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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

Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill on his proposed oil profit penalty plan in Sacramento on March 28, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr. , CalMatters
Final tally of votes stands 43 to 17 as Assembly Democrats vote for a second Assembly Public Safety Committee hearing, in regards to Senate Bill 14, during session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on July 13, 2023. SB 14 would make child trafficking a serious felony. The bill was blocked by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, but shortly passed in a second committee hearing later today. Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters
Democratic Assemblymember Robert Rivas on the floor on May 31, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Firefighters walk past backfire — flames lit by firefighters to burn off vegetation — while battling the Mosquito Fire in El Dorado County on Sept. 9, 2022. Photo by Noah Berger, AP Photo
Assemblymembers convene during session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Feb. 21, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters
Eugene Lewis walks through a mobile home park in Van Nuys on Feb. 4, 2023. Lewis visits his wife at her RV when he gets a chance away from his halfway home. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins speaks in the Senate chambers of the California State Capitol on Dec. 5, 2022. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters
Supporters and opponents testify on a caste discrimination bill before the Assembly Judiciary Committee at the state Capitol in Sacramento on July 5, 2023. Photo by Semantha Norris, CalMatters
The State Capitol on Jan. 3, 2022. Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Democratic Assemblyman Robert Rivas addresses lawmakers at the Capitol in Sacramento on May 23, 2022. Photo by Rich Pedroncelli for AP Photo

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