Rhode Island Politics
Welp, the budget “drops” (I believe that’s current hip vernacular, right?) in the House tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM. And no one has a clue what’s in it but a select few. I heard NBC 10’s Bill Rappleye say this morning on the John DePetro Show that he couldn’t find anything out and it doesn’t…
The email is already rapidly permeating the Rhode Island wing of cyberspace announcing Senate passage of S0713 (PDF), which adds the following language to teacher-related labor law: In the event that a successor collective bargaining agreement has not been agreed to by the parties, then the existing contract shall continue in effect until such time…
With emphasis on the likelihood that it would stick, Governor Carcieri should veto this nonsense: Five years after a college student was struck and killed by a bus during a pub crawl in Newport, Rhode Island lawmakers have voted to impose a statewide ban on such events with the onus on bar owners to enforce…
Rep. Charlene Lima (D-Cranston) was on the Dan Yorke Show to talk about license plates, but Dan steered the conversation to the budget. Lima stated that the budget would be out next Tuesday and that, from what she was hearing, the emphasis was on budget cuts and not tax increases. She also indicated that some…
According to the ProJo, Freshman Rep. Peter F. Martin, D-Newport witnessed yesterday’s Gaspee Tea Party march through the halls of the State house. He asked some questions: “It’s democracy in action,” Martin said, adding that the budget outlook is messy. “Do they have any answers? If they have answers, do they have any methods to…
By now you should have read yesterday’s front-page advertisement for the Gaspee Tea Party rally in the Providence Journal. I’m referring to the article on big-money state pensions that Monique mentioned last night. Most of the article is a series of revelations that make one wish for something symbolic (but not harmful) to tip over…
This is a rare, fortuitous instance in which one ProJo article answers another. On Friday night (an interesting day in itself to hold a hearing), state and local public employees flocked to the Statehouse to advocate for no changes in pension benefits. Public employees packed a State House hearing on Friday in an eleventh-hour effort…
Andrew presented the question, in studio with Matt Allen last night, about whether Rhode Islanders believe that their state must always be at the wrong end of every list (especially those that are economic in nature). Stream by clicking here, or download it.
The Diocese of Providence and other religious institutions plan on preaching from the pulpit against a planned reduction in welfare spending. A plan that was passed by the General Assembly a year ago. The Interfaith Coalition wants to delay the cuts for another year, when, hopefully, the economy has rebounded. According to the Diocese of…
Barring the inconceivable possibility that it will be empowered to change the policies that overburden the Rhode Island economy, the Economic Development Corporation will continue to function mainly as a scapegoat for the elected officials on whose conscience the state’s condition ought to rest. If anything, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed’s legislation appears to go…