Avatar photo

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)

Contact

Email

Latest Stories

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
Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon speaks during the State of the State ceremony in Sacramento on March 8, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Tiny homes used as residences at Community First! Village in Austin, Texas on May 12, 2023. Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar for CalMatters.

Gift this article