Marc Comtois
In the world of blogging, this whole Patrick Kennedy fiasco certainly qualifies as “low hanging fruit.” CNN is reporting that Kennedy is going to enter rehab while the Congressman’s spokesperson says it’s going to be a “significant personal statement.” Meanwhile, we await Congressman Kennedy’s remarks. Liveblogging Kennedy: He realized this past Christmas he was addicted…
“We live in a world where capitalism rules and competition.” So said West Warwick’s Timothy Williamson during yesterday’s House casino hearing. Of course, he was only talking about the small, local, mom-and-pop restaurants and entertainment establishments that would have to duke it out with a casino. Because, you see, Rep. Williamson’s love for the free-market…
As I mentioned earlier, Beacon Board members George Nee and Henry Boeniger are trying to prevent Governor Carcieri from removing them from the board. As luck would have it for Nee and Boeniger, their appeal is being heard by pro-labor (according to Dan Yorke, though Andrew would characterize him as a bit more radical) Judge…
Mayor Laffey has a new tax plan, according to the ProJo: Laffey’s proposal would eliminate the tax on estates, interest, dividends, capital gains and Social Security benefits. He would also lower the highest marginal tax rate — that paid by the highest wage earners — to 30 percent. The top federal marginal income tax rate…
So, what have we learned from the May Day general strike? We learned that there are a whole lot of immigrants–here legally or not–who can take a day off from work or school to attend a rally calling for equal treatment. (Such as, say, freedom of speech or association….) I learned (via a live broadcast…
A new Rhode Island College poll indicates that Senator Chafee holds a comfortable lead in both the GOP primary and the general election: Chafee would beat challenger and Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey 56 percent to 28 percent in the Republican primary. For that question, the poll sampled 107 people who said they would vote…
At the behest of Congress, President Bush has offered a few solutions to the current gas crisis, including an investigation into whether the oil companies have engaged in price gouging. This last lays at the heart of the current debate. Bill O’Reilly certainly chalks it up to a sort-of-conspiracy and is particularly suspicious of the…
In today’s Washington Post: Lincoln Chafee was cleaning a horse stall on his well-manicured farm one recent early morning, describing his latest encounter with hostile home-state Republicans. The GOP senator had appeared the previous night before the Scituate Republican Town Committee to seek the endorsement of the small but influential group. In his halting, soft-spoken…
RI Democrats have been promising some tax relief recently, and now they’ve apparently realized that spending reductions are a good idea, too: Senate leaders yesterday offered what they hailed as a “property-tax reduction plan.” . . . Senate Democrats — led by Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano and Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed…
Here is the meat and potatoes of what the Giuliani group found in their audit of Beacon Mutual [the whole report is here (PDF)]. First, we have the in house problems: Beacon executives maintained a VIP list of about a dozen companies, some of which received favorable treatment resulting in lower workers’ comp rates. Solomon…