By Will Weatherly on August 2, 2018
Would health care in Rhode Island cost less if everyone had access to it? The question, brought to the national stage in arguments surrounding Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All plan, came to Rhode Island repeatedly this week, whether it was when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown announced his own Medicare for All plan, or in […]
Posted in Featured, Health Care, Inequality, Labor, News, Social Services | Tagged Affordable Care Act, Bernie Sanders, Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI, Gina Raimondo, health care, Matt Brown, Mercatus Center, Physicians for a National Health Program, single payer, Ted Nesi |
By Will Weatherly on July 25, 2018
Governor Raimondo’s support for corporate incentives have become a contentious frontline in the race for governor. Both Democratic candidate Matt Brown and Republican candidate Allan Fung have attacked her commerce incentive programs (such as the Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit) according to a report in the Providence Journal on Tuesday. The article shows Gov. Raimondo […]
Posted in Business, Corporate Greed, Economics, Elections, Featured, Inequality, News | Tagged Alex Nunes, Allan Fung, cvs, Doug Hall, Economic Progress Institute, Electric Boat, Gina Raimondo, Linda Katz, Matt Brown, tax credits, tax incentives |
By Will Weatherly on July 19, 2018
After what might be considered a 35-year slow burn for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the past year—and especially the last month—has seen the DSA’s flame burn fast and bright. The group gained almost 17,000 dues-paying members in the first 10 months of the Trump presidency. In New York City, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken […]
Posted in Climate, Corporate Greed, Elections, Energy, Environmental Racism, Featured, Inequality, News, Politics, Providence | Tagged #NationalizeGrid, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cynthia Nixon, Endorsements, George Wiley Center, national grid, No LNG in PVD, Providence Democratic Socialists of America, Rachel Miller, Sam Bell, Thea Riofrancos |
By Will Weatherly on July 19, 2018
A report released by the Economic Progress Institute (EPI) on Thursday put a spotlight on income inequality in Rhode Island, declaring that the country has entered a “new Gilded Age.” According to the study’s findings, the top 1 percent of Rhode Island residents earned 18.2 times more than the rest of the state, according to […]
Posted in Class Warfare, Economics, Featured, Inequality, News | Tagged Bristol County, Economic Progress Institute, Income Inequality |
By Will Weatherly on July 18, 2018
After an extensive public hearing Wednesday night, the Providence Council Ordinance Committee voted three to one, with one member abstaining, to recommend the full council deny the zoning amendment necessary for the 600-foot Fane Tower proposed for Route 195 redevelopment land located in the Jewelry District. The proposal had been previously shot down by the […]
Posted in Featured, Housing, Inequality, News, Providence | Tagged Carmen Castillo, Council Ordinance Committee, Fane Tower, Jo-Ann Ryan, Mary Kay Harris, Michael Sabitoni, Nika Lomazzo, Nirva LaFortune, Providence, seth yurdin, Terrence Hasset, zoning |
By Will Weatherly on June 25, 2018
At 4pm on Monday evening, where one would usually find state representatives milling about before their floor sessions, demonstrators gathered inside the State House to make one last plea to Governor Raimondo to veto Kristen’s Law, a statute which mandates a life sentence for individuals involved in the exchange of controlled substance in the case […]
Posted in Criminal Justice, Featured, Health Care, Inequality, Politics, Prison Reform | Tagged ACI, Alan Gordon, Anne Armstrong, Gina Raimondo, Kristen's Law, Lisa Peterson, Moira Walsh, opioid crisis, Women's Action Initiative |
By Will Weatherly on June 15, 2018
Buried under mounds of drama surrounding the House budget proposal, up for a vote on the floor Friday afternoon, those considering opening a medical marijuana dispensary in the state can find bad news and a rate hike to make your head spin. The House has stubbornly rebuked Gov. Raimondo’s previous proposal to increase the number […]
Posted in Criminal Justice, Economics, Featured, Inequality, Marijuana, News, Politics | Tagged criminal justice, Greenleaf Compassion Center, jared moffat, Maggie Kinsella, marijuana legalization, Medical Marijuana, Moira Walsh, Norman Birenbaum, regulate ri, Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center |
By Michael Kennedy on October 21, 2017
Our anxieties about democracy typically focus on the scum floating on the surface. Political polarizations might lead us to note different noxious currents, and the good hearted and most civic among us are likely, then, to say that the problem rests in our distant standpoints, our filter bubbles, our echo chambers. I think that the […]
Posted in Featured, Inequality, Justice | Tagged democracy, Greater Good Gathering, Poverty |
By Steve Ahlquist on October 18, 2017
“In Rhode Island nursing home workers need to earn a living wage to stay in the job,” said Deb Armfield, a CNA at Pawtucket Genesis for almost twenty-eight years.
