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Valerie Richardson

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Valerie Richardson

vrichardson@washingtontimes.com

Valerie Richardson covers politics and the West from Denver. She can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Valerie Richardson

This Wednesday, April 16, 2014 photo shows Jerry DeLemus, of Rochester, N.H., talks, about heading a group of self-described militia members who have been camping on rancher Cliven Bundy&#8217;s ranch near Bunkerville, Nev. Armed backers of embattled rancher Cliven Bundy are still living along a state highway in southern Nevada, almost three weeks after an armed standoff halted U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to round up cattle he grazes on public land. The BLM says Bundy owes $1.1 million in grazing fees and penalties. (AP Photo/Ken Ritter)

Bundy supporters in 2014 Bunkerville standoff back on trial

The Bundy family's fight against the federal government has created headaches for at least one agency, the Justice Department, which returned to court Monday badly in need of a guilty verdict after a series of misfires in its pursuit of the Nevada ranching family.

July 10, 2017

Visitors traverse the Great Hall as they enter the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, Wednesday, May 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Federal arts funding wastes millions on wealthy nonprofits grants

President Trump has been accused of trying to cut off struggling artists by eliminating federal arts funding, but a study released Monday found that taxpayers are spending millions on grants for wealthy non-profits, some with assets of more than $1 billion.

July 10, 2017

$Workers tend to a well head during a hydraulic fracturing operation outside Rifle, in western Colorado on March 29, 2013. (Associated Press) **FILE**$

Lamar Smith Randy Weber anti-fracking groups funding by Russia

Two key House Republicans have called on the Trump administration to investigate whether Russia is trying to undermine the U.S. energy industry by funding environmental activism as part of a "propaganda war against fossil fuels."

July 9, 2017

In this July 18, 2016, file photo, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Robert William Simet, Omaha man, threatened to kill Sen. Joni Ernst at motorcycle charity ride

July 8, 2017

James O'Keefe, founder of the conservative investigative group Project Veritas, released undercover video of Nicholas Dudich, The New York Times' audience strategy editor, bragging about his ability to slant the news.(Associated Press/File)

Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe frames Washington Post retraction in latest video

Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe was so tickled by The Washington Post's decision to issue a retraction stemming from its coverage of his latest undercover sting operation that he decided to frame it.

July 7, 2017

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown backs a bill requiring insurers to provide free abortions. "The ability to control our bodies and make informed decisions about health are critical to providing all Oregonians the opportunity to achieve our full potential," she said. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Kate Brown, Oregon governor, to allow free abortions for all

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Thursday that she plans to sign a sweeping, unprecedented bill requiring insurers to provide free abortions for their customers, including illegal immigrants.

July 6, 2017

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Gal Gadot in a scene from "Wonder Woman." (Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

Qatar becomes third Arab-majority nation to ban ‘Wonder Woman’ starring Israeli Gal Gadot

A third Arab-majority country, Qatar, has banned the blockbuster movie "Wonder Woman" amid the hubbub over star Gal Gadot's service in the Israeli Defense Force.

July 4, 2017

Oregon House Democrats pushed through the Reproductive Health Equity Act after a nearly two-hour debate over the bill, which would allocate $10.2 million for services related to contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, including vasectomies and abortions, in the 2017-19 budget period. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

Oregon house passes free abortions bill with Reproductive Health Equity Act

An Oregon bill requiring insurers to provide their customers with free abortions--including illegal immigrants--has advanced to the state Senate after winning approval Saturday in the state House with no Republican votes.

July 2, 2017

FILE - This June 19, 2013 file photo shows Greta Van Susteren at the National Press Club in Washington. On Thursday, June 29, 2017, Van Susteren tweeted, “I am out at MSNBC.” The network confirmed it, and said she will be replaced at the 6 p.m. hour by a show hosted by Ari Melber. Van Susteren started her nightly show on MSNBC on Jan. 9, 2017. She was a longtime host at Fox News Channel, but left the network in the summer of 2016. She’s had the cable news hat trick: programs on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Greta Van Susteren fired by MSNBC but right-wing ‘hiring spree’ continues

MSNBC has fired host Greta Van Susteren, formerly of Fox News, after just six months, but progressives worried about the network's recent right-of-center hires had no time to exhale.

June 30, 2017

James O'Keefe, founder of the conservative investigative group Project Veritas, released undercover video of Nicholas Dudich, The New York Times' audience strategy editor, bragging about his ability to slant the news.(Associated Press/File)

CNN producer calls Trump ‘crazy,’ voters ‘stupid as sh—’ in latest Project Veritas video

A producer for CNN's morning news show said that media insiders view President Trump as a "clown" who's "f--ing crazy" and voters as "stupid as sh--" in an undercover video released Friday by Project Veritas.

