State Government
Update: The RI BOE voted 5-2 today to review all of the signatures on Sabina Matos’ nomination papers. Ms. Matos is on the Democrat primary ballot for the RI CD1 special election and ballots have already been mailed out to military and out-of-country voters. It is unclear if the outcome of the BOE’s review would…
John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the costliness of Rhode Island government’s decisions.
John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the mysterious ways in which Rhode Island government runs poorly.
John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the factors behind Rhode Island’s inability to raise sufficient funds for major projects.
“Permanently enjoined” – in a methodical, 90+ page ruling, federal district court Judge William Smith has turned thumbs down on Rhode Island’s truck-only tolls, noting that they are discriminatory, that they do not “fairly approximate use of the facilities” and that they violate the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. Click here for an…
John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the ways in which the movers and shakers in RI avoid things everybody knows.
As Ian Donnis tweeted earlier, I was in Providence this afternoon at the Public’s Radio studio for an all-too-brief conversation with National Education Association of Rhode Island director Bob Walsh about the obstacles to improvement of Rhode Island’s education system. Arriving a bit early, I walked around the area, and it struck me that the…
While Rhode Islanders are still trying to get their heads around the fact that their state government’s budget is poised to cross the $13 billion mark in the year beginning July 1 when it was under $10 billion as recently as 2019. How does a global pandemic and economic collapse wind up with the government…
Katherine Gregg reports for the Providence Journal the labor-union scion’s latest play to get everything he can out of Rhode Island taxpayers. Putting things chronologically might help to make it clear: Montanaro was elected to the General Assembly in 1986, at the age of 24 or 25. Under the rules existing at the time, he could…
The job listings for “institutional attendants (psychiatric)” positions in the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals (BHDDH) offer a salary in the mid-$30,000s, and payroll information available through the RIOpenGov project of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity suggests top regular pay in the low-$40,000s. In 2010 and 2011, however, almost…