In Depth
Local Impact: Burrilliville 2, Glocester, Pawtucket 2, Portsmouth 2, Providence/Pawtucket. Inobvious Priorities: S0648 >> Creates a new board to oversee licensing of massage therapists; H5445 >> Licensing of music therapists; H5853 >> Regulations on the treatment of circus elephants; S0676 >> Procedures for resolving “ownership of unclaimed property on loan to a museum” (primary sponsor…
NAIC model legislation — There was much consternation last year, locally and nationally, over the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) drafting “model legislation” that might be submitted in Rhode Island. Model legislation was heard at the statehouse this very week — but not from ALEC. Three bills heard on Tuesday by the House Corporations Committee…
NSL court decision — In mid-March, a Federal district court judge in California ruled the use of “national security letters” to be unconstitutional (Wall Street Journal story here). NSL’s are letters issued by the FBI, without prior judicial approval, that require telecommunications companies to provide data to the government. There are two major issues with…
O’Neill and the Democratic platform — Rhode Island Republicans get regularly beaten up for not being able to agree on a party platform. On the other hand, when appearing on WPRI’s Newsmakers two weekends ago, Representative Patrick O’Neill (D – Pawtucket) had this to say about one of his disappointments with the Democratic leadership in…
A brief exposition of an entry put down in an actual dead-tree notebook, referring to a news-subject worth watching, at a time where there is certainly no shortage of subjects vying for public attention… Secretary of Commerce vs. RICWFA paradox — A group of Rhode Island leaders led by General Treasurer Gina Raimondo announced a…
In today’s Providence Journal, Common Cause’s John Marion wrote a letter to the editor about the lack of leadership and democracy shown at the Statehouse by Speaker Gordon Fox. After State Rep. J. Patrick O’Neill made a motion to pass House Bill H 5498, got it seconded, and then got it passed, the Speaker and…
Multiple news organizations are tweeting about a possible gunman on the University of Rhode Island Kingston Campus. Kim Kalunian of WPRO, in the last five minutes, has tweeted…State PD say “no evidence” of active shooter at URI Kingston campus, investigating now URI worker says someone in class stood up and said they had a gun;…
I had an interesting revelation when I was a teen and working in the stock room at my local JC Penney. When inventory arrived, I was to put the price tags on the items. The sheet that I was given to derive the prices from also had the store’s own cost for those items. The…
UPDATED: Somehow, I missed the entire Senate Judiciary hearing for Tuesday, April 2, which includes:S0039/S0044: The bills to eliminate the master lever (which would have been rated #1).S0422: State-issued drivers’ licenses for illegal immigrants (which would have been either #2 or #3).S0769/S0553: Two bills that create in-person early voting in Rhode Island elections, beginning several…
20. H5514: Grants “deputy sheriffs, capitol police officers, environmental police officers, juvenile program workers, shift coordinators, airport crash/rescue firefighters, airport police, and campus police officers employed by the state of Rhode Island or any Rhode Island quasi-public agency” retirement benefits equal to those of state police officers. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 3) Isn’t this the…