Richard Gonzales
Richard Gonzales is NPR's National Desk Correspondent based in San Francisco. Along with covering the daily news of region, Gonzales' reporting has included medical marijuana, gay marriage, drive-by shootings, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, the U.S. Ninth Circuit, the California State Supreme Court and any other legal, political, or social development occurring in Northern California relevant to the rest of the country.
Gonzales joined NPR in May 1986. He covered the U.S. State Department during the Iran-Contra Affair and the fall of apartheid in South Africa. Four years later, he assumed the post of White House Correspondent and reported on the prelude to the Gulf War and President George W. Bush's unsuccessful re-election bid. Gonzales covered the U.S. Congress for NPR from 1993-94, focusing on NAFTA and immigration and welfare reform.
In September 1995, Gonzales moved to his current position after spending a year as a John S. Knight Fellow Journalism at Stanford University.
In 2009, Gonzales won the Broadcast Journalism Award from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. He also received the PASS Award in 2004 and 2005 from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for reports on California's juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.
Prior to NPR, Gonzales was a freelance producer at public television station KQED in San Francisco. From 1979 to 1985, he held positions as a reporter, producer, and later, public affairs director at KPFA, a radio station in Berkeley, CA.
Gonzales graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in psychology and social relations. He is a co-founder of Familias Unidas, a bi-lingual social services program in his hometown of Richmond, California.
-
The suspect has been identified as a 16-year-old student at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita. Officials say he carried out the attack on his birthday. -
The full D.C. Circuit voted 8-3 not to reconsider an earlier decision by a three-judge panel that ruled against the president. Trump's lawyer says he will appeal to the Supreme Court. -
The National Transportation Safety Board says it has issued almost two dozen safety recommendations in the past 20 years and not all have been implemented. -
The chief executive of Hong Kong signaled that she is prepared for a crackdown as the U.S. State Department called on the government to address the "underlying concerns" of protesters. -
A year ago, Sessions resigned as attorney general after months of tension with President Trump, who complained that the former Alabama senator was not sufficiently loyal. -
The next hurdle is a federal trial in December in which a coalition of state attorneys general are challenging the merger as anti-competitive. -
California voters approved the sale of recreational marijuana in 2016. But the legal market is still struggling to compete with the illicit market. -
Democrat Gavin Newsom has been critical of the state's largest utility, PG&E, in the face of planned power outages that left 2 million customers without electricity. -
About 10,800 residents are under evacuation orders because of the Maria Fire, one of two wildfires threatening Ventura County. Farther north, the Kincade Fire is 70% contained. -
The group cites rising insurance costs. The reaction from adult volunteer leaders ranged from annoyance to skepticism, mainly about the timing of the announcement.
