Erika D. Smith

columnist for the LA Times

Guest/Host

Erika D. Smith is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times writing about the diversity of people and places across California. She joined The Times in 2018 as an assistant editor and helped expand coverage of the state’s housing and homelessness crisis. She previously worked at the Sacramento Bee, where she was a columnist and editorial board member covering housing, homelessness and social justice issues. Before the Bee, Smith wrote for the Indianapolis Star and Akron Beacon Journal. She is a recipient of the Sigma Delta Chi award for column writing, a graduate of Ohio University and a native of the long-suffering sports town of Cleveland.

Erika D. Smith on KCRW

Can Watts — the community famous for its political organizing and trucemaking — come together in the face of renewed violence?

Watts community strives for peace after fatal shootings

Can Watts — the community famous for its political organizing and trucemaking — come together in the face of renewed violence?

from Greater LA

Food waste is part of any restaurant business. An increasingly popular app helps connect the leftovers — for a cheap price — with Angelenos who aren’t too picky.

Angelenos are buying restaurant leftovers to fight climate change

Food waste is part of any restaurant business. An increasingly popular app helps connect the leftovers — for a cheap price — with Angelenos who aren’t too picky.

from Greater LA

Workers throughout Hollywood are weighing the pros and cons of AI, which could disrupt careers of everyone from makeup artists to lighting techs to animators.

With AI, Hollywood work will require new skills

Workers throughout Hollywood are weighing the pros and cons of AI, which could disrupt careers of everyone from makeup artists to lighting techs to animators.

from Greater LA

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Urban falconer Adam Baz has carved out an interesting career for himself and his four birds of prey in a city with a lot of pigeons and crows to chase.

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The Aetna Street Collective came together three years ago to advocate for a tight-knit unhoused community facing harassment and street sweeps.

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