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 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
Twenty former RV dwellers moved into a new apartment building as the first cohort in a program to lease buildings for people being moved from street encampments.
Nov. 27, 2023
Recently, The Times has been investigating Skid Row’s troubled housing providers, digging into the failures of nonprofits such as AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Nov. 17, 2023
A Times investigation has found that many of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s more than 1,300 residents live in squalid conditions, with dozens under the threat of eviction.
Nov. 16, 2023
People reverentially observe Veterans Day at Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood. Veterans Day events were held at Forest Lawn—Hollywood Hills and the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall
Nov. 11, 2023
As the Rev. Andy Bales heads home to Iowa after 20 years as president and chief executive of the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row, he’s leaving a legacy of his work in L.A.: A nonprofit is buying his Pasadena house to convert it to a 20-family transitional shelter.
Oct. 18, 2023
After approving a settlement requiring L.A. County to provide 3,000 new mental-health and substance-use treatment beds, Judge David O. Carter staged a test.
Oct. 2, 2023
A judge signed off on Los Angeles County’s vow to produce 3,000 mental health and substance use treatment beds, ending a lawsuit over homelessness.
Sept. 29, 2023
In another attempt to settle a lawsuit, Los Angeles County has agreed to create 3,000 new mental health and substance use treatment beds by the end of 2026.
Sept. 26, 2023
Day led the W.M. Keck Foundation, founded by his grandfather, and was a major donor to Claremont McKenna College and USC.
Sept. 24, 2023
A judge has set the stage for a possible trial over the slow progress of West L.A.’s Veterans Affairs’ campus to build housing for homeless veterans.
Sept. 20, 2023