Jef’s been slipping and sliding and snow-blogging like crazy.
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Short on time, so I’m just plopping down the press release. Would be wonderful if anybody cared to join us:
Press Conference Wednesday, December 16 at Statehouse, 3pm
Domestic Violence Victim Asks General Assembly to Override Governor’s Veto and Pass Probation & Innocence Bill
On Wednesday there will be a [...]
Jef’s reporting on the recent study by the Environmental Working Group which ranks our water second-best among large metro areas.
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I have a short post up at HuffPo, about the obvious ridiculousness of the self-appointed defenders of the Constitution and all that is righteous pushing through a bill of attainder to single out ACORN for punishment without trial:
We’ll know the Mad Hatters really care about [...]
The Geeks are at AS220:
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009, 5:30 – 8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)
The last Providence Geek Dinner of the decade (yes, _ the decade_!) drops next week, and it’s [...]
Great news, covered here in the Projo and here at RIFuture. Here’s the statement he’s posted on his new website:
Statistician, writer, and public policy researcher, Tom Sgouros, Jr., announced today he will seek the Democratic nomination for Rhode Island Office of the General Treasurer [...]
There’s an interesting thing going on in the college basketball world — which is to say, some of the Ivy League doesn’t suck so much this year. (Unfortunately, Brown’s not taking part in the trend. And, fortunately, traditional “powerhouses” Penn and Princeton aren’t running away with [...]
Wanted to let folks know about the Westminster Stories project which opened this week. (Am I right that the opening reception is tomorrow night?)
Westminster Stories is a collection of facts, memories, and stories about two blocks of a single street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It [...]
Remember those crazy casino style multi-billion dollar bets called credit derivatives and credit default swaps that AIG, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, etc. took out? The ones that guru investor Warren Buffet rightly called “weapons of mass financial destruction” because they brought our entire economy to the [...]
To counterbalance the census data mentioned in Annie’s “Why RI?” post, let’s note the blog, the biggest little, the home of the “Move to Providence” movement, mentioned over here in the NYTimes:
He stays, he said, because he loves the state’s beauty and its quirkiness, [...]
RIFuture launched a redesign a couple of days ago. (Version 3.0) If asked for constructive criticism, I’d say that it’s quite smart to have made the format increasingly newspaper-like, but that it’s a bit busy and has made it difficult to decipher [...]
Craftland’s year-round now, but there’s still the big holiday a-do this Friday, along with a ton of other holiday happenings:
* Craftland Show Opening Party: December 4, 5-9pm. The first 300 shoppers will receive the highly-coveted goodie bags.
* Girls Rock RI Party: December 9, 6-9pm
* [...]
Word is out that Tom Sgouros, friend of the blog, policy wonk, activist, actor, roboticist, playwright, designer, and slackrope walker (I’ve mistakenly called him a tightrope walker in the past), is likely to make a run for general treasurer — the statewide office currently held by Frank [...]
We probably disagree more frequently than we agree when it comes to economic development policy, but he’s right on here, from the Projo:
I strongly believe that the public sector should encourage the continued expansion of our colleges and hospitals. The state and local governments benefit handsomely from the presence of [...]
This was originally posted on RIFuture, by AgentGreen:
In 1986, Rhode Island became the first state to pass mandatory recycling legislation, setting an incredibly ambitious 70% recycling rate as its eventual goal. At the time, according to a 2008 issue paper by the Rhode Island Senate [...]
For those of you who are in town on Weds:
Drinking Liberally is a national progressive social group that gives like-minded, left-leaning individuals a place to gather, exchange ideas, and get involved. The hosts of Drinking Liberally are Chris Blazejewski, Meghan Grady, Matt Jerzyk, Ami Gada, and Jenna [...]
We’re finally waging war at the 54th parallel — against the Asian Carp. They’ve breached our first line of defense, an underwater electric fence. Next maneuver: chemical warfare.
For a sense of why we hate them so:
But if you wanna see a fish that really flies:
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RIPTA has announced that the paving is going ahead of schedule, and that Kennedy Plaza should re-open on Monday, 11/23.
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The Projo is generally correct in its take on the city’s new recycling program.
(Despite the strange speculative asides — like suggesting that it’s “perhaps” the same inertia that discourages people from voting that has them complaining here. More than half of the residents of this city [...]
Photo swiped from GCPVD, where you might as well head for the rest of the details.
Brown CS Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck – a world-renowned pioneer in optimization technology – founded Providence-based Dynadec in 2008 to help businesses optimize the decisions and processes critical to [...]
A recent study shows that we’re tops in the country on federal spending dedicated to pedestrian and biker safety, and one of the safest metro areas for walkers and bikers
Drivers around here are indeed out of their gourds, but we manage to do [...]
There was a pretty comprehensive article in the NYTimes last week which I’d meant to post about, detailing the 195 relocation and some of the policy debates that have followed from it. It gives a welcome chunk of space to the conversation in Fox Point, and [...]
