Ben Welsh

Data and Graphics Editor

Ben Welsh is the editor of the Data and Graphics Department, a team of reporters and computer programmers that collects, organizes, analyzes and presents large amounts of information.

Welsh has contributed projects that have won the Pulitzer Prize, the Library of Congress’ Innovation Award, a Knight News Challenge grant and numerous other prizes for investigative reporting, digital design and online journalism.

He also a co-founder of the California Civic Data Coalition, a network of journalists and computer programmers dedicated to opening up public data, and the leader of PastPages, an open-source effort to archive digital news.

Welsh is originally from Swisher, Iowa. He welcomes tips at ben.welsh@latimes.com, on Signal at (626) 382-6910 or via Keybase.

Latest From This Author

California

We used a 3-D printer to map the power of the Ridgecrest earthquake

California

We used a 3-D printer to map the power of the Ridgecrest earthquake

Look at The Times’ 3-D image of the Ridgecrest earthquake’s power
California

Black market cannabis shops thrive in L.A. even as city cracks down

California

Black market cannabis shops thrive in L.A. even as city cracks down

From the street, it looked like an old-school drug raid.
California

A million California buildings face wildfire risk. ‘Extraordinary steps’ are needed to protect them.

California

A million California buildings face wildfire risk. ‘Extraordinary steps’ are needed to protect them.

Minutes after fire broke out in Woolsey Canyon, a community 12 miles to the south went into action.
Danger spins from the sky: The world’s best-selling helicopter has a deadly history of crashes

Danger spins from the sky: The world’s best-selling helicopter has a deadly history of crashes

The flight lasted all of a minute.
California

California test scores have barely improved. What to do about it is hotly debated

California

California test scores have barely improved. What to do about it is hotly debated

Over the last decade, California took a national lead in making its curriculum more relevant to college and work and in toughening up its standardized tests to measure the new goals.
California

L.A. is slammed with record costs for legal payouts

California

L.A. is slammed with record costs for legal payouts

Los Angeles has spent soaring amounts in recent years to end legal disputes over dangerous roads, police misconduct and other alleged wrongdoing, depriving the city of money that could fund other pressing needs.
California

Garcetti still struggling to expand the number of female firefighters

California

Garcetti still struggling to expand the number of female firefighters

Four years ago, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti vowed to revamp the way the city hires firefighters by introducing more women into a department that has been overwhelmingly male.
World & Nation

How Houston’s newest homes survived Hurricane Harvey

World & Nation

How Houston’s newest homes survived Hurricane Harvey

As Hurricane Harvey approached Houston, Kevin Kelly hunkered down in his brick house, which was built in 2009 in a federally designated flood zone.
California

California’s students stagnate on standardized tests — but the lowest scorers are improving

California

California’s students stagnate on standardized tests — but the lowest scorers are improving

When California rolled out new standardized tests, experts said scores would improve when students got used to them.
California

A 20% turnout in L.A.'s mayoral election wasn’t a record low after all, final results show

California

A 20% turnout in L.A.'s mayoral election wasn’t a record low after all, final results show

Voter turnout in the March 7 mayoral election in Los Angeles was 20%, just above the record low, final results show.