Rhode Island-based renewable energy company Deepwater Wind won the first federal auction for offshore wind development, paying $3.8 million for 164,000 acres of ocean on the Atlantic seaboard between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The lease for the Deepwater Wind Energy Center has not been officially ...
Employers in Rhode Island can no longer ask job applicants about their criminal backgrounds, following the implementation of a law Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 signed July 15. “This provides basic protections from discrimination for people with a criminal record,” said Rep. Scott Slater, ...
A bill that would have allowed Rhode Islanders to purchase license plates inscribed with “Choose Life” was vetoed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 in July. Part of the revenue generated by the plates’ sales would have been donated to CareNet, a faith-based pregnancy resource center that ...
Rhode Island’s Department of Education and Department of Labor and Training will split a $670,000 federal Workforce Investment Act grant, Gov. Linoln Chafee’s ’75 P’14 P’17 office announced earlier this month. The U.S Department of Labor allocates grants through the Workforce Investment Act ...
The Providence Police Department has seen significant cuts to its federal funding in recent years, with grants decreasing by 92 percent — from $2.9 million in 2010-11 to $243,000 in 2012-2013. The department’s 2014 budget totaled $65.5 million, a $5 million increase over the previous year, but ...
Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 will not seek re-election next year, he announced Wednesday. “After talking to my family over the course of the summer, I thought the time was good now to tell Rhode Islanders, ‘You’re going to see Linc Chafee devoting all his time and energy to the issues ...
Rhode Island will completely eliminate the 7 percent sales tax on wine and spirits Dec. 1, though the state’s sales tax on beer will remain. The change was approved in June when the General Assembly passed the 2014 state budget. Rep. Jan Malik, D-Barrington, Warren, who owns a liquor store in the ...
Three years after winning a Race to the Top federal education grant, Rhode Island is in its last year of spending the $75 million award. As of August, Rhode Island has used $44.4 million of the grant, said Elliot Krieger, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Education. Half of the grant ...
A University construction project in the Jewelry District could be delayed as a consequence of ongoing negotiations with public utilities company National Grid and the discovery of unsafe soil under building sites. The project, slated to begin in 2014 and announced by President Christina Paxson in ...
The University may undertake an extensive renovation of the Dynamo House, a former power plant in the Jewelry District, in partnership with the nursing programs at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College and a private developer, President Christina Paxson announced in a school-wide email ...
In the final hours of the 2013 legislative session, the Rhode Island Senate and House of Representatives passed a joint resolution calling on the state Board of Education to stop a controversial high school graduation requirement developed by Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, set to take effect at ...
Rhode Island became the 10th state in the country to begin offering marriage certificates to same-sex couples Aug. 1. Same-sex couples across the state celebrated the day with weddings and by trading in their “civil union” licenses for marriage certificates. The bill legalizing same-sex marriage ...
Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 announced May 29 that he will join the Democratic Party, setting the stage for what analysts anticipate will be a heated three-way Democratic primary during the 2014 gubernatorial election. Chafee was the nation’s only independent governor during his first ...
[View the story "Live blog: Day one of same-sex marriage in Rhode Island" on Storify]
On the steps of the Rhode Island State House, Gov. Lincoln Chafee '75 P '14 signed historic legislation making Rhode Island the 10th state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage Thursday. The signing ceremony immediately followed a vote in the House of Representatives supporting the legislation, ...
While state senators debated a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, supporters and opponents filled the State House lobby to make their opinions heard. About 40 or 50 of the bill’s opponents stood in the rotunda carrying signs that said “Same Sex Marriage is Immoral and Unnecessary” and “Marriage ...
Kennedy Plaza, the main square and transportation hub of Providence, will undergo renovations in the next few years as a part of Mayor Angel Taveras’ efforts to revitalize downtown. The Downtown Providence Parks Conservancy is slated to start construction this year. The plans — designed by Union ...
Six of Rhode Island’s prominent Latino figures condemned the lack of Latino leaders in the state, where 38 percent of Providence residents and 60 percent of Central Falls residents are Latino, at a panel discussion Wednesday afternoon. The speakers — who included politicians, community leaders ...
Lynn Taylor, assistant professor of medicine at Alpert Medical School and attending physician at Miriam Hospital, and Adrienne Gagnon, executive director and co-founder of Downcity Design, were each awarded a three-year Rhode Island Innovation Fellowship to fund their efforts to devise a creative solution ...
The Rhode Island Senate passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage yesterday by a vote of 26-12. The vote marks the final major hurdle in the legislative process, virtually guaranteeing same-sex marriage will be signed into law in the coming weeks. Since yesterday’s bill is different from the ...
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