Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island helped promote a criminal justice reform package signed into law last month by President Trump. The bipartisan measure will give judges more flexibility in sentencing some drug offenders and boost efforts to reduce recidivism by inmates. Whitehouse stopped by our studio this week to talk about criminal justice reform and other issues, including the federal government shutdown.

One of the state’s top political reporters, Ian Donnis joined The Public’s Radio in 2009. Ian has reported on Rhode Island politics since 1999, arriving in the state just two weeks before the FBI...