Valerie Richardson

Calls rise after Fort Hood to allow carrying firearms on base

Fort Hood may seem worlds apart from Sandy Hook Elementary School, but they have at least two things in common: Both have been victimized recently by horrific mass shootings, and neither allows the carrying of firearms. Published April 5, 2014

Details emerging in Fort Hood massacre

An armed female security officer confronted Fort Hood gunman Spc. Ivan Lopez minutes after his deadly rampage began, firing off a round before he put his .45-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. Published April 3, 2014

Another risky Alaska flight, courtesy of Obama administration regulations

Another seriously injured patient has been required to undergo a risky flight by medevac in treacherous conditions from King Cove, Alaska, the result of the Obama administration’s refusal to allow the construction of a 10-mile road. Published April 2, 2014

The Steyer Brothers: GOP finds Koch rivals who finance Democrats

While Democrats hammer away at the influence of the Koch brothers, conservatives are swinging back by pointing to the liberal campaign activism and free-spending ways of the wealthy Steyer brothers, Jim and Tom. Published April 1, 2014

Democrats behaving badly: Scandals taint party in a tough election year

A flood of corruption scandals involving state and local Democratic Party lawmakers is threatening to muddy the party's image as it enters what was already a tough election cycle. Published March 30, 2014

College’s pick of pro-choice speaker sparks outcry

Barnard College’s decision to select Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards as its graduation speaker has triggered a backlash from conservative students. Published March 28, 2014

NRA ad targets disgraced California Dem Yee

Disgraced California state Sen. Leland Yee is the new poster boy in a social media ad campaign released Thursday by the National Rifle Association. Published March 28, 2014

NRA aims social-media ad at Calif. state Sen. Leland Yee

Disgraced California state Sen. Leland Yee is the new poster boy in a social-media ad campaign released Thursday by the National Rifle Association. Published March 28, 2014

In wild West, growing battle of man vs. nature

The deadly mudslide in Washington state offers a grim perspective on an issue bedeviling the West: homebuyers who move beyond the suburbs and build their houses up against, and even into, the wilderness. Published March 27, 2014

Alaskans battle for survival against feds’ protection of migratory birds

Washington's refusal to allow a 10-mile gravel road between King Cove and the airport at Cold Bay is a matter of life or death for Alaskans who rely on quick access to airports and hospital flights as much as migratory birds rely on the eel grass that the Interior Department would rather preserve. Published March 26, 2014

Congress members back U.S. flag against school’s ban

Twenty members of Congress lent their support Tuesday to a lawsuit filed on behalf of three California students who were forbidden from wearing American flag T-shirts at their high school during a Cinco de Mayo celebration, a decision an appeals court upheld last month. Published March 25, 2014

$A worker helps monitor water pumping pressure and temperature at a hydraulic fracturing and extraction site outside Rifle, in western Colorado. (Associated Press) ** FILE **$

Fracking initiatives in Colorado are ground zero for national debate

A gusher of proposed ballot initiatives on hydraulic fracturing is poised to flood the November ballot as Colorado digs in for a gritty election battle between the oil and gas industry and environmentalists. Published March 24, 2014

Romney: ‘Our esteem … has fallen’ under Obama

Mitt Romney said Sunday that the United States’ international esteem has declined during President Obama’s five years in the White House. Published March 23, 2014

Gingrich: Obamacare will cost Democrats the Senate this fall

Lawmakers and pundits marked the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act on Sunday, with Republicans predicting the troubled centerpiece of the Obama presidency will hurt the entire Democratic Party this fall. Published March 23, 2014

Students fill out ‘March Madness’ brackets ranking Obama scandals

President Obama famously fills out an NCAA March Madness basketball bracket ever year, but it's nothing like the one recently circulated by campus conservative activist Caleb Bonham. Published March 23, 2014

Climate change talk brings chills to Alaska Democrat; GOP exploits issue in oil-rich states

The Senate Democrats' decision to issue a national wake-up call on climate change didn't exactly come at a great time for Democrats like Sen. Mark Begich. Published March 17, 2014

Report: EPA accused of overkill in ‘raid’ on Alaska gold-mine

Last year's Environmental Protection Agency raid on the small gold-mining town of Chicken, Alaska, constituted a clear case of overkill by federal authorities seeking violations of environmental regulations, according to an official review of the controversial incident released Thursday. Published March 13, 2014