Law and Order

Judicial Empathy and a Veteran Without a Home

By Justin Katz | May 18, 2009 |

The tale begins and ends with Pocahontas Cooley (photo here), whose very name lends a fictional tone to a true story of justice deferred. The travesty is the number of times the setting has been the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson, Rhode Island Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse’s pick to fill…

Providence Housing Offenders and One of Their Neighbors.

By Monique Chartier | May 12, 2009 |

Further to Justin’s post, the homeless shelter on Prairie Avenue in Providence, one of two in the state required to accept predators, is next to (that would be next to) Edmund W. Flynn Elementary School‎. As the host city of the other homeless shelter required to accept predators, Cranston is understandably up in arms because…

Housing Offenders

By Justin Katz | May 11, 2009 |

Focusing mainly on the local controversy, journalist Randal Edgar didn’t ask why this should be true: Dennis B. Langley, president and CEO of the Urban League of Rhode Island, which runs Harrington Hall, played down the concerns, saying the shelter, which opened as a permanent center in 2003, has housed sex offenders for years. The…

Rule of Lawyer: Tiverton Town Solicitor Andrew M. Teitz and Disenfranchisement of a Lowly Blogger

By Justin Katz | May 9, 2009 |

Reflection has not changed my opinion, stated while liveblogging, that Mike Burk, the moderator of today’s financial town meeting in Tiverton made every effort to be fair and, on the whole, succeeded. That said, he did make a few substantial errors, one of which brings into stark relief a problem of governance pervasive in Rhode…

The Nature of the Prostitution Business

By Justin Katz | April 28, 2009 |

The other afternoon, Dan Yorke was discussing, on 630AM/99.7FM WPRO, the human trafficking side of Rhode Island’s legal prostitution business, and several callers put forward the argument maintaining the occupation’s legality in Rhode Island prevents a slide down the slippery slope of interference in our bedrooms. The obvious response that came to mind was that…

Bank of America, TARP, and Government in Crisis Mode

By Justin Katz | April 25, 2009 |

Among the problems of government central planning is that the segment of society that is apt to make decisions that skirt the rules is the same one that must enforce them. Take, for instance, information that’s coming out as a result of Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis’s testimony to New York Attorney General Andrew…

Bringing the Anti-Prostitution Bill to the House Floor

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 22, 2009 |

I’m not sure if the leadership of the state House of Representatives intends to take action on the bill submitted by Representative Joanne Giannini (D – Providence) and others that would make indoor prostitution illegal in Rhode Island; the last action on the bill listed on the RI Legislature’s website is “held for further study”…

FBI Seeks Actual Domestic Terrorist

By Justin Katz | April 22, 2009 |

Within a week of a Department of Homeland Security’s report on the abstract potential of escalating domestic right-wing terrorism, the FBI has added an American to its Most Wanted Terrorists list: A fugitive animal rights activist believed to be hiding outside the United States has become the first domestic terror suspect named to the FBI’s…

More “Drinking Games” in Barrington

By Monique Chartier | April 21, 2009 |

At a minimum, the Barrington police need to present the Places with a bill for a police detail. Two hours times however many police officers were involved. Be sure to add in the detective who placed the ultimately futile telephone calls to the parents, Chief. John Place had called the police on April 10, the…

Richard Phillips Freed…

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 12, 2009 |

…according to ABC News.