Government
Public services and government action
Six Providence City Councilmembers pledge to reallocate money from the police
"I am committed to reallocating funds from the Police Department into social services," said Providence City Councilmember Nirva LaFortune. "I also want to be strategic about it and think about what areas in our city we need to support."...
Providence's civilian oversight board blocked by police from accessing body camera footage
A debate over body camera footage at PERA’s monthly meeting shows that relying on the police department to cooperate with independent investigations may be a flawed strategy. The Providence Police Department is refusing to give body came...
State House rally to decarcerate, divest from, and dismantle prisons
“As the national conversation around police violence unfolds, we must shine a light on the violence happening behind the walls, too," write organizers in a statement. "Decarceration, divestment, and abolition of prisons is inseparable fr...
Providence announces nearly $1m in aid for eviction defense and emergency housing assistance
To seek legal assistance for eviction proceedings, residents in both private market rentals and public housing can call the Rhode Island Center for Justice at 401-491-1101 or Rhode Island Legal Services at 401-274-2652. Requests will be...
Brown University accused of violating Title IX by cutting women’s athletics
More than twenty years after a precedent-setting court victory finding that Brown University violated federal Title IX law by engaging in gender-based discrimination in the school’s athletics program, legal representatives who secured an...
Pawtucket City Council approves police budget over community objections
"This is a moment of reckoning, nationally, with policing issues and how they intersect with racism. To acknowledge that openly is not, in my view, to lay the nations’ problems at the feet of the Pawtucket police, though it might feel th...
Testimony from the Providence City Council Finance Committee hearing
People lined up outside the Providence City Hall on Monday to testify before the Providence City Council Finance Committee meeting on the budget for the Providence Police Department. The hearing was a redo of a hearing held on Zoom weeks...
Bail hearings for ICE detainees at Wyatt: More than two dozen released
"...More than just getting the detainees released from Wyatt due to Covid, we brought to light Wyatt’s inability to keep these civil detainees safe while the threat of the pandemic exists inside the facility - many of whom are suffering...
Refugee Dream Center honors intersections between World Refugee Day and Juneteenth
"There are over 26 million refugees around the world," said Bah. “People suffering because human beings made them suffer. How is that different from a police officer killing someone in broad daylight? Here in America, we see people of co...
Governor shifts on possible executive order to deal with looming eviction crisis
"It is my hope to beat the clock of July 1st and have this up and running. If I can't, then I'm absolutely open to doing what some other folks have done via executive order..." The courts are due to take up eviction proceedings against r...