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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The move had been rumored following the publication of Fire and Fury, which included quotes that were embarrassing to President Trump. -
Authorities say they are talking with a person of interest, but they don't believe the fire is related to allegations against Moore, the Senate candidate accused of sexual contact with teenage girls.
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As the "bomb cyclone" intensifies, visibility has dropped to nearly zero in some sections of the snow band. Serious flooding and hurricane-force winds have been observed in coastal Massachusetts. -
An LGBT activist says the Trump administration has waved "the white flag," dropping an appeal of court rulings blocking a ban on transgender troops. -
A brief power outage disrupted about a dozen rides during a busy holiday week. -
Retired business executive Andrea Ramsey had hoped to oust an incumbent Republican congressman in a Kansas district targeted by the Democrats.
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The Thomas Fire has claimed more than 249,500 acres and over 700 homes. Officials say it won't be contained until January. -
Executions of death row inmates occurred in only eight states in 2017 as public support for capital punishment wanes, according to an annual report by the Death Penalty Information Center. -
The wildfire has burned through 238,500 acres and destroyed more than 700 homes. It's been burning for more than a week and is one of the largest and most destructive fires in state history. -
The first elected Asian-American mayor of the city was not known to be ill; he collapsed while shopping Monday night and died at a San Francisco hospital in the early hours of Tuesday morning. -
After losing some ground to the massive Thomas Fire north of Los Angeles over the weekend, firefighters on Monday managed to bring it to 20 percent containment.
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The blaze raging in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties covers more ground than New York City. And as other, smaller fires are reined in, weather forecasts portend the Thomas Fire will spread.
