again, fill the coffers of our Scholarship fund.
Many of you were able to attend our May Scholarship dinner at Luquin’s Mexican Restaurant in Hilo. As the Scholarship Committee chairwoman, I venture to say that it was a success. We hosted Civil Beat Politics Editor Chad Blair, and several of his colleagues from the award-winning internet based news site, including our very own member Kevin Dayton, who shared a bit more hope for the future of journalism than Blair, who believes the non-profit model is the most successful possibility for our profession of choice. Dayton seems to think that there will be a place for young journalists in the future, that society will always have a thirst for traditional news, even in the age when everyone can play journalist with their smartphones. We had many of our longstanding, newcoming, and returning members present. It was a highly engaging evening filled with a lot of promise for the six scholarship recipients, four of whom were in attendance.
Election season is upon us, and BIPC is looking to help voters make important decisions, certainly in the mayoral race. We have established an Events Committee headed by Bob Duerr to help with the planning of a General Election mayoral forum, newsmaker luncheons, and our cornerstone events like Torch of Light and the Scholarship Dinner. We are also working on a Membership Committee, in order to continue to grow our club, but also maintain our membership, so that everyone feels communicated with and included. Speaking of inclusion, you are more than welcome to join in and help with committee work! We welcome your involvement in events, membership, and scholarship. Please feel free to reach out and let us know what you can commit. I have the saying, it takes a village to make a village, and this club is our village. You chose to be a member for a reason, and my hope is that you will be vested like me. As you know, I am now earning my income as a middle school teacher. I stay connected to my first love profession by being a middle school newspaper adviser. We all have our reasons for backing this club. But, you know what? Many hands make light work. The more of us on the membership roster that step up, the more successful and long standing this club can be. This helps to keep journalism alive, at least on the Big Island and in Hawaii, don’t you agree?
Until our next Gleanings, your president, Tiffany Edwards Hunt
Concerns about inclusion of HB 2581 on governor’s intent-to-veto list
The Big Island Press Club expresses grave concerns that HB 2581, relating to emergency management, is included on Gov. Josh Green’s list of measures he intends to veto. The bill removes the ability of the governor or a mayor to suspend electronic media transmission during a state of emergency or local state of emergency, respectively.
With input from BIPC and others, the Legislature has worked for several years on this bill, ensuring a reasoned and balanced measure that satisfies the public’s right to know while acknowledging agency concerns. It should be noted that this version of the bill passed unanimously through all its committees and both houses of the Legislature with strong public support.
The governor, in his potential veto message, notes unspecified “alternative language” that the administration thinks would make the bill better. However, during hearings on the bill as it made its way through the Legislature, the Green Administration failed to make any alternative language public so that the stakeholders and public could help vet it through the legislative process.
“The hunger for fact‐based information is never more intense than during an emergency, and when that information is hard to come by, people often resort to rumors and speculation,” said BIPC President Tiffany Edwards Hunt. “One would think that’s the last thing the government would want in a declared emergency.”
BIPC earlier this year awarded Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Col. (Ret.) James Barros its Lava Tube dishonor for his support of current law that many consider constitutionally questionable. Journalists fear the current law could be interpreted by some leaders as a ‘kill switch’ of sorts that would prevent journalists from reporting news during an emergency.
The governor has until July 10 to veto or allow the bills on his list to become law. BIPC urges the public to send comments supporting this bill to https://governor.hawaii.gov/contact-us/contact-the-governor/.
Students win free trip to climate conference
Meteorology students Shane Lewis, left, Sydney Ann Brown, Center, and Rubayet BinMostafiz, right, pose with the mascot for the Weatherboy brand at the National Tropical Weather Conference in South Padre Island, Texas. These college students are among 12 that have won all-expense-paid trips to the weather conference courtesy of Michael Phillips.
June 1 marks the first day of hurricane season for both the Central Pacific Hurricane Basin we’re in as well as the Atlantic Hurricane Basin, which includes the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts. Ahead of the start of the season, Immediate Past President Michael Phillips has been busy working with a variety of entities to make sure America is ready for any tropical cyclone threat it sees.
For the 8th year in a row, Phillips and a weather reporting company he owns, has sponsored the Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project. Through an unrestricted educational grant, this sponsorship funds their annual forecast and analysis of hurricane season. Phillips, along with the Insurance Information Institute, Ironshore Insurance, Insurance Auto Auctions, and a grant from the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation fund the research that goes into analyzing how busy or quiet the upcoming hurricane season will be, publishing detailed forecasts of the volume and intensity of storms likely to impact the U.S. These forecasts are shared with meteorologists, emergency managers, government officials, and the media each year to keep them abreast of what the season, which runs from June 1 through November 30, will be like.
The forecast work is unveiled at the annual National Tropical Weather Conference held in April on South Padre Island, Texas. In addition to sponsoring the research, Phillips also sponsors the conference, in which broadcast weather talent from across the country learn about the upcoming season and how to best prepare their audiences for it. In addition to broadcasters, meteorologists from Hawaii to New York attend this event to share insights and knowledge from past seasons, providing a rich networking event for weather thought leaders to discuss all-things hurricane related.
Beginning three years ago, Phillips has also sponsored a promotion for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing studies in meteorology or related Earth sciences to gift them an all-expense paid trip to attend this conference. Winning students, selected randomly by the hurricane conference team, are flown from their home or their school to the event, where their hotel, transfers, meals, and conference registration costs are all paid for by Phillips.
“I want to inspire the next generation of meteorologists. Whether they work on research projects, for various government agencies, the private sector, or in media, I want to make sure there’s another generation of these scientists ready to advance the field forward,” Phillips said.
2024 Big Island Press Club Board
Please feel free to contact any board members with your suggestions, or if you wish to volunteer!
President: Tiffany Edwards Hunt, former journalist, middle school teacher newswoman@mac.com
Vice President: John Burnett, journalist, Tribune-Herald <jburnett@hawaiitribuneherald.
com>
Treasurer: Bob Duerr, filmmaker and journalist, Hawaii Fishing News <surf77@me.com>
Secretary: Nancy Cook Lauer, retired journalist, blogger www.allhawaiinews.com <nclauer@gmail.com>
Director: Ross Wilson, PR, Current Events rossw@current-events.com
Director: Royelen Lee Boykie, retired digital strategist and fundraiser <Royelen@bigislandpressclub.org>
Director: Patsy Iwasaki, professor, University of Hawaii-Hilo
<piwasaki@hawaii.edu>
Director: Jim Wilson, retired publisher, Hawaii Tribune-Herald jimwilsonvolcanocottage@gmail.com
Immediate Past President: Michael Phillips, meteorologist & earth science news reporter mphillips@weatherboy.com
