Wendy Fry is an Emmy-winning multimedia investigative journalist who reports on poverty and inequality for the California Divide team. Based in San Diego and Mexico, Wendy has been covering the California border region for more than 15 years and covers immigration, reparations and issues affecting San Diego-area families.
She’s a board member of the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and has reported for the Watchdog team at the San Diego Union-Tribune from 2009 to 2012.
For television, she worked as an on-air reporter, investigative producer and assignment editor at NBC San Diego from 2013 to 2018 — where she helped launch an investigative team and Telemundo20, the Spanish language news station — before returning to print journalism, covering Mexico and Baja California for the Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2022.
Wendy won SPJ’s Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism in 2012 for uncovering corruption among construction contractors and elected officials at the Sweetwater Union High School District, resulting in indictments of about a dozen public officials.
She also won the Grand Golden Watchdog Award from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association in 2017, for her coverage of dangerous levels of lead in water in the San Diego Unified and San Ysidro school districts. Her short documentary “Missing in Mexico,” about family members searching for the remains of missing loved ones, won a regional Emmy.
A graduate of San Diego State, Wendy speaks English and Spanish.
Hi, good morning, Inequality Insights readers; it’s Wendy Fry. About 5.6 million people – or one out of every three California workers – are paid a low wage, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s newly updated Low Wage Work Data Explorer. Low-wage work is defined by the Berkeley researchers as jobs that pay less […]
Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. Today, it’s Wendy Fry here with Felicia Mello to talk to you about our latest investigation into how California state housing inspectors have struggled to make sure farms are providing guest workers with safe and adequate housing. We’d noticed that the number of workers on H2A visas — a federal […]
El número de trabajadores agrícolas temporales ha aumentado dramáticamente en California. Pero los reguladores estatales han tenido dificultades para garantizar que las granjas proporcionen viviendas seguras a sus trabajadores.
The number of agricultural guest workers has risen dramatically in California. But state regulators have struggled to ensure that farms are providing safe housing to their workers.
Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry. Tuesday was one of those perfect Southern California summer days. While the beaches near La Jolla and Del Mar were packed, the coastline in San Diego’s South County was nearly empty. That’s because more than 100 billion gallons of raw sewage had washed up from […]
Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry. The California Legislative Black Caucus is hitting the road on a statewide tour to promote its slate of 14 reparations bills, while the clock is ticking on getting those proposed laws to the governor’s desk before the legislative session ends Aug. 31. Last weekend, the […]
Just before she was elected to Ventura City Council Liz Campos was evicted. Now she lives in a van and she has ideas about how to help others who have no home.
Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry. Every week, we ask our readers what types of stories they’d like us to explore and what they are interested in reading. Recently, an Inequality Insights reader suggested an interview with a City Councilmember from Ventura who is experiencing homelessness. CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff included some of […]
La acción ejecutiva del presidente Biden podría permitir a los agentes fronterizos devolver inmediatamente a los migrantes a México sin considerar sus solicitudes de asilo. Si bien la Casa Blanca dice que las nuevas medidas traerán orden, los defensores de los inmigrantes dicen que podrían causar más caos y peligro.
President Biden’s executive action could allow border agents to immediately return migrants to Mexico without considering their asylum claims. While the White House says the new measures will bring order, advocates for migrants say it could cause more chaos and danger.