Opinion
Editorial pieces from contributors and staff
Dr Jim Cowan: Is “clinically appropriate” a new way for health insurers to deny care?
This undefined term ‘clinically appropriate’ has been added 13 times to an amended version of a telemedicine bill... In every one of these situations the defined and accepted term ‘medically necessary’ has been replaced by ‘clinically appropriate’... The words ‘clinical necessity’ have no widely-accepted definition in the world of health insurance and are not based on medical science...
Dr Keith Corl: As the pandemic enters its second year, the toll it extracts from health care workers has mutated
Few patients die of COVID-19 at home, so nearly every one of the 460,000 Americans who have died were treated by a team of health care workers. Bearing witness to so much suffering and death has put an enormous additional burden on doctors and nurses. The resulting long term psychological trauma is incalculable.
Don't widen I-95. Bury it.
Slicing Providence in half was a crime perpetrated by the planners of the interstate highway system, and one that was replicated in cities across the country. In other countries, the highways go to the cities, not through them.
Sunrise statement on the 2021 Act on Climate Bill
"...the Act on Climate Bill won’t produce meaningful action on climate change until approximately 2028. We have known about the climate crisis for more than 30 years, and we simply do not have another seven years to delay taking action."
RI Senate to hear $15 minimum wage bills today
Nearly one-third of all female workers, over one-third of Black workers and nearly half of Latinx workers in Rhode Island earn low wages and would benefit from a $15 minimum wage. Black and Latinx workers make up nearly one-third (32%) of all Rhode Island workers who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage. On average, workers would receive $2,100 in additional annual earnings.
Sunrise RI opposes Raimondo’s CRMC re-appointments
Approving these re-appointments further affirms and excuses the undemocratic and racist process for approving the Fields Point methane gas liquefaction facility. Approving these re-appointments paves the way for future decisions that harm BIPOC communities across the state, undermining every Rhode Islander’s right to a healthy environment.
RI National Lawyers Guild opposes House Bill 5001 and the criminalization of protest
Rhode Island General Laws 11-45-1 already criminalizes and punishes the intentional or reckless blocking of a highway. There is no need to make blocking a highway a felony crime with a mandatory sentence. If prosecutors decide there is probable cause to charge protesters, and there is sufficient evidence to convict them, then judges can determine the appropriate sentence.
Hannah Mackie: A just minimum wage supports RI workers' dignity and right to live
We must raise the minimum wage, and pledge to continue to adjust it for inflation. We must agree to invest in each other for sustained growth for all members of the community, not just those on top. And this is where we start.
Rep Corvese's highway bill is racist, cruel, anti-constitutional and unnecessary
As a society we are too quick to felonize BIPOC protests. We treat their lives, dreams, ambitions and concerns as disposable. This has to stop.
Rep Morgan introduces resolution against conservative censorship by big tech companies
But a new report from New York University shows that Representative Morgan's claims of conservative bias and censorship are false.