Laurence Du Sault

Laurence Du Sault is a reporter with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley. She can be reached at dusault.l@gmail.com

Coronavirus study: Lifting eviction moratoriums leads to higher COVID-19 case rates, deaths

December 12, 2020 at 6:18 a.m.

As the state faces its most stringent business shutdowns since spring and as moratoriums protecting many from eviction threaten to sunset, California lawmakers have started debating more protections for vulnerable renters and...

Social Distancing rules meant to protect against the transmission of COVID-19, in English and Spanish, displayed at the entrance to a commercial construction site in Sunnyvale on May 10, 2020. California does not make workplace COVID-19 case data available to the public. Photo by Andrei Stanescu via iStock

Oregon posts workplace outbreaks, California has no such plan

November 17, 2020 at 6:34 a.m.

Oregon led with transparency in reporting workplace outbreaks. California shields businesses so as not to shame them. The distinction has workers and public health experts worried.

(File photo-LAKE COUNTY PUBLISHING) The Women's March in Lakeport, January 2019 drew crowds to support women's rights, including equality in pay.

Women workers may not be faring as well as you’d think

November 14, 2020 at 6:34 a.m.

New index ranks women’s well-being in all California counties shows Santa Clara women are the most likely to work low wage jobs in the state.

Sarah Rivas, 27, sits for a portrait in her parent's backyard in Elk Grove, Calif., on Oct. 14, 2020. Rivas, a history teacher at TK in Silicon Valley, has been living with her parents since March while teaching online in order to save money. (Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters)

For many Californians, the pandemic marks the end of ‘barely making it’

October 16, 2020 at 6:40 a.m.

The pandemic is accelerating the demise of the middle class, leaving many unable to sustain financial independence. In Silicon Valley and elsewhere, middle-class workers have found themselves unable to make...

OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 1: Supporters attend a Moms 4 Housing Board of SuperMOMS protest outside the County of Alameda Administrations building across the street from the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

New California eviction protections come with a wish — federal funds

September 2, 2020 at 8:54 a.m.

A stopgap measure on evictions signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom has drawn mixed reviews and a call for more federal support for renters and small landlords.

2018 Women's March San Francisco attendees raise fists and hold signs in support of missing and murdered indigenous women. Photo by Pax Ahimsa Gethen via Creative Commons

Report finds lack of scrutiny in cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women

August 6, 2020 at 6:49 a.m.

For generations, order and cleanliness had been Christina Lastra’s family’s way of fighting off poverty. But the day in July 1991 when her mother’s mysterious death was ruled an accident...

The struggle to enter California’s cannabis market: ‘So much heartache, so much pain’

July 7, 2020 at 6:04 a.m.

Despite state programs, low-income and minority applicants struggle to break in.

Homeless youth build East Bay tiny house village

June 27, 2020 at 6:53 a.m.

Peek over the fence of one narrow building on Alcatraz Avenue in Oakland and you’ll see a handful of people buzzing around half a dozen tiny, multicolored houses. They are...

(Paiching Wei/Bay Area News Group and Getty Images)

California’s Criminal Cops: Who they are, what they did, why some are still working

November 11, 2019 at 9:36 a.m.

More than 80 law enforcement officers working today in California are convicted criminals, with rap sheets that include everything from animal cruelty to manslaughter.

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