Government
Public services and government action
RIDE weighs emotional testimony on transgender and gender nonconforming student policy proposal
[caption id="attachment_5044" align="alignright" width="401"] Sherry Jones[/caption] Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) Commissioner Doctor Ken Wagner heard emotional and moving testimony in favor of a proposed rule to require a...
House considers bill to end shackling of pregnant prisoners
House Bill 7182, "takes up where we left off in 2011," said Representative Edith Ajello (Democrat, District 1, Providence). "In 2011 we made it illegal for pregnant prisoners at the ACI [Adult Correctional Institutions] to be transported...
Rhode Island Coalition for Reproductive Freedom announces legislative agenda
“Protecting reproductive freedom, including access to contraception and safe, legal abortion, is important to me as a woman of color and health care provider,” said Danika Severino Wynn, a midwife and Manager of the Planned Parenthood of...
ACLU seeks release of Lilian Calderon in federal court
BREAKING 2018-02-06 11:20AM: Judge bars removal of Calderon outside Massachusetts while the suit is pending. The judge's order is available here. "Ever since that day, Natalie asks me why her mom has left," said Luis Gordillo, husband of...
ACLU statement on grand jury finding in Santos shooting
ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to the grand jury finding that police officers and State troopers acted lawfully in the fatal shooting of Joseph Santos last November:...
Rhode Island considers legislation to combat the loss of net neutrality
[caption id="attachment_4899" align="alignright" width="400"] Steven Brown[/caption] Senator Louis DiPalma (Democrat, District 12, Little Compton, Middletown) and Representative Aaron Regunberg (Democrat, District 4, Providence) introduc...
Energize Rhode Island announces new carbon pricing bill
"For anyone who is a scientist or a parent, this moment in history is particularly scary," said Justin Boyan, a father, Providence resident, former NASA research scientist and Senior Engineer at Google. "If you're a scientist you underst...
Announcing the campaign for a $15 minimum wage and fair wages
Today marked the launch of a coordinated campaign to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2023 and to guarantee fair pay for all workers. Raising the state’s basement wage would affect 165,000 workers, nearly one in three Rho...
Vigil/Protest for Lilian Calderon, taken by ICE
A group of social justice activists gathered outside the law office of Martin Harris this morning to hold a vigil for Lilian Calderon, the woman who was seized by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a routine m...
ACLU: RI's criminal justice system is unfair, costly, and sometimes absurd
"What if somebody told you that being a serial graffiti artist could get you a longer prison sentence than being a serial drunk driver," begins a new ACLU of Rhode Island report. "That you could be sentenced to one year in prison for the...