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State House illuminated orange for gun violence awareness


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2016-06-02 Orange for Gun Violence 034 Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense In America joined with organizations across the nation yesterday to mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day by wearing orange, and illuminating the State House with orange lights. The event also marks the beginning of June as gun violence prevention month.

Music was provided by the bands Saints and Saviours, Select Band and Me Jane.

According to the Wear Orange website, “On January 21st, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old high school student from the south side of Chicago, marched in President Obama’s 2nd inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed.

“Orange is the color a group of Hadiya’s friends chose to wear to remember her life. They chose orange because that’s what hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.”

Moms has been working tirelessly to pass a law that would disarm domestic abusers, H7575 and S2767. So far  these bills have not made it out of committee, despite the support of a clear majority of Rhode Islanders.

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Peace activists educate Providence about Textron’s cluster bombs


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There were only 5 anti-cluster bomb activists who attended Thursday’s weekly protest against Textron for making them. But those 5 activists handed out some 50 pieces of literature explaining the civilian death and destruction cluster bombs have caused in Yemen this year to people walking by Textron’s world headquarters in downtown Providence.

textron actionOne of the reasons there were fewer protesters today is several members of the FANG Collective, the original organizers of the weekly Textron protests, were in court for civil disobedience against Invenergy, the corporation proposing a new fossil fuel power plant in Burrillville.

FANG organizer Pia Ward instead canvassed 15 nearby businesses the day before.

“I went to cafes, restaurants, a jewelry store – all different kinds of businesses,” Ward said. “Nobody was supportive of cluster bombs.”

One person Ward spoke with took many fliers and said he would help distribute them. Another said Textron was too big and too powerful to stop. “I promised him I would stop them,” Ward said.

Rhode Island-based Textron has come under scrutiny for making cluster bombs the US sells to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented civilian casualties in Yemen from cluster bombs, which are banned by 119 nations but not by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Textron is the only North American manufacturer of cluster bombs.

Human Rights Watch and Foreign Policy magazine have each reported that the United States is slated to halt sales of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

“The decision not to transfer any more cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia is a step in the right direction, but the US should halt all cluster munition transfers to any country and make that suspension permanent,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch and chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition. “This would help bring the US into line with core obligations of the international treaty banning cluster munitions.”

A Textron spokesman said the company would not comment on the new US policy before it gets official confirmation from the government. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the policy change on MSNBC on Wednesday.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Sheriff shortage affecting trial schedule at Licht Judicial Complex


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“[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy trial”
– Sixth Amendment

licht court“There is a shortage of sheriffs and it will affect trials in in the Licht Judicial Complex for the foreseeable future,” said Craig Berke, director of Community Outreach & Public Relations for the Rhode Island Judiciary.

Without enough sheriffs to manage defendants and provide security for the jury and witnesses, Judge Alice B Gibney, who manages the trial calendar and assigns judges, has limited “the number of active trials in the building to four.” This way Judge Gibney “can be assured of being able to operate those four trials at maximum efficiency with full coverage by the sheriffs.”

Fifteen judges or magistrates work in the Licht Judicial Complex, where the Superior Court has most of it’s courtrooms. One superior court judge works in the Garrahy Complex. Of those sixteen, eight judges are on the trial calendar.

“Security if the top priority, and the judges can’t sit if we don’t have enough sheriffs,” said Berke.

When not conducting trials, Berke says the judges will be busy with “pretrial conferences” and “they have plenty of decisions to write from cases they have already heard.”

Limiting the number of trials to four, says Berke, “is a better option and less disruptive than trying to run eight trials that may or may not have enough sheriffs on any given day.”

Burke, speaking for Gibney, was adamant that, “so far this has not affected a criminal defendant’s right to a speedy trial. If a bottleneck ensues, civil trials could be postponed in favor of criminal trials, but so far that has not been necessary.”

The number of sheriffs needed for a trial “varies depending on what type of case it is, whether there is a jury, and whether the defendant is in custody or free on bail,” said Berke. “Judge Gibney will not permit judges to take the bench without the requisite number of sheriffs in the courtroom.”