Valerie Richardson

Gov. Hickenlooper’s big gulp from polluted Animas River slammed by health official

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's big gulp of water from the formerly orange Animas River wasn't just icky, it was "reckless and irresponsible," said New Mexico's top environmental official.

August 14, 2015

EPA denies Navajo pressure to waive rights to future payment claims in Animas River disaster

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy moved to mend fences Thursday with Navajo Nation as the agency denied accusations that it tried to force Indians to waive their rights to future claims stemming from the Gold King Mine blowout.

August 13, 2015

Erin Brockovich: EPA must fire people in Colorado spill

Erin Brockovich, the anti-pollution crusader made famous in the eponymous movie starring Julia Roberts, says the EPA's apology for the Gold King Mine spill "just ain't gonna cut it" and urged the agency to "fire people" if necessary.

August 13, 2015

Judge nixes StemExpress’s effort to obtain pro-life group’s undercover video

A California judge rejected Thursday an effort by StemExpress to gain access to video footage from the pro-life Center for Medical Progress exposing the company's business relationship with Planned Parenthood.

August 13, 2015

Masterpiece Cakeshop: Bakery can’t refuse to make gay wedding cakes because of religion, court rules

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday against a Christian baker who refused to prepare a wedding cake for a same-sex ceremony, rejecting the argument that doing so would violate his First Amendment rights.

August 13, 2015

Michael Bennet polls worse than Mark Udall, Colorado Democrat who lost in 2014

An analysis released Wednesday brought bad news for Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat, whose numbers show him in bigger re-election trouble than was Democratic Sen. Mark Udall was at this stage of the 2014 election cycle that ended in his defeat.

August 12, 2015

John Hickenlooper, Colorado governor, drinks from Animas River after EPA spill

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper once drank fracking fluid to prove a point, so guzzling water from the EPA-contaminated Animas River was apparently no big deal.

August 12, 2015

Gold King Mine spill: Democrats, green activists scrambling to provide cover for EPA

The environmental left can be counted on to whip up an outcry whenever a private company despoils a gulf, stream or river -- unless the polluter in question is the Environmental Protection Agency.

August 12, 2015

Gina McCarthy, EPA administrator, ‘deeply sorry’ for wastewater spill

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy broke her silence Tuesday on the agency's wastewater spill from Colorado's Gold King Mine by saying she was "deeply sorry," but that wasn't enough to stave off a demand for congressional oversight into the accident and the agency's fumbled reaction.

August 11, 2015

Assisted suicide New Mexico ruling struck by higher court

The New Mexico Court of Appeals handed a defeat to the right-to-die movement Tuesday by striking down a lower-court ruling establishing physician-assisted suicide.

August 11, 2015

EPA won’t face fines for polluting rivers with orange muck

Unlike BP, which was fined $5.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the EPA will pay nothing in fines for unleashing the Animas River spill.

August 11, 2015

EPA expands closures to Animas and San Juan rivers from wastewater spill

The EPA isn't terribly popular in the aftermath of its toxic wastewater blowout, and the agency didn't gain any friends Monday by announcing that water from the Animas and San Juan rivers in three states will remain shut off for at least another week.

August 10, 2015

EPA’s toxic spill has river users wanting accountability for agency

The EPA is known for its hard line on environmental offenders, but its own accountability is being challenged after its agents unleashed a disastrous toxic spill threatening water supplies in four Western states and two Indian reservations.

August 9, 2015

Susana Martinez, New Mexico governor, bashes EPA for polluting Animas River with wastewater

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez blasted the EPA for accidentally flooding the Animas River with toxic orange wastewater, calling on the agency to hold itself to the same standard for the disaster as it would a private entity.

August 8, 2015

Death-penalty foes play race card after James Holmes gets life instead of death

It didn't take long for critics of the death penalty to bring up race after James Holmes was sentenced Friday to life in prison instead of death for the deadly Aurora, Colorado, theater rampage.

August 8, 2015

James Holmes sentenced to life in prison for Colorado massacre after jury splits

Aurora theater shooter James Eagan Holmes escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole Friday after a Colorado jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.

August 7, 2015

EPA takes heat for toxic wastewater spill that turns Colorado river orange

The Environmental Protection Agency is coming under fire in Colorado after accidentally dumping one million gallons of acidic waste into the Las Animas River, turning it bright orange and threatening the community's water supply.

August 7, 2015

Planned Parenthood, roiled by undercover videos, fighting to stay relevant

Planned Parenthood has been roiled by undercover videos exposing its handling of aborted fetal tissue, but a bigger problem may be the perception that the 99-year-old organization is rapidly becoming irrelevant.

August 6, 2015

Alabama Gov. Bentley defunds Planned Parenthood affiliate

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced Thursday that he has cut the state's funding to Planned Parenthood, making his the third state to defund the organization since last month's release of alarming undercover videos.

August 6, 2015

Planned Parenthood’s approval dips despite sparse media coverage of videos

A YouGov poll released Wednesday shows that Planned Parenthood's approval rating has dipped slightly even though 70 percent of adults have heard little or nothing about the release of alarming undercover videos, fueling charges of a snub by the news media.

August 6, 2015