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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

Maskless customers sit for drinks inside The Good Bar in Long Beach, on June 15, 2021. Starting Tuesday, California will not have rules regarding social distancing and capacity limits inside restaurants, bars, gyms or stadiums. Mandates for masks have also been lifted by the state. Some businesses are not requiring customers to wear masks now. Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about mental health crisis before signing off on two major pieces of legislation to transform the state's mental health system and to address the state's worsening homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, on Oct. 12, 2023. Roughly 100 petitions to fast-track people with untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders into housing and medical care under an alternative mental health court program created by Newsom have been submitted in seven California counties as of Dec. 1, 2023. Photo by Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo
UC Davis Police officer Ernesto Moron repeats the oath as it is read to him by chief Joe Farrow at his swearing-in ceremony at the UC Davis Police department on Dec. 22, 2023. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-California, left, and former baseball player Steve Garvey, the Republican candidate, react during a televised debate for candidates in the senate race to succeed the late California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on Jan. 22, 2024. Photo by Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo
Steve Garvey, former first baseman for the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, speaks with media in Sacramento on Jan. 17, 2024. Garvey is running as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
State Senator Steven Bradford speaks during the first day of session in the California Senate on Jan. 3, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
Steve Garvey, former first baseman for the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, speaks with Lavell Wright, an unhoused resident in Sacramento on Jan. 17, 2024. Garvey is running as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

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