Before then, he worked as an editor or reporter at the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Examiner and San Jose Mercury News (twice). Prior to becoming a professional journalist, Nakaso was a reporter and the top editor at the San Jose City College student newspaper before becoming a reporter and the top editor at the San Jose State University Spartan Daily newspaper. He attended San Jose City College and San Jose State University simultaneously to get as much newspaper experience as possible. During his college years, Nakaso had six professional newspaper internships, including two at the Los Angeles Times and was hired as a full-time reporter two weeks into his second internship at the Times.
At the Star-Advertiser, Nakaso covers a wide range of stories but has focused on coverage of homeless issues since 2015. He is currently assigned to the Star-Advertiser's Capitol bureau.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz had planned Tuesday to address his colleagues on the floor of the U.S. Senate about record funding for Native American communities, but first took the opportunity to say that Congress “is failing disaster survivors” in Lahaina and across the country. Read more
Legislators appear willing to make jaywalking legal across the islands — when safe — arguing in a Senate bill that pedestrians’ judgments are better at reducing injuries and deaths than traffic lights and traffic markings. Read more
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen made his second State of the County address since the Aug. 8 wildfires Friday night and said, “I am here to report that the state of our county is heartbroken.” Read more
Former state House Rep. Kaniela Ing has until April 24 to prove that campaign spending documents he filed are accurate, allowing him to potentially avoid an additional $18,250 in fines — on top of the $22,000 in fines he’s already been assessed for the same documents. Read more
Trump took 3,506 votes, or 97%, of the 3,618 ballots cast by Republicans throughout the island Tuesday night, according to preliminary results Read more
Hawaii Republicans will gather at 35 locations around the islands tonight to determine how many delegates will cast ballots for presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, the only Republican still running for president. Read more
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Roughly 2,400 bills were introduced this year but only a third have survived so far by crossing over from the House to the Senate, or from the Senate to the House. Read more
Here is the status of major bills at the halfway point of the 60-day legislative session. Read more
The state Senate will now consider a House bill calling for a constitutional amendment to repeal the Legislature’s authority to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. Read more
Bills to legalize some form of gambling in Hawaii and recreational marijuana are introduced routinely, but have ultimately failed in previous years. Read more
Hawaii’s building regulations drive the cost of condominium development up 58%, the highest in the nation, according to a report released Monday by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. Read more
Owners who convert won’t have to pay county property taxes — combined with government-paid rental income ranging from $5,000 a month for a one-bedroom unit to $11,000 for a four-bedroom. Read more
There are still 1,744 people living in hotels, and Green wants to find them all long-term housing by July 1. Read more
Applications will be accepted Friday to consider a payout of $1.5 million to avoid what could be protracted litigation for families that lost a loved one in Maui’s Aug. 8 wildfires, which killed at least 101 people. Read more
Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s name on the short list of Donald Trump’s candidates for vice president only adds to the enigmatic political career of a former rising star of the Democratic Party who later denounced Democrats and sued Hillary Clinton for $50 million for defamation. Read more
Gov. Josh Green had threatened to ban short-term rentals if owners of 3,000 Maui vacation rentals did not provide stable housing by Friday. Read more
Green initially asked critics to trust that he would make adjustments, which he did to mollify a lawsuit from the Sierra Club in response to sunshine, environmental and historic preservation concerns. Read more
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the troubles opening Skyline on June 30 are mirrored by other major projects around the country. Read more
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured what remains of Lahaina on Wednesday and heard from members of Mayor Richard Bissen’s advisory counsel, who reported sometimes conflicting pressures as Maui continues to recover from the Aug, 8 wildfires. Read more
The on-going exodus of Hawaii residents far outstrips the number of U.S. residents moving to the islands, resulting in the overall loss of 36,789 Hawaii residents over the last three years. Read more
Investigators for the state Campaign Spending Commission on Wednesday recommended that former state Rep. Kaniela Ing be fined another $18,250 — in addition to the nearly $22,000 that he already had been fined — for 24 campaign spending violations. Read more
