Civil Beat Staff
Richard Wiens
Now an at-large editor for Honolulu Civil Beat, Richard Wiens has been helping to run newsrooms big and small for more than 40 years.
He served as news editor at Civil Beat for five years, and has continued to help coordinate its election coverage while editing the Candidate Q&As. Now he is one of the editor/opinion writers involved in the news organization’s Let The Sunshine In project tracking efforts to improve government accountability and transparency in Hawaii.
Before coming to Civil Beat, he was editor and publisher of the Del Norte Triplicate, a newspaper in the far-northern California town of Crescent City, also known as the tsunami magnet of the West Coast.
There, he coordinated coverage that won numerous statewide awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association, including first place for spot news coverage of a tsunami — spawned by the Japanese earthquake of March 2011 — that destroyed Crescent City Harbor.
Prior to that, he helped run the city desks of the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Spokane (Washington) Spokesman-Review and the Los Angeles Daily News. After graduating from the University of Oregon School of Journalism in 1979, he got his start in newspapering at the Hillsboro (Oregon) Argus, where he advanced from reporter to managing editor during his seven-year tenure.
He has won statewide first-place awards for feature writing and military coverage, and helped direct coverage of the standoff between white supremacist Randy Weaver and federal agents at Ruby Ridge in North Idaho that was the Pulitzer runner-up for spot news in 1992.
Throughout his career, he has pushed for coverage that helps citizens better understand — and hopefully improve — the community they live in.
Contact Richard at rwiens@civilbeat.org.
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Scott Nago: Running Hawaii’s Elections In An Age Of Trump-Inspired Skepticism
Everybody wants fair voting, says the state elections chief, but that’s pretty much the end of the common ground in this political landscape.
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Here’s One Way To Jolt Hawaii’s Moribund Primary System Back To Life
Our closest elections usually occur on a Saturday in August. Let’s move that important decision to November by advancing the top two vote-getters, regardless of party.
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Calling All Candidates: Here’s Your Chance To Tell Our Readers Why You Deserve Their Vote
From the U.S. Senate to county councils, Civil Beat is again sending questionnaires to everyone who’s on a ballot in Hawaii.
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Will We Recognize Lahaina Once It’s Rebuilt? A Maui Lawmaker Ponders The Question
Angus McKelvey says the state government needs to do more to prevent a massive sell-off of land.
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Legislators Take The Rare Step Of Putting 2 Questions For Voters On The November Ballot
Constitutional amendments used to be on Hawaii ballots all the time, but not anymore.
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The House Speaker Killed An Effort To Help Young Parents And Caretakers Run For Office
Everybody loved this measure as it flew through the Legislature, but it still died mysteriously in the session’s final days.
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Ethics Chief Robert Harris: Give Legislators Their Due, But Keep Pushing For More Reform
The pace of change is excruciatingly slow at the State Capitol, but the Ethics Commission director warns against dismissing what has been accomplished.
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This Lahaina Family Has Found A New Life With Old Friends An Ocean Away
For Sarah and Alfie Pecson, the best insurance turned out to be the relationships built long before disaster struck.
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The Theatrics To Kill Full Public Election Financing Would Be Amusing If They Weren’t So Sad
Sometimes lawmakers are at their most imaginative when they are derailing legislation to reform government.
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net/wp-content/2016/12/Richard-Wiens-Civil-Beat-editor-300x200.jpg)