Business

A water drop and ripples

Sometimes it’s the minor legislation (like weekly pay mandates) that is the most telling.

By Justin Katz | March 11, 2024 |

This legislation is hardly the most-pressing matter facing Rhode Island at the moment: Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III and Rep. Enrique George Sanchez are sponsoring legislation to require most businesses in Rhode Island to pay their employees weekly. Has either of these legislators ever had to make payroll for a business?  One suspects they simply…

A hand reaches for chains

Politics This Week: Unions Versus the People in RI

By Justin Katz | July 17, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss evidence of unions’ tightening grip on Rhode Island and other political topics.

Fake politician wearing a smiling character's mask and hiding is real identity

Politics This Week: Fraudulent Faces in RI Government

By Justin Katz | May 6, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the costliness of Rhode Island government’s decisions.

Biker on a dirty ATV.

Politics This Week: Hidden Emails, DUI Skeletons, Bikers Gone Wild

By Justin Katz | April 11, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the mysterious ways in which Rhode Island government runs poorly.

Providence, Rhode Island, USA park and skyline.

Politics This Week: Blame, Budgets, and Bailouts

By Justin Katz | April 3, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz walk through the latest comedies in Rhode Island politics and discuss the characters who have been stealing the spotlight.

Man hiding money behind his back with his fingers crossed.

Politics This Week: Rhode Island, the Begging State

By Justin Katz | March 29, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the factors behind Rhode Island’s inability to raise sufficient funds for major projects.

An aerial photograph of the U.S. at night.

High-speed internet is an asset Rhode Island should build on.

By Justin Katz | May 4, 2021 |

Obviously, those of us who choose to live in Rhode Island feel the state has a lot to recommend it, even as we’re perpetually frustrated by its flaws.  While making decisions for the future, we should build on our strengths.  Explicitly noting it as a reason to move to the state, TechRepublic’s N.F. Mendoza reports…

A man fuels his car

Coalition Looks for TCI Sanity from McKee

By Justin Katz | April 20, 2021 |

During a time of hoped-for economic recovery after COVID lockdowns, a coalition of state, national, and local groups is asking Governor Daniel McKee to reverse his predecessor’s pledge for the Ocean State to join a handful of others in imposing a new gas tax.

What Businesses Charge

By Patrick Laverty | April 2, 2013 |

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…

Who owns your stuff?

By Marc Comtois | March 19, 2013 |

When is our stuff actually, you know, our stuff? Recently a stir was caused when cell-phone unlocking—the practice of enabling your cellphone for use on any cell network with any SIM card—became illegal. Now, with legislation pending in Congress to re-legalize(?) the practice, Kyle Wiens writes that we need to focus on “unlocking” much more…