June 30, 2017

GuideStar removes ‘hate group’ tags on nonprofits

As far as conservative organizations are concerned, being labeled a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center isn't just annoying -- it's dangerous.

June 29, 2017

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2016 file photo, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, left, a rancher from Arizona, talks to reporters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore. FBI Special Agent W. Joseph Astarita has been indicted in Portland Ore., Wednesday, June 28, 2017, on accusations that he lied about firing at Finicum when officers arrested leaders of an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in rural Oregon.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

FBI agent pleads not guilty to lying in Ammon Bundy Oregon standoff

The FBI agent charged Wednesday with lying about firing his gun during a deadly confrontation during the 2016 Oregon-Bundy standoff may be only the tip of the iceberg.

June 28, 2017

In this April 28, 2017, file photo, Van Jones, host of "The Messy Truth with Van Jones" appears after an interview in New York. Mr. Jones was shown in a June 2017 Project Veritas video saying Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election was a "nothing-burger" and a poor use of Democrats time absent an unlikely "smoking gun" to come of the matter. ( Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP) **FILE**

CNN’s Van Jones calls Russia story ‘nothing burger’ in latest undercover video

CNN was hit Wednesday with a second undercover video, this one featuring regular political contributor Van Jones calling the Russia controversy a "nothing burger."

June 28, 2017

Forrest Scott looks out at the burning Hill Fire from his home off of Huer Huero Road near Santa Margarita, Calif. Monday, June 26, 2017. The property where he lives was surrounded by the flames, but his home and all but one small out building, were saved by Cal Fire crews. (Joe Johnston/The Tribune (of San Luis Obispo) via AP)

Support grows for thinning trees to combat forest fires as wildfires scorch West

With wildfires already raging through the West, House Republicans took a chainsaw Tuesday to federal regulations that have created a fire-friendly environment on public lands by slowing forest-thinning and dead-tree removal.

June 27, 2017

President Donald Trump thanks the audience at the end of joints statements with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, June 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Donald Trump charges ‘fake news’ after CNN producer caught saying Russia story is about ‘ratings’

The White House doubled down on the "fake news" narrative Tuesday in response to fresh accusations of bias at CNN as tensions between the Trump administration and establishment press hit what may be an all-time high.

June 27, 2017

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is back in court, this time as a defendant. He is accused of willfully disobeying an injunction barring him from enforcing federal immigration laws. (Associated Press)

Joe Arpaio on trial for illegal immigrants jailings

Arizona's Joe Arpaio, once known as "America's toughest sheriff," was back Monday where has long been most at home -- in the spotlight -- although not for the reasons he would have preferred.

June 26, 2017

In this Aug. 14, 2015, file photo, water flows through a series of sediment retention ponds built to reduce heavy metal and chemical contaminants from the Gold King Mine wastewater accident in the spillway about 1/4 mile downstream from the mine outside Silverton, Colo. On Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Justice Department to weigh in on New Mexico's lawsuit against Colorado over the Gold King mine waste spill that polluted rivers in both states and in Utah. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

Supreme Court rejects New Mexico’s bid to sue Colorado over Gold King Mine spill

New Mexico's bid to recover damages from Colorado over the Gold King Mine spill was thwarted Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

June 26, 2017

In this March 16, 2016, file photo, American student Otto Warmbier, center, is escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File)

Katherine Dettwyler, university prof, fired, said Otto Warmbier ‘got exactly what he deserved’

The University of Delaware has dropped an adjunct anthropology professor after she said that Otto Warmbier, who died after being imprisoned in North Korea, "got exactly what he deserved."

June 26, 2017

Rep. Adam B. Schiff's acknowledgment that collusion "still remains to be seen" shows that nearly a year after the House intelligence panel began its investigation, Democrats are left with a relatively small list of Trump campaign-Russia contacts on which to base a grand conspiracy. (Associated Press/File)

Adam Schiff Obama made ‘very serious mistake’ on Russian election meddling

It was the Democratic Party's turn Sunday to sweat over Russian meddling as lawmakers acknowledged that President Barack Obama knew about the foreign election interference but failed to act until after the 2016 presidential race.

June 25, 2017

Hugh Hewitt MSNBC show angers liberals with conservative hires

Progressives expecting a comforting anti-Trump presence Saturday morning on MSNBC were spewing their corn flakes after finding instead conservative Hugh Hewitt in his debut as host of a weekly show on the liberal network.

June 25, 2017