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Rediscovering the L.A. Times’ investigative reporting from 2021

California photos
By Jack LeonardSenior Editor, Investigations 
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Most, if not all, good journalism borrows from the basic principles of investigative reporting. A healthy skepticism, an unwillingness to take claims at face value and a devotion to dig for the truth can be as important to producing feature profiles as they are to uncovering corruption and wrongdoing.

Last year, Los Angeles Times journalists demonstrated their commitment to truth-telling in tens of thousands of stories, graphics, photographs, videos, podcasts, social media posts and other types of content.

We documented the deadly toll of extreme heat and how California has failed to address the growing threat. We revealed the leniency of the state’s medical board in dealing with doctors who commit sexual misconduct or are repeatedly accused of gross negligence and incompetence. We uncovered scandals at some of our region’s most important and powerful institutions.

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Some of this work was done by dedicated investigative reporters. But much of it was produced by Times journalists who, on a daily basis, cover law enforcement, education, business, sports, entertainment and other crucial beats. Their dedication to accountability reporting inspired countless stories, ranging from breaking news to features to hard-hitting investigations. Here is a small sample of the investigative reporting we published in 2021. Please support our work by subscribing today.

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The true toll of heat

Diane McLindon and her dog Frankie, try and stay cool in their trailer.

Heat waves are far deadlier than we think. How California neglects this climate threat

PACOIMA, CA - JUNE 16, 2021 - - Lizette Romo Gonzalez, 31, wipes the sweat off her son's brow while trying to cool off in front of their unit at the San Fernando Gardens Public Housing where temperatures rose to 94 degrees in Pacoima on June 16, 2021. Gonzalez lives in the unit with her husband and five children. She said it was so hot recently that she put all her children in a bathtub of ice cubes and water. That didn't go so well and all the children came down with colds. It was the last time she tried that method. As with other climate-related disasters, the consequences are hugely unequal falling disproportionately on poor communities, like The Gardens, where trees are scarce and residents don't have air conditioning or can't afford to run it. Apartments in public housing do not come with air conditioning and residents have to buy their own, use fans or buy swamp coolers. The families that do have air conditioning use them sparingly to keep their energy bills affordable. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

How to protect yourself and your loved ones from extreme heat

How heat waves form in Southern California.

Climate change is supercharging California heat waves, and the state isn’t ready

CATHEDRAL CITY, CA - JUNE 10, 2021 - - Cory Hammond, 52, mourns the loss of his mother Sandra Hammond, who died in her home in Palm Springs last August when temperatures reached 114-degrees in Cathedral City. Her cremains are stored in a blue wave-shaped urn, right. She was found unconscious by a friend who often went over to help groom the dogs, according to Hammond's son. "She noticed that my mother's breathing was ragged," he said. "My father was there but he thought she was sleeping; they often nap during the day," Cory said. He said his parents had been using a swamp cooler and fans to stay cool. Their central air conditioning unit had broken down a while ago and needed to be replaced. By the time Hammond reached the hospital, where she died two days later, her body temperature was recorded at 106 degrees. Five months after Sandra's death, her husband heard from the Southern California Edison's Energy Savings Assistance Progam saying that the couple had qualified for a central AC replacement. Cory Hammond was photographed in his home in Cathedral City on June 10, 2021. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

As heat waves intensify, access to air conditioning can mean life or death

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Negligent doctors

VIDEO | 02:25
Fabiana’s story
 AJIJIC, JALISCO - SEPTEMBER 29: Fabiana Ramirez Flores, 51, walks home from the market on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021 in Ajijic, Jalisco. Fabiana Ramirez Flores, 51, who is undocumented, was the first woman to come forward after being sexually assaulted by Dr. Esmail Nadjmabadi in 2005. He threatened to call ICE on her if she didn't withdraw her complaint. Fabiana lives with her husband Carlos Valle Perez, 53, in Ajiijic, Mexico. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Doctors who sexually abuse patients routinely reinstated by the California Medical Board

LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA-MAY 17, 2021-Lenora Lewis prepares dinner for her family as her husband Sean Lewis helps their granddaughter, Lilliana Vega, age 6, who lives with them. Lenora Lewis, who lives in Lancaster, went to Dr. Mukesh Misra for a spinal fusion to treat her degenerative disc disease and lower back pain. When she woke up from the surgery on Sept. 10, 2013, she was paralyzed from the waist down. "Every day, I have to wake up and deal with the ramifications of what he did to me," she said. "Every single day, I have to deal with this. There is no amount of money that anyone could ever pay me for what he did to me. I will always be like this. And it's because of him." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
For Subscribers

