Table of Contents
Education
ProJo: ‘Personal attacks must stop’
ProJo: Supporters, foes of prayer banner turn to T-shirts
ProJo: Agency expands space for classes
ProJo: Superintendent departing to pursue ‘other things’
Health and Wellness
The Pulse: Updates from RI’s health exchange crush
Politics and Government
ProJo: Learning hard lessons on the scope of local woes
ProJo: A call for fairness
ProJo: Lobbyists big donors to lawmakers
ProJo: Occupy marchers celebrate agreement; withdrawal from park likely gradual
ProJo: Chafee hosts electronic town hall
ProJo: N. Kingstown lawmaker criticizes plan
WRNI: Raimondo holds pension workshop
GoLocalProv: State of the Union: RI’s delegation reacts
Opinion
ProJo: R.I. must restore aid for disabled
GoLocalProv: Achievement First is right for Providence
Education
ProJo: ‘Personal attacks must stop’ (A2)
By Lynn Arditi
CRANSTON — Religious leaders from around Rhode Island stood together on the steps of a church Tuesday to urge “tolerance and civility” toward a 16-year-old student who sued the school district to remove a prayer banner from Cranston High School West.
ProJo: Supporters, foes of prayer banner turn to T-shirts (A2)
By Maria Armental
Groups on both sides of a debate over whether a prayer banner belongs on school grounds are turning to T-shirts to make their points — and to raise some money.
ProJo: Agency expands space for classes (A5)
By Alisha A. Pina
PROVIDENCE — At any given moment, 75 to 100 city residents wait to enroll in the Providence Housing Authority’s English-as-a-second-language class.
ProJo: Superintendent departing to pursue ‘other things’ (A6)
By Linda Borg
BARRINGTON — Barrington is looking for a new superintendent. After five years, Supt. Robert O. McIntyre, 62, is leaving the district to pursue other options, possibly consulting work or teaching. His last day will be June 30.
Health and Wellness
The Pulse: Updates from RI’s health exchange crush
By Megan Hall
The working group devoted to designing Rhode Island’s health insurance exchange met today at 7:30am. I was busy taking a shower, so I can’t give you a report on the meeting. But I do have something to offer- advice from another state. Rhode Island might have been the first local government to win the second round of federal funding for the exchange, but it’s not necessarily first in everything.
http://wrnihealthcareblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/updates-from-ris-health-exchange-crush/
Politics and Government
ProJo: Learning hard lessons on the scope of local woes (A1)
By Tom Mooney
WARWICK –– And then there are the troubled locally run pension funds. A $2.1-billion collective burden faces 23 Rhode Island communities, where the skyrocketing cost of retirement obligations has in some cases contributed to school closures, darkened street lights and threatened insolvency.
ProJo: A call for fairness (A1)
By Ben Feller, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Declaring the American dream under siege, President Obama called Tuesday night for a flurry of help for a hurting middle class and higher taxes on millionaires, delivering a State of the Union address filled with reelection themes. Restoring a fair shot for all, Mr. Obama said, is “the defining issue of our time.”
ProJo: Lobbyists big donors to lawmakers (A1)
By Katherine Gregg
PROVIDENCE — State House lobbyists pumped close to $160,000 into the campaign coffers of local politicians last year, with the lion’s share going directly into the political accounts of Rhode Island’s $14,186-a-year part-time lawmakers and their $28,372-ayear legislative leaders.
ProJo: Occupy marchers celebrate agreement; withdrawal from park likely gradual (A5)
By Bryan Rourke
PROVIDENCE — Occupy Providence took a victory march Tuesday. Four dozen members strolled from Burnside Park, which they’ve occupied for105 days. They crossed Kennedy Plaza and chanted their way to City Hall. There, they celebrated.
ProJo: Chafee hosts electronic town hall (A5)
By Philip Marcelo
PROVIDENCE –– Governor Chafee will host an “electronic town hall” for retirees and taxpayers on Thursday focusing on city and town government finances, including municipally run public pension systems.
ProJo: N. Kingstown lawmaker criticizes plan (A6)
By Randal Edgar
PROVIDENCE — The chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee urged the state’s redistricting consultant Tuesday to sit down with two North Kingstown lawmakers and see if he can change a proposed House map that would shift more than 5,000 people to new districts when all that’s needed is a shift of about 2,000.
WRNI: Raimondo holds pension workshop
By Ian Donnis
GoLocalProv: State of the Union: RI’s delegation reacts
By Dan McGowan
Calling for the creation of an economy that is “built to last,” President Obama rolled out his agenda for the coming year in his third State of the Union address Tuesday night.
http://www.golocalprov.com/politics/sotu/
Opinion
ProJo: R.I. must restore aid for disabled (B7)
By Lewis P. Lipsitt and Grace Baron
Think back to an Aug.10 story headlined “Those most in need face doing with less.’’ We remember a picture with the article of 23-year-old Paul Goes with his father after a swim. He looks pleasantly engaged with his parents, and one would think this was just another family enjoying routine recreation.
GoLocalProv: Achievement First is right for Providence
By Steven F. Corrales
My parents knew first hand about the need for school choice. Recognizing that the public school my sisters and I were in was severely underperforming, they sought an alternative: Moses Brown. Unfortunately, this choice was not to be. My parents felt powerless. They knew our future was at stake but did not see any option other than leaving us in a low performing school.
