Anjeanette Damon
I cover government accountability issues at the local, state and federal level in the Southwest.
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What I Cover
My reporting focuses on how well city and state governments do their jobs on issues that affect all of us, including health care, housing and the environment. I’m most interested in how powerful actors influence governments to serve their own interests to the detriment of the most vulnerable in our communities.
My Background
At ProPublica, my work has included uncovering COVID-19 testing contracts awarded to the Nevada governor’s friends with disastrous results, documenting how a city council empowered a wealthy developer to raze motels and displace hundreds of low-income residents, and investigating how the country’s largest house-flipping company cashed in on homeowners’ desperation.
Prior to ProPublica, I was a government watchdog reporter and regional investigative editor for the USA Today Network. My investigation of in-custody deaths at the Washoe County, Nevada, jail resulted in legislative action and was recognized as a finalist for an Online News Association public service award. My series on deplorable living conditions faced by people with severe mental illness under state care prompted immediate action by Nevada’s governor. In 2019, I was lead reporter and writer on Season 2 of “The City,” a USA Today investigative podcast. I am based in Reno, Nevada.
Chaos and Uncertainty as Developer Plans to Demolish Motel That Serves as Housing Lifeline
Jeffrey Jacobs has been buying and demolishing Reno motels for years. He promises the low-income tenants who live there he’ll find them a better place. Displaced residents of the Castaway Inn paint a fuller picture of what really happens.
He Tore Down Motels Where Poor Residents Lived During a Housing Crisis. City Leaders Did Nothing.
Reno, Nevada, has one of the worst affordable housing shortages in the U.S. Yet city officials let an out-of-state casino owner displace hundreds of low-income residents so he could one day build an entertainment complex.
Heeding Steve Bannon’s Call, Election Deniers Organize to Seize Control of the GOP
The stolen election myth inspired thousands of Trump supporters to take over the Republican Party at the local level, exerting more partisan influence on how elections are run.