Posted in Corporate Greed, Featured, Health Care, Inequality, Labor, Pawtucket, Photos, Rhode Island | Tagged Charlesgate Nursing, Deb Armfield, Genesis Health Care, George V Hager Jr, Hopkins Manor, Pawtucket Genesis, seiu 1199 |
By Steve Ahlquist on October 13, 2017
“The findings reveal disturbing patterns of mistreatment and discrimination and startling disparities between transgender people in the survey and the US population…”
Posted in Civil Rights, Featured, Health Care, Homelessness, Housing, Inequality, Labor, LGBTQ, Providence, Tennesse | Tagged 2015 US Transgender Survey, ACLU, Ethan Huckel, GLAD, National Center for Transgender Equality, Rhode Island Commission on Human Rights, Rhode Island Department of Education, ride, TGI Network |
By Steve Ahlquist on October 2, 2017
Well over 400 people converged on India Point Park for the March for Racial Justice (M4RJ). Sister marches were held across the country. In Providence, the “march” was actually more of a rally.
Posted in Activism, Arkansas, Civil Rights, Class Warfare, Climate, Criminal Justice, Education, Environmental Racism, Events, Featured, Gun Control, Health Care, Immigration, Indigenous Americans, Inequality, Justice, LGBTQ, National News, News, People, Photos, Poverty, Prison Reform, Providence, Race & Racism, Rhode Island, Sex Work, Video, Women, Youth | Tagged AMOR, Arely Díaz, Behind the Walls, Black Studies Academy of Rhode Island, Blue Lives Matter, Cata Lorenzo, Celeste Terry-Lo, Community Defense Project, Community Safety Act, CSA, Daniel Chhum, DARE, David Veliz, direct action for rights and equality, Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island, India Point Park, John Prince, Justice Gaines, M4RJ, Malchus Mills, March for Racial Justice, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, Marco McWilliams, Narragansett Tribe, Niko Merritt, Nirva LaFortune, No LNG in PVD, Project Weber/RENEW, Providence Youth Student Movement, PrYSM, Randy Noka, rent control, Ron Lewis, Sankofa Community Connection, Seneca Pender, Stephen Dy, Tatiana Jones, Times Squared Academy, Vanessa Flores-Maldonaldo, Yojaida Heredia |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 28, 2017
“Neither the Governor or Save the Bay have chosen to stand with the communities that would be most impacted by a severe weather event in RI and oppose National Grid’s toxic and dangerous LNG liquefaction facility in the Port of Providence.”
Posted in Activism, Class Warfare, Climate, Corporate Greed, Energy, Environmental Racism, Featured, Health Care, Inequality, Infrastructure, Photos, Providence, Rhode Island, State House, Video, Women, Youth | Tagged Aaron Jaenig, Duane Clinker, Gina Raimondo, Jonathan Stone, LNG liquefaction, Mary Pendergast, Monica Huertas, national grid, No LNG in PVD, Port of Providence, Save The Bay |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 28, 2017
Chief Resiliency Officer Shawn O’Roarke held the first of a series of ten Resiliency Roundtables at the Save the Bay Campus, drawing a crowd of just over 50 people interested in finding solutions to the effects of climate change.
Posted in Activism, Burrillville, Central Falls, Climate, Cranston, East Providence, Energy, Environmental Racism, Featured, Florida, Health Care, Inequality, Infrastructure, North Providence, Pawtucket, Photos, Providence, Science, Texas, Video, Warwick | Tagged Chief Resiliency Officer, climate change, Department of Administration, Division of Statewide Planning, EC4, EFSB, Energy Facilities Siting Board, Gina Raimondo, Invenergy, Monica Huertas, national grid, No LNG in PVD, Parag Agrawal, Port of Providence, Resiliency Roundtables, Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council, Save the Bay Campus, Shawn O'Roarke |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 26, 2017
Rhode Island Speaker Nicholas Mattiello supports DACA.
Here he is on Roe v Wade, guns, PawSox, taxes, minimum wage, climate change and more.
Posted in Civil Rights, Climate, Cranston, Economics, Energy, Featured, Gun Control, Immigration, Inequality, Minimum Wage, Politics, Reproductive Rights, Rhode Island, State House, Taxes | Tagged climate change, DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Kristin Dart, Nicholas Mattiello, PawSox, Roe. v. Wade, United States Supreme Court |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 25, 2017
Groundbreaking ceremonies are little rituals. Politicians and business people come together, don hard hats and grab shovels in pantomime of laborers, and toss dirt in the air.
