Mollie Simon
I identify documents, sources and specialized datasets to advance investigations.
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What I Cover
I’ve investigated topics spanning education, housing, mental health, consumer finance and the environment. I often dig into archives to understand how history is shaped by, and repeated in, the present.
My Background
My work at ProPublica began in 2020, originally through a fellowship with the Scripps Howard Foundation. Before that, I worked as a researcher at LegiStorm and as a reporter for the Anderson Independent-Mail and Greenville News. In that role, I covered Clemson, South Carolina, as well as broader education stories.
Segregation Academies Across the South Are Getting Millions in Taxpayer Dollars
North Carolina offers an especially telling window into what is happening across this once legally segregated region where legislatures are now rapidly expanding and adopting controversial voucher-style programs.
Mississippi Remains an Outlier in Jailing People With Serious Mental Illness Without Charges
At least a dozen states have banned the practice of jailing people without charges while they await mental health treatment. But Mississippi routinely keeps people in jail during the civil commitment process.
Local Reporting Network
TitleMax Demands High-Interest Payments From Borrowers in Bankruptcy
In Georgia, borrowers looking to alleviate debt through Chapter 13 bankruptcy can’t escape their high-interest title pawns thanks to a legal loophole that TitleMax helped secure.
Local Reporting Network
The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”
HomeVestors of America, the self-proclaimed “largest homebuyer in the U.S.,” trains its nearly 1,150 franchisees to zero in on homeowners’ desperation.
U.S. Housing Agency Considers Launching Crypto Experiment
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees billions in aid and insures more than a trillion dollars in mortgages, is pondering using the blockchain and a stablecoin. One HUD official derided it as “monopoly money.”
A Rural Alaska School Asked the State to Fund a Repair. Nearly Two Decades Later, the Building Is About to Collapse.
Rural school districts depend on the state to fund construction and maintenance projects. But over the past 25 years, Alaska lawmakers have ignored hundreds of requests for public schools that primarily serve Indigenous children.
Local Reporting Network
As Facebook Abandons Fact-Checking, It’s Also Offering Bonuses for Viral Content
Meta decided to stop working with U.S. fact-checkers at the same time as it’s revamping a program to pay bonuses to creators with high engagement numbers, potentially pouring accelerant on the kind of false posts the company once policed.
“We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump
Since Inauguration Day, the Office for Civil Rights has only opened about 20 investigations focused on Trump’s priorities, placing more than 10,000 student complaints related to disability access and sexual and racial harassment on hold.
First Came the Warning Signs. Then a Teen Opened Fire on a Nashville School.
Tennessee authorities were alerted to Solomon Henderson’s threatening and violent behavior long before he brought a gun to Antioch High School. It’s unclear how many red flags were heeded.
“We Feel Terrorized”: What EPA Employees Say About the Decision to Stay or Go Under Trump
More than 300 career employees at the Environmental Protection Agency have left. Those who remain face a painful decision: resign or work for an administration that plans to radically reshape the EPA while reversing environmental protections.
Madison and Nashville School Shooters Appear to Have Crossed Paths in Online Extremist Communities
A month after a student opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School, another killed a classmate at Antioch High School. Both were active in an internet subculture that glorifies mass shooters and encourages young people to commit attacks.
Local Reporting Network
Private School Demographics
Look up the demographics of private schools across the country and see how they compare to the public schools nearby.
Arizona Regulators Closed a Failing Charter School. It Reopened as a Private Religious School Funded by Taxpayers.
Arizona’s acclaimed voucher program provides zero transparency into private schools’ history, academic performance or financial sustainability to help parents make informed school choices.
The Story of One Mississippi County Shows How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation
A new ProPublica analysis shows a stark pattern across states in the Deep South: Alongside majority-Black public school districts, a separate web of private academies are filled almost entirely with white students.