The Rhode Island Senate will vote on same-sex marriage legislation before the end of April, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport and Jamestown, told the Providence Journal Monday. “I feel very confident that the issue will be fully debated on the floor of the Senate at some point in April,” ...
A crowd of nearly 200 students, state residents and state legislators gathered Wednesday to support a bill for housing vouchers at a “Wizard of Oz”-themed rally. The bill — introduced in the House in February and currently pending review by the House Finance Committee — seeks $3 million for ...
Background checks Legislation that would require individuals interested in volunteering in the state’s public and private schools to undergo criminal background checks passed in the House of Representatives Thursday. Previously, this requirement only applied to school employees, but the bill — ...
The Rhode Island General Assembly earned a grade of D on a transparency report card released last month by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to increasing government openness. The report graded data presented on the websites of all 50 states’ legislatures using six criteria — thoroughness, ...
A law decriminalizing marijuana in Rhode Island went into effect yesterday. Under the new law, individuals caught in possession of less than one ounce of marijuana will face a civil fine of $150 instead of the criminal charges possible under previous laws. If an individual is caught with the drug three ...
Mayor Angel Taveras proposed a plan at a press conference Wednesday to strengthen the city’s economy by attracting and retaining new business developers. The 20-step plan is organized through five key courses of action, which Taveras said are all effective immediately. The plan outlines measures ...
As the national dialogue regarding same-sex marriage engulfs Rhode Island politics — including a marathon 12-hour hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee two weeks ago — the Supreme Court heard a case last week that could render irrelevant the entire debate. For the first time in U.S. history, ...
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimonies from dozens of opponents and supporters of two same-sex marriage measures Thursday night. One, which passed in the House of Representatives in January, would legalize same-sex marriage. The other would let Rhode Island voters decide the issue through ...
Curt Schilling, former Red Sox pitcher and founder of 38 Studios, called earlier this month for the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against him by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. The RIEDC filed the lawsuit last November, following 38 Studios’ bankruptcy. 38 Studios received a $75 ...
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court March 1 arguing the court should declare Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. DOMA, which was signed into law in 1996, established the federal definition of marriage as a lawful union ...
Immigration Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, and Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Providence, introduced legislation Wednesday that would make permanent a policy allowing undocumented immigrants who live in Rhode Island and attend state colleges to pay in-state rather than out-of-state tuition. The state’s Board ...
The Rhode Island Senate passed legislation March 12 that requires individuals convicted of first- or second-degree murder to serve at least half of their sentence — increased from the current one-third minimum — before qualifying for a parole hearing. The bill — sponsored by Sen. Leonidas Raptakis, ...
Plans for a riverfront park on land previously taken up by I-195 have been modified to allow for the development of a building with up to eight stories and 3,000 square feet of available space. The park area was originally designated to be six acres of green space, but new plans have carved out about ...
A joint resolution that could legalize same-sex marriage but allow religious organizations and small business owners to refuse marriage services to same-sex couples is scheduled for a hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Sen. Frank Ciccone, D-Providence, proposed the resolution ...
The Senate Judiciary committee will meet Thursday to hear two same-sex marriage bills, including one that would legalize same-sex marriage — the Senate version of the bill that passed the House in January. The committee is not planning to vote on the legislation at this meeting, said Greg Pare, director ...
Rhode Island lawmakers introduced legislation Feb. 28 targeted to improve how the state’s public colleges and universities offer academic credit to veterans for specific skills learned during their military service. The Education Assistance for Combat Veterans Act is designed to help veterans finish ...
A new R.I. Department of Education policy that would require high school juniors to receive a grade of partial proficiency or higher on the New England Common Assessment Program to graduate has stirred heated debate, garnering opposition from Mayor Angel Taveras and several student advocacy groups. Under ...
State Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, recently introduced a joint resolution — which has the legal standing of a normal bill — that would allocate $1.75 million to build homes for veterans. The money would fund up to 69 units, which would house about half of the state’s homeless veterans. Though ...
A bill introduced in the R. I. House of Representatives Feb. 14 would require the state’s gun owners register their firearms with a state licensing authority and pay a $100 registration fee per gun. Gun owners who fail to register their firearms could face up to three years in prison or a $3,000 ...
Providence won the $5 million grand prize in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge yesterday, according to a press release from Mayor Angel Taveras’ office. The contest — sponsored by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s charitable organization — called for submissions of inventive ideas ...
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