FEMA backlog causes delays in California infrastructure projects
FEMA is behind on approving major projects to protect Southern California from floods, earthquakes, fires and landslides.
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Kati Weis is an award-winning investigative reporter for CBS California Investigates, the largest investigative team in the state. She works from CBS Los Angeles, serving communities across southern California. She seeks to help others, empower audiences, and generate positive change through her investigations. Her work uncovers hidden dangers, holds government taxpayer spending accountable, and identifies solutions to problems facing communities across the region.
Kati began her role at CBS LA in September 2026. She has enjoyed vacationing in California - and especially the LA Metro region - many times over the years, and she is thrilled to now call Los Angeles her home!
Before coming to California, she was a national reporter for CBS News, based in New Orleans, where she covered several national breaking news events, including an historic jail break in New Orleans, a deadly ice storm in Mississippi, a school shooting at Florida State University, and the Bourbon Street terror attack on New Year's Day. Kati survived the Bourbon Street attack while celebrating the New Year and immediately began covering the response to inform the public about what happened from a first-hand perspective. Kati continued to follow developments for months, and a year later, Kati reported on the major security upgrades still needed to better protect the tourist epicenter.
While reporting for the CBS network, Kati also covered the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and exposed through her own data analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency data that many towns across the Gulf Coast that were hit hard by the storm are still waiting on FEMA money to rebuild two decades later. Her reporting on coastal erosion along Louisiana's coastline - land loss the size of Delaware - highlighted the dire need for protective measures immediately, and the deep challenges to take necessary action. Before her time as a national reporter, Kati worked for five years as an investigative reporter at CBS Colorado in Denver. Kati's work there changed state laws and local policies. Notably, her series of reports on neglect and abuse in assisted living centers led to a new state law mandating higher fines for negligent facilities and more training for staff.
Her reporting on the lack of radon testing in Denver's public housing exposed high levels of radon in several public housing units across the city. As a result of her investigations, the city began testing all of its public housing units and installing radon mitigation devices to protect the health of its most vulnerable populations.
Kati began her career as an investigative reporter in her hometown of Mobile, Ala., where she worked at WALA FOX10 News for five years. Kati's environmental reporting in Alabama ruffled feathers, but led to significant community progress. For example, as a result of her reporting on the lack of lead testing in public school drinking water, the state of Alabama mandated that all schools undergo water testing.
Kati is the recipient of a national Society of Environmental Journalists Award, a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, seven Alabama Broadcaster's Association Awards, two Alabama Associated Press Awards, and a Heartland Emmy Award nomination.
Kati has a Master's degree in legal studies from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where she was a merit scholarship recipient. She has undergraduate degree in communication and Spanish from Denison University in Ohio, where she was the recipient of an alumni scholarship award. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and interned at a television news station in Toledo, Spain, while studying abroad in college.
She lives in West Hollywood with her husband Franz and their tiny dog, Sunny, whose endearing personality truly feels like a warm, sunny day. In their free time, they enjoy hiking, biking, going to the beach, and dancing.
FEMA is behind on approving major projects to protect Southern California from floods, earthquakes, fires and landslides.
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