Allyson Blair

Allyson Blair is an award-winning investigative reporter whose career has taken her all over the country.

Since joining Hawaii News Now in 2015, she’s provided in-depth coverage of Hawaii’s homeless crisis, shedding light on the lack of mental health resources for people on the street.

In 2018, her investigative work prompted state government to change a law making it easier for people suffering from mental illness to get access to care.

Her reporting also exposed the use of an unregulated chemical being used by some of Hawaii’s medical marijuana dispensaries. The investigation revealed many of the vape cartridges being sold to patients would be banned in other states.

Before getting into news, Allyson was known for her skills with ... a knife.

Yes, really!

As the daughter of a commercial fisherman, she grew up in Virginia and spent much of her childhood on a lobster boat or working in her family's seafood market. Allyson's dad still jokes that if news doesn't work out, she can always get a job cleaning fish.

After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in Electronic Media, Allyson worked her way up the ranks in news at stations in Virginia and North Carolina before accepting a job at the CBS affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona.

The following year, Allyson was honored with an Emmy Award for producing breaking news coverage of the Tucson mass shooting, where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was wounded.

When she's not at work, you can find her fishing, hiking, tossing around a football at the beach or at Rainbow's Drive-In eating a mahi sandwich.