Bob Plain
Linc Chafee might primary Sheldon Whitehouse
Lincoln Chafee doesn’t want to be governor again after all. Instead, he wants his old Senate seat back. To get it, the Republican-turned-independent-turned Democrat will have to best in a primary Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the incumbent Democrat who knocked him out of the Senate seat back in 2006 when Chafee was still a Republican. “I […]
Bipartisan rebuke of Chippendale’s ‘dummy’ tweet to Emma Gonzalez
Mike Chippendale, a Foster legislator, has managed to raise an issue that Governor Gina Raimondo and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, the two leading candidates for governor, can agree on. The issue being that he was wrong to call gun safety activist and Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez a “dummy” in a tweet yesterday that he eventually […]
Joe Trillo’s racist response to Starbucks incident
Never let it be said that Joe Trillo can’t mobilize people into political action. The former Republican state legislator who is waging a quixotic independent bid for governor by following Donald Trump’s campaign strategy of hate and division clearly energized Democrats when he weighed in on racism late last week. “I am so sick of […]
Trump makes America Koch again
President Donald Trump claimed to be an ally to the working class, deriding the so-called swamp and corporate control of politicians during the campaign. But the billionaire real estate developer has governed as an ally to his fellow well-connected business tycoons – cutting corporate taxes, gutting Obamacare, and abandoning the Paris Accord. To this end, […]
Giarrusso missed vote on bump stock bill
When East Greenwich legislator Anthony Giarrusso was asked about a ban on assault weapons, he talked about a bill banning bump stocks. But when it came time to vote for the bill that bans bump stocks, Giarrusso wasn’t there. “This is my sixth session and the first time any major bill was considered on the […]
Caleb Chadsey bequeathed a library, NK Town Council wants a restaurant
When Caleb Chadsey died, in 1894, he left $10,000 and a parcel of property in the heart of Wickford to the town of North Kingstown for the purposes of creating a community library. And there, at 55 Brown St., is where the local library stood until 1975, when a bigger one was built a few […]
Giarrusso, Caldwell hold impromptu debate over gun legislation via email
The first debate of the campaign to represent East Greenwich in the state House of Representatives happened via email. It was between Republican Anthony Giarrusso, the current occupant of the District 30 seat, and Democratic challenger Justine Caldwell. It largely concerned gun legislation at the State House, but also touched on the so-called War on […]
Rhode Island public schools are pretty segregated
There’s at least one metric by which urban schools in Rhode Island equal their suburban and rural counterparts – racial segregation. People of color comprise 80 percent of the combined student bodies at public schools in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket while the rest of the state’s public schools are 78 percent white, according […]
Cardi’s considered pulling ads from Sinclair-owned NBC10
Nick, Ron, and Pete Cardi turned their family furniture store into a Rhode Island institution by featuring the trio of brothers in a seemingly never-ending stream of local advertisements. They considered pulling those ads off of NBC10 this week after learning that Sinclair, the station’s parent company, forced anchors all over the country to read […]
NBC10 has no comment on Sinclair-mandated segment
SBG Responds to Media Comments NBC10 isn’t commenting on the national uproar over its parent company, Sinclair Broadcasting, forcing local anchors – including their own Frank Coletta and Allison Bologna – to read statements denouncing “false news” and “fake stories.” Instead, the Rhode Island television station forwarded a statement from corporate communications. “We aren’t sure […]
The URI Rams are Rhode Island’s winter pastime
I don’t put much faith in Punxsutawney Phil and I don’t live so close to the land that the actual weather makes much practical difference to my life. For me, winter officially ends in the Ocean State when URI plays their last basketball game of the season. There’s still snow on the ground but, as […]
Matt Brown is running for governor on publicly-owned wind farms and a state bank
Former Secretary of State Matt Brown is running for governor as an independent. And he’s campaigning on a bold plan that would necessarily mean a new era for Rhode Island – expanding the public sector. “The Ocean State could be the Saudi Arabia of wind power,” Brown wrote in an open letter announcing his campaign, […]
Can Cool Moose’s ghost posthumously swing RI governor’s election?
It’s deja vu all over again in the race to be the next governor of Rhode Island. Governor Gina Raimondo, the incumbent Democrat, leads her Republican rival, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, by just two points, 38 percent to 36 percent, according to a new WPRI/Roger Williams University poll that revealed eerily similar results as last […]
19 legislative Democrats represent districts Trump won
Of the 114 legislative districts in Rhode Island, President Donald Trump carried 28 of them. But only nine of those districts sent Republicans to the General Assembly. That means there are 19 Democratic legislators who represent districts that voted for Trump in 2016. The most famous example is House Speaker Nick Mattiello, whose Cranston district […]
Sam Bell declares for Paul Jabour’s Senate seat
Sam Bell is running for state Senate. The occasional RI Future contributor (and supporter) filed papers to run for the seat currently held by Sen Paul Jabour. The Providence Journal reports there could be a three-way Democratic primary for the seat. “We need to take on the fight to resist the Trump agenda right here […]
Lawyers are winning EG’s war against its public sector
Time will tell how the East Greenwich Town Council’s cost-cutting crusade will affect future budgets. The full financial picture won’t be clear until the mounting pile of lawsuits are sorted out years from now, and homeowners learn if an antagonistic campaign to shrink local government in an upscale suburb known for good schools and nice […]
Bridget Valverde will run for Mark Gee’s Senate seat, Bob Walsh might too
The Senate seat currently held by East Greenwich Republican Mark Gee could see an all-progressive primary to determine the Democratic challenger. Bridget Valverde, of North Kingstown, has already filed papers to run for the seat and NEARI Executive Director Bob Walsh, of East Greenwich, says he’s considering running as well. “I think she would be […]
Guilty or innocent, Nick Kettle needs to resign
Long before Senator Nick Kettle was arrested for extorting sex from a teen-aged boy interning at the State House, his tenure as an elected official has been punctuated by poor decisions and bad conduct. Early in his career, the young Republican from Coventry mocked the homeless in an email, and implored his conservative supporters to […]
Peter Neronha: tough on shooters and polluters
As the US Attorney, Peter Neronha developed a reputation for putting Rhode Island elected officials behind bars – including former House Speaker Gordon Fox, former House Finance Committee Chairman Ray Gallison, former Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau, and three former North Providence city councilors. Building on this reputation seems a central reason why he wants […]
Rhode Island is as ready as any state if Russia attacks American election
The bad news is Russia is probably going to try to disrupt the 2018 election as it did during the 2016 cycle. That’s according to US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives that its past efforts have been successful […]
New Comments