Sponsor

Jordan Rynning

he/him

Watchdog correspondent

What I cover

I help Southern Californians hold their local government officials accountable by shining a light into the inner workings of city halls, law enforcement agencies and other powerful institutions. Drawing from local community voices, government sources and advanced data analysis, I keep a watchful eye on how government officials use — or abuse — their positions of power and hear from experts on policy solutions to residents’ most pressing issues.

My background

I left a career in military intelligence to become a journalist in 2019, then studied data journalism at Stanford University and interned on the Atlanta Journal Constitution data team covering national politics. Before joining LAist in 2025, I contributed to an award-winning investigation aired on WNYC about misinformation spread over Spanish language radio ahead of the 2024 elections.

My goals

I want to make local government work for the community. That means asking public officials the hard questions, poring over public records and digging into the issues that matter to Angelenos.

How to contact me

I would love to hear from you if you have feedback or concerns about local government. You can reach out by email. I'm at jrynning@laist.com. Or, if you have a tip you’d like to share more privately, you can reach me on Signal. My username is @jrynning.56.

Stories by Jordan Rynning

Civics & Democracy

LA is on the hook for more than half a billion in liability payouts in just 2 years. 4 of the costliest cases

LAist took a deeper look at some of the highest-costing incidents of the last two fiscal years, including excessive use of force and injuries caused by decaying infrastructure.
Civics & Democracy

As LA veers toward a financial crisis, $320M in liability payouts play a big role

The city of Los Angeles is expected to pay at least that much in settlements and judgments this fiscal year. An LAist analysis breaks down those claims and what it means for services.