Providence City Council passed a resolution 11-1 in June that committed the city to divestment from any of its holdings in the top 200 fossil fuel companies in the next five years, making Providence the first capital city in the United States to do so. Councilman Seth Yurdin, Ward 1, lead sponsor of ...
Rhode Island’s Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist discussed a variety of public education issues, from standardized testing to the implementation of the new Common Core curriculum, with Rhody Young Republicans at an event the organization hosted Wednesday night. Gist introduced a series of focal ...
This summer Rhode Island joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a group of states attempting to reform the presidential election process. Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 signed the legislation in early July, putting the compact more than halfway toward the number of electoral ...
State Education Commisioner Deborah Gist’s requirement that all high school students in Rhode Island obtain a score of “partial proficiency” on the NECAP examination or demonstrate improvement on their second or third attempts to graduate continues to spark debate across the state. The Rhode ...
Sojourner House, a nonprofit shelter for victims of domestic abuse, received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women earlier this month. Sojourner will use the three-year grant to improve transitional housing for victims of domestic abuse and their children. U.S. ...
Rhode Island-based Kate Coyne-McCoy, a long-time advocate for female participation in politics, said her newly-created super Political Action Committee called American LeadHERship is committed to supporting “progressive, pro-choice, Democratic women” who wish to run for governor across the country. The ...
Providence has amended overnight parking regulations to allow students who attend college in the city to purchase annual overnight parking passes for $200. Parking passes for residents are $100. Previously, only cars registered in Providence were eligible for overnight parking passes. Until 2012, all ...
Government and university officials have responded with cautious optimism but some concern to President Obama’s recent student loan proposal that aims to make college more affordable and accessible to students. The plan includes several components — including the capping of student loan costs and ...
After interest rates on federal student loans temporarily doubled from 3.4 to 6.8 percent in July, the U.S. House and Senate voted to pass a bipartisan bill tying student loan interest rates to market rates, rejecting a plan proposed by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that would have frozen the rate at 3.4 ...
During the ninth annual Business Innovation Factory Summit held last Wednesday and Thursday at the Trinity Repertory Company, innovators gathered from around the country to meet, network and learn from each other — in the words of the group’s founder and conference organizer, Saul Kaplan, to “collide.” “How ...
Drivers looking for a parking spot in Providence Friday may have encountered an unexpected difficulty — finding small parks where they thought they could have parked. Artists, designers and students took over more than 30 parking spots around the city, converting them into educational spaces and ...
The Marijuana Policy Project, an organization focusing on drug policy reform, has set its sights on legalization in 10 new states including Rhode Island, following major victories in Colorado and Washington during the 2012 election. The MPP hopes Rhode Island will legalize marijuana through its legislature, ...
At least 30 hotel workers, labor allies and community organizers gathered yesterday at the Renaissance Hotel, chanting, drumming and shaking pebble-filled water bottles in loud protest of the hotel’s mistreatment of its employees. “There are two different fights — one for no more tax breaks, ...
The autonomous vessel Scout is currently in transit across the Atlantic Ocean, leaving its seven creators from Tiverton, R.I. waiting to see if the boat will break world records. Scout, a 12-foot-long boat lined with solar panels to power its voyage, is currently 798 miles off the coast of Rhode Island ...
Though some perceive hookah as a relatively innocuous indulgence, community organizations and lawmakers are exploring the connection between increased crime and hookah bars in Providence, as well as the negative health impacts of smoking hookah — a concern shared by the medical community. As the ...
Documents made public last week reveal that the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation hired legal representation last fall in response to inquiries from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the state’s $75 million loan to now-defunct 38 Studios, a video game development firm ...
Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’17 announced Sept. 4 he will not seek re-election in the 2014 gubernatorial race, presumably marking the end of his 27-year career in Rhode Island politics. Having served on the Warwick City Council, as mayor of Warwick and in the U.S. Senate, Chafee told reporters ...
Construction began on the state’s first capped-landfill solar field last month, the result of more than three years of planning. The former Forbes Street Landfill, which was in use from 1969 to 1979, will now house 13,000 solar panels and generate 3.7 megawatts of electricity — enough to power nearly ...
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, ...
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