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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A federal judge says the Pentagon has provided no justification for profiling immigrant recruits who became U.S. citizens. -
Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist and Democrat, was elected in 2017. The photo shows a person wearing blackface standing next to another person wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe. -
A voter-approved law requiring large warnings about the effects of soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks was challenged by the beverage industry.
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In unusually frank language, the judge said he fears the potential for more fires in 2019 if the utility company does not take drastic action.
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The new procedure is designed to prevent applicants from remaining in the U.S. while they await a hearing before an immigration judge. -
PG&E, the state's largest utility, has filed for bankruptcy protection due to its potential liabilities. The company says it expects no disruption to services during its Chapter 11 process. -
The plan, expected to meet with a swift legal challenge, comes out of talks with Mexican officials. The administration is implementing it first at the San Ysidro, Calif., port of entry. -
Power transmission lines owned by the beleaguered utility company are still the focus of an investigation into the cause of the Camp Fire in 2018.
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U.S.-backed Juan Guaidó has declared himself president as he leads a high-stakes charge to end Nicolás Maduro's regime. Hitting back against U.S. support for Guaidó, Maduro ordered U.S. diplomats out. -
Police say they responded to a 911 call from someone who said he had opened fire in a SunTrust bank in Sebring, Fla., on Wednesday afternoon. The suspect is a former trainee prison guard.
