Rhode Island
updated
7:23 p.m.
Writing in Politico, Rhode Island’s junior Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, passionately criticizes the recent SCOTUS decision in Citizens United. The Supreme Court’s recent slim majority decision in Citizens United has opened floodgates that long prevented corporate cash from drowning out the voices of American citizens in election campaigns. Those who care about the integrity of the American [....
Closing Argument - 7:44 a.m. - 2 clicks 
Empty basketball court in Island Park All the homemade skate rails and ramps have been removed from the basketball court in the Island Park playground. Today, there is only a smooth, empty asphalt surface. But the process did not go without a hitch. According to Portsmouth Police Chief Lance Hebert, folks who had built the gear were advised by the town that it had to be re...
Hard Deadlines - 7:44 a.m. - 2 clicks
For about twenty years I’ve noticed that some of my diabetic patients have a bad craving for sugary drinks, especially soda. I’ve noticed that a whole double aisle of the supermarket is full of soda, and there’s another pair of aisles of sweet fruit juice and sports drinks. This low-nutrition, high-sugar item is a [...] ...
Kmareka - 5:03 a.m.
Jay Humphrey, local businessman and past president of the Portsmouth Public Education Foundation (PPEF), passed away yesterday, according to an e-mail from current PPEF president Helen Furriel. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time. ...
Hard Deadlines - 3:47 a.m. - 2 clicks
Attorney General Patrick Lynch heralded yesterday’s ruling by the Federal Court of Appeals in New York as another significant victory to force America’s five biggest global warming polluters to curb their emissions. The ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals represents another win in a lawsuit filed by Lynch and seven other state attorneys general [...] ...
Closing Argument - Tue 2:05 p.m. - 4 clicks
An interesting take on why her statements don’t come back on her. Most recently, she told a Canadian audience that her family used to cross the border for some of that government-run health care the Canadians somehow survive. She is a genius of the incomplete sentence, the vague suggestion, the wink and the nod. She [...] ...
Kmareka - Tue 1:08 p.m.
According to the Providence Business News , the folks at the free local news site Newport Now have bought the paper Newport This Week from East Bay Newspapers. Congratulations and best wishes for great online-hardcopy synergies! ...
Hard Deadlines - Tue 9:46 a.m. - 4 clicks
On Monday, Governor Don Carcieri nominated Superior Court Judge Gilbert V. Indeglia to serve as an associate justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court. The seat became open when Justice Paul Suttell was nominated and then confirmed as the Chief Justice of the Court. Legal pundits believe that Indeglia’s nomination will breeze through both the [...] ...
Closing Argument - Tue 6:28 a.m. - 3 clicks
Very busy lately, and I only have time to indulge my news fix by listening to WRNI 1290AM on my car radio. Anyway, I heard some woman who is famous for being related to a politician, Liz Cheney, questioning the efficiency of a system that supplies lawyers to accused persons. Apparently targeting the lawyers for [...] ...
Kmareka - Tue 5:42 a.m.
Alert reader davidc (THANKS!) pointed out that RIDE has posted backup documents to a new education funding formula page here , and I'm happy to report that we now have enough information to calculate the state share (I've updated the GoogleDocs spreadsheet with this info, and will be using references to that worksheet as I go through the explanation below. But first, a couple of comments. A...
Hard Deadlines - Sun 11:20 a.m. - 7 clicks
The Great White Ebook Shark , a new online review site, just ran an excerpt and analysis of my short story (Nothing But) Flowers . I was thrilled to be in the company of folks like Peter Watts, Kelly Link, and David Nickle (not to mention Joseph Conrad) and the reviewer finds much to like in the story, calling the author "a craftsman of no small talent." Not familiar with the inspiration for...
Hard Deadlines - Sat 6:01 a.m.
Some time ago I was talking with a nurses aid as we took a break on our shift. The TV was playing Pat Robertson’s 700 Club. “He visited Liberia,” she said. “I hope you counted the silver after he left,” I replied. Pat Robertson got his fifteen minutes at the top of the news [...] ...
Kmareka - Fri 6:24 p.m. - 2 clicks
Thanks to feedback submitted anonymously, we may now know the problem with the GoogleDocs spreadsheet on the education funding formula . Unfortunately, I can't fix it since RIDE did not provide the appropriate RADM number — I used the one from their handout on the formula. Your RADMs are wrong, because the RADM for a district when calculating EWAV includes the students from that distri...
