Rep. Lima Defends Her Religion Over Equal Rights
Today’s ProJo ran a piece on the expected passage, later today, of H5015, the Marriage Equality bill. The piece ran some quotes from Representative Charlene Lima that surprised me. “We were sensitive to an atheist in Cranston to take down a prayer banner” she said, referring to a legal challenge that led to the removal [...]
Homeless Like Me: Lost Stars of Harrington Hall
Sleeping at Harrington Hall, the overnight shelter in Cranston, is something of a mix between being in prison and being at a frat house for old men. The very spacious, former gymnasium/auditorium at the Pastore Center state services campus, was even once a part of the prison system. The building somehow related to the psych [...]
Progress Report: Pension Politics; Transparency’s Liberal Bias; ProJo for Sheldon; Meatloaf for Mitt; Microwaves
The Atlantic may think Gina Raimondo is a brave thinker for slashing the retirement security of state workers, but it seems to me the political popularity of pension reform is waning … consider this page A1 quote in today’s Projo on Cranston Mayor Allan Fung’s attempts to cut local pension benefits: “This problem was created [...]
Progress Report: Langevin Wins Debate; Cranston Considers Outsourcing; Gambling and the Economy
Jim Langevin easily won the head-to-head between he and Mike Riley last night. He did so by giving coherent answers and not being rude. As out-of-step as Riley’s policy proposals may be – he talked about returning to the gold, or an index-based, standard for valuing currency – his big political baggage will prove to [...]
Progress Report: Plastic Bags in Barrington; Offshore Wind Farm off Block Island, Cub Scouts in Cranston; Patch, SRIN
Congratulations to Barrington for becoming the first town in Rhode Island to ban plastic grocery bags, and here’s hoping many more municipalities follow suit; such restrictions serve as a great aid in cleaning up Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island’s greatest natural asset. Speaking of firsts, the first offshore wind farm in the United States, which should [...]
Progress Report: Brien Brings Hatch Act in Woonsocket, New Leaders Project’s ‘Pro Jobs’ Agenda; State Sues Orphan
Rep. Jon Brien thinks he can retain his House seat without winning the election. His path to victory: eliminating the man who beat him in a primary. Brien thinks the federal Hatch Act might prohibit fire fighter Stephen Casey from serving in the state legislature because the Woonsocket Fire Department got a $300,000 grant from [...]
Progress Report: Economic Development Void in RI; GOP Fans Father-Daughter Dance Flames; James Diossa
It seems RI Future and RIPEC agree on at least one thing. “Rhode Island does not have a clear vision of how to expand its economy or a governmental structure that helps create jobs, encourage companies to expand, attract businesses and develop workers’ skills,” reports the Providence Journal about RIPEC’s report on the EDC this [...]
Lombardi Campaign Tainted by Scandal
The State Senate Race in District 26, Cranston took an interesting turn Friday as Sean Gately, Republican contender for the seat Democrat Bea Lanzi is voluntarily abdicating, issued a press release accusing Frank Lombardi, the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate, of cronyism, backroom deals and wasting taxpayer money on “frivolous lawsuits for political cover.” Frank Lombardi [...]
Gene Dyszlewski: Senate Candidate for Cranston
I’m Gene Dyszlewski and I am pleased to have won the backing of prominent progressive and feminist advocacy groups for the Democratic primary for the District 26 seat in the Rhode Island Senate. Ocean State Action, the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America and Clean Water Action have recently announced their support for someone they [...]
Vote For Gene Dyszlewski, Not Frank Lombardi
Those of you familiar with the case of Ahlquist v. Cranston might well recognize both the candidates running for state senate in Cranston’s District 26. First there is Frank Lombardi, a member of the School Committee who voted in favor of keeping a prayer on the wall of Cranston West High School three times, citing [...]
RI Progress Report: How To Avoid School Suspensions
It turns out the easiest way to avoid discipline at local high schools is to be white. Non-white students at urban Rhode Island high schools are more likely to get in trouble than their white counterparts, reports RINPR’s Elizabeth Harrison, even as they make up a much smaller percentage of the student body. In Cranston, [...]
Ahlquist wins; Cranston School Committee declines appeal
The Cranston School Committee voted 5 to 2 last night not to appeal a judge’s ruling that a prayer banner doesn’t belong in a public school. While it’s pretty obviously a violation of the Establishment Clause (separation of church and state) of the Constitution to hang a prayer banner in a public high school, two [...]
Board of Regents say AF isn’t good enough for Cranston…but it’s fine for Providence?
It’s amazing how much you can learn about people–and the system they represent–by reading between the lines of their decisions. I was at the Board of Regents meeting today, and what I saw there taught me a lot about the different levels of value those in power assign to the different communities they are supposed [...]
New Comments