Government
Public services and government action
Whitehouse and Reed asked to vote to stop United States involvement in the War in Yemen
Peace activists visited the offices of United States Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, Rhode Island) and Jack Reed (Democrat, Rhode Island) to deliver a petition and a letter asking that both Senators to sign onto and vote for Senat...
Speakernomics tastes like trickle-down and oligarchy
"The economy is moving in the right direction," said Rhode Island Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello (Democrat, District 15, Cranston) to Providence Journal's Ed Achorn in an interview conducted shortly after a caucus vote that more...
Will members of the Reform Caucus be punished by Speaker Mattiello?
The Public's Radio's Ian Donnis asked Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (Democrat, District 15, Cranston), "You seemed a little bit surprised when some of the reporters who spoke with you after your caucus last week asked whether any of the 21...
Sheriff Hodgson helps ICE separate families, earns protesters outside his home on Thanksgiving
At around 9am on a freezing Thanksgiving morning, over a dozen people representing the FANG Collective, community members and allies demonstrated outside the New Bedford home of Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson over the county's 287...
ACLU raises concerns over RIPTA attempt to ban journalist from recording meeting
The ACLU of Rhode Island today wrote to officials at the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority to raise concerns about an incident that occurred yesterday when the agency initially sought to ban local journalist Steve Ahlquist fro...
RIPTA needs lessons in how the Open Meetings Act works
"I'm going to need you to gather up your stuff and come out into the hallway," said James Pereira, Chief Security Officer at the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority (RIPTA), just ahead of the monthly meeting of the RIPTA board....
Not good: Rhode Island Food bank releases report on hunger in Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank has released their 2018 Status Report on Hunger in Rhode Island. Among the reports findings: Hunger is more prevalent in Rhode Island than it was 10 years ago. Food insecurity affects one in eight Rho...
Will legalized marijuana in Massachusetts inspire Rhode Island to follow suit?
Legal adult marijuana sales will begin in Massachusetts Tuesday, with retailers in Northampton and Leicester reportedly set to be the first to open. The state is the seventh in the nation to establish a regulated marijuana market for adu...
Our Common Wealth: The return of public ownership in the United States
"Public ownership in the United States is much more prevalent, and common, and resilient than most people realize and it's expanding in critically important areas," said Thomas M Hanna, research director at The Democracy Collaborative in...
RI NOW on the continuing need for Sexual Harassment Commission
Throughout 2018 sexual harassment has dominated public discourse, both nationally and here in our state. This is especially true at the Rhode Island State House. In June, the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization for Women (R...