Mark Ladao
News ProducerMark Ladao moved to Hawaiʻi as a teenager and graduated from Moanalua High School. He graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a bachelor's in biology and, later, in journalism. He was a general assignment reporter at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for four years before coming to Hawaiʻi Public Radio as a news producer in 2023. He usually spends his free time rewatching Amélie.
Contact him at mladao@hawaiipublicradio.org.
-
The Mālama Da Farmer Grants represent the island’s first grant program, which was funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act to provide relief from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. -
Following an outcry from local farmers, Gov. Josh Green announced his intention to veto a labeling bill that would have affected māmaki sold in Hawaiʻi. As part of a broader, years-long trend to protect local farmers, consumers and the “Hawai'i-grown” label, state lawmakers introduced House Bill 496 and let it sail through this year’s legislative session. -
A University of Hawaiʻi program that works with about 15,000 people a year is at risk after federal funding cuts. In a news release, UH says the program will end on Sept. 30 if Congress doesn't restore its funding. -
The crews will be injecting about 800 trees with an insecticide, and those trees will serve as a barrier to protect the dense groves of palm trees in urban Honolulu. -
On Monday, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who's serving as acting governor, signed House Bill 934 to create a Hawaiʻi State Broadband Office within the state Department of Accounting and General Services. -
Bill 47 is a partial revival of a set of measures that failed last year that would have overhauled zoning and operational laws on “transient vacation rentals” in the County of Hawaiʻi. -
The council wrapped up its votes Wednesday night after a discussion that often centered around how it would fund billions of dollars of Oʻahu sewer infrastructure upgrades in the coming years. -
Hawaiʻi Island lawmakers passed a $950 million budget for the county, but denied a last-minute amendment to spend $2 million on food security programs. The administration says no plan was attached to that funding, leading the council to vote against the amendment five to three. -
Mayor Rick Blangiardi would support a charter amendment giving whoever is the Honolulu mayor the ability to hire and fire the city’s chief of police. He also appears open to changing how the chiefs of the city’s fire and ocean safety departments are picked. -
On Tuesday the council voted on a final version of Bill 41, which details a county budget that’s about $46 million bigger than what Mayor Richard Bissen initially proposed in March.