Posted in Business, Class Warfare, Corporate Greed, Economics, Featured, Inequality, Infrastructure, Labor, Photos, Providence, Rhode Island, State House, Video | Tagged ambridge Innovation Center, Bonnie Nickerson, Brown University's School of Professional Studies, christina paxson, CIC, David Cicilline, Dominick Ruggerio, Gina Raimondo, I-195 land, Innovation and Design District, Innovation Building, jack reed, James Berens, James Langevin, Johnson & Johnson, Nicholas Mattiello, PPPs, public-private partnerships, Rabbi Yehuda, Sheldon Whitehouse, Stefan Pryor, Temple Beth-El, Tim Rowe, Wexford Innovation Complex |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 21, 2017
“The activist that I am is breaking the system from within,” said Latifat Odetunde, a senior at Classical High School and a member of Youth in Action speaking at a conference on “Youth-Led Social Justice Activism in Rhode Island.”
Posted in Activism, Education, Featured, Inequality, Photos, Politics, Providence, Race & Racism, Rhode Island, Video, Women, Youth | Tagged Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Ashley Gomez, Classical High School, Community Defense Project, Community Safety Act, CSA, Dorbor Tarley, E-Cubed Academy, gang database, Gloria E Anzaldúa, Kafui Glover, Keith Catone, Latifat Odetunde, Lincoln School, providence student union, Providence Youth Student Movement, PrYSM, psu, Rhode Island College, Steven Dy, Student Bill of Rights, Thaina Merlain, Virginia Georgiev, Youth in Action |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 20, 2017
As the crowd gathered outside Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s offices on the second floor of City Hall chanted, “We’re not for sale!” one member stepped forward and began demolishing two piñatas.
Posted in Activism, Class Warfare, Environmental Racism, Featured, Housing, Inequality, Infrastructure, National News, Photos, Providence, Rhode Island, Video | Tagged Acquisition and Revitalization Program, ARP, Barbara Fields, DARE, direct action for rights and equality, Elena McCann, jorge elorza, Malchus Mills, Renter Week of Action, Rhode Island Housing, Terri Wright |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 11, 2017
“Shell’s facility sits on the banks of the Providence River, poised to spew toxic chemicals into our waters and our neighborhoods with no adequate safeguards in place,” said CLF president Bradley Campbell.
Posted in Climate, Corporate Greed, Energy, Environmental Racism, Featured, Inequality, Infrastructure, National News, News, Providence, Rhode Island, Texas | Tagged Arkema, Bradley Campbell, Brown University, CLF, Conservation Law Foundation, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Josh Block, Narragansett Bay, Narragansett Boat Club, Providence Harbor, Providence River, Providence Terminal East Side Tank Farm, Shell, Shell’s Providence Terminal, Timmons Roberts, Valero Energy |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 10, 2017
“As low-income queer youth of color, Trump’s policies continue to affect our community. He and his policies place fear in our hearts, for not only our well being, but for everyone around us.”
Posted in Activism, Civil Rights, Class Warfare, Featured, Inequality, LGBTQ, National News, News, Photos, Providence, Race & Racism, Rhode Island, Video, Youth | Tagged Betsy DeVos, Charlottesville, CJC, Community Justice College, DACA, Defend DACA RI, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, donald trump, Dreamers, Environmental Justice League, Heather Hyer, kennedy plaza, Providence Career and Technical Academy, providence student union, Vice News, What Cheer Brigade |
By Steve Ahlquist on September 9, 2017
“I’m here because I’m standing up for human dignity, for migrant dignity and undocumented immigrant dignity…”
Posted in Activism, Civil Rights, Class Warfare, Featured, Immigration, Inequality, LGBTQ, National News, News, Photos, Providence, Race & Racism, Rhode Island, State House, Video, Youth | Tagged aaron regunberg, BIRC, Brown Immigrant Rights Coalition, Burnside Park, Carmen Castillo, CASO, Coalition of Advocates for Student Opportunities, DACA, David Cicilline, Deborah Gonzalez, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, donald trump, gayle goldin, Gina Raimondo, grace diaz, james diossa, Javier Juarez, jorge elorza, Marta V Martínez, Nirva LaFortune, PIRC, Providence Immigrant Rights Coalition, providence student union, Rhode Island State House, Roger Williams University, Sabina Matos, Tatiana Hall |
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