Former state Sen. Mel Richardson, R-Idaho Falls, has died at the age of 86 after a battle with cancer, the Idaho Falls Post Register reports today. Richardson was a longtime radio and television personality in eastern Idaho, a former mayor of Ammon and an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1986. He served in the Idaho Senate from 1993 to 2008, and in the House from 1989 to 1992; Richardson, who served on JFAC, was a leading advocate of funding technology in Idaho schools.