Valerie Richardson
Articles by Valerie Richardson
Idahoans: EPA ruling all wet
When Mike and Chantell Sackett bought a half-acre lot in the Priest Lake area of Idahos Panhandle, their plan was to build a home in which they could raise a family. Published June 26, 2011
San Francisco ban on circumcision a cut too deep for the faithful
A ballot measure to ban circumcision in San Francisco has become a national punch line, but it's being taken seriously by religious groups who see the proposal as an attack on their faith. Published June 13, 2011
Ruling soon on gay judge in California same-sex case
A ruling is expected within a day or two on whether former U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker should have disqualified himself from presiding over the trial on California's same-sex marriage ban because he was involved in a gay relationship. Published June 13, 2011
Chaffetz mulls bid for Hatch’s seat in Senate
A veteran Utah Republican senator faces a primary challenge from a young conservative with the backing of the Club for Growth. Sound familiar? Published June 5, 2011
Dissenters in GOP rethink Electoral College
A once-sleepy movement that would upend the Electoral College, reverse two centuries of constitutional practice and elect presidents by direct popular vote has quietly picked up momentum in recent days, with Republican Party leaders scrambling to stanch a steady stream of defections by GOP state lawmakers to the plan. Published June 2, 2011
House members in the know score ‘abnormal’ stock profits, study says
It's no secret that members of Congress are political insiders, but an extensive new survey suggests they may also be insiders when it comes to trading stocks. Published May 25, 2011
Birth papers hit book sales
The release of President Obama's long-form birth certificate may have failed to satisfy hard-core skeptics, but it did drive a dagger through the initial sales of "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President," by Jerome Corsi. Published May 18, 2011
Obama, aides struggle with post-raid miscues
In retrospect, killing the world's most dangerous man was easy. The hard part has been figuring out what to do next. Published May 5, 2011
Gay judge’s disclosure raises bias questions
To hear them describe it, defenders of traditional marriage during last year's trial on California's Proposition 8 felt like the visiting team in a game with a hometown referee. Published April 26, 2011
Online players frustrated by poker crackdown
The cards have gone cold on the nation's booming poker industry since the Justice Department reshuffled the deck with a stunning crackdown on online poker gambling sites. Published April 20, 2011
Appeals court overturns Day of Prayer ban
A federal appeals court Thursday threw out a ruling that would have prohibited the president from declaring a National Day of Prayer, in a decision that cheered social conservatives and occasioned much wailing and gnashing of teeth by groups advocating a strict separation of church and state. Published April 14, 2011
Environmentalists suffer on key budget provisions
The biggest losers in the federal budget deal may have been environmentalists, who suffered setbacks not only with cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency budget but also with the shellacking of two of the movement's pet programs. Published April 13, 2011
Campaigns to recall 16 Wis. senators called ‘unprecedented’
Weeks of protests at the state Capitol in Madison over the Republican budget proposal were followed by a contentious campaign to turn out a state Supreme Court justice. Now the state Senate is facing a total recall. Published April 11, 2011
Wisconsin judge gets ballot reprieve
Maybe Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser didn't lose his re-election bid, after all. Published April 7, 2011
Labor-backed candidate for Wis. court justice leads
Wisconsin voters are likely to face the first statewide recount in more than 20 years after unofficial results in the fractious state Supreme Court race showed a paper-thin margin of victory for the labor-backed candidate in a race that centered on the power of public-employees unions. Published April 6, 2011
Justice’s race now a governor’s referendum
An ordinarily humdrum vote on whether to retain a Wisconsin state Supreme Court justice has exploded into a bare-knuckles referendum on Gov. Scott Walker's recently signed law curbing the power of public-employee unions. Published April 4, 2011
California looking into a $26 billion abyss
The breakdown of budget negotiations this week between California Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative Republicans leaves the state with a handful of options for handling the $26 billion deficit, none of them particularly attractive. Published March 30, 2011
Brown urges tax measure on ballot
California Gov. Jerry Brown wouldn't top anyone's list of tax-and-spend liberals. Famous for his frugality, he ushered in his latest stint as governor by replacing the sleek boardroom table in his new office with a hard, wooden picnic table. Published March 28, 2011
Same-sex marriages give polygamy a legal boost
The outlook for polygamy hasn't been this good since Abraham took Keturah as his third wife. Published March 20, 2011
Wis. governor signs bill limiting unions’ power
Capping weeks of political drama and open political warfare with the state's public-sector unions, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday quietly signed landmark legislation reining in the power of public-employee unions after a pitched battle over collective bargaining that shows no signs of abating. Published March 10, 2011
