Government
Public services and government action
Senator Mendes to sleep in a tent outside State House until leadership acts on homelessness crisis
"There are a lot of ways to address this crisis if state leaders had the moral will to do it," noted Senator Mendes.
Was a rally against the Woonsocket Mayor and City Council deliberately disrupted by city officials?
Workers from the Woonsocket Highway Department were in the park with at least three trucks and multiple leaf blowers. The leaf blowers and the trucks were so loud that the rally moved from one area of the park to a stage to hold their rally, only to have the truck, and the leaf blowers, follow them... Promptly at 2:30pm, when the rally ended, the trucks departed.
State House holds first meeting of a Commission on Sex Work
"For public testimony it's very important that we get comfortable with talking about the issues in our society and not hiding behind language that seems more appropriate or more innocent," said Justice Gaines. "And that's especially true when we're dealing with populations - women, trans folks, queer folks, people of color - who often don't get to see themselves in the language that's used in many of these spaces."
Lawsuit challenges ACI prisoner’s eight months in solitary confinement for free speech activity
“I spoke out against conditions at the ACI and I was punished with almost eight months in solitary confinement," said Joseph Shepard. "Now that I’m out of prison, I’m speaking out again to make it clear that incarcerated people have a right to share information about misconduct in our state prisons.”
Bristol Students Are Joining Providence Students in the Fight to Bring Gen-Z Beliefs into School Systems
"When given an opportunity to embrace the Black and brown students in our school, you shut it down, because it didn't suit all the students. 'All Lives Matter'… is what you're saying," said student Luciano Camara, to the Bristol Warren School Committee.
RI Poor People’s Campaign demands that Reed and Whitehouse pass Build Back Better Act
"A budget is a moral document, and I’m a little bit tired hearing that we don’t have the money to pay for basic needs for people, but we have billions of dollars for the military-industrial complex," said Angela Howard McParland, a Justice Resource Manager for Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. "I’m a little bit tired of hearing that we don’t have the money to give people housing, to give people paid family leave, when so many other countries have no problem doing this.”
Mt Hope Student Union calls out Bristol Warren School Committee for racism
"You as a committee are not acting in the best interest of the students, teachers, and administrators of this district," said Edda Petrillo, a member of the Mt Hope Student Union. "You are failing our students majorly."
ICE is building a new detention center in Warwick
UpriseRI reached out to John Mohan, Public Affairs Officer for the New England Region for ICE. He replied, "Thanks for the inquiry. I’m going to decline to comment since we don’t talk publicly about any alleged internal decisions or plans of facilities that the agency works with."
Homeless in RI: If we leave 600 people out there, people will die...
"We need a solution today and we've been asking the Governor's office for months. We need him to declare a state of emergency," said Sara Melucci, Director of Rhode Island’s PATH street outreach program.
Governor McKee confronted by activists on his failure to act on homelessness crisis
"In regards to unsheltered homelessness, why isn't the Governor declaring a state of emergency?" asked Barbara Freitas, who heads the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project. "[Massachusetts Governor] Charlie Baker just did it. We have over 600 people living in places not meant for human habitation. That means they'r living in abandoned buildings. That means they're living in tents in the woods. They're living in doorways, and we're including children. Families. Individuals with mental problems, with substance abuse issues."