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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Customers may now have little recourse for accountability for how they were handed a $3.3 billion bill for the San Onofre nuclear power plant’s shutdown after a radiation leak in 2012. -
San Diego consumer lawyer Mike Aguirre has asked Gov. Jerry Brown’s office for records and communications related to San Onofre. But Attorney General Kamala Harris has notified Aguirre she is representing Brown’s office in the lawyer's request for documents under the California Public Records Act. -
KPBS Midday EditionHer office's criminal investigation of the nuclear plant's closure has drawn scrutiny as she runs for U.S. Senate -
The California attorney general and U.S. Senate front-runner credits the civil-rights activism of Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley, as well as that of her Indian mother and Jamaican father, for propelling her into a law career. -
Polls indicate none of the Republicans running will likely make it past June election -
Details of an inquiry last year into the operation of the YMCA of San Diego County found no illegal conduct at the organization. But the exit of a key executive may indicate the YMCA’s troubles remain.
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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.
- San Diego County estimates 400,000 Medi-Cal, CalFresh recipients could lose benefits
- A crisis team responding to a suicide attempt asked for help, El Cajon Police refused
- EPA head and Mexican government sign agreement to end Tijuana sewage flows
- Fearing lawsuits, El Cajon Police stopped responding to some mental health calls
- How to see George Lucas at Comic-Con 2025 in Hall H