RI Progress Report: Tobin Corners ‘Creepy’ Market; More on Marriage Equality, Barrington’s Tuition Proposal

It won’t happen this session, but we’d be real surprised if opposition to marriage equality in the Rhode Island Senate can fend off the legislation for another year. Ted Nesi reports that the Senate’s opposition to gay marriage is “softening.”

Meanwhile, Ian Donnis reports that Rev. Gene Dyszlewski is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Bea Lanzi … Dyszlewski is the chair of the Rhode Island Religious Coalition for Marriage Equality and has told a Senate committee that “same sex marriage is god’s will.”

Speaking of the church and marriage equality, we wonder if Bishop Tobin realizes that the news value in him calling someone’s statements “creepy” is the irony of it. He’s practically cornered the Rhode Island market on creepy statements and positions and the Catholic church is among the creepiest institutions going. Bishop Tobin should really spend more time helping the poor and much less time engaging in useless and bigoted behavior.

And speaking of picking on people, if you haven’t read the Washington Post story about Mitt Romney bullying a fellow student while in prep school, click here.

More on Barrington’s proposal -and it is still very much just a proposal – to offer out-of-town students to pay tuition to attend the high-performing schools. It’s amazing how much the idea has evolved in just 24 short hours … for as well as Barrington students fare on standardized tests, you’d think its school committee could have figured out to get a legal opinion before going public with a proposal so fraught with legal and moral conundrums.

Good move, state Senate, in voting to repeal former Gov. Don Carcieri’s limits on how long families can collect welfare benefits … even with the repeal, Rhode Islanders will still be able to collect for less time than the average American. 35 states, reports Phil Marcelo, cap the time a family can collect welfare benefits at 60 months. RI would go from 24 months to 48.

Did you see the US Chamber of Commerce’s TV ad for Brendan Doherty? You can watch it here, if you’re into that kinda thing…