Hard Deadlines - Fri 9:49 a.m. - 2 clicks
I've gotten tired of waiting for the backup material on the proposed school funding formula promised by Deputy Commissioner David Abbott, so I've sent the following e-mail to the Brown professor who developed it. I'll post any reply, and update the spreadsheet on GoogleDocs (I have numbers in all the columns, but I just can't make them work...) From: John McDaid Date: March 5, 2010 9:57:40...
Hard Deadlines - Fri 7:27 a.m. - 3 clicks
Okay, it's not just me, according to today's Providence Journal , which reports that many members of the legislature can't figure out the formula as provided by the RI Dept. of Education: It didn’t matter that many didn’t understand the quadratic equation behind the funding formula produced by the state Department of Education and endorsed later in the day by the Board of Regents for Element...
Hard Deadlines - Fri 6:20 a.m. - 10 clicks
The US Department of Education announced the states selected as finalists in the first round of Race To The Top funding, and Rhode Island was one of the 16 chosen. Representatives from each of the finalists will travel to Washington this month for sessions with the review teams, and the winners will be announced in April. ...
Hard Deadlines - Thu 10:08 a.m. - 5 clicks
Today's Providence Journal featured an article on the proposed education funding formula written without any balance. I'm the first one to admit that every journalist has a perspective — I put it right in my masthead — but if you are going to actually use the dog-whistle phrase "supporters say," you bloody well better wrassle up someone to offer the other side. I've sent the e-mail ...
Hard Deadlines - Thu 6:29 a.m. - 5 clicks
Since Washington D.C. recognizes same-sex marriage Catholic Charities of D.C. has decided to drop spousal insurance benefits altogether. Too little, too late, I say. Did they let divorced and remarried people onto their plan? Adulterers in the eyes of God? Sinners according to the principles of the Catholic Church? I hear nothing but a deafening [...] ...
Kmareka - Thu 6:08 a.m. - 3 clicks
Just a quick post before I go to the gym. It was almost Spring this morning but by 4pm a fierce icy wind was blowing, chilling the long line of people waiting to get into the State House. I don’t know how many attended, but the center and the two staircases were full. I couldn’t see over [...] ...
Kmareka - Mar 3 - 4 clicks
The Providence Business News reports on the cost factor in Rhode Island being one of the few states without a public law school. The state’s only law school is Roger Williams University School of Law: a Bristol-based law school with a growing reputation as an up and coming second-tier law school. As the University of Massachusetts [...] ...
Closing Argument - Mar 3 - 6 clicks
A new Rasmussen poll shows some distinct results from two other recent polls on the Rhode Island’s governor race: a Brown University poll and a WPRI / Fleming poll. Let’s compare them (h/t RIFuture). Rasmussen Poll (February 25, 2010) Chafee: 37%; Caprio: 27%; Robitaille: 19%; Not Sure: 17% Chafee: 38%; Lynch: 24%; Robitaille: 22%; Not Sure: 16% Brown University [...] ...
Closing Argument - Mar 3 - 4 clicks
My plumbing started working in reverse with the outflow backing up into my washer. (Like all normal Rhode Islanders I have the washer in the basement.) Thank the Goddess for good plumbers. Now everything is flowing in the right direction and we will not, after all, become a methane resource. [...] ...
Kmareka - Mar 3 - 8 clicks
Congress: “They’re in” Mayor David Cicilline – has name recognition and the ability to raise fast money; always wanted to be in DC. Last Brown poll numbers had 41/47 favorability ratings. Providence has about 14% of the total turnout in CD-1. Cicilline formally announced on February 13. Click here to read his announcement. RI Democratic Party Chair [...] ...
Closing Argument - Mar 2 - 7 clicks
All yesterday I got a little buzz when I wrote 3/1/10 on paperwork. We survived January. We survived February. Spring comes this month. ...
Kmareka - Mar 2 - 2 clicks
I went to the Save the Bay film festival tonight at the Avon. I don’t have my writing hat on, so just a few scattered impressions– The theater was about 3/4 full, best turnout I’ve seen there for a long time. There was a short film about Save the Bay seal watch cruises. I never knew there [...] ...
Kmareka - Feb 28 - 5 clicks
Extending charity to Glenn Beck. A powerful testimony. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the public figures who say they are Christian would try to out-do each other in following the teachings of Jesus. ...
Kmareka - Feb 28 - 3 clicks
The recent news that Sen. Juan Pichardo is bypassing the Mayor’s race and supporting Angel Taveras has changed the Mayoral calculus quite a bit. Angel Taveras - RUNNING – This Mt. Pleasant candidate has a great story: from Head Start to Harvard. Ran for Congress in 2000 in his first election bid and won an impressive [...] ...
Closing Argument - Feb 23 - 4 clicks
