Black and Hispanic students made up only about 30 percent of students in Rhode Island school districts during the 2012-13 school year but received over 50 percent of the state’s out-of-school suspensions, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island released March 10. The ...
House Majority Leader Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston, was elected to serve as speaker of the House Tuesday afternoon, replacing Rep. Gordon Fox, D-Providence, who resigned the position March 22. Federal and state officials raided Fox’s Statehouse office and personal home March 21, though no information ...
Updated March 31, 2014 at 1:30 a.m. Rhode Island Speaker of the House Gordon Fox, D-Providence, resigned March 22 after federal and state law enforcement officials raided his Statehouse office and home March 21 to collect evidence regarding an “undisclosed matter,” the Providence Journal reported. Fox, ...
Brown students and Rhode Island residents on both sides of the abortion debate descended on the State House March 11 to hear the House Judiciary Committee discuss eight reproductive health bills. All eight have since been recommended for further review, according to the General Assembly’s Legislative ...
Zipcar is negotiating the terms of a new agreement with Providence to extend the company’s contract for an additional three years. While the original contract expired in January, current negotiations would extend the city’s agreement with Zipcar into 2017. Under Zipcar’s proposal, the city would ...
The General Assembly this week considered a bill to alter gun-buyer screening procedures and legislation that would review racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions in the state’s public schools. Rhode Island legislators also conducted their annual St. Patrick’s Day and St. Joseph’s Day ...
Two more state officials took steps toward forming campaigns in anticipation of the 2014 election season. Rep. Ray Hull, D-Providence, announced Tuesday he is exploring a run for Providence mayor, potentially joining a crowded race for the Sept. 9 Democratic mayoral primary. Raymond McKay, network and ...
The Resilient Rhode Island Act of 2014 — developed by Brown students working with a faculty member and outside consultants — was introduced to the Rhode Island General Assembly by Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston, last week. The University provided funding to support the legislation, which outlines ...
The Rhode Island Senate approved two bills March 12 proposing to call the first constitutional convention the state has seen in 30 years and to create a bipartisan preparatory commission. The convention would consider a number of changes to the state’s constitution, including term limits for elected ...
Rhode Island voters have low confidence in the effectiveness of their elected state leaders, according to the results of a poll conducted Feb. 9-12. Only 2 percent of voters rated state leaders’ effectiveness as “excellent,” while the majority — 82 percent — rated it “fair” or “poor.” The ...
Marina Tolou-Shams, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to examine the prevalence of risk behaviors and certain other outcomes in formerly incarcerated Rhode Island juveniles now reentering the community. Tolou-Shams’s ...
In proposed resolutions and legislation this week, the General Assembly targeted childhood education, renewable energy and health care delivery. Kindergarten program The Senate Education Committee considered a joint resolution Wednesday to study the feasibility of creating full-day kindergarten programs ...
Rep. Patricia Morgan, R-Coventry, West Warwick, Warwick, introduced a bill that would require people using electronic benefit transfer cards to show proof of identity to redeem food stamp benefits. The bill aims to reduce fraud in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and was introduced ...
PopUp Providence, a tactical urbanism program that introduces inexpensive and temporary installations designed to engage its residents and invigorate the area is now accepting proposals from the community. The program is a partnership between the Providence Redevelopment Agency and the Providence Department ...
Rep. Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, introduced legislation to the Rhode Island General Assembly Feb. 25 that would form the 1696 Historical Commission. The commission, named for the year enslaved Africans were first documented to have arrived in Rhode Island, would create a comprehensive curriculum ...
As the national unemployment rate inches back toward pre-crisis figures, Rhode Island’s rate has followed the general trend. But the state’s stubbornly high unemployment distinguishes it from national progress. As lawmakers attempt to identify the cause of the Ocean State’s struggles, a range ...
Approval of the finalized Thayer Street Planning Study in late January marked the conclusion of exploratory research on potential Thayer Street improvements, signalling a transition into the plan’s implementation phase. Following months of revision, the approved outline calls for the long-term development ...
The governors of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Delaware and Vermont — three of whom are alums — joined Wendy Schiller, associate professor of political science and public policy, at the first of five events Saturday that together composed the President’s Colloquium on the Virtues of a Liberal Education. ...
The sixth annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities featured Arlene Goldbard, an activist and author, who spoke about art and culture as catalysts for social transformation Wednesday. The event, entitled “A Culture of Possibility for Providence,” also featured a panel of local ...
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Block launched a new stage of his campaign with the announcement of a plan to transform the state’s tax system, reduce government spending and instate multiple government reforms last week. Block, a 2010 gubernatorial candidate for the Moderate Party, is poised ...
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