Valerie Richardson

Robert Kennedy Jr. presses states to rethink child vaccination laws

Supporters of state legislation to tighten vaccine exemptions appeared poised for success this year after the Disneyland measles outbreak, but opponents are hoping the Kennedy magic proves equally contagious.

March 16, 2015

Obamacare cancellations feared for nearly 200,000 Coloradans in 2016

Nearly 200,000 insured Coloradans will lose their health-care plans next year under the state's embattled Obamacare exchange, Connect for Health Colorado.

March 14, 2015

James Knowles III, Ferguson mayor, hit with recall effort amid unrest

Residents of Ferguson, Missouri, launched a recall effort Friday afternoon against Mayor James Knowles III, the most prominent public figure remaining in the strife-ridden community after a recent rash of resignations.

March 14, 2015

Cato Institute refuses to cooperate with Senate Democrats’ climate-research probe

Add the Cato Institute to the list of those refusing to cooperate with the Senate Democrats' investigation into the funding of climate research.

March 13, 2015

Ferguson protesters set back by gunfire on 2 police officers

Activists offered their support to the two police officers shot Thursday in Ferguson but acknowledged that the gunfire delivered a setback to the movement as questions surfaced over whether nonstop protests helped provoke the incident.

March 12, 2015

Ferguson protesters want ‘dead cops,’ says Jeff Roorda, St. Louis union official

A St. Louis police union official said Thursday that anti-police protesters aren't satisfied with reform — what they want is "dead cops."

March 12, 2015

Police detain three in Ferguson police shooting ‘ambush’

Police brought in for questioning three people Thursday in the shooting of two St. Louis-area officers at a midnight protest rally in Ferguson, an incident the police chief described as an "ambush."

March 12, 2015

Climate change ‘denier’ scientist funding investigation countered by ‘warmist’ probe

A Democrat-led congressional investigation into the funding sources of scientists skeptical of climate-change doomsday scenarios has triggered another scientific law — to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction — from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

March 11, 2015

Petition to rename Buffalo, N.Y., used as critique of Redskins controversy

For the record, Mark Beasley doesn't really want the city of Buffalo to change its name. But his petition isn't exactly a joke either.

March 9, 2015

Benjamin Netanyahu troubled by U.S. offers of a ‘nuclear umbrella’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that "troubling questions" are raised if reports are accurate that the White House is offering Arab states a "nuclear umbrella" to protect them from Iran.

March 8, 2015

Hillary Clinton email scandal intensifies as Benghazi investigators find ‘huge gaps’

The Hillary Rodham Clinton email scandal picked up steam Sunday as the lead Republican investigator on Benghazi said there are "huge gaps" between emails received so far from her private server, and even a top Senate Democrat urged Mrs. Clinton to be more forthcoming.

March 8, 2015

Ferguson mayor vows to hold biased police accountable

The mayor of Ferguson said city officials will hold accountable anyone involved in the targeting of the minority community for tickets and arrests revealed in last week’s Justice Department report.

March 8, 2015

Ex-ambassador alleges ‘different standard’ at State Department on private emails

Former U.S. Ambassador Scott Gration, who lost his Kenya post in part over a private email account, said Sunday that a "different standard" was applied to his case and that of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

March 8, 2015

More voters side with Benjamin Netanyahu than Obama on Iran nuclear deal: poll

That speech before Congress may have worked: More U.S. voters appear to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tougher approach over President Obama's more conciliatory strategy when it comes to negotiations with Iran.

March 6, 2015

Sheriffs in three states sue to weed out recreational marijuana in Colorado

A dozen sheriffs and county attorneys from three states sued Thursday to overturn Colorado's recreational marijuana law, the latest in a string of lawsuits targeting the nation's first legalized retail pot market.

March 5, 2015

Democrats press on despite heat over ‘witch hunt’ into climate scientists’ funding

Democrats may be flustered after a week of being accused of engineering an anti-science "witch hunt," but they aren't backing down from their investigations into the financial backing of climate change researchers who challenge the movement's doomsday scenarios.

March 5, 2015

Omar Trevino Morales, Zetas cartel capo ‘Z-42,’ arrested in pre-dawn raid

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's low-key approach to fighting the country's bloody drug wars wasn't supposed to be focused on capturing drug kingpins, and yet somehow they keep landing in jail.

March 4, 2015

Utah officer punished for resisting performing in gay-pride parade speaks out

As a police officer, Eric Moutsos had no problem with working security at a gay-rights parade, but he did have a problem with kicking off the festivities by performing a choreographed routine as part of the department's motorcycle squad.

March 4, 2015

Civil rights commissioners: Rein in education admin. on ‘unlawful’ bullying, sexual assault policies

Two federal civil-rights commissioners are calling on Congress to nix a proposed budget increase for the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, charging it with enacting overreaching and even unlawful policies on school discipline, sexual harassment and bullying.

March 4, 2015

North Dakota counters plunging oil prices with $1.1 billion infrastructure ‘surge’

No state among the lower 48 has been hit harder by the drop in oil prices than North Dakota, which is why Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican, has taken a page from U.S. military tactics in Iraq and signed off last week on a $1.1 billion "surge" designed to buck up the state's infrastructure needs as it adjusts to changing times.

March 1, 2015