Mari is a senior investigative reporter leading the award-winning NBC 7 I-Team and a Weekend News Anchor for NBC 7. Mari’s stories have prompted local, state, and federal investigations and caused law and policy changes. She is a regular contributor to the award winning NBC 7 Insight Investigative podcast. Subscribe to Insight on your favorite podcast app: Apple, Google Play, Spotify or Stitcher.
She has won numerous Emmy awards for her investigative stories and for her live reports. She's reported breaking news live on the TODAY show, MSNBC, and other NBC stations across the country. She’s also received numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and Press Club.
Before working in San Diego, Mari worked at WLBT, the NBC affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi. While at WLBT, she was sent to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where she rode out the storm and covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She also won an Associated Press award for a piece on the obesity epidemic in the state of Mississippi.
Mari graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California with a double major in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science.
She was a Renaissance Scholar and graduated from the Annenberg School for Communication.
Mari is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).
When she’s not reporting, Mari is chasing her two young kids around. She loves the local food and wine scene, traveling, cool hotels and watching USC football.
If you have a story idea, restaurant recommendation or a cool suggestion on family-friendly activities, drop Mari a line!
The Latest
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Veteran Lobbies for Psychedelic Therapies, Other Drugs to Become Legal in California
The proposed law in the state would give veterans access to psychedelic therapies and decriminalize several drugs like LSD, ecstasy, mescaline, psilocybin “magic mushrooms” and more.
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CBP Inappropriately Surveilled U.S. Citizens During Migrant Caravan: DHS Report
The report published by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General found that while the agency had justified reasoning to flag journalists, their tracking was not fully within CBP policy.
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COVID-Vaccine Religious Exemptions: What Are They, Will They Hold Up?
There’s growing concern that people may try to misuse religious exemptions to avoid employer and government vaccine mandates
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Former US Marine Imprisoned in Moscow Maintains His Innocence
Joey Reed’s son, Trevor, is 29. He could spend nearly a decade of his life in a Moscow prison, where he’s been held since August 2019. For most of 2020, Texan Joey Reed has been living in Moscow. Despite many challenges, including the pandemic, Reed remains in Russia. He is trying to keep his son’s case from falling below...
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Tips for Working Securely from Home During Pandemic
Like millions of Americans, Oceanside resident Rob Wetzel is working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, spending more time on his computer and phone. He doesn’t know when or how it happened, but his online passwords were stolen. “I got an email and the subject of the email was my password to this special program that I use and...
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Customs and Border Protection Officers Now Protected From Disclosing Information to Public
The Trump Administration has quietly designated U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Protection as a “security agency,” a move that will make it harder for the public to access certain documents and information on border enforcement and policies.
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Critics Blast Secret US Government Surveillance of Journalists, Attorneys, and Border Activists
House Democrats say controversial U.S. Customs and Border Protection program is a “troubling practice which raises serious legal and constitutional questions.”
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Source: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates Through a Secret Database
The documents detail an intelligence-gathering effort by the United States and Mexican authorities, targeting more than 50 people including journalists, an attorney, and immigration advocates.
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Uncovering A San Diego Porn Scheme: Deception, Humiliation Follow Online Ads
Nearly two dozen women say what started with a response to a modeling ad on Craigslist ended with videos of them having sex posted to some of the most popular porn websites in the world.
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Expansion of Immigration Policy Making It Harder For Those Seeking Citizenship
The administration has been enforcing the planned policy change without final approval from the Department of Homeland Security, according to two local immigration attorneys.
