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June 15, 2008 - June 21, 2008 Archives
They're still at it in the House -- but moving fast
It's 4:40 p.m., and the House is still passing legislation this afternoon. After spending a few minutes on tributes for members who will be leaving the House, the legislators are back at work on bills. And they're moving fast. They're...
June 21, 2008 4:46 pm
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Keep up with the latest on the Assembly
Try to keep pace with what the General Assembly is up to by looking at their calendars, which list the bills being worked on. Or, at least, most of them, and perhaps not in the order listed. You can check...
June 21, 2008 1:38 pm
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Keep an eye on the Assembly tonight -- from home
You can watch Rhode Island lawmakers make the hoped-for final push tonight as the legislative session draws to a close -- right from your own home. The General Assembly action will be showcased tonight on Capitol TV, Cox Cable Channel...
June 20, 2008 8:02 pm
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Langevin, Kennedy on opposite sides of surveillance bill
WASHINGTON -- Rhode Island's House members split today as the House passed a bipartisan deal to overhaul the ground rules on electronic surveillance, while protecting telecommunications companies from lawsuits over their role in the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. After...
June 20, 2008 5:56 pm
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You may want to think twice about using that bullhorn
PROVIDENCE -- You've got an issue. And you want to sound a clarion call for it outside the State House as lawmakers hand over a difficult state budget to the governor's pen. But about the sound system involved: Don't use...
June 20, 2008 5:42 pm
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The heat is on in the House --- ice cream, anyone?
PROVIDENCE -- Things are heating up for the House of Representatives tonight. So out came the ice cream. As late afternoon verged on evening, House members embarking on the crazed final day -- and night -- of the legislative session...
June 20, 2008 5:39 pm
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Assembly passes bill to speed public records release
PROVIDENCE -- A long night still ahead, the House late today passed a bill to quicken release of public records, among them police reports, in Rhode Island. The vote was 49 to 9, with opposition coming from Republicans in the...
June 20, 2008 5:31 pm
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Photo: With budget mulling over, Assembly wrap is next
Journal photo / Connie Grosch It was the Senate Finance Committee's turn yesterday to vote on the state budget after it moved to them from the House. From left, state Sen. Paul Moura, D-East Providence, committee member; Daniel Beardsley,...
June 20, 2008 12:27 pm
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Update: Bill to 'quash and destroy' criminal records passes Senate panel
PROVIDENCE -- A Senate committee voted this evening to approve a bill sought by the criminal-defense lobby to automatically “quash and destroy’’ criminal records, no matter how serious the crime. The bill introduced by Rep. Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, was passed...
June 19, 2008 7:40 pm
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Photo: It's Boys and Girls State time at the Assembly
Journal photo / Frieda Squires Mike Garcia of Hope High School, Providence; Andrea DeBarros, Shea High School, Pawtucket, and Kevin Manuel, Mount Hope High School, Bristol, are among 30 students statewide who have been spent the week learning about...
June 19, 2008 5:09 pm
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Murphy to seek re-election, and another stint as House speaker
House Speaker William J. Murphy, one of state government's most powerful figures, announced today that he will seek re-election to the House. If he keeps his House seat, Murphy will also seek support in January for a fourth term as...
June 19, 2008 4:38 pm
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Trouble in D.C. for mortgage bailout
WASHINGTON – Almost as soon as the Senate took up a bipartisan $300-billion deal today to pull the U.S. housing industry out of its downward plunge, obstacles to its passage appeared, including a veto threat from the White House. That...
June 19, 2008 4:20 pm
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Public records bill makes it to House floor
A bill that would speed up the release of public records –– including police reports –– in Rhode Island is on its way to the House floor for a final vote. The proposal would amend Rhode Island’s access to open...
June 19, 2008 4:07 pm
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Senate to move on budget, House tackling bills
PROVIDENCE -- The 9-hour budget debate last night was just the beginning. After passing a budget, the House must now move on to the real work of voting on hundreds of bills still before them this session. Legislative leaders had...
June 19, 2008 2:28 pm
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Assembly to roll film tax credits into next year's budget
PROVIDENCE -- And cut? That's what a state budget amendment by Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry this evening proposed to do to Rhode Island's film tax credit: cut it altogether and, he said, free up some $15 million for aid to...