Botched surgeries and death: How the California Medical Board keeps negligent doctors in business

Gavel, legal code and stethoscope on the glass table. Blue light.
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A California doctor was disciplined for DUIs. Now he’s accused of gross negligence

FALLBROOK, CA—MAY 1, 2021—Tammy Martinez has had to learn to live without one of her legs after a doctor failed to notice he'd cut off circulation to her leg during an operation, causing the need to amputate her left leg. "He totally destroyed my life," she said. The spinal surgeon who operated on Tammy Martinez. is still practicing despite being indicted by the feds for $38 million in fraudulent billing of the state workers' comp fund. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Finding information about your doctor isn’t always easy. Here are some ways to dig deeper

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Golden Globes

illustration of Golden Globes statues against a backdrop of money

Golden Globes voters in tumult: Members accuse Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. of self-dealing, ethical lapses

Rosa Gamazo, a Spanish entertainment journalist who has joined a lawsuit against The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.

Who really gives out the Golden Globes? A tiny group full of quirky characters — and no Black members

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Extremism in Orange County

With sheriff's deputies holding him in place, Alan Hostetter clings to a fence at the Pier Bowl parking lot on May 21, 2020, as part of a rally he organized to demonstrate against the fencing around the lot.
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Suburban radicals: Inside the resurgence of right-wing extremism in Orange County

A clash during a "White Lives Matter protest in Anaheim involving KKK members in 2015
For Subscribers

From the KKK to skinheads, a century of fighting hate in Orange County

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Watching law enforcement

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 22, 2021: The Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park on November 22, 20201 in Los Angeles, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

How the theft of 44 firearms from an L.A. gun store exploded into an LAPD scandal

TORRANCE, CA - JANUARY 5, 2019: Torrance police stand guard outside the Gable House Bowl in Torrance

Torrance police traded racist, homophobic texts. It could jeopardize hundreds of cases

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 22: Sheriff Alex Villanueva addressed a news conference to respond to a recent RAND report saying gang-like cliques still exist within the sheriff's department, with some deputies reporting they've been asked to join the groups within the past five years. Hall of Justice on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times).

L.A. County sheriff’s unit accused of targeting political enemies, vocal critics

L.A. sheriff's deputies bicyclist stops

LOS ANGELES, CA - April 16: Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy Manan Butt talks with a man riding his bike on the sidewalk, along Whittier Boulevard in the heart of East Los Angeles, Friday, April 16, 2021. Deputy Butt let him go with a warning, but made him aware of L.A. County municipal code 15.76.080, which states bike or vehicles are not to be operated on sidewalks. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. sheriff’s deputies use minor stops to search bicyclists, with Latinos hit hardest

LOS ANGELES, CA - April 16: A man riding his bike on the sidewalk, along Whittier Boulevard in the heart of East Los Angeles, questions the intensions of L.A. County Sheriff's deputy Manan Butt after being pulled over, on Friday, April 16, 2021. Deputy Butt let him go with a warning, but made him aware of L.A. County municipal code 15.76.080, which states bike or vehicles are not to be operated on sidewalks. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Sheriff’s Department bike stops: How we reported the story

BOYLE HEIGHTS, CA - AUGUST 18, 2021: Erick Huerta, 37, who has been stopped by sheriff's deputies while riding his hybrid road bike, is photographed on 1st St. in Boyle Heights. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Bicyclists share stories of being stopped by L.A. County deputies: ‘Everybody is a suspect until proven otherwise’

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‘Real Housewives’

Girardi during the trial involving beaten Dodgers fan Bryan Stow

Vegas parties, celebrities and boozy lunches: How legal titan Tom Girardi seduced the State Bar

Plaintiffs' attorney Thomas Girardi presents closing arguments in the civil trial in Bryan Stow's lawsuit against former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

‘Real Housewives’ attorney Tom Girardi used cash and clout to forge powerful political connections

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Tom Girardi, Erika Jayne, former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, and former Sheriff Lee Baca.

