Marc Comtois
Poor Jim Spencer and Curtis Ellis: they’ve been waiting for a poll to confirm their preconceived notions and CNN provided it, so now they can write the column they’ve been yearning to write: Now (finally!), a poll conducted by CNN gives us some hard data on the Tea Party Nation. Neither “average Americans,” as they…
The Department of Education has announced* the winners of the first round of Race to the Top School Improvement Grants (SIG) and the Rhode Island didn’t make the cut. Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and Washington were the winners. For those who tied the Central Falls firings to RI getting the SIGs, I guess the…
The bond market continues to struggle as it tries to deal with the new health care paradigm: Interest rates climbed in the bond market Thursday after a government debt auction drew tepid demand. Auctions Tuesday and Wednesday also saw lower demand….The auction of $32 billion in seven-year notes saw demand fall from the past two…
Now for some good news: according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP test results, RI Reading scores are up, overall. Unfortunately, the way the ProJo reports it is confusing: In Grade 4, 36 percent of Rhode Island students were reading at grade level, a five-point increase from the previous rate and five…
“Desperate times call for desperate measures”, right? So now we learn that the RI General Assembly is looking at taxing non-profits to earn more “revenue.” The method will be via suspension of the tax-exempt status by removing the sales tax waiver that non-profits receive (the GA isn’t considering property taxes or taxing donations…yet). According to…
So you don’t have to, here is the “Marc’s Notes” version of where the three announced GOP candidates (Mark Zaccaria, Michael Gardiner and Bill Clegg) for RI’s Second Congressional District Seat stand on various issues. This is compiled directly from the “Issues” pages on each candidate’s websites–I paraphrased and used direct quotes to try to…
In these times, the observations of Alexis de Tocqueville seem as apt as ever: [Government] takes upon itself alone to secure [the people’s] gratifications and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was…
I recently mentioned Ed Achorn’s book on Hoss Radbourn, Fifty-nine in ’84. Now, WRNI’s Ian Donnis has an interview with Achorn up. Radbourn had 59 wins in 1884 and pitched almost every game for the Providence Grays that year. Good stuff.
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Those who read my previous post regarding Cranston’s attempt to help relieve their budgetary woes by combining various school sports programs from their two high schools via a waiver application to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League won’t be surprised to read that I think the RI Interscholastic League got it right: The Rhode Island Interscholastic…