June 18, 2008 7:00 pm
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Rep. Gorham says it's Carcieri's budget
PROVIDENCE -- In the who-gets-the-credit award category for state budgets that close a state deficit, state Rep. Nicholas Gorham wasn't waiting for the budget to pass. "You must be dreaming," Gorham, a Republican from Coventry, said this evening on the...
June 18, 2008 5:47 pm
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Debate erupts on House floor over 'illegal aliens' and RIte Care
PROVIDENCE -- There was plenty of shouting over the state budget this afternoon, but there's no way it's all over. The House debate on the plan to close a $425-million state deficit turned fiery over illegal immigration. The raging national...
June 18, 2008 5:08 pm
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Protesters beat legislators to the State House
PROVIDENCE -- There are protesters with signs, protesters wearing stickers, protesters just protesting. But missing so far from today’s scheduled budget vote are members of the House. The process was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in the House Chamber,...
June 18, 2008 2:52 pm
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Doctors press for change in HIV testing rules
Rhode Island doctors are among the dozens of groups who have flooded the hallways of the State House this week pleading for last-minute action on a mountain of bills. Medical professionals “are screaming for passage” of legislation that would waive...
June 18, 2008 1:42 pm
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Grammar police, take notice
It’s typo season on Smith Hill. With bills and budget amendments changing on the fly, grammatical mistakes are everywhere. Your high school English teacher would cringe. Some of the errors are innocuous, while others have serious implications for the substance...
June 18, 2008 1:36 pm
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Budget vote to come to House floor -- and it could be messy
PROVIDENCE -- The state House of Representatives will convene today at 2 p.m. to approve a state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget -- which consists of at least 39 separate "articles" -- is aimed...
June 18, 2008 12:04 pm
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Sen. Reed to ex-Pentagon counsel: 'You did a disservice to soldiers'
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed had a sharp exchange this afternoon with a former Pentagon official during Senate testimony on the continuing revelations about the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Cuba by U.S. military personnel. The former Pentagon legal counsel,...
June 17, 2008 7:22 pm
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A three-time party switch to support McCain
A Republican-turned-Independent, state Rep. Richard Singleton, disclosed to his House colleagues today that he has switched parties again so that he can lead “Democrats for McCain.’’ Having already announced that he is not running for reelection, Singleton, of Cumberland, said...
June 17, 2008 6:40 pm
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R.I. senators argue to extend jobless benefits
Rhode Island’s Democratic senators joined their partisans Tuesday in calling for Senate action to extend federal unemployment benefits beyond the standard 26 weeks, but Senate Republicans declined to take up such a measure. “Millions of Americans go out pounding the...
June 17, 2008 5:07 pm
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Looking at the Assembly budget fray through a new lens
John "J.R." Pagliarini, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, made an appearance at the State House today in his new role. He is now a lobbyist for higher education. He wears the green name tag on his gray blazer...
June 17, 2008 4:13 pm
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Capturing the reporters on camera
It was an unexpected role reversal. While TV cameras filmed the governor at this afternoon’s press conference, the governor filmed the press. Carcieri’s office enlisted a state employee to film the event, or more precisely to film the reporters as...
June 17, 2008 3:36 pm
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Sen. Kennedy preparing to "do battle" with cancer
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is considering a pill form of chemotherapy that would allow him to stay home on Cape Cod during treatment for a brain tumor, his son U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy said this weekend. Kennedy said his father...
June 16, 2008 10:21 am
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Mumford succeeds Slocum as GOP committeewoman
Speaking of late nights, Rhode Island Republicans met late into the night Thursday and chose Rep. Carol Mumford, R-Scituate, as the party’s national committeewoman. Mumford succeeds GOP grand dame Eileen Slocum, of Newport. Slocum, 95, has been a party fixture...
June 16, 2008 9:26 am
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Orr heads Brown's public-policy center
Following news that Darrell West, long the public face of polling and punditry at Brown University, is leaving on July 1 to become vice president of the Brookings Institution, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the school announced that Marion Orr,...
June 16, 2008 9:25 am
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Jim Brown visits Ocean State, old friend Harwood
Jim Brown will always be remembered by football fans of a certain age as the best running back of his time, and perhaps any time. Brown’s dazzling rushes enlivened many a dark late autumn Sunday afternoon in the 1960s in...
June 16, 2008 9:24 am
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Reed, Whitehouse, Patrick Kennedy reap honors
Three members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation have been recognized for various contributions to U.S. medicine. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse won laurels from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society last week for his efforts to legislate and lobby for high-tech...
June 16, 2008 9:18 am
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