Lyanne Melendez
In 1999, Melendez won an Emmy and RTNDA for "Nicholas' Gift of Life," the story of a Bay Area boy whose organs were donated to seven Italian recipients. In 1992, she received the Latina Media Person of the Year Award from New York University, the Asociación de Cronistas de espectaculos Award for Reporter of the Year and the Outstanding Person in Communications Award from the Puerto Rican Institute of New York.
Melendez came from CNN-SPANISH in New York where she worked as a senior correspondent and substitute anchor. She's also worked at television stations in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She began her broadcasting career in 1984 as a production specialist at WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Melendez received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Alabama and a Master's degree in Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Melendez has traveled to Somalia, Iraq, Central and South America, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on special assignments.
Melendez covers the AIDS and education beat in the Bay Area.
Lyanne's Stories
Delayed community room access fuels frustration in San Francisco's Outer Sunset
A long-promised public meeting room next to a new affordable housing development in San Francisco's Outer Sunset remains locked more than a year after the project was completed, frustrating neighborhood residents who say access was never supposed to depend on outside conditions.
Half Moon Bay considers enforcement, fencing as homelessness along creek raises concerns
Half Moon Bay officials say a growing homelessness crisis along Pilarcitos Creek has become an environmental threat, prompting the city to consider new enforcement measures while continuing outreach to unhoused residents.
SFPD credits surveillance drones with aiding crime decline but some have privacy concerns
San Francisco police are partly attributing the city's sustained decline in crime to new technology such as drones, but opponents argue that they expand surveillance in public spaces. Here's how the department is using them.
Former SF supervisor behind Cesar Chavez St. name in 1995 wants to change it after abuse allegations
In the early 1990s, San Francisco decided it was time to honor Cesar Chavez by adding his name to buildings and a well-known street. Following Cesar Chavez's abuse allegations, then San Francisco Supervisor Susan Leal, the main proponent behind naming the street after the labor leader, wants to change it.
Bay Bridge lights are here to stay: Get a close up look at the new installation
Long admired by locals but often overshadowed by the Golden Gate Bridge, the western span of the bridge has rarely been celebrated beyond the Bay Area. That began to change several years ago, when artist Ben Davis reimagined the bridge as a massive canvas of light.
Why can SF still use 'recyclable' plastic bags despite California's new statewide ban?
California's new plastic bag law went into effect on January 1. It forbids any business from giving away or selling plastic bags, even those deemed "recyclable."
San Francisco's empty tree wells can be hazardous. Here's how supervisor is trying to fix it
City crews are quick to clean up after a series of storms. But soon after, the spot where there once was a tree is too often left empty. District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter is seeking solutions to the problem.
Should SF businesses be able to go cashless? There's push to repeal the law that's stopping them
Do you still pay with cash? It's been the law since 2019 that most San Francisco businesses were required to accept cash, but now the city is thinking of repealing it. Here's why.
San Mateo County installs purple Narcan boxes to help prevent overdose deaths: Here's how it works
San Mateo County is thinking "outside of the box" to reduce overdose deaths by installing purple boxes stocked with free Narcan, a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses, at transit hubs and public spaces.
FROM THE ARCHIVE: Oakland's Alysa Liu was making history at 13 and had Olympic dreams
ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Lyanne Melendez spoke with Oakland's own newly minted gold medalist Alysa Liu in 2019 when she was just 13, and thinking about her future Olympic dreams.
