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L.A. TACO

Housing

Investigative Report

Protests

News

Lexis-Olivier Ray is an award-winning staff investigative reporter for L.A. TACO known for holding powerful people in Los Angeles accountable and his reporting on Los Angeles culture. As well as an artist and filmmaker. In 2022, the Society of Professional Journalists&#8217; Los Angeles chapter named Ray one of their &#8220;distinguished journalists.&#8221; In 2023, Ray won a second place Anthem Award in their Health Innovation category for a texting service geared towards the unhoused community and service providers that he launched in 2021 with L.A. TACO and Subtext. Ray was a 2020 USC Center For Health Journalism (CHJ) Data Fellow. As well as a 2022 CHJ Impact Fellow. As a freelancer, Ray has contributed to the L.A. Times, Men&#8217;s Health Magazine, KCET and SFGATE.

Lexis-Olivier Ray

Update: At The Peak of The Defund Era, L.A. Received $600 million in COVID Relief, Half Went to LAPD

LA County Sheriff’s Deputies Shot At Her Son 34 Times, It Took Two Years For Them To Confirm Who Killed Him

Michael is a native Angeleno and a photojournalist / professional basketball player. He most recently played in Japan.

Mike Ojo

Before Recent Wave of Train Cargo Thefts, Union Pacific Laid Off Unspecified Number of Its Railroad Police Force

Mariah Castañeda is a feisty multimedia journalist and social media editor.

Mariah Castañeda

Longtime Highland Park Residents Remain Skeptical of York Park’s Safety After More Than 800 Gallons of Fuel Leaked Into the Soil It Was Built Over In the 80s and 90s

Janette Villafana is an award-winning bilingual multimedia journalist. Her heart lies in community-based reporting, and her work is highly centered on showcasing and uplifting community voices, with a significant focus on the Latino community. She developed her beat at L.A. TACO, covering street vending communities in Los Angeles. Past work has been featured on NBC, LAist, Latino Rebels, and more. She is currently featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington in an exhibit titled “¡De última hora! Latinas Report Breaking News.”

Janette Villafana

Featured

‘We’re One Bullet Away From Becoming a Hashtag:’ Santa Ana Community Demands Justice After Unarmed Man is Killed By Police While Having a Mental Health Crisis

How a Mecanico From El Sereno Took On Cops, The D.A. and a Major Construction Project To Hold It Down in His Neighborhood

Block-Long Fence Erected Across From New Netflix Campus Restricts Pedestrian Access to Sidewalk And Pushes Homeless Deeper East

Homelessness

City Reverses Decision to Remove Washing Stations From Encampments Following L.A. TACO Investigation

Cesar Hernandez is Lynwood&#8217;s second best export behind Weird Al, and a writer and podcaster. Illustration by Tommy Gallegos.

Cesar Hernandez

Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished Lies: How a Butcher From NELA Exposed One of California’s Biggest ‘Sustainable’ Beef Farms