Amita Sharma
Investigative ReporterAs the public matters investigative reporter, Amita leads KPBS’ coverage on efforts to undermine democracy, including threats to public officials, bolstering the Big Lie, chipping away at voter’s rights, attempts to overturn election results, eroding institutions and weakening the government's capacity to do its job, as well as civic efforts to engage people with opposing views without rancor.
The goal of the position is to report on the stakes, from a San Diego County perspective, on the United States’ current political moment.
She has spent the last two years reporting on local threats to democracy, including regional extremism, the shrinking of local news coverage while the number of hyper partisan “news” websites grow, censorship at libraries and incivility at public meetings.
Her previous coverage includes: exposing abuses in local nursing homes at the height of the pandemic, including a serial rapist who had worked in several El Cajon facilities and was arrested following her reporting; unearthing a contract between the city of Chula Vista and Motorola that allowed the company to sell data collected by the Chula Vista Police Department; and reporting on discrimination and retaliation in the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office that led to court settlements and the retirement of the Public Defender.
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The parents of Chelsea King have filed a claim blaming the California Department of Corrections for their daughter's murder. The Kings say the state had numerous reasons to send John Gardner back to prison before he killed their daughter in February.
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The elderly and disabled in the state's in-home care program are awaiting new rules -- to be unveiled next month -- on how counties should check for fraud. The new anti-fraud measures have sparked fear among some receiving the care.
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California's power companies want ratepayers to cover all uninsured costs from wildfires. The utilities claim an insurance crisis has made the request necessary.
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Court papers don't say how a former San Diego man was allegedly recruited by a Somalian terrorist organization. One expert says slick new Internet videos combined with radical Islam's push for a global movement is rapidly making recruitment easier.
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A former San Diego man has been charged with helping a Somali terrorist group. Joining us on Morning Edition to tell us more about Jehad Serwan Mostafa is KPBS Reporter Amita Sharma.
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Congressman Bob Filner is lauding an effort to get information from the country's top artificial knee and hip manufacturer about problems with its product. Some local patients predict there's more pressure to come on the companies that make the devices.
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The legal dispute over police drone footage stems from a lawsuit filed by Arturo Castanares, publisher of La Prensa San Diego. -
KPBS Midday EditionAn investigation by CapRadio and NPR's California Newsroom has found that Gov. Newsom overstated, by an astounding 690%, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in forestry projects aimed at protecting the state’s most vulnerable communities. -
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