Political Roundtable

Many of the hundreds of bills passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly each year raise issues involving civil liberties. That’s why Rhode Island ACLU executive director Steve Brown pays close attention to the legislature. As is often the case, the results from Smith Hill this year are something of a mixed bag. Lawmakers approved the first significant overhaul since 1976 of the Law Enforcement O...

It’s not an easy time to be a university president. Academia faces criticism from across the political spectrum. Many campuses have been divided by the war between Hamas and Israel. And student debt remains a burden for many young people. But Marc Parlange, who became president of the University of Rhode Island in 2021, seems to be holding his own. URI recently completed a $300 million fundraising...

Problems related to the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families have persisted for years. But when U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha recently unveiled the findings of a probe into DCYF, state officials stood up and took notice. Cunha is the top federal prosecutor in the state, and his office has enormous power. After being nominated by President Biden in 2021, Cunha has pursued federal p...

Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos was the early favorite in the race for an open seat in the First Congressional District last year. But a signature-gathering scandal took on a life of its own, and undermined Matos’ hopes of landing in Congress. Her boss, Governor Dan McKee, shows how a lieutenant governor can move up if they’re in the right place at the right time. But some Rhode Isla...

Maria Rivera made history in Central Falls when she won election in 2020 as the first Latina mayor in Rhode Island. Rivera does not yet face any announced opponents for re-election this year and she’s an up and comer in Rhode Island politics. During her time in office, Rivera has led the charge to build more housing, with a goal of completing 300 new units. Central Falls broke ground on a new high...

Rhode Island has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to address the state’s housing crisis. Despite that, there are few tangible signs of progress so far, and there’s pushback from some cities and towns and even from some Democratic lawmakers. At the same time, the gusher of federal COVID aid that enabled consecutive state budget surpluses has dried up. Because of that, large deficits once a...

As someone who grew up in Harlem and the Bronx, Brown University professor Tricia Rose has had a front row seat on the racial fault lines in American society. Her latest book is Metaracism -- How Systemic Racism Devastates Black Lives -- And How We Break Free. Rose’s book offers a new view of structural racism, how it works, and what is needed to make change. So are Americans ready to acknowledge...

The Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families recently sounded an alarm about a growing number of deaths and near deaths involving young children. The coalition is calling on Gov. Dan McKee and state lawmakers to take action to address the crisis. This situation has quietly developed over years and a number of different factors are responsible. So does Rhode Island have the will to do a bet...

Rhode Island has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to produce more housing. But relatively little new construction has happened so far, and some cities and towns resist attempts to get them to welcome more residents. The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island was $440,000 in February, an almost 15 percent increase from a year earlier. The high cost of housing...

Cortney Nicolato became president and CEO of United Way of Rhode Island in 2018. It was a homecoming for the Pawtucket native and URI grad who had worked in the nonprofit sector in Texas for the previous 13 years. Nicolato took the helm of one of Rhode Island’s top nonprofits in the run-up to the pandemic. She helped introduce 401Gives, now Rhode Island’s largest philanthropic effort, which this y...

Jennifer Stewart won election as a state representative from Pawtucket in 2022. She ran on the idea that lawmakers should do more to help everyday Rhode Islanders with key needs like healthcare and housing. But these are complex issues that defy easy solutions. Stewart is one of a number of progressive lawmakers who have joined the legislature over the last decade, moving the General Assembly a bi...

Ken Block was surprised to get a phone call from an unfamiliar number one day after the 2020 election. It was a lawyer for Donald Trump’s campaign, and he wanted to know if Block would search for evidence of fraud in the election. Block ran as a third party candidate for governor in 2010 and as a Republican in 2014. But he’s also an expert in database technologies and data analytics -- and that’s...

Providence is the business, political and cultural capital for the state. But it faces some of the same hurdles as other cities, including the question of how to maintain a vibrant downtown when more of the people who used to fill offices are now working remotely. After decades of talk about the importance of public education, is there a plan for improving Providence schools when the city regains...

The military career of Middletown native Michael Flynn hit a high point when he was named as Donald Trump’s national security adviser in 2016. But Flynn resigned after being in the role for just a few weeks, and he’s better known now as a leader of Christian nationalist movement. The Christian right embraces Trump, and according to Politico, an influential think tank plans to infuse Christian nati...

This week, Ian Donnis talks with Republican leader in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, Mike Chippendale of Foster. The post RI House GOP Leader Mike Chippendale on the Washington Bridge, McKee’s budget, immigration & more appeared first on TPR: The Public's Radio .

The global scene is marked by violence and uncertainty, with wars in Israel and Ukraine. Closer to home, many Americans are dissatisfied with their choices amid a likely showdown between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Congress remains sharply divided, and paralysis prevails on issues like immigration. Many Americans feel jittery about the economy, even with a soaring stock...

This week we'll hear from House Oversight Committee member state Representative June Speakman. Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti faced four hours of questions during a legislative Oversight hearing earlier this week. But after it was over, some key questions remained unanswered -- including how the westbound Washington Bridge passed an inspection last summer and is no...

Legislative Oversight committees plan to hold a joint hearing Monday to examine the crisis involving the Washington Bridge. For now, motorists continue to wrestle with congested traffic at peak times and the ripple effect sometimes extends beyond Interstate 195 into the streets of Providence, East Providence and other communities. If the westbound Washington Bridge needs […] The post RI Sena...

Conservative activists and academics in some states are attacking efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Here in Rhode Island, the Providence City Council and General Assembly reflect the makeup of the state much more so than they did 15 years ago. And the two largest police departments here, Providence police and the State Police, […] The post Black Lives Matter RI PAC Presiden...

Donald Trump moved closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination by winning the New Hampshire primary this week. Many voters dread a rematch between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, but here we are. Suffice it to say, the November election has huge implications for the future of the country. Closer to home, Republicans continue to struggle to win political office. The GOP is locked out of...

The gravy train is over. That sums up how Rhode Island’s fiscal landscape is in transition. In recent years, a gusher of federal COVID aid fueled consecutive budget surpluses. Now, however, the state is returning to a time of bigger disparities between needs and available money. Governor Dan McKee yesterday unveiled his budget proposal for the fiscal year starting July first. The General Assembly...

Claudine Schneider made history in 1980 when she became the first woman elected to Congress from Rhode Island. Forty-three years later, Ocean State voters still have not sent another woman to the U.S. House or Senate. But Schneider is still making news. She is one of six plaintiffs behind a lawsuit that knocked Donald Trump off the Colorado ballot last month. The top state court there ruled Trump...

Jake Bissaillon of Providence is the newest member of the Rhode Island Senate. He won a special election last year to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin. Bissaillon cut his political teeth as a student organizer for Barack Obama at Providence College in 2008, and he later worked as chief of staff for the Providence City Council and for state Senate Pres...

Rhode Island’s top official with responsibility for voting-related issues is Secretary of State Gregg Amore. So how does he feel about the outlook for small-d democracy as America hurtles toward 2024? What can be done to boost confidence in elections and dispel misinformation? And how did Amore, an East Providence resident, fare amid the traffic nightmare caused this week by the closing of the wes...

Jessica de la Cruz is one of the most high-profile Republicans in the state and she’s flirted with the idea of running for higher office. But the landscape for Republicans is pretty bleak here. The last Republican governor to win office was Don Carcieri in 2006. A GOP candidate has not won any of the four other state general offices since 1994. And Republicans hold just 14 of 113 seats in the Gene...