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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A federal judge today ordered the State of California not to cut a quarter of a billion dollars from a program that provides care to the disabled in their homes. The judge stopped the cuts until she rules on whether they are legal.
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Lawyers for the California Water Resources Control Board have rejected a complaint by the City of San Diego. The city wanted the board to intervene in its dispute with local regulators over the cleanup of groundwater at Qualcomm Stadium.
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The City of San Diego has filed a complaint against local regulators for what it alleges is indifference in monitoring the contamination cleanup at Qualcomm Stadium. -
National City has long been known for the mile of cars stretching along its coastline. But that image could soon change. The city has a vision of returning to its agricultural roots, and to a time when people were healthier.
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KPBS investigative reporter Amita Sharma examines reasons for high diabetes rates in National City. -
Opponents of the Navy Broadway Complex are seizing on the Navy's choice of a single word inserted into a city memo to describe whether its contract with San Diego to build the project can be reconsidered.
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County requiring employees of grocery stores and many other retail outlets to wear masks as of midnight Friday. That’s a tall order, says the California Grocers Association.
- Experts concerned about white nationalist imagery in ICE recruitment materials
- New Terminal 1 at San Diego Airport opens to passengers
- Ramona cemetery district board member uncovers unusual compensation records
- Trump blames Tylenol for autism. Science doesn't back him up
- Animal shelter supervisor ‘out of the office’ after revelation of profane recording