Winter Storm Nemo blew through Rhode Island starting Friday morning and into Saturday, burying parts of the state in upwards of two feet of snow. The ‘blizzicane’ is the fifth worst winter storm New England has seen in a century. Local medical provider Lifespan reported 282 hospitalizations related ...
Rhode Island’s schools and businesses — including Providence Public Schools and the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority — announced closings last night in response to a blizzard warning issued for the state by the National Weather Service. State residents should expect between 18 and ...
State Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence announced a bill at a press conference yesterday that would legalize marijuana for retail and consumption by adults 21 years and older and provide for taxing and regulating the substance. Ajello introduced the bill to the Rhode Island House of Representatives and ...
Following the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — when 20 children and six educators were murdered — several Rhode Island officials have broached the subject of strengthening the state’s gun laws. Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun restrictions in the ...
Racial profiling Two state legislators introduced a proposal in the General Assembly this week to reinstate a policy of collecting data from traffic stops to curtail instances of racial profiling. The legislation — introduced by Rep. Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, and Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Providence ...
Rhode Island officials are taking steps to improve the state’s mental health care system to prevent violent tragedies after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. Dec. 14. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., introduced legislation Jan. 23 that would give ...
Two months after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., legislators, teachers and administrators have rekindled a debate on improving the safety of Rhode Island’s public schools. State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and members of the Rhode Island Senate Committee on ...
All four members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation have taken leading roles in Congress advocating additional federal gun control regulations. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Rep. David Cicilline ’83, D-R.I., have all either introduced ...
The Dec. 14 murder of 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. shook the nation and ignited debates about how best to ensure no such tragedy ever occurs again. In Rhode Island, the discourse began immediately as parents clamored for safer schools, residents ...
Two state representatives proposed legislation in January to eliminate the master lever — a tool that allows voters to select every candidate from any party with a single mark on the ballot. The bill’s sponsors, Rep. Michael Marcello, D-Cranston, and Rep. Brian Newberry, R-North Smithfield, Burrillville, ...
Mayor Angel Taveras announced a partnership with Southside Community Land Trust and the Rhode Island Foundation Jan. 14 in a project aimed at renovating the vacant lots that sprinkle the city’s undeveloped land parcels and turning them into small farming plots. The Florida-based Local Sustainability ...
Rhode Island’s public education system was ranked fifth in the nation in a January report from StudentsFirst, the advocacy group founded by education reform proponent Michelle Rhee. While only receiving a grade of “C+,” Rhode Island scored higher than neighboring Massachusetts, New Hampshire ...
Rhode Island’s Health Benefits Exchange — the health care marketplace mandated by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — received federal approval Dec. 20, placing it on track to meet the law’s October deadline for being available to the public. “The exchange will be ...
Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 P’16 received generally positive reactions from academics and officials for his proposals to cut the corporate tax rate and tentatively cap tuition at the state’s public colleges and universities in the Jan. 17 State of the State address. Presenting his third budget ...
The U.S. Senate passed a bill Jan. 28 allocating $50.5 billion of aid to facilitate reconstruction in states affected by Hurricane Sandy last October. Three months later, the East Coast is still recovering from Sandy, which left wreckage and destruction in Rhode Island’s coastal areas. The state ...
Same-sex marriage The Rhode Island House overwhelmingly approved a bill last Thursday that would make Rhode Island the tenth state to legalize same-sex marriage. The bill now goes to the Senate — the branch of the General Assembly historically less supportive of same-sex marriage — where its ...
Harry Belafonte — ‘the King of Calypso’ — was greeted with a standing ovation upon taking the stage last night to deliver the Rhode Island School of Design’s annual the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. keynote address, part of a larger celebration of Dr. King’s work. The crowd’s enthusiasm ...
Mayor Angel Taveras outlined Providence’s past fiscal struggles and indicated the beginning of an economic recovery at the annual State of the City address Tuesday night at City Hall. Providence faced a $110 million structural deficit when Taveras assumed office in 2011. He embarked on a campaign ...
The vacant historical building known as the Dynamo House, located in the Jewelry District, has become the subject of renewed speculation as government and local university officials push to redevelop the neighborhood into a hub of science, technology and research. The University has “shown interest ...
A state representative introduced a joint resolution to the House Judiciary Committee Jan. 17 that would impose a three-term limit on state lawmakers in the General Assembly and lengthen the span of a term from two years to four years. If adopted by both houses, the resolution, introduced by Rep. John ...
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