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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

Democratic Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi argues in favor of Gov. Newsom's oil profit penalty plan at the Capitol on March 27, 2023. If passed, the bill would impose a penalty on oil companies for high gas prices. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Supporters of transgender rights gathered at the Capitol during a press conference on March 17, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
From left, Kathleen Navales and Delphina Garcia Penrod comfort each other while honoring their ancestors inside the cemetery at the Carmel Mission in Carmel in 2015. Photo by Michael Fiala, Reuters
State senators discuss petroleum windfall profits penalties and whether Californians will get relief at the gas pump, at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Feb. 22, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters
Stacy Cordova holds a framed photo of her aunt Mary Franco in Azusa on July 5, 2021. Franco was a victim of California's forced sterilization program and was sterilized when she was 13 in 1934. Photo by Jae C. Hong, AP Photo
Voters cast their ballot at a polling station at the Sacramento County voter registration and elections office in Sacramento on Nov. 8, 2022. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters
Garbage piles at Stockton Park Village in Stockton on Nov. 22, 2022. Photo by Rahul Lal, 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
California Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press event on Mare Island in Vallejo on Sept. 16, 2022. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters
A pedestrian carries an umbrella while walking past a Silicon Valley Bank Private branch in San Francisco on March 14, 2023. Photo by Jeff Chiu, AP Photo

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