Jim Newton
Jim Newton is editor at large of the Los Angeles Times and writes a weekly column for the Op-Ed page on the policy and politics of Southern California.
Newton came to the Los Angeles Times in 1989, having previously worked as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and as a clerk at the New York Times, where he served as columnist James Reston's assistant from 1985-86. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the recipient of numerous local and national awards. He was part of the Los Angeles Times' coverage of the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and the earthquake of 1994, both of which were awarded Pulitzer Prizes to the staff.
Newton also is the author of two critically acclaimed, best-selling biographies, "Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made," and "Eisenhower: The White House Years."
Recent Articles
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How my interview with O.J. almost ended in a fistfight
As 1993 wound down, Leo Wolinksy, then the Metro editor at The Times, asked me to put together a story that would take stock of the period we’d just been through: A few days earlier, a jury had delivered a mishmash of verdicts against those involved in the beating of Reginald O. Denny during the...
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Get ready for the great L.A. County leadership changeover
Last week's elections provided plenty for political wonks to chew on. Incumbent statewide officeholders, all of them Democrats, cruised to significant victories, and though they face nominal runoffs in November (the result of the new, top-two primary system), none looks to have trouble. Wendy Greuel...
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The promise of a balanced future for the Santa Monica Mountains
The coastal range of the Santa Monica Mountains is a vast regional treasure. Malibu Canyon cuts through the hills, its sides rising more than 2,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Groves of oaks and sycamores dot rolling waves of chaparral. Hundreds of species of plants and animals inhabit the 52,000...
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As Assembly speaker, he helped tame the budget. What's next for John Pérez?
John A. Pérez became speaker of the Assembly, arguably the second-most powerful position in California, on March 1, 2010. When he took the oath, the state faced the highest unemployment rate in its recorded history and a budget shortfall of $60 billion. The California Department of Finance, not...
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Tinkering won't fix a profoundly broken Sheriff's Dept.
The first question for anyone contemplating the future of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is this: Is it suffering from a few small problems or is it profoundly broken? There's good reason to believe it's the latter. Consider, for example, two observations from outside observers asked...
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Can anyone fill Henry Waxman's shoes?
The cliche of Westside politics is that they're soft — arguments about human rights over bowls of kale chips on the verandas of mansions. There's a nugget of truth in that, but politics on the Westside also play out in suburban community centers, union meeting halls and political klatches along...
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Does Pasadena have the right to discipline Eric Walsh for expressing his views?
My post last week on the case of Pasadena Public Health Director Eric Walsh — whose churlish remarks about gays, the prophet Muhammad, Jay Z and evolution, among other things, have caused Pasadena to put him on leave while the city investigates — drew an unexpectedly large and sharp response. Some...
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How the LAPD has achieved better policing through data
Every Wednesday morning, supervisors and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department gather in a windowless room on the first floor of the department's headquarters. There, they analyze crime statistics and get grilled about their strategies for improvement by the department's command staff....