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.
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Stanford says it will its divest holdings in coal companies over climate change concerns. It's the most prominent of the roughly one dozen colleges that have decided to sell off fossil fuel holdings.
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The FBI is saying that a 16-year-old boy is lucky to be alive after he hid in the wheel well of a flight from San Jose to Maui. Severe temperatures and low oxygen would make survival difficult. Investigators are examining the case.
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Latino activists have changed their strategy, tired of waiting for Congress to pass immigration legislation. Instead of pursuing lawmakers, many are calling on the White House to act on its own. -
In a case that has stunned California's political community, Sen. Leland Yee is charged with trafficking shoulder-fired missiles and plotting with a character known as "Shrimp Boy." -
California's severe drought has left rivers so dry that young salmon can't make their usual migration. To save the fish and the industry, the state is giving millions of salmon a lift. -
Silicon Valley companies have launched a drive to provide citizenship services on-site to employees holding green cards. The belief is that such employees become more valuable workers.
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In a dispute involving two drugmakers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an attorney can't dismiss a potential juror because of that juror's sexual orientation. -
Laws like Uganda's that outlaw homosexuality may encourage some gay people abroad to seek asylum in the U.S. But proving a "well-founded fear of persecution" is not an easy path. -
A federal judge in Virginia struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban this week. Similar rulings have come down in other conservative states, like Kentucky, Oklahoma and Utah, indicating the strategy for winning marriage equality in federal courts is moving faster than many expected. -
The proposed farm bill would cut nearly $1 billion a year from the food stamp program, known as SNAP. While it's far less than what Republicans had originally wanted, the proposal will affect roughly 850,000 households, many of which are still struggling from cuts made only three months ago.
