Congratulations, education ‘reformers.’ You’ve lost another future teacher.

Aaron Regunberg writes about a would-be teacher having an encounter with reality. Perhaps someday someone will write about the original purpose of the Public Education system and why it needs so much 'reform'.

He's Back: Laffey's "Fixing America" screening riles the crowd. Did anyone see this? I wanted to but the date snuck up on me.

Rhode Island Sees Largest Spike in Uninsured Residents in the Country. Perhaps we need another, bigger government program to address this?

Justin Katz: Cranston Police and Fire Retirees Receiving up to $900 on Holidays.

Anthony Gemma is selling his marketing firm Mediapeel Inc. to RI jewelers Alex and Ani.

More here.

Providence City Councilman David Salvatore claims his First Amendment rights were violated when he was fired from the General Treasurer’s office after co-authoring an op-ed on pension reform in the Providence Journal.

This one could get interesting. I'm surprised the Unions have taken as much as they have from Raimondo.

Dan McGowan: Bombshell Report Claims Sexual Harassment, Nepotism & Discrimination at City Agency. Bombshell? Around here we call that 'Thursday'.

The RI GOP struggles to become relevant. GOP announces "Strike Force" to help candidates. It couldn't work any worse that what they are doing now.

Half of Prov. Council Skips Meeting to Avoid Redistricting Vote. Not sure what is going on here.

Ted Nesi:  RI facing ‘a lost decade’ after jobless rate hits 11% in new data. I think a decade is a bit optimistic.

Representative Michael Chippendale (R- Foster, Coventry, Glocester) revealed what caused him to collapse on the House floor on Feb. 16.

From reading the article it sounds like it was a little bit of everything. Or could have been anything.

Building a narrative for the upcoming Providence bailout: WPRI Poll: State should keep Providence out of bankruptcy. From the comments:

Do another poll only targeting voters outside of Providence.

So apparently not everyone is buying into this line.

Dan McGowan: Top 10 Potential Primary Opponents for Congressman Cicilline. They are apparently lining up to take on the former Mayor now.

RI GA is considering a bill prohibiting 'price gouging'. I've seen these laws in other states: in case of an emergency, businesses that obey the law run out of gas (or whatever commodity there is a run on) and businesses that raise prices in defiance of the law pay a fine but can still supply said commodity.

You might as well pass a law banning gravity.

The Ocean State Current  is live! Congrats to Justin Katz and the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity.

Dan McGowan: City Pays Over $130k Annually for Elected Officials’ Special Pensions. The politicians pension fund -- and the Union Boss' -- are pretty well funded. How long until this becomes and issue in the pension reform discussion?

WPRI is reporting that Rep. David Cicilline and Gov. Lincoln Chafee aren't real popular. I'm going to wait until after the Democrats primary before crowning Doherty.

A plug for Up Close on Hope in the Phoenix.

North Providence mayor Charles Lombardi is picking a fight with the NPDPW union. Historically picking a fight with the union was electoral death. What is going on this year? Politicians don't expect taxpayers to vote this year, do they?

Wind Energy Area approved off RI coast. I'd love to see this stuff actually be useful. With the sky high electric rates and (relatively) dependable wind currents in this area this seems like an ideal place to try it. But the technology just isn't there, it costs more than it produces (thus the massive Government subsidies). In the end is becomes and elaborate kickback scheme for political supporters.

The Important analyses: Rhode Island Beers at the Phoenix.

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to see it, does it still make a sound?

Coming soon... The Ocean State Current with Anchor Rising's Justin Katz. A cute name anyways; and I've always liked Justin's work at AR.

Patrick J. Kennedy lashed out at Senator Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts on Sunday, asking him to stop invoking the name of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy’s father, in a radio advertisement about insurance coverage for contraceptives. …


An odd fight to pick. Is Kennedy running against Brown or Sean Bielat? 


UPDATE: That would be Patches Kennedy, not Joseph III. Oops.

...and we're back! I had stopped for a while because I thought no one was reading, but I was informed otherwise. If you like reading this stuff, drop me a message (senttocoventryri@gmail.com, @sentocventryri) and let me know.

Senate Candidate Barry Hinckley has signed Gover Norquist's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge." I'm not big on pledges, there may be a time when raising taxes is a good move; now is certainly not that time. Anyone has to be better in the US Senate than Sheldon Whitehouse.

The war between providence and Brown rages on. Brown allegedly moves meeting to avoid firefighter rally.

Ted Nesi has a long Q&A with VP Biden's economist Jared Bernstein. It sounds mostly like Keynesian nonsense to me.

Shocking News: RI Economy Stalled, Reports Bryant and RIPEC. This is referred to as 'bad luck.'

Han shot first. (h/t Ace)

630wpro.com's John DePetro for the first to report on the #emergencysex scandal in Anthony. This actually broke yesterday, but I was busy doing actual work.

The Laffer Curve: Conservative think tank says new taxes will hurt RI.

One-in-four Rhode Island renters spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing-related expenses [...] “It really puts a stress of people's lives[.]” 

 1 in 4 RI Renters Can’t Afford Home. Perhaps yet another 'affordable housing' program would help?

Ted Nesi: 1 in 5 Providence workers employed by tax-exempts like Brown.

Is Providence biting the hands that feed its residents?

I think this says something about the tax environment in RI. Why so many tax-exempts? Why do we have to bribe actual businesses to set up here?

Heh. OT for a RI blog, but still funny.

Days of Reckoning in the Kingdom of RI. Oh, they can kick the can a little further down the road if they try hard enough.