Anna Clark
Anna Clark is a Detroit-based reporter for ProPublica, covering stories in Michigan and the Midwest. She is the author of “The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy.”
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Anna Clark is a reporter covering issues in the Midwest. She came to ProPublica after many years working as an independent journalist with a particular interest in how cities are made and unmade. She is the author of “The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy,” which won the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism and the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award. It was also a finalist for the Helen Bernstein Book Award and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. Clark’s reporting has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Elle, the New Republic, the Columbia Journalism Review, the Detroit Free Press and Belt Magazine, among other publications.
Clark also edited “A Detroit Anthology,” a Michigan Notable Book, ” and she is a nonfiction faculty member in Alma College’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. She lives in Detroit.
The One That Got Away: This Small Town Is Left in Limbo After Betting Big on GMO Salmon
AquaBounty GMO salmon was going to be the future of fish — and the future for one Ohio village that offered incentives to make a new facility happen. But years after breaking ground, there are no fancy fish tanks. No designer fish. No new jobs.
Gretchen Whitmer’s Chance for Wide-Ranging Legacy Derailed by Botched Legislative Session
Michigan Democrats controlled all three branches of government, but party infighting and moderate policy decisions resulted in what some have dubbed “one of the least productive legislative sessions in history.”
Feds Fine Baker College $2.5 Million for Deceptive Marketing That Left Students With Debts and Regrets
A 2022 investigation detailed how the once-growing Michigan school built its reputation on slick advertising despite low graduation rates and leaving many students burdened with heavy debt.
Right-Wing Activists Pushed False Claims About Election Fraud. Now They’re Recruiting Poll Workers in Swing States.
Experts say these poll workers could sow distrust in democracy and bolster court cases challenging the election. ProPublica and Wisconsin Watch reviewed dozens of hours of trainings and presentations in which activists discussed their plans.
Local Reporting Network
A Vexing To-Do List for Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer
As the governor, now a rising Democratic star, finishes out her final term, key populist pledges have been unfulfilled and her presidential resume is still being written.
Michigan Bottlers Still Get Free Water, Despite Whitmer’s Tough Talk
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had pledged to crack down on bottled water companies taking water at the same time Flint, Michigan, faced a water crisis. Six years later and in her second term, little has changed.
Ten Years After the Flint Water Crisis, Distrust and Anger Linger
A city is forever changed, and so is residents’ relationship with their water. The betrayal of trust by the institutions meant to protect Flint’s residents has made some of them extra cautious as they look to keep themselves and their community safe.
FDA Moves to Scrutinize Specialized Health Screenings
The agency issued a rule that brings new scrutiny to a range of critical lab-developed tests, including certain cancer and prenatal screenings. ProPublica previously reported how lab-test accuracy and marketing had skirted federal oversight.
Michigan Lawmakers Working to Fix a Program That Failed to Compensate the Wrongfully Convicted
State law provides $50,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment, but a ProPublica investigation showed how the law’s narrow requirements led to delays, partial settlements and outright denials of payments.
Why is Michigan Failing to Compensate the Wrongly Convicted?
The state can provide $50,000 for each year of incarceration, but the law’s narrow criteria and confusion over eligibility leave former prisoners facing another system that seems stacked against them.
Reports Analyzing the Police Response to a Mass Shooting Can Leave Unanswered Questions — if They’re Released at All
Even if an after-action investigation is released, a lack of national standards leads to wide variability in the detail of information in reports, ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and FRONTLINE found.