His job was to police bad lawyers. He became Tom Girardi’s broker to L.A.’s rich, powerful

They wrote the story that rocked ‘Real Housewives.’ And they still have questions

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Fighter jets

In this Feb. 28, 2017, photo, an F-15C Eagle from the California Air National Guard, 144th Fighter Wing, flies through the nicknamed Star Wars Canyon over Death Valley National Park, Calif. Military jets roaring over national parks have long drawn complaints from hikers and campers. But in California's Death Valley, the low-flying combat aircraft skillfully zipping between the craggy landscape has become a popular attraction in the 3.3 million acre park in the Mojave Desert, 260 miles east of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

California Guard members feared fighter jet would be ordered to frighten protesters

An F-15C air-to-air combat jet was placed on alert in case of unrest over the pandemic or election, sources and records say. The Guard denies it.

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Orange County oil spill

Oil platforms Elly and Ellen

Federal regulation of oil platforms dogged by problems long before O.C. spill

A dead fish is seen after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. A major oil spill off the coast of Southern California fouled popular beaches and killed wildlife while crews scrambled Sunday, to contain the crude before it spread further into protected wetlands. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

First federal lawsuit filed as residents take stock of losses

Story Slug: alaskacruz.ART FILE--A Humpback whale lifts its fluke out of the water as it begins a dive off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., near five off-shore oil drilling platforms, in this May 25, 2001 file photo. A federal judge halted oil and natural gas exploration off central California's coast Friday, June 22, 2001, saying the area can't be drilled or explored until the federal government studies the environmental impacts and the California Coastal Commission approves of the plan. (AP Photo/Santa Barbara News-Press,Mike Eliason, File) ORG XMIT: CABAR801

Newsom ties oil spill to move away from fossil fuels

HUNTINGTON BEACH CA OCTOBER 4, 2021 - Beach cleanup at the Talbert channel entrance to Huntington State Beach is underway Monday morning, October 4, 2021, following a 130,000 gallon oil spill over the weekend from an off-shore oil platform. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Despite Friday night reports, Coast Guard waited until first light Saturday to confirm oil spill

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Cheetos

The man who didn’t invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos

Richard Montañez has for years told a story of how he dreamed up Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while working as a Frito-Lay janitor. The archival record, former employees and Frito-Lay itself say otherwise.

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California’s recall election

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 03: People voting at a polling station located at Union Station on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Conservative activists push voter fraud claims to recruit an army to police California recall polls

Conservative activists pressure election officials to drop people from voting rolls, claiming it invites massive ballot fraud in California.

Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest in Los Angeles, California, on January 6, 2021. - Trump supporters, fueled by his spurious claims of voter fraud, are protesting the expected certification of Joe Biden's White House victory by the US Congress on January 6. (Photo by RINGO CHIU / AFP) (Photo by RINGO CHIU/AFP via Getty Images)

Vigilantes claimed voter fraud. A thousand false leads later, investigators found one case

How a racist myth about immigrants voting continues to fuel unproved claims of voter fraud

FILE - In this July 13, 2021, file photo, conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder speaks to supporters during a campaign stop in Norwalk, Calif. Elder has filed a lawsuit Monday, July 19, 2021, challenging a decision by California election officials to block him from running in the state's Sept. 14 recall election, saying he's the target of political "shenanigans" by Sacramento Democrats. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Recall candidate Larry Elder appears to have not properly disclosed his finances

WOODLAND HILLS, CA - AUGUST 24, 2021 - Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder, who is running for governor of California, greets supporters at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills on August 10, 2021. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Larry Elder’s private charity was a bust, and questions swirl over where the money went

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‘Rust’

A distraught Alec Baldwin
For Subscribers

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

Interviews with multiple members of the “Rust” crew paint an hour- by-hour picture of a cascade of bad decisions that created a chaotic set on which a lead bullet was put into a prop gun.

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Forced out

Houston, CA - August 18: Modesti Cooper, 35, an Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran, looks out from her fourth-story balcony of her house next to the I-10 freeway near downtown Houston. Cooper purchased the land near I-10 in 2015. She built her new custom home and moved in only to receive letter shortly after from Texas Department of Transportation saying her home was in path of highway expansion. Cooper filed a civil rights complaint against the project saying it's discriminatory toward Black/Latino residents. Photo taken Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. In the mid-20th century, the federal interstate highway program was notorious for building new roads through Black and Latino neighborhoods, a practice that displaced hundreds of thousands of families and ruined longstanding communities. Many of these episodes are now seen as a stain on U.S. housing and transportation policy because of how they devastated already under-resourced and segregated neighborhoods. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Freeways force out residents in communities of color — again

Some of the country’s largest recent highway expansions have inflicted another round of displacement in largely Black and Latino communities.

