Rhode Island News

Rhode Island has repealed a controversial sentencing law and will no longer send 17-year-old offenders to adult prisons. via The Orlando Sentinel

Rhode Island has repealed a controversial sentencing law and will no longer send 17-year-old offenders to adult prisons.

Gov. Donald Carcieri let the repeal of the four-month-old measure pass into law on Thursday without his signature.

Sol Rodriguez, executive director of the Rhode Island Family Life Center, which helps ex-convicts reintegrate into society, said she was thrilled with the quick repeal.

'People saw the error of their ways,' she said. 'I don't think anybody did any of their homework. They just passed this law without thinking about the repercussions.' Read more

Governor Don Carcieri says he'll nominate the current head of a government spending watchdog group to become director of the Department of Revenue. via WPRI-TV East Providence

“It was becoming apparent that a lot of major changes needed to happen with the way we create policy for older people in our state”

According to the 2006 U.S. Census, 13.9 percent of Rhode Islanders are age 65 or over. via Providence Journal

“The confidence in the economy is not high”

Rhode Island's economy is in serious trouble. Maybe we're on the verge of recession. via Providence Journal

“People have a right to know what our inspectors find when they are out in the field”

The Rhode Island Department of Health announces Wednesday that all food safety inspections conducted since January 1, 2007 are now available to the public on online at the Rhode Island Department of Health Web ... via Turnto10.com

The Rhode Island Health Department is making food inspection reports available to the public. via WPRI

“For the first time ever, over half the legislature could be brand new”

Is there a lesson in that for the Ocean State? Bobby Jindal, 36, a former Rhodes Scholar from Brown University, may not be the answer, but they are giving him a try. via Providence Journal

“The Rhode Island market continues to correct itself, but we're definitely not experiencing a downturn as severe as other parts of the country”

Sales of single-family homes and condomiums throughout Rhode Island dropped in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said in a report released ... via Providence Business News

A 26-year-old woman who was found critically injured along the side of Route 44 - Putnam Pike - on Thursday was still recovering in the hospital as of yesterday, according to the police. via Providence Journal

J. JOSEPH GARRAHY ROBERT W. HOWARTH HUMANS HAVