Justin Katz
It would seem that the manifest circle whereby violence on TV produces violence in life is complete: An afterschool fight that drew 50 to 60 student onlookers in front of Roger Williams Middle School was posted on the Web site YouTube, making Providence part of a growing phenomena in which teenagers use technology to publicize…
See, here’s the sort of proposal that illustrates that our legislators truly do not understand and/or are unwilling to address the structural problems that plague Rhode Island: After a lengthy debate, the House put off a vote on a bill sponsored by Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, that would require all state public works…
Well, it took some time, but apparently, Roland Benjamin’s been persuaded: The info on shrinking tax receipts was predictable given Justin’s demographic research here. Because we have replaced around 29,000 people from above 3x FPL (about $60k in household income) with 25,000 below that threshold, the tax receipts should follow that. And they did. Above…
The current news and politics atmosphere has something of the feel of a transition. We’re between the passage of the supplemental and the initial markers presaging the debate over next year’s budget. We’ve seen the parade of interested parties, and we’re well aware that discussion has returned to the back room. What’s next? Well, the…
James Cournoyer, of North Smithfield, gets to the heart of the matter (after noting that public employees are paid workers, not volunteers): … a public employee who starts working at age 25 with a $30,000 salary and annual raises of 3.25 percent will contribute $74,425 to the pension system over 20 years, assuming a contribution…
Michael Zey’s op-ed, yesterday, enunciates the factors indicating that the United States of America is just not that interested in developing energy independence — much less developing energy as an export industry. As the Platts report plainly states, without a growing energy supply, countries face “declining growth rates, diminished standards of living, and growing transfer…
Methinks there’s a missing “my” in Karen Lee Ziner’s “Remarks raise concern” piece on the front page of yesterday’s Local News section: A nonprofit group whose board members include First Lady Sue Carcieri asserts that nearly 45 percent of all immigrants in Rhode Island — legal and illegal — lack high school diplomas and “this…
Race’s status as an umbrella term for an amorphous category of qualities — from skin color to lifestyle choices — justify a significant degree of skepticism about claims of racial profiling. In the context of a recent University of Rhode Island investigation of state police traffic stops and searches (concerning which, I haven’t been able…