Government
Public services and government action
Rhode Island to stay the course on prison Covid outbreak
"...our focus is to support the Department of Corrections' leadership, help ensure that there isn't any increase in spread and make sure our inmates and staff remain protected..."
Mayor Elorza commits to universal basic income pilot program for Providence in 2021
"We believe that fundamentally, people are poor because they don't have money. So if we're serious in this country about addressing poverty, then let's address it in the most direct and effective way possible. Let's give them the means to direct their own future."
Senate LEOBoR Task Force votes on final recommendations
"...no one has managed to convince me why there is a need for a Law Enforcement Officer's Bill of Rights in Rhode Island when when 19 out of 50 states have some version of this, which means 31 states do not. There hasn't been any evidence presented to this task force to suggest that things are awry in those 31 states that do not have a LEOBoR."
Black Lives Matter RI calls on state leaders to deal with ACI covid outbreak
"They could send people who can go home - send them home, because clearly they can't keep them safe in these walls… The other ting is that they need to take care of the fact that they 're incarcerating people at such a high rate..."
As the pandemic rages inside, advocates, families and allies rally at the ACI
Presently, the number of cases among incarcerated individuals at the ACI, is surging past 570 with nearly 100% of those incarcerated in the Maximum Security building in particular, now COVID-19 positive...
OpEd: R.I. Parents/Educators for Safe Schools oppose a Raimondo cabinet appointment
"We do not believe that a public servant who is willing to dismiss and denigrate worried constituents, politicize science and public health, and overlook the dire consequences her actions and failures have had on the people she has sworn to serve is an appropriate pick for a cabinet position within the Biden administration."
Getting rid of cash bail a good idea even when there's no pandemic, say legislators
Cash bail "is another way of pimping," said Representative Anastasia Williams. "Pimping the poor community, the community of color, the disenfranchised - so the system can continue moving along. The system is stealing the money this community doesn't have, and when they get some of it, it's already owed. So they keep us in a cycle of dependency, of hardship. It's another form of slavery."
Providence's African American Advisory Group outlines plan to remove SROs from schools
"We know that teachers do not fit the demographics of the students," said Anita Bruno, who leads the Police Advisory Subgroup. "We know that teachers are afraid of the students. We know that there's a lot of miscommunication. We know there's a lot of kids with trauma. We know that the schools are being defunded. We know that we need to reinvest in our schools. We understand all of that. But at the same time, our kids are being locked up, arrested and given criminal careers for instances that they should be knocking the erasers or cleaning the chalkboards…"
Public Defender petitions RI Supreme Court to end cash bail amid ACI Covid spike
Dr Jennifer Clarke, the now former medical programs director at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, added her support to the petition in an affidavit. The Formerly Incarcerated Union issues statement calling on Governor Gina Raim...
Talking policy with Rep-elect Jose Batista
"I think there's a good argument to be made that the extra due process that police get - and that's what the experts acknowledge LEOBoR is - the police get an extra layer of due process in their Bill of Rights - and my hypothesis is that the extra layer doesn't just come out of nowhere, it's not free - it comes at the expense of the due process rights of people like you and I, civilians."