Butler Hospital’s striking workers and management are scheduled to resume talks with a federal mediator on Wednesday, marking the first formal negotiations since the union last week rejected the hospital’s “revised last, best, and final’’ offer. Roughly 700 unionized workers at the psychiatric hospital on Providence’s East Side have been on strike since mid-May. The […]
Lynn Arditi
Posted inHealth, Local
Butler Hospital’s president on the ongoing strike: ‘I have a responsibility to the future of the hospital’
Roughly 800 unionized workers at Butler Hospital entered the twelfth week of a strike on Thursday. They are striking over wages, benefits and workplace safety at the psychiatric hospital on Providence’s East Side. The hospital’s President and Chief Operating Officer Mary Marran spoke with Lynn Arditi, health reporter at The Public’s Radio, about the strike’s […]
Posted inHealth, Local
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of R.I. reports job cuts and operating losses
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 3% amid reports of ongoing operating losses. The job cuts will impact about 30 of its 946 full-time equivalent employees in Rhode Island, the company said in a statement released earlier this week. The jobs cuts’ primary “focus” is […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local
Cuts to jobs and research funding mount in Rhode Island’s academic sciences
Sarah Gaines worried something was up when she and her colleagues at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography got called into a morning meeting last Thursday. The Ivy-league educated scientist lives with her husband and two school-age children in South Kingstown. And she leads a project in marine conservation in Madagascar. But […]
Posted inEpisode, The Weekly Catch
Opioid settlements, Matos’ support for a controversial hospital deal, actor Alan Cumming, and more
This week, we reported that Lt. Gov. and CD1 candidate Sabina Matos supported a 2020 proposal that could have threatened the survival of two Rhode Island hospitals. We talk with Political Reporter Ian Donnis about that story, and other highlights from the week in politics. Also, millions of dollars are flowing into Rhode Island cities and towns from opioid settlements. But how are they spending it? Health reporter Lynn Arditi looks for answers. And we talk with Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming, who comes to New Bedford this weekend for an unlikely collaboration with NPR’s Ari Shapiro. Plus, our arts and culture picks for the week.
Posted inEpisode, Housing, The Weekly Catch
The Weekly Catch: Politics, poetry, and the uphill battle to tackle the housing crisis in RI
House Speaker Joe Shekarchi on the housing crisis in Rhode Island: “I recognized from the very beginning it would be a multi-year effort.”
Posted inArticle, Arts And Culture, Education, Health, Politics
The Weekly Catch: April 14, 2023
We break down some of the top local stories from the past week.
