Civil Beat Staff

Jessica Terrell

Jessica Terrell is an editor at large for Civil Beat.

Jessica joined Civil Beat in 2015, after reporting stints at the Orange County Register in California and Tribeca Trib in New York City.

She served as the lead reporter and then editor of Civil Beat’s Offshore Podcast, which launched in 2016. The podcast received 2020 and 2018 Eppy awards, as well as recognition from the Asian American Journalists Association, Best of the West, and Religion News Association.

Her 2015 series, “The Harbor,” about life in Hawaii’s largest homeless encampment, garnered a first place Online News Association award for small newsroom feature. The project also received an honorable mention from the Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism. She is a member of ONA’s 2018 Women’s Leadership Accelerator cohort.

As a reporter, Jessica has investigated everything from school safety concerns to faulty public works projects and military recruitment irregularities. She’s covered two national political conventions, and filed stories from the White House during President Barack Obama’s first summer in office.

Other memorable reporting assignments include camping out overnight in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park for a story on Occupy Wall Street, visiting the National Sept. 11 Memorial before it opened with members of Manhattan’s Community Board 1, and climbing 36 flights of stairs in the dark after Hurricane Sandy to find her editor and start reporting on the impacts of the storm in lower Manhattan.

Jessica spent much of her childhood traveling around North America. She wrote her first newspaper article at the age of 12 for a small paper in Massachusetts, where her family was living aboard a 50-foot raft built out of materials collected from New York City dumpsters.

When her family wasn’t building rafts, they were performing together in circuses and busking on the streets as a family jazz band. Spending her early years wandering from town to town imbued her with a passion for discovery that she tries to translate into work as a journalist.

Green Selects Business Leader To Head BOE Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022

Green Selects Business Leader To Head BOE

Warren Haruki will take over as chair of the Board of Education in July.

Oahu Sees Alarming Increase In Number Of Homeless Seniors  David Croxford/Civil Beat/2023

Oahu Sees Alarming Increase In Number Of Homeless Seniors 

A new report found overall homeless numbers remained relatively stable in the last year, but there have been notable changes in who is homeless and why. 

It Now Takes A Six-Figure Salary For A Family Of 4 To Make Ends Meet in Hawaii Stewart Yerton/Civil Beat/2021

It Now Takes A Six-Figure Salary For A Family Of 4 To Make Ends Meet in Hawaii

There's been a steep increase in the cost of living in the last few years, but a new report also shows how tax credits can provide a lifeline to families.

Hawaii Residents Have Been Complaining About Our High Cost Of Living For More Than 100 Years

Hawaii Residents Have Been Complaining About Our High Cost Of Living For More Than 100 Years

Old newspaper clippings show that the same conversations that were happening in the 1860s and 1960s about the struggle to make ends meet are still relevant today.

How Pandemic Desperation Inspired An Elderly ‘Innovation Incubator’ In Hawaii Courtesy: The Kupuna Collective/2023

How Pandemic Desperation Inspired An Elderly ‘Innovation Incubator’ In Hawaii

The Kupuna Collective is leveraging relationships built during the Covid-era to address big challenges facing the state's aging population.

Former Head Of Charter School Commission To Pay $5,000 For Ethics Violations Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2018

Former Head Of Charter School Commission To Pay $5,000 For Ethics Violations

Sione Thompson agreed to the payment as part of a settlement with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission over multiple violations between 2018 and 2020.

Hawaii Has Had Amazing Success Reducing The Number Of Homeless Vets. Here’s How Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022

Hawaii Has Had Amazing Success Reducing The Number Of Homeless Vets. Here’s How

The number of homeless veterans in Hawaii declined by 51% between 2015 and 2022, a number far higher than the national average.

Teen Substance Abuse Dropped During Pandemic Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022

Teen Substance Abuse Dropped During Pandemic

Significantly fewer students reported vaping in 2021. Alcohol and marijuana consumption also decreased.