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August 1951 photo of construction of the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angels

The racist history of America’s interstate highway boom

Houston, CA - August 18: An aerial view where Interstate 69 crosses Buffalo Bayou northeast of downtown Houston, next to the Clayton Homes, shown at left, a Houston Housing Authority complex that would be demolished if current plans for redevelopment of Interstate 45 proceeds as planned Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. In the mid-20th century, the federal interstate highway program was notorious for building new roads through Black and Latino neighborhoods, a practice that displaced hundreds of thousands of families and ruined longstanding communities. Many of these episodes are now seen as a stain on U.S. housing and transportation policy because of how they devastated already under-resourced and segregated neighborhoods. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

How we reported the story on highway displacements

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CBS

PHILADELPHIA, PA., DECEMBER 09, 2020— Signage and the front of KYW-TV Channel 3 studios/office building in Philadelphia. It's a boxy building looks there is signage over the door with the CBS "eye" and a CW logo — CBS-3 Eyewitness News Trucks parked out front. (Kirk McKoy / LOS ANGELES TIMES)

Inside CBS’ fraught investigation into allegations of racism and misogyny

A Times review of court filings, internal communications and interviews with two dozen current and former CBS television station employees found that many were troubled by the outcome of the investigation and questioned the company’s commitment to cleaning up its culture.

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Education

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 11: Abraham Lincoln High School Senior Tristan Gamboa as seniors are allowed to enter campus Wednesday morning to receive class selection, school ID, locker assignment and pick up books for classes. Tristan dreams of attending a Cal State University. She struggled to get good grades her freshman year, but was improving her sophomore year. When schools shut their doors in the spring that year, she stayed home as family and friends were sickened by COVID-19, finding it difficult to concentrate. LAUSD is planning to reopen in person instruction next Monday, August 16 with high safety standards and protocols at every campus for the 2021-22 school year. Abraham Lincoln High School on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times).

Falling grades, stalled learning. L.A. students ‘need help now,’ Times analysis shows

A Los Angeles Times analysis of data offers an alarming assessment of the impact of the pandemic on L.A. students.

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USC scandals

For Subscribers

USC’s Song Girls project a glamorous ideal; 10 women describe a different, toxic reality

Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, the former dean of the University of Southern California medical school,

A secret USC payout had a catch: Images of ex-dean using drugs had to be given up

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Allegations of misconduct and harassment

Illustration of talent agent wearing superhero cape with female silhouette

Top Hollywood talent agency accused of tolerating sexual harassment, misconduct

DESERT CENTER, CA - DECEMBER 16, 2020: Ellen Mackey, senior ecologist at the Metropolitan Water District, left, is chair of the women's caucus representing Gina Chavez, middle ,a pump plant mechanic, and Lee King, right, the first female to graduate from the MWD apprentice program, who have endured sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the work place with little help from the MWD on December 16, 2020 in Desert Center, California.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

‘They thought I was so low’: Women say they were harassed, bullied, ignored at powerful water agency

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 24: Portrait of Kate Morgan, former operations manager, 36, left, playwriter Annie Lesser, who wrote the scripts for the venue's performances, 31, middle, and Alison Waxman, 27, a member who states she was assaulted there. 27 at the Cloak & Dagger Monday, Aug. 24, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. The portrait is of former employees and victims or harassment and abuse at the Cloak & Dagger nightclub in Hollywood, a secretive members-only goth venue run by a pair of prominent LA music producers. The photo was taken outside the venue where the club night was hosted. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. Goth nightclub known for rituals and secrecy has closed amid sexual misconduct claims

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Produced by Agnus Dei Farrant.

CaliforniaTimes Investigations
Jack Leonard

As senior editor of investigations, Jack Leonard oversaw the work of a team of investigative reporters. As a reporter, he was part of the team that exposed fraud and abuse in California’s conservatorship system, a series that won several national awards. He went on to investigate how early releases from L.A.’s jail system perverts justice and fosters more crime on the street. Later, he worked on a sweeping expose of abuse and corruption in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

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