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Lynn La

Newsletter Writer

Lynn La is the newsletter writer for CalMatters, focusing on California’s top political, policy and Capitol stories every weekday. She produces and curates WhatMatters, CalMatters’ flagship daily newsletter with more than 150,000 subscribers.    

In the newsletter, Lynn analyzes the state’s policy issues for a broader audience, through original reporting and by summarizing and compiling stories from CalMatters and other news sources. Recently, she has reported on bills to address California’s worsening fentanyl epidemic, tackle retail theft and legislate happiness. She also reveals more about lawmakers by interviewing them for an occasional series on first-term legislators in 2023 and new committee chairpersons in 2024. 

Through WhatMatters, Lynn also plays a crucial role in CalMatters election coverage, helping to keep track of daily developments in key campaigns, including legislative and congressional races and ballot measures.  

Prior to joining CalMatters in March 2023, she wrote for the education technology startup Guild and was a senior editor at CNET. She also covered public health at The Sacramento Bee as a Kaiser media fellow and was an intern reporter at Capitol Weekly. 

Lynn is based in the Bay Area. She graduated from UC Davis and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Other languages spoken: Vietnamese (basic)

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Latest Stories

Screenshot via video by Sergio Olmos, CalMatters
Gov. Gavin Newsom addresses the media during a press conference unveiling his revised 2024-25 budget proposal at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento on May 10, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed the media to unveil his 2024-25 January budget proposal at the Secretary of State Auditorium in Sacramento on Jan. 10, 2024. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Gas prices at a filling station in west Fresno on May 7, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
Adrian De La Cruz fills his work truck with diesel gas at a filling station in west Fresno on May 7, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
Annie Wyley, an intake specialist with Abode, meets with a client hoping for a room at the repurposed Radisson Hotel on Edes Ave. in Oakland, which is currently occupied by unhoused individuals and caseworkers as part of Project Roomkey on Feb. 9, 2022. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters
A mental health staff member speaks with an inmate through their cell door in an inmate housing unit at the Tulare County Adult Pre-Trial Facility on Sept. 18, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

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