Melissa Gomez is an enterprise reporter on the State Team who joined the Los Angeles Times in 2018. She reports on a range of news and issues, with a special focus on the Central Valley. She previously covered education and the 2020 presidential campaign at The Times. A native Floridian, she graduated from the University of Florida.
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Fresno police chief Paco Balderrama issued a statement through the city, saying that serving as chief “has truly been the privilege of a lifetime.”
June 25, 2024
Don’t call Odilia Romero Latina, or Mexican, or Hispanic. She is Zapotec and her mission has been making sure Indigenous people are not stifled or stereotyped.
June 23, 2024
The cougar, which was not wearing a monitoring collar, was killed near the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, a passageway that crosses over the freeway.
June 15, 2024
When officers arrived at the scene, they instructed the woman to drop the knife and surrender, but she did not comply, police said.
June 15, 2024
Two Morningside High School students, David and Hector Ceja, were killed in a two-car collision Tuesday night, just two days before David would have walked across the stage at graduation.
June 7, 2024
The vibe at Cal State L.A.’s pro-Palestinian encampment is quieter than the raucous scenes that have unfolded at some SoCal campuses. One key difference: the number of students juggling schoolwork with outside jobs and family duties.
May 22, 2024
The farming giant’s lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of California’s card-check law, which allows workers to authorize a union by signing cards at off-site gatherings rather than voting at a designated polling place.
May 14, 2024
Like many rural counties, Merced is losing deputies to jurisdictions that pay more. The shortage is so dire, Sheriff Vern Warnke is sometimes the only one available to respond to calls for help.
May 3, 2024
Less than 24 hours after a violent attack on a pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA, officers pulled apart barricades as they tore down the encampment and made arrests.
May 3, 2024