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.
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A new master plan to turn L.A.’s iconic but derelict General Hospital building and surrounding grounds into the centerpiece of a 41-acre healthy village blends affordable housing, local business, food courts, cultural venues and community gardens with the county’s largest health and mental health complex.
Veterans Affairs is calling for bids to build up to 260 units of temporary housing on its West L.A. campus, reducing its earlier promise of 750 to 800 units and delaying the deadline.
Hollywood service organizations conducted their own homeless count to help them adapt their outreach to a changing population that has fewer tents and more people sleeping rough or in vehicles
After the Eaton fire, a movement arose to counter the threat to Altadena’s working-class character by investment capital. Now, some investors are welcomed for building what the community needs.
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt wants to use arrests and mandatory drug and addiction treatment to clear the streets, but some expert said he would face huge legal, financial and practical hurdles in doing so.
An agreement has been reached to end a contempt proceeding against the City of Los Angeles in a federal lawsuit over homelessness.
One man was killed and two others were wounded early Sunday in a shootout near a strip mall in unincorporated Florence-Firestone. One surviving victim was a security guard who was not a target.
A federal public defender filed a motion Saturday seeking the removal of suicide precautions for Cole Tomas Allen while the Torrance man remains jailed on charges of attempting to kill President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies declared a hiker dead Saturday after pulling him from a ravine on the Mt. Wilson trail.
At the shuttered LA County General Hospital, a bike mechanic toils in the basement to salvage some of the hundreds of bicycles left behind by patients.