ACLU: Narragansett Violated Renters’ Rights
The town of Narragansett issued overnight parking passes to three URI grad students in September. But they still got parking tickets in January. Why? “It’s the latest in continuing series of petty attempts to make students feel as unwelcome as possible in the town,” said Steven Brown, of the RI ACLU. “It seems like such [...]
Full Story »
The Tax Foundation Can’t Help Themselves
I see the Tax Foundation has some issues with disparaging comments I made about their data the other day. Scott Drenkard, one of their analysts, published a kind of defense, but managed to completely miss my point. Here’s the story. The Tax Foundation, a DC “think tank”, put out a press release listing “Tax Freedom” [...]
Full Story »
Most Rhode Islanders Want Payday Loans Reformed
More than 3/4 of Rhode Island wants the General Assembly to reform payday lending, according to a Public Policy Polling survey. And, according to Rep. Frank Ferri, sponsor of a bill that would reign in interest rates on such loans from 260 percent down to 36, so does a vast majority of the legislators. “Now [...]
Full Story »
Middle Class, Lift RI Rally for Income Tax Equity
A group of dedicated activists made the case for the tax equity bills in the General Assembly on Tax Day. Standing in front of the now-abandoned Network RI, LIFT (Lasting Investment Through Fair Taxes) RI assembled speakers from a variety of backgrounds to demonstrate the need for taking the steps necessary to prevent brutal cuts [...]
Full Story »
RI Progress Report: Sasse, Gemma, CVS, Citigroup
First Gary Sasse, former head of RISC, backed income tax increases on the wealthiest Rhode Islanders. Now he’s admitting that state aid cuts contributed to the financial struggle the poorest cities are experiencing. Is Sasse becoming a progressive, or are things just that bad in Rhode Island? Why is Anthony Gemma afraid of the media? “I’d [...]
Learning to Love Taxes
Instead of bemoaning Tax Day, we ought to celebrate it as a national holiday. It’s the day we chip in to pay for the services we all rely on to live our lives. After all, who among us doesn’t benefit from taxes? Anyone who drives certainly does. Anyone who likes to spend a hot summer [...]
Equal Pay for Equal Work Still Elusive for Women
April 17 is Equal Pay Day, a date that symbolizes how far beyond the end of 2011 and into the year 2012 women must work to earn what men earned in 2011. Equal Pay Day was established by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 to raise awareness of the persistent gender wage gap [...]
Whitehouse Says Buffett Rule Will Be Back
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has said all along that it would likely take several votes before Democrats could break the hold that Wall Street special interests hold over their republican counterparts and such seems like the fate for the Buffet Rule, which was successfully filibustered Monday on its first vote on the Senate floor. “I’ll keep [...]
Defending American Schools from ‘Reformers’
It was interesting to me to learn about the article by Paul Farhi in the American Journalism Review called “Flunking the Test“, which blows apart typical reporting on education as essentially taking so-called “reformers” views at face value. Mr. Farhi points out that not only is the idea of an “crisis in education” false, (recalling arguments advanced [...]
RI Progress Report: Tax Day, Central Falls, Callista Gingrich
Happy Tax Day, says Ted Nesi. Meanwhile, our own Tom Sgouros uses the occasion to report that the Tax Foundation says Rhode Islanders have the second lowest tax burden in the region. Speaking of Tax Day, this from Ocean State Action: “Years of misguided tax policy that benefit Rhode Island’s highest income earners have starved [...]
Raimondo, Taveras Support Payday Lending Reform
Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras have joined the calls for payday lending reform efforts, and both will participate in a roundtable discussion on the issue. “The time has come to protect Rhode Islanders from the economic threat of predatory lending,” Raimondo wrote to the Senate committee that recently took up a bill [...]
Celebrate Rhode Island’s Taxes
Did you know you live in a low-tax state? According to the Tax Foundation, average taxes per person in Rhode Island are lower than in any other northeast state besides Maine, and lower than Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Delaware, and Virginia. Each year, you see, the tribunes of wealth and privilege who run the Tax Foundation [...]
Poor Portents in Prospect Park for Anthony Gemma
Having attended Anthony Gemma’s news statement in Providence’s Prospect Terrace Park, I’ll say this right off the bat: I went expecting a more polished candidate than appeared in 2010. I was disappointed. Let’s get to the big part of it right away: fleeing the conference almost as soon as he was done. By 6:21 pm [...]
RI Progress Report: Patriot’s Day/ Buffett Rule Edition
Mayors Don Grebien, of Pawtucket, and Leo Fontaine, of Woonsocket, write an op/ed together in today’s Projo about their lawsuit against the state that contends that RIDE should move quicker to bridge the giant funding gap that exists between the affluent suburbs and the poorer inner cities in Rhode Island. It’s an issue that we’ve [...]
Whitehouse’s Buffett Rule Up for Senate Vote Today
After a solid week of Democrats making Sheldon Whitehouse’s Buffett Rule bill the biggest legislative priority in the country, the Senate today will take up the proposal. Seems as if the efforts may pay off as a new Gallup Poll shows that 60 percent of Americans support it. Today’s vote is a motion to proceed [...]
See Gemma Run
Dark clouds hung over Providence’s Prospect Terrace Park as businessman Anthony Gemma, lately of Mediapeel, said, in a roughly 15 minute speech, that he would bring “change” and “new ideas,” while redefining what service meant for the office of U.S. Congressman. While the congressional hopeful spoke, supporters looked on, and a quartet picnicked despite [...]
Women
- New Providence Subcommittee on Women & Healthy Communities
- Philadelphia-based Feminist Media Activist Group Led By Providence Native, Nuala Cabral, Launches Campaign Supporting Ethnic Studies in Arizona
- April 29: WHEF Bowl-a-Thon
- Imagination, Collective Struggle, and the Inclusion of Artists and Ordinary People: Angela Davis Speaks at RISD in Providence
RI Future needs you! Support independent, progressive news for Rhode Island.
New Comments