Category One Memorial Designation Commission?
Where can I find the Category One Memorial Designation Commission? As far as I can tell, it does not exist, despite legislation passed last year mandating the creation of such an authority. After the Freedom from Religion Foundation challenged the constitutionality of a large Christian cross on public land in Woonsocket, the General Assembly hastily [...]
Rhode Island’s Economy: A Moral Failure
The most important news story Rhode Islanders can read this week is the front page of today’s Providence Journal. “The Face of Food Stamps Nearly 1 out of 5 in R.I. Depends on the Program,” reads the headline. It’s a sort of follow-up to the Washington Post’s recent stunning Sunday front-page examination of Woonsocket, where [...]
Woonsocket Supermarkets On The First Of The Month
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) boom-and- bust cycle continued in Woonsocket this month, but not all local grocers benefit to the same degree. Woonsocket is home to two supermarkets. A Price Rite – which traffics in highly discounted groceries – and a Shaw’s – which is operates a bit more in the middle-class price [...]
Fox “News” And The War On Woonsocket’s Poor
If you didn’t know that local conservatives were going to take to Fox “News” to exploit Ken Block’s food stamp fraud report, I would like to bet you that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Then, maybe we can go double or nothing on whether or not the days will get longer until late June, [...]
Fontaine On Fox News: Blames SNAP Not CVS
It isn’t just progressive news outlets like RI Future who are shining a light on the alarmingly high percentage of Woonsocket residents who can’t afford to feed themselves without public assistance. Fox “News” interviewed Mayor Leo Fontaine about the national spotlight the city finds itself in.
The Value of Agency
A recent article in The Washington Post on the effects the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has on Woonsocket has once again placed the federal program in Rhode Island’s sights. Though the article is an indictment of our collapsed economy, a single part of the article focusing on the family’s finances seems to have caught [...]
Weekend Epiphanies: Oh, SNAP! I Failed the NECAP
Saturday afternoon, I joined lawmakers, legislators, educators, and other concerned citizens in taking the mock NECAP math test sponsored by the Providence Student Union at Providence’s Knight Memorial Library. I have to give the folks over at PSU a lot of credit for organizing this event. It certainly opened my eyes to what our soon-to-be [...]
WaPost Investigates RI SNAP Benefits Too
The big story on the front page of the Washington Post this morning is the same one we’ve been talking about all week locally: the SNAP program. But instead of looking into the couple dozen poor people who seem like they scamming the system, the Post took a different angle: a third of Woonsocket is [...]
In Woonsocket, What It Means To Be A Green
One of the first questions people ask when I tell them that I’m running for mayor of Woonsocket is, “Are you a Democrat or Republican?” My usual response is, “Well, the election is non-partisan, and I don’t think a D or an R next to anyones name is particularly relevant when it comes to local [...]
Why I Am Running
The first question that most folks ask me when I tell them that I’m running for mayor of Woonsocket is, “Are you crazy or just a glutton for punishment?” Well, watching the degradation of our once thriving city certainly drives me nuts, but I don’t think I’m a masochist, so, I guess that that’s a [...]
Dave Fisher To Run for Woonsocket Mayor
Dave Fisher, campaign manager for congressional candidate Abel Collins and former editor at ecoRI.org, announced on a new blog today that he plans to run for mayor of Woonsocket. The site is called Dave Fisher for Mayor of Woonsocket. “I really believe we can stop the downward slide of the city of Woonsocket by providing [...]
Progress Report: Why Public TV Matters; Public Cars for Legislators; Woonsocket School Committee; Climate Change
Remember way back in the days when we feared Mitt Romney might become president and, if he did, he would cut public funding to PBS? Well Rhode Island already beat Romney to this nightmare scenario for liberals … WSBE Ch.36 is being transitioned off the state payroll beginning this month, reports Bill Rappleye of WJAR, [...]
Stephen Casey for Woonsocket State Rep
The fact that Stephen Casey requires endorsement is a bit ludicrous, considering he defeated his Democratic primary opponent by a safe margin and has no other party opponent on the ballot come November 6. But a “Do over, ‘cuz I wasn’t ready!” write-in campaign by his primary opponent has Casey continuing his election efforts in [...]
RI Small Businesses: Beware of ALEC’s Minions
Jon Brien recently announced that he would be running a write-in campaign to retain his seat in Rhode Island’s House of Representatives. At a press conference to announce the egotistical continuation of his campaign on September 20, Brien was surrounded by owners of local business including Pepin Lumber, The Burrito Company, and American Beauty Signworks. [...]
Jon Brien Lays Blame
Joining an ever growing list of sore losers, most recently his friend Doug Glabinske, Jon Brien announced a write-in candidacy for House District 50 today; the same seat he lost in the recent primary to Stephen Casey. Citing administrative issues for people not being able to vote or being sent to the wrong polling place, [...]
I Learned It By Watching You, Jon!
State Rep. Jon Brien blames his recent defeat on “outside influences” – my union among them – who were “spending a lot of money” against him. Here’s why he is partly right, partly wrong, and partly to blame.
Jon Brien: Personal Friend and Political Adversary
I’m probably the only progressive in Rhode Island who didn’t break out in celebration upon learning that ultra-conservative Woonsocket state Rep. Jon Brien had been knocked out of his State House seat in Tuesday’s primary. Not that progressives don’t have good reason to celebrate his political demise; they do. Though Brien calls himself a Democrat, [...]
Baldelli-Hunt, Brien Plead Dumb on 38 Studios Vote
The Cicilline-Gemma debate at Rhode Island College wasn’t the only question and answer session for candidates on Tuesday. In Woonsocket, constituents were invited to attend a candidate forum hosted by MyWoonsocket.com and WNRI radio to meet the candidates for General Assembly seats in the city. Radio host Roger Bouchard moderated while local reporters Sandy Phaneuf [...]
Menard Attends Fundraiser for Baldelli-Hunt Oppoent
Recently I predicted that Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt won’t win her reelection campaign. One of the reasons I went out on this limb is the word on the street is that, among others, several sitting legislators aren’t interested in serving with her any more – including some pretty powerful ones. That Rep. Rene Menard attended a [...]
Progress Report: The Geography of Shooting Sprees and the Politics of the Second Amendment; Veggie Medicine
There are just too many unanswerable questions in the case of the Colorado theater shooting … one that I keep going back to is why did two of the deadliest shooting sprees in the nation’s history happen so close to each other. Unlike any other place I know of out west, the front range area [...]
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