Law and Order
From Brandie Jefferson of the Projo’s 7-to-7 blog…The Rhode Island Supreme Court today reversed a lower court’s judgments in favor of the state in its suit against companies that manufactured and sold lead paint in Rhode Island. The court reversed the Superior Court’s decision calling for Millennium Holdings, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams to participate in…
Looks like Bob Corrente is going to need a lot more than the “word” of John Celona to help him with Operation Dollar Bill…. Former CVS executives John R. “Jack” Kramer and Carlos Ortiz have been cleared of charges that they tried bribing former state Sen. John Celona to win favor in the State House…
The behavior is bad enough, but one detail of this story leaves me with a big “huh?”: Two 17-year-old Tiverton High School students have been charged by police and disciplined by the high school, following two separate incidents in which they allegedly broke into a home, stole cash and other items, urinated on a bed,…
Just after headlines concerning the large American prison population and my slap-dash finding that Americans don’t like criminals and feel very safe comes an interesting editorial report from BBC North America Editor Justin Webb: What surprises the British tourists is that, in areas of the US that look and feel like suburban Britain, there is…
This bit of tsk-tsking is floating among newspapers: … the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences…
Rhode Island’s propensity for showing up on the top of negative lists is moving from the sublime to the ridiculous. From the Associated Press… The federal government also released estimates of driving under the influence of illicit drugs. The rates were highest in the District of Columbia, 7 percent; Rhode Island, 6.8 percent; and Massachusetts,…
The custody hearing over the 416 children removed from the polygamist sect by the State of Texas got off to a hectic start. A court hearing to decide the fates of hundreds of children seized from a polygamist retreat was off to a chaotic start Thursday as hundreds of lawyers in two different locations demanded…
Andrew outlines the “cons” of legalizing prostitution. Bringing it back to Rhode Island, it’s one thing to be aware in an intellectual vacuum that indoor prostitution is legal here. It’s another to read a description of and begin to fully understand that a florishing trade has resulted. Ed Achorn provides that description: One does not…
Along with Edward Achorn‘s Projo op-ed on the state of prostitution in Rhode Island (or maybe that should be on the state of prostitution, Rhode Island), you may want to read this blog item written by Brad Plumer and recommended by Reihan Salam. The post points to a mountain of evidence showing that legalizing prostitution…
After pleading no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and serving one third of his four year sentence, co-owner of the Station Night Club Michael Derderian, has applied for parole. One of the one hundred people killed in the fire was Nicholas O’Neill. Below is the statement of his parents, Joanne O’Neill and Dave…