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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

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
Police enter an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus during the early morning of May 2, 2024. Photo Jae C. Hong, AP Photo
Counter-protesters attack an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Los Angeles, on May 1, 2024. Photo by David Swanson, Reuters
Beverly Hills City Hall, on April 16, 2024. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters
Democratic Assemblymember Robert Rivas on the floor on May 31, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
An unoccupied recovery area and an abortion procedure room at a Planned Parenthood Arizona facility in Tempe on June 30, 2022. Photo by Matt York, AP Photo
Members of the Select Committee On Happiness And Public Policy Outcomes listens to speakers during an informational hearing on at the California Capitol in Sacramento on March 12, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

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