Anita Chabria to be a Times California columnist

The following announcement was sent on behalf of Deputy Managing Editor Shelby Grad:

I’m pleased to announce that Anita Chabria is our newest California columnist.

Chabria takes on this new role after an amazing run as our Northern California reporter, where she juggled masterful coverage of breaking news with enterprise and investigative stories, Column Ones and a deep focus on criminal justice.

Her byline is hard to miss. During the big fires in wine country a few years ago, she filed stories with five different datelines in a matter of three hours, literally being chased by flames from one to another. She’s been on the front lines as climate change rapidly alters California in destructive ways, from fires to flooding. She’s also helped lead our investigative coverage of extremism in California, produced numerous police accountability projects, documented the pandemic in California from its first days on a cruise ship in the San Francisco Bay and collaborated with colleagues on stories big and small.

Chabria will bring her relentlessness to the new columnist job. She will be based in Sacramento but intends to travel the state and be at the center of conversations about where California is going. Her column will have a print home in the California section but she plans to write shorter pieces off the news as well as longer-form series. She also wants to be a conversation starter, and that includes events, TV and audio as well as live chats with readers. Her column will appear in the new year.