Gov. Daniel J. McKee is asking state lawmakers for permission to negotiate a higher salary for the job of state health director, which currently pays less than the average doctor in their first year out of residency training. The health director post has been vacant since January 2022, when Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott resigned. Five months later, Dr. […]
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Posted inArticle, Education, Local, Metro Desk, Politics
Brown University students end hunger strike after confronting school board members
Seventeen Brown University students in the eighth day of a hunger strike broke their fast on Friday after coming face-to-face with the board members who have been the targets of their protest campaign. The students on hunger strike, along with hundreds of others, have been asking the Brown University Corporation Board of Fellows and Trustees, […]
Posted inArticle, Local, Politics, TGIF
TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup for Feb. 9. 2024
While some savor the ads during the Super Bowl, and others the action on the field, I’m mostly there for the nachos. You can follow me through the week on threads and what we used to call the twitters. Here we go. *** Want to get my column in your inbox every Friday? Just sign up right here *** STORY […]
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Why do lawmakers want to update the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act?
A Republican state representative introduced a bill this week that would change the public records law. Two Democrats plan to unveil their version later today [Thursday 2/8/24]. The Public’s Radio afternoon host Dave Fallon spoke with Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, who consulted on the bill backed by Democrats. […]
Posted inArticle, Business, Housing, Local, South County Bureau
What can other towns learn from Burrillville’s affordable housing success story?
When the Woonsocket-based non-profit NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley began redeveloping the Clocktower building in Burrillville, the old wool-weaving mill was far from move-in ready. Vegetation on the property had grown wild, once-expansive exterior windows were filled in with cinder blocks, and the inside was being used to store car parts. “These mills had seen their […]
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Attorney General Peter Neronha deems public media merger agreement complete
Now that the merger application is considered complete, Neronha says his office has 180 days to review the transaction and decide whether to approve it. The Federal Communications Commission has already signed off. The Public’s Radio and Rhode Island PBS announced plans in November to join forces, with the idea of building a stronger public media organization […]
Posted inArticle, Education, Local, Metro Desk
Providence superintendent remains optimistic about student performance, absenteeism
TRANSCRIPT: Luis Hernandez: Superintendent Montañez, it’s such a pleasure to speak with you again. How are you doing? Javier Montañez: Fabulous. Thank you for having me on your show today. Thank you. Hernandez: Lots to talk about, but let me get started with the star ratings that the Rhode Island Department of Education released earlier this year. […]
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Arraignment dates postponed for 41 Brown student protestors
The students have been asking the school to divest from funds that are invested in what they call Israeli oppression of Palestinians. A group of 41 students from Brown University who were set to come back early from winter break to make their arraignment dates will no longer have to. Their lawyer wrote in an email to […]
Posted inArticle, Business, Local, Metro Desk, Stories, Transportation
First day of free ferry service between Bristol and Providence sees low ridership, but enthusiastic passengers
Dec. 21 was the opening day of a free ferry between Bristol and Providence. The state started the temporary service to help ease traffic following the closure of the I-195 Bridge connecting the east bay and Providence. It was a brisk but still dawn in Providence as the first passengers filtered off the first boat […]
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US expels an ex-Chilean army officer accused of a folk singer’s torture and murder
The U.S. has expelled a former Chilean Army officer accused of torturing and killing folk singer Victor Jara during the country’s bloody 1973 coup. Pedro Barrientos had emigrated to Florida in 1990, the same year the bloody dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet came to an end. In 2016, Earlier this year he was stripped of his U.S. citizenship after it was found he concealed information about his Chilean military service during his immigration proceedings. Homeland Security Investigations said that Barrientos was removed Thursday on a flight from Miami and taken into custody by Chilean law enforcement officials upon his arrival in the South American country.