We’ve been asked to make sure that it’s known that this week’s salon, and events at the Athenaeum more generally, are open to Daily Dose readers, with free admission.
SALON - Series: So, What’s the Story?
Friday, 11/13, 5-7pm
Part Five: Candy Adriance on the long and [...]
As we accrue more evidence of this joke-of-a-governor’s detest for civil liberties, I’m reminded to wonder: How did he ever manage to live down his mini Patriot Act of 2004?
The 18-page bill included language from ill-considered laws dating back to World War I — a time [...]
UPDATE: Item #3 here was a little confusing, so here’s a blurb on it by Jim Taricani, who spoke to Senate sponsor, the super-duper Rhoda Perry.
ORIGINAL, 11/10: The governor just vetoed 3 bills which I sponsored, and which passed over the mini-session a couple [...]
By the pompous-as-ever Ed Achorn, decrying we Neanderthal legislators who care not to punish victims of human trafficking.
We know he thinks highly of himself, but the repeated self-congratulations must still be at least a bit hollow. So I’ve invited him to visit the ACI with me, [...]
While we’re at it, let’s have a quick laugh and a quick cry at the Proc Group’s mission statement, and its obscene corporatese, as it effectively tries to wreck the lives of scores of its workers:
To hire, train and nurture the highest quality people and [...]
This should be valuable for students and non-students alike. There are a few important service-worker related fights brewing — the Westin is particular priority, where the Procaccianti Group is trying to break the union by outsourcing as much work as possible.
Thank you so much for signing [...]
Join OSA at their big fundraiser, this Friday, at Rosinha’s Restaurant, 999 Main St in Pawtucket.
On Friday, November 13th, Ocean State Action will bring together friends and allies to celebrate our accomplishments, rededicate ourselves to “rocking the boat” in the Ocean State - and, most important, [...]
At the Athenaeum, Friday 5-7pm:
Join us for a favorite Athenaeum tradition, declaiming verse in the Reading Room. Bring a poem you’ve written, a poem you’ve loved, or come browse our poetry shelves that evening and find one you can’t resist, and we’ll take turns reading aloud. [...]
Perhaps moreso than any other, this year has made clear the critical role that the ACLU plays in Rhode Island. The RI chapter took on fights on a million fronts: Prostitution, immigration, gay rights, prison reform, and on and on, winning some, while making the losses [...]
Scott Wolf has a great column in the Projo, ripping up the absurd concern our state has for the Forbes and Tax Foundation business climate rankings, and our culture of pervasive pessimism:
Before we all give up on our state and move to high-ranked business climates such [...]
UPDATE: The DRC took a relatively strong stand last night, refusing for the time being to grant the demolition request, and demanding that the developer figure out how to save the facade and re-open the sidewalk.
ORIGINAL 11/4: Jef gives us a heads-up that the project [...]
From Sarah Zurier. (Fox Pt Bathhouse at right.)
Party with the preservationists at the Preservation Celebration! Thursday, October 29, 5:30pm to 8:30pm at Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main Street in Pawtucket. This statewide preservation party features the Rhody Awards — honoring people and projects that preserve RI’s [...]
The season’s final Action Speaks:
This week, Action Speaks takes a look at a birthplace of suburban utopia, Levittown. In just over 50 years, the American suburbs have physically transformed the landscape of our country, redefined the middle class and helped to both fuel and bring down our nation’s [...]
Over at the HuffPo, I’ve tried to do a (nearly, or at least somewhat) comprehensive post on the prostitution situation in Rhode Island. It’s incredibly complex, even moreso after last night, and next to impossible to explain in any remotely linear fashion.
[...]I haven’t been able to recommend Battlestar Galactica to anybody since the airing of last March’s vacant season finale. So much of the pleasure of watching the show followed from the twists and turns, and anticipation of the revelation of whatever cosmic force or conspiracy made it all make [...]
UPDATE: You can now download audio interviews and clips from the meeting here, here, and here.
ORIGINAL: It’s well covered in this morning’s article by Steve Peoples:
The women gathered at this Providence community center are prostitutes. And they are here, early this Sunday morning, because they want [...]
The US side of the Nicaraguan organization ATRAVES (for Asociación TransAmericana de Voluntarios En Solidaridad in Spanish) is proudly based here in Providence, at co-founder Brady Dunklee’s home in Washington Park. ATRAVES works in health, education and development by supporting community-led initiatives [...]
Yeah, that’s right. If only I’d listened to the lyrics:
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I do not know if there’s much meaning to this, but I was bored a couple months back, and looked at state-by-state employment percentages: the percentage of the total population that is employed, calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data from July. I think there’s a [...]
Taking Beth’s advice, I’ll mention that I have this up at the HuffPo and Projo. It is amazingly difficult to access information about the Dorr Rebellion, but it was one of the boldest, most worthy, and most effective popular uprisings in the history of [...]
