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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

Priest Bhai Jivan Singh prepares food at the Shri Guru Ravidass Temple in Rio Linda on June 3, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to a crowd of supporters at PGT Innovations in Venice, Florida, on Feb. 28, 2023. Photo by Mike Lang, Reuters
Two people share a small piece of fentanyl in an alley in Los Angeles on Aug. 18, 2022. Photo by Jae C. Hong, AP Photo
Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters; iStock
The Assembly floor at the state Capitol on June 1, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Lawmakers on the Assembly floor at the Capitol on March 27, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the media after announcing the state's plan to address homelessness across the state at Cal Expo in Sacramento, on March 16, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Mono Lake on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada on May 20, 2023. Photo by Sierra Farquhar for CalMatters
A man living on the streets displays what he claims to be the synthetic drug fentanyl in the Tenderloin section of San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2020. Photo by Shannon Stapleton, Reuters

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