Southern California needs $14 billion to reduce smog. What are you willing to pay?

Tony Barboza is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. He joined the newsroom in 2006 and most recently covered Los Angeles City Hall. Barboza was an editorial writer on the Times editorial board from 2021 to 2024. He previously covered air quality, climate change and the environment and the impacts of climate-related hazards in the hardest-hit communities; his reporting on extreme heat, air pollution, housing and environmental health won a Batten Medal for Coverage of Climate Change, among other honors, and resulted in changes in policy and law. He is a graduate of Pomona College.

Rahul Mukherjee is a former data and graphics journalist for the Los Angeles Times. A graduate of Ohio University, Mukherjee worked at the San Francisco Chronicle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Minneapolis Star Tribune before arriving at The Times.