She has been reporting professionally for more than 20 years beginning in October 1999 with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. She was retained by its new owner in 2001 and again when the newspaper merged into the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2010.
Earlier in her career, a Feb. 10, 2001 article titled, "I want to tell my parents I am alive," got national and international attention with the first interview of anyone who had been aboard the Ehime Maru. The New York Times used quotes she obtained from a 16-year-old student who survived the sinking of the Japanese fishing vessel by a U.S. Navy submarine, and gave a nod to the Star-Bulletin. The Toronto Star ran the story. Fujimori also shared a 2004 Society of Professional Journalists award with two colleagues for a breaking news story, "1 dead/Cop Shot."
Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, volunteering to protect native forests, beekeeping, farming, traveling, singing and spending time with her "dogter."
A Hawaii Supreme Court majority opinion filed Wednesday ordered a new trial for a Hawaii island man, tried and convicted by a Kona Circuit Court jury for sexually assaulting in 2019 a visiting 78-year-old woman camping at a South Kohala beach park. He was 18 years old at the time of the attack. Read more
First-degree attempted murder is a crime punishable by life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Read more
The company that initially won the state contracts for emergency medical services for Maui and Kauai counties and then lost it in a rebidding process is formally contesting awarding of the work to International Life Support, dba American Medical Response, or AMR. Read more
Former American Red Cross Pacific Islands Region CEO Diane Peters-Nguyen issued a written statement Wednesday saying she was fired in April, weeks after she filed complaints against her employer with the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over retaliation she alleges she faced for objecting to Red Cross’ treatment of Native Hawaiians and other lifelong Maui residents after the 2023 Lahaina fires. Read more
Three former foster children, now adults, of George Kipapa and his late wife, Jolyn Kipapa, agreed to a $1.8 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging abuses they suffered as foster children over 18 years. Read more
A 72-year-old Kailua-Kona clinical psychologist on Friday was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 2019. Read more
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
AMR had been a contractor for both counties for 44 years before controversy arose in 2023 when Falck Northwest Corp., a multinational company based in Denmark, was selected. Read more
The charge of first-degree attempted murder, which carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole, is for allegedly attempting to kill more than one person. Read more
An Oahu grand jury indicted a 45-year-old Kapolei man on a charge of first-degree attempted murder, which carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and seven other charges for allegedly firing shots May 16 at his girlfriend and ramming her Jeep with his vehicle in Waimanalo. Read more
If convicted of that crime, he could face life imprisonment without parole. Read more
Nainoa Damon, who was 19 at the time of the crimes, faces life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for the murder when he is sentenced Aug. 22 by Judge Shanlyn Park. Read more
Nainoa Damon was accused of robbing the entire group of more than a dozen people at gunpoint, demanding they empty their pockets, and trying to pull a gold chain off the neck of Edward Aiden Curti. Read more
A Circuit Court jury of eight women and four men will resume deliberations today on whether Nainoa Damon, the then 19-year-old son of a Honolulu police sergeant, was the masked man who fired the deadly shot into the belly of Haaheo Kolona, 18, during a botched 2022 robbery at a scenic lookout on Round Top Drive. Read more
The Intermediate Court of Appeals filed an opinion April 30 vacating the verdict of a Circuit Court jury that found Erik Willis, 21, guilty in the July 8, 2020, stabbing of a 17-year-old girl at Kahala Beach. Read more
The man dubbed the “Manoa Rapist” was denied parole more than 20 times over his past 42 years in prison. Read more
A trial commenced Thursday for the 22-year-old son of a Honolulu police sergeant accused of murdering an 18-year-old man who tried to stop a robbery on Tantalus in 2022. Read more
The 36-year-old Wahiawa woman charged in a 10-count indictment that includes second-degree murder of 10-year-old Geanna Bradley, for whom she and her husband were legal guardians, was denied su Read more
Honolulu police were ready for potential violators attempting to hike up the closed Haiku Stairs early this morning in Kaneohe. Read more
If you’re thinking of taking the “Stairway to Heaven,” it could lead you on a path to the courthouse. Read more
The state Intermediate Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the Board of Land and Natural Resources in the contentious issue of the diversion of water from streams in East Maui to Central and Upcountry Maui. Read more
The state has settled a Kona Circuit Court lawsuit for $750,000 with the biological parents of a 3-year-old Hawaii island boy who died eight years ago while under the temporary foster care of Chasity Alcosiba-McKenzie and her husband, Clifton McKenzie, at their Waimea home. Read more
