Investigative reporter @calmatters. Past stories @sfchronicle, @NYTimes, others. [email protected]
California based / Ohio raised
Joined August 2011
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NEW: California is pumping money into homeless shelters as cities clear tents.
Our year-long investigation found it's not working:
- <1 in 4 go onto permanent housing
- Widespread violence + misconduct
- 2,007 deaths since 2018 (2x as many as jails)
calmatters.org/housing/2025/…
NEW: What happens when a truck driver kills in California? Many stay on the road — including one who killed again, we found for @CalMatters and @evident_media
Watch the short documentary: youtube.com/watch?v=Ri1cA7fg…
Read the story: calmatters.org/investigation…
“This shit is not enough."
Why aren't California officials doing more about a spike in deaths on the state's roads?
calmatters.org/investigation… via @CalMatters
Lauren Hepler retweeted
15 DUIs, still driving: California’s failure to take repeat drunk drivers off the road
Alcohol related roadway deaths have shot up by more than 50% in the past decade, more than twice as steep as the rest of the country.
Via Robert Lewis @LAHepler
calmatters.org/investigation…
Lauren Hepler retweeted
15 DUIs, still driving: California's failure to take repeat drunk drivers off the road - another installment of a blockbuster investigation by Robert Lewis and @LAHepler calmatters.org/investigation…
Masako Saenz didn't just lose her son to a repeat drunk driver. Two decades later, the Sacramento mom lost her own life in a violent DUI crash.
Her story is one of thousands.
Our investigation on a recent 50% spike in California drunk driving deaths:
calmatters.org/investigation…
Lauren Hepler retweeted
Oh, it's SO cool when @LAHepler and Team @CalMatters does a deep dive into a longstanding public policy issue that's a continuing thorn in the public. Solid series (and below are some old numbers).
calmatters.org/investigation…
Concerned about California's drug addiction crisis?
Read this insane story about one treatment center's quest to get insurers to pay for services, by @ByrhondaLyons + @jocelynwiener:
calmatters.org/health/mental… via @CalMatters
Lauren Hepler retweeted
CalMatters spoke with three men who were detained on the streets of Los Angeles during the first weekend of the raids.
These are the stories of how they were arrested, treated in government detention and, ultimately pressured to voluntarily deport.
calmatters.org/investigation…
Lauren Hepler retweeted
Taken: What happens after an LA immigration raid
Masked men pull up quickly and approach Latino men.
When someone runs, they’re taken. When they don’t answer a question, they’re taken. When they can’t produce papers, they’re taken.
W/@WendyFry_ @LAHepler @AnatRubin1 @add
NEW: Hundreds of drivers who've killed on California roads improperly kept their licenses.
Some got in other crashes or racked up new tickets.
“How can he keep driving?” said Gaudy Lemus, who's son Joseph, 18, died after a 2021 crash.
calmatters.org/investigation… @CalMatters
Lauren Hepler retweeted
Law enforcement agencies across Southern California violated state law more than 100 times last month by sharing information from automated license plate readers with federal agents, records show. cal.news/3HV4giP
📝 @kharijohnson & Mohamed Al Elew
One night in 1976, a 6-year-old boy disappeared from the far Northern California logging town of Happy Camp.
What followed, @AnatRubin1 found, was a twisting murder investigation that reveals big holes in the state's justice system:
calmatters.org/investigation…
The problem in Willie's case and many others: A lack of investigators to find out what really happened.
“They got their hook in me, and they kept it in me," said a man later freed in Willie's case. "There’s nothing you can do."
calmatters.org/investigation… @AnatRubin1 @CalMatters
Lauren Hepler retweeted
NEW: LA homelessness officials are refusing to release public records to LAist about allegations of high-level wrongdoing — including whistleblower retaliation — that led to $800,000 in taxpayer payouts.
Attorneys say it’s unlawful for LAHSA to withhold.
laist.com/news/politics/lahs…
Have you ever driven or ridden on a California road?
You might have passed the drivers with 6, 12, even 17 tickets, who the state routinely allows to keep their licenses — some even after they kill.
Robert Lewis for @CalMatters:
calmatters.org/investigation…
Go to the border with @MrOlmos, who investigated what really happened on a California immigration raid:
"Border Patrol had no prior knowledge of criminal or immigration history for 77 of the 78 people arrested"
calmatters.org/economy/2025/… via @CalMatters @bellingcat + Evident Media
"No one is going to say no to Lake Tahoe.”
Must read Julie Cart story on a new era of eco-development clashes in Northern California:
calmatters.org/environment/2… via @CalMatters
Lauren Hepler retweeted
A shocking investigation from @LAHepler.
calmatters.org/housing/2025/…
(The City of Sacramento has repeatedly declined to allow me and @RENEECBYER inside its Roseville Road shelter...)
"Look, there’s nowhere else to go."
@MarisaKendall on the messy reality of California’s homeless encampment crackdowns
calmatters.org/housing/homel… via @CalMatters
"Their reasons for living on the street varied. Many couldn’t stand being in a shelter. One man said he once saw a fellow shelter resident get raped, and since then, he’s avoided those facilities at all costs."
More on conditions inside homeless shelters: calmatters.org/housing/2025/…