Michael Brestovansky

How does your government shape the way you live? What does your vote do to change and improve your community? These are questions I’m interested in answering for our readers. I want to make government more relatable by showing how decisions made at the City Council, the state Capitol or Washington D.C. affect you and your day-to-day life. I want to show how the gears of government fit together — and how they sometimes don’t — and what that means for people right here.

Of course, local government means local courts and local crime. I also hope to keep readers informed about cases and police procedures happening in their neighborhoods.

I grew up in Michigan and have worked at small local newspapers in Wisconsin and Oklahoma, but I’ve lived in Hawai‘i for more than seven years. Most of those were spent covering county government at the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald in Hilo. Now I’ve moved to Honolulu, where I hope to cover the issues you’re interested in on every island.

I’m excited to work with Aloha State Daily and help make it into a place where readers can learn more about how their communities are connected to each other and to their government. And I’m excited to hear from you: what you’re concerned about, excited for or annoyed by. After all, government starts at home!

SPJ Hawai‘i 2025 Excellence in Journalism Awards: First Place, Best Overall News Site, for “Aloha State Daily,” by the ASD Newsroom, in the Internet Division; and First Place, Breaking News Reporting, “Tsunami warning canceled,” by ASD Staff, in the News Media division, open to all print and digital.

Michael Brestovansky can be reached at michael@alohastatedaily.com.