Justin Katz
To be honest, I’m reluctant to delve too deeply into the governor’s proposed budget for next year; it’s not as if the General Assembly is likely to let much of it stand. Still, the Providence Journal’s report thereon strolls past an interesting lesson in government revenue: Those with good driving records would have to pay…
For some reason, the Sakonnet Times publishes different letters online and in the paper. Therefore, I can’t link to a letter of mine in the current edition. By all means, pick up a copy, but here’s what I wrote: To the editor: Tiverton School Committee Member Leonard Wright made himself the union’s champion when he…
Unsurprisingly, state Representative Charlene Lima (D, Cranston) has become the next legislator through the door with a tax increase bill, and it appears to feature some of the same measures and reasoning as the Economic Death and Dismemberment Act. It’s as if they intend to flood the legislature with slightly variegated bills so that one…
I’m sorry (dark times, and all), but I had to laugh. The student newspaper at URI, The Good 5¢ Cigar, has a story on decreasing state funding, and accompanying editorial contains this gem: University President Robert L. Carothers said that the administration will have to do “some creative thinking.” Has it really come down to…
Some will accuse me of defending the indefensible, but my piece in today’s Providence Journal argues on behalf of Governor Carcieri’s cuts to RIte Aide for illegal immigrants. Being welcoming and compassionate is one thing, but are policies send the message far and wide that our invitation is for them to stay, and to remain…
Well, this is a no-brainer: Rep. Raymond C. Church has filed legislation rescinding legislative approval granted last year for a new courthouse in the Blackstone Valley, saying the state shouldn’t be borrowing money for large projects when grappling with huge deficits. “At a time when the state is trying to identify money to close a…
Consider this vignette from Katherine Gregg’s Projo story on Rhode Island’s misuse of federal healthcare funds: Emma Villa told the lawmakers what would happen to her, as the operator of a small day-care business in her Laban Street, Providence, home, where she looks after two children in addition to her own. With the help of…
On the back of the Rhode Island section of today’s paper is a Timothy Barmann piece on Governor Carcieri’s efforts to “encourage healthy lifestyles”: The majority of Rhode Islanders could stand to shed a few pounds, and Governor Carcieri wants to help. Yesterday, the governor launched what he’s calling Healthy Weight in 2008, a campaign…
Judging from the Providence Journal’s letters section, social work students at Rhode Island College have been given the assignment of denouncing Bill Felkner’s January 13 op-ed. Amanda Eyes is the latest “candidate for a master’s degree in social work” to make the opinion page, and she contributes the following interesting statistic: The problem with dialogue…