‘Utter Chaos’ on Compassion Centers Less Chaotic Than It Appears
Rolling Stone recently published a story about President Barack Obama’s policy about face on medical cannabis which has inaugurated Bush-style crackdowns and raids. In it, Rhode Island’s own Governor Chafee is quoted as calling the results of the shift “utter chaos.” Ted Nesi published a quick overview of the issue on his blog, Nesi’s Notes along [...]
Chase bank charges fees to use unemployment debit cards
Trimming the costs of governance isn’t inherently a bad thing, but charging the unemployed fees to access their account information probably isn’t the best way for the state to save money. However, that’s exactly what happened when Rhode Island outsourced the management of unemployment fund accounts to JP Morgan Chase in 2007. “JPMorgan Chase agreed [...]
Brown can and should pay Providence more
While it was the hospitals Mayor Angel Taveras met with late last week, the focus again this week will likely be a new deal with Brown University. After all, the hospital industry in Rhode Island is struggling, reports Megan Hall of Rhode Island Public Radio. The hospitals here lost a combined $4 million last year, [...]
Providence Newspaper Guild Follies
This is it, nitty-gritty time. If you want to see Rhode Island’s funniest comedy show of the year, you need to call for tickets or go online this week. For the uninitiated, The Providence Newspaper Guild has been skewering local politicians and newsmakers for 39 years now; and the best part is they’re in the [...]
Racial profiling in Rhode Island
According to a study by Northeastern University, African American and Latino motorists were more than twice as likely to be searched after being pulled over for a traffic stop in Rhode Island. Think there’s racial profiling in Rhode Island? The study certainly seems to suggest as much, and a number of state legislators and the [...]
Station Nightclub Fire Documentary
There is a documentary film project under way about the Station Nightclub fire of February 20, 2003. In 2010, Paul Lonardo helped Gina Russo write a book called From the Ashes about the loss of her fiancé, and of her survival from the fire. Local documentary filmmaker David Bettencourt is working on adapting and expanding Gina’s story for [...]
DL Providence presents: Faces you should know – Feb. 22 from 7 – 9pm
2012 is already shaping up to be an exciting year in politics. Not only is it a presidential election year, but we have our local politics to keep us entertained. With the ongoing redistricting fight, the many social and economic issues that will be at play in elections, and Netroots Nation coming to RI in [...]
Marriage equality back on State House agenda
Same sex couples in Rhode Islanders will have another opportunity at equal protection under the law as Rep. Art Handy, D-Cranston, will again introduce a bill in the General Assembly that would afford the same marriage rights as their heterosexual counterparts enjoy. “Every year we move forward,” Handy said, who has introduced a similar bill [...]
Despite headline, RI actually has moderate sales tax rates
If you only read the headline from the Projo today you’d think Rhode Island has again, as the common talking point goes, landed on the losing end of a list of worst states as far as taxes go. “RI tax burden still among highest in U.S.,” reads the headline. However, if you took the time [...]
State of the City: Employees, retirees give first
As expected, Mayor Angel Taveras said the state of the city is not so good. “Providence is in peril,” said the mayor of the capital city to lead into the annual State of the City speech. And, as he reiterated throughout his 20 minute address, it’s up to retirees and tax-exempt landowners to save it. [...]
RI Voters’ Poll: Seeking Major Changes In Marijuana Policy
A new poll of 714 Rhode Island Voters indicates overwhelming support for medical marijuana, compassion centers, and decriminalization of less than one ounce of the plant. The medical marijuana law, gone unused by Rep. Bob Watson (if he were to qualify) garnered support of 72%, including a whopping 82% of Dems, 61% GOP, and 57% [...]
Wyatt’s Wall Streeters to RI: “Buy My Prison, PLEASE!”
Recent talk continues about the state buying a troubled asset, the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. The thinking is that the state could purchase the outlandishly overvalued prison, refinance it, and operate a modest profit margin while saving the bondholders on Wall Street. Naturally, such a deal would take decades, if ever, to pay [...]
Brown Students Call on University to Pay Fair Share
A group of students attending Brown University are publicly calling on the Brown Corporation to increase its monetary contributions to the City of Providence. Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., students will speak in front of the University’s historic Van Wickle Gates, announcing the beginning of their campaign to convince Brown to reconsider its current fiscal [...]
One More Step Toward Prop 8′s Doom
In the summer of 2010, when I skimmed Judge Walker’s ruling on Prop 8, I said, “It’s all over but the crying.” The 9th Circuit’s decision on February 7, 2012 was another inevitable move in the legal end-game of marriage equality. I also predicted that the US Supreme Court would decline to hear the case. I’m sticking to [...]
Lucky Duckies
One of the more reprehensible things that conservatives have come out with of late is the idea of the ‘lucky duckies.’ This is what the Wall St Journal’s op-ed page called those of our society who are ‘fortunate’ enough to make such a low salary that they don’t have to pay fed income taxes. This [...]
Additional Thoughts on the Cranston Prayer Banner
After reading the comments regarding the prayer banner in Cranston, I would like to add a few comments. To begin: any sentence that contains “the founding fathers believed/thought/said/wanted/intended/were, etc is necessarily wrong. Yes. wrong. The founding fathers were not a monolithic bunch. Exactly the opposite. They were a group of men, many of whom had [...]
Will Rep. Bob Watson’s 2nd Drug Arrest in 9 Months End His Political Career?
The Providence Journal (and everyone else) is reporting that Rep. Bob Watson was arrested again for possession of marijuana early Sunday morning. When the police arrived, they saw a white Volvo sedan in the lot, with its rubber tire missing from the rim on the front driver’s side. The driver’s side door was open and [...]
Eleven Shocking Facts About Campaign Finance (or Why We Need Publicly Funded Elections)
Over at The Nation, they have a list of Eleven Shocking Facts About Campaign Finance (and they’re not pretty): The amount of independent expenditure and electioneering communication spending by outside groups has quadrupled since 2006. [Center for Responsive Politics] The percentage of spending coming from groups that do not disclose their donors has risen from 1 percent to 47 percent since [...]
Principles are Worth More than Political Awards
You may have heard about our recent letter to General Treasurer Gina Raimondo requesting that she return an award from The Manhattan Institute, an extremist right wing group that promotes offensive, ignorant and hurtful positions towards the LGBTQI community, women, minorities, and our environment. Marriage Equality Rhode Island was among a group of organizations that [...]
Join Obama for America – Rhode Island at a State of the Union Watch Party in Your Neighborhood
Scores of Rhode Islanders are getting together next Tuesday night in homes, restaurants and college campuses across the state to watch President Obama’s State of the Union address. And it’s not too late for you to join them! “This is an important speech—one you, your friends and your family can’t miss,” says Devin Driscoll, Rhode [...]
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