Editor's Note: In The Big Swell, we'll explore a story from the previous month that had particular impact and captured readers' attention.

In June, Honolulu Civil Beat published a comprehensive report on the often contentious relationship between the administration of Mayor Kirk Caldwell and embattled Honolulu Ethics Commission’s executive director Chuck Totto.

Reporter Nick Grube reviewed several years of Ethics Commission records, meeting minutes, emails, correspondence and interviews to give readers an in-depth look at Totto’s relationship with the Caldwell administration dating all the way back to the seeds of discord – the mayor’s inaugural luau in 2013.

Civil Beat was the only news outlet to so accurately foreshadow Totto’s eventual resignation, which occurred two days later.

The article quickly became the most-read and commented-on story on our website the day it was published. It was shared extensively on social media, leading to meaningful online conversations among concerned local citizens.

Soon after, the Civil Beat Editorial Board weighed in, questioning the efficacy and role of the Honolulu Ethics Commission in light of Totto’s mistreatment and subsequent resignation. The editorial sought to engage readers in a larger discussion about the lack of government accountability – especially now that there are no investigators on the commission staff.

The story has helped make government ethics a lively topic in Honolulu social media. It has also emerged as a major issue in the current mayoral campaign, with challenger Charles Djou referring to the Civil Beat coverage in ads critical of incumbent Caldwell.

This is an example of the type of impact journalism that your investment in Civil Beat makes possible. We will continue to publish stories, explanations and investigations on this and other issues to keep you informed.

Editor’s Note: Each month in Encore, we’ll reintroduce special editorial projects that have had significant impact in exploring and bringing attention to Hawaii’s most pressing issues. This month, we shine the first Encore spotlight on The Micronesians.

The United States’ troubling history with the Federated States of Micronesia spans decades. At the heart of that history are 67 nuclear weapons detonated as part of U.S. military testing in the Marshall Islands — testing with lasting, devastating effects on the health of Micronesians and their homelands.

An estimated 15,000 Micronesians call Hawaii home today. Many fled their islands for Hawaii as much from the health problems that are their inheritance from the nuclear testing as for better economic opportunities than exist back home.

Yet, few Hawaii media have explored the Micronesian experience, their presence in Hawaii and their collective needs. Civil Beat reporter Chad Blair, along with photographers Cory Lum and Mark Edward Harris, took on that challenge in an investigation that began in 2014 and culminated in 2015 in The Micronesians: An Untold Story of American Immigration, a seven-chapter series published last October along with a rich array of audio interviews, slide shows and other multimedia pieces.

“Since 1986, when the Compact of Free Association was approved, it’s estimated that at least 30 percent of Micronesians have fled their far-flung island communities in search of economic opportunity, better education and … crucial health care,” wrote Blair, in the first installment of the exhaustively reported series.

The special project captured the attention of Civil Beat readers, the Hawaii Micronesian community, elected officials both here and in Washington, D.C., and more.

In early 2016, the series was recognized with numerous journalism awards: Two first-place prizes in the Best of the West journalism competition — one for Immigration and Border reporting, the other for Online Presentation; a first place for Best Multimedia Presentation from the Society of Professional Journalists’ Hawaii Chapter; and a second place in the national Society for Features Journalism Awards for Diversity in Digital Features.

It’s impact journalism like this that sets Civil Beat and its readers apart. Visit The Micronesians home page to read the award-winning seven-chapter saga for yourself. While you’re at it, feel free to share it with a friend.

Dot Mason is the advisor to the George Mason Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation, started by and named after her late husband, founder of Pacific Business News.

The Mason Fund is the first local foundation to invest in Civil Beat’s nonprofit mission, pledging $10,000 to support the Civil Beat Internship Program – an initiative designed to cultivate the next generation of local journalists.

“I think about the types of projects that George would have supported, and I put my passion behind it,” said Dot. “He graduated from high school in June of 1941, right before the world fell apart. He didn’t  go to journalism or business school, he boldly took on jobs and learned as he went along.”

George was drafted into the Army and stationed in the Admiralty Islands, where he served as a clerk and started a military radio program for the troops. After the war, he settled in Hawaii and eventually served as the state’s first Director of the Department of Economic Development. All the while, he lamented the fact that the state’s two largest newspapers refused to publish public records, such as bankruptcies, lawsuits and property sales. He knew that this was a rich source of news.

He started Pacific Business News under the broad premise that access to public information was news that people would value.

Civil Beat shares George’s philosophy that gathering public information and placing it in proper context through truth-seeking journalism is an important public service.

Mahalo to Dot Mason and the George Mason Fund for their generous investment in nonprofit journalism in Hawaii. If you or your foundation would like to learn more about supporting our new internship program, contact Ben Nishimoto, director of Philanthropy, at bnishimoto@civilbeat.org.