Elena Neale-Sacks
Reporter/Producer, California Local News FellowElena is an Emmy award-winning researcher, reporter, and producer. At KAZU, they cover agriculture, housing and homelessness, and the aftermath of the January 2025 lithium battery fire in Moss Landing. Their reporting and research has been featured on NPR, KQED, Netflix, Reveal, CalMatters, and more. Elena is an alum of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and UC Santa Cruz. They live in Santa Cruz.
When they aren't reporting, chances are they're either playing ultimate frisbee, hiking, camping, board gaming, or hanging out with their cat Cheddar.
Email: elena@kazu.org
-
Free dancing lessons from the Chautauqua Hall Dance Club, more cases of avian flu in marine mammals, and a call for accountability from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. -
Monterey County supervisors are demanding more accountability from Vistra after conflicting reports about the ecological impacts of last year’s battery fire. And, Marina becomes the latest local jurisdiction to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement from using its property. Plus, share your thoughts on the news about César Chavez: email news@kazu.org. -
The cost of nitrogen fertilizer has been going up due to the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran, Monterey County honors victims of COVID-19, a new book meticulously explores a 2019 Santa Cruz murder. -
SPCA Monterey County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is caring for five baby screech owls after their tree was cut down. Plus, a new report highlights challenges Latino and Indigenous farmworkers face in the Salinas Valley. -
San Benito County adopts a temporary moratorium on battery energy storage facilities. And, the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran has increased nitrogen fertilizer costs as the spring planting season gets underway—are more conservation-minded farms insulated? Plus, Cal State Monterey Bay president Vanya Quiñones is stepping down. -
In this episode of Monterey Bay This Week, Monterey Bay area counties get millions from the state’s homelessness prevention program, dozens of Pajaro Valley residents are suing the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency over the 2023 flood, and more in this week's local news roundup. -
Monterey Bay area counties get millions from the state’s homelessness prevention program, but future funds are in jeopardy. And, dozens of Pajaro Valley residents are suing the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency over the 2023 flood.
-
Monterey Bay FC announces its first women's soccer team, it's the last day of Gilroy's Black History Month art exhibition, permanent housing programs could be under threat, and more in this week's local news roundup. -
The Trump administration wants to cap the amount of federal grant money counties can use for permanent housing programs. A court temporarily blocked those plans, but if they ultimately go through, many lives will be upended. -
The deadline to submit public comments on a proposed federal oil and gas leasing program off the Central Coast is Feb. 26. And, state senators reaffirm California’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives amid ongoing attacks from the Trump administration.
