Senior writer Doug Smith scouts Los Angeles for the ragged edges where public policy meets real people, combining data analysis and gumshoe reporting to tell L.A. stories through his more than 50 years of experience covering the city. As past database editor from 2004 through 2015, he hunted down and analyzed data for news and investigative projects. Besides “Grading the Teachers,” he contributed to investigations of construction abuse in the community college system and the rising toll of prescription drug overdoses. Smith has been at The Times since 1970, covering local and state government, criminal justice, politics and education. He was the lead writer for Times’ coverage of the infamous North Hollywood shootout, winner of a 1997 Pulitzer Prize. Between 2005 and 2008, Smith made five trips to Iraq on loan to our foreign desk.
Latest From This Author
A measure that would double L.A. County’s quarter-percent homeless sales tax is closing in on the majority it needs to pass, a poll of likely voters found.
Nov. 2, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom joined Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and county supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger in Skid Row Tuesday to announce $380 million for the county in the fifth round of the state Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program.
Oct. 29, 2024
A month after locking UCLA’s baseball team out of its stadium, located on VA land, a federal judge allows the team back for the upcoming season.
Oct. 29, 2024
After starting a homeless court, building up its shelter, housing and outreach services, the South Bay city of Redondo Beach has reached the point where more people are getting shelter and housing than becoming homeless.
Oct. 29, 2024
Department of Veterans Affairs is appealing a judge’s order to build more than 2,500 housing units and that invalidated land leases to UCLA and a private school.
Oct. 25, 2024
A federal judge has ordered the parking lot of UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium to be turned into temporary housing for veterans on the VA campus in West L.A.
Oct. 21, 2024
Experts say a new $22-billion plan to end homelessness in the city of Los Angeles reveals decades of underfunding and pitfalls of leaders’ current approach.
Oct. 16, 2024
The developers contracted to build housing on the VA’s West Los Angeles campus have said veterans have no interest in a hotel being built on the property, but leaked results of an internal survey show a large majority do.
Oct. 16, 2024
In a new poll, Measure A, a proposal on the November ballot that would double Los Angeles County’s quarter-percent homeless sales tax, is leading 49% in favor to 33% opposed, 1 percentage point behind the the majority it needs to pass.
Oct. 7, 2024
This November, voters will decide whether to approve Measure A, a half-cent sales tax that would remain in effect indefinitely to fund programs for the unhoused.
Oct. 3, 2024