Published Tue Dec 20 2022 10:01:41 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Lynn Arditi Mack Blackie had five dollars to his name. But he had a debt to pay.So in late October, he walked from a local drop-in center that serves people experiencing homelessness down the street to Woonsocket City Hall.Inside, a municipal court clerk found his name on her computer.'You gonna make a payment?''Yup.''OK, how much are you paying? The balance is $80.''The City of Woonsocket had fined Mack last April for drinking in public.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/chasing-the-fix-when-sobriety-is-not-enough

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Published Tue May 16 2023 09:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Olivia Ebertz On March 28, 2023, a prison guard was waiting outside a room in Rhode Island Hospital. The cogs of justice had been churning in the background for weeks, and the day had arrived: after months of being denied bail, Carol Pona was being released from Rhode Island Department of Corrections custody.  But Pona would die in that very spot approximately six hours later.  On the same day, a little less than two miles away, lawmakers would meet in a Senate committee to weigh a new bill that could overhaul the very measure that saw Pona locked up in the first place.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/a-ri-rule-keeps-people-on-probation-stuck-in-a-cycle-of-reincarceration-a-new-bill-could-change-that

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Published Thu May 25 2023 09:50:43 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Ian Donnis On a recent Thursday, the heads of four nonprofit agencies gathered outside a blighted former nursing home on Taunton Avenue in East Providence. They came together to make the case for building a 160-unit apartment complex on a three-acre site that includes two vacant lots. The housing would serve a mix of different needs -- the formerly unhoused, young people aging out of foster care, and low-to-moderate income individuals squeezed by the high cost of housing.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/rhode-island-faces-a-long-haul-to-tame-its-housing-crisis

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Published Thu Jun 22 2023 09:01:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Ian Donnis During a public meeting in 2020, speaker after speaker enthusiastically sang the praises of Prospect Medical Holdings, the California-based owner of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence.   To hear the supporters tell it, Prospect had saved the two hospitals from financial ruin by acquiring the state's third-largest hospital chain, CharterCARE, six years earlier.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/matos-backed-2020-proposal-that-jeopardized-two-ri-hospitals

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Published Sun Jul 31 2022 08:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Joe Tasca For 15 years, Richmond resident Jim Burns dreamed of opening his own restaurant. As a longtime delivery driver for a local food distributor, Jim spent many days on the road, scoping out possible locations and thinking about what he'd put on his menu. Then one day, in March of 2021, Jim noticed a small building was available on Route 138 in Voluntown, Connecticut, on the Exeter/Hopkinton border. He called the landlord, signed a three-year lease, and began buying up cooking equipment and other supplies with a few credit cards and 30-thousand dollars he had in savings.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/rising-food-prices-make-it-difficult-for-richmond-man-to-keep-his-restaurant-open

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Published Mon Jan 24 2022 10:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Nina Sparling When Dale Bonanno learned he qualified for a new subsidized housing voucher last fall, he started searching. He'd been living in a men's shelter for several months, and now, his first apartment to himself in more than fifteen years felt within reach. Bonanno combed through listings on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. He called the numbers on the 'For Rent' signs in apartment windows he passed walking around Providence.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/rhode-island-received-159-housing-vouchers-to-tackle-homelessness-last-year-45-have-been-used-

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Published Tue Oct 11 2022 10:05:01 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Ian Donnis A new Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll shows Republican Allan Fung with an eight-point lead over Democrat Seth Magaziner in the fight for an open seat in Rhode Island's Second Congressional District. The race could be tighter since the margin of error in this portion of the poll is almost five percentage points.However, in what may be a warning sign for Magaziner's campaign, the poll found that 52% of respondents in Rhode Island — a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections — disapprove of President Joe Biden's job performance.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/globe-poll-shows-fung-mckee-with-lead-over-magaziner-kalus

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Published Tue Feb 07 2023 10:38:10 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Ian Donnis Rhode Island First District U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner said he hopes President Biden uses his State of the Union address Tuesday night to highlight work done by his administration.While Magaziner said it's legitimate for some Democrats to feel unenthused about another presidential run by Biden, he added, the president deserves credit for notching achievements with a narrowly divided Congress. Magaziner points in part to the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and the strengthening of NATO in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/magaziner-biden-has-a-good-message-to-share-at-state-of-the-union-

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Published Wed Nov 23 2022 09:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Dave Fallon The rapper, now known as Ye, made several antisemitic statements in October, both online and in interviews. After widespread outcry, Ye lost multiple sponsorships and has been locked out of social media accounts. But his comments are reflective of a wider pattern of antisemitism that's appearing throughout the country – including here in Rhode Island. Check out the Southern Poverty Law Center for resources and reporting on hate groups around the country.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/antisemitic-myths-fueling-incidents-of-hate-in-ri-and-nationwide

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Published Wed Feb 08 2023 09:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Luis Hernandez Back in December the Rhode Island Department of Education announced it was closing three schools: Alan Shawn Feinstein Elementary School at Broad Street, Carl G. Lauro Elementary School, and Gilbert Stuart Middle School. Democratic State Rep. Enrique Sanchez has introduced a resolution in the General Assembly to keep the schools open. Morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with Sanchez about his proposal, and what happens next.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/lawmaker-pushes-back-against-providence-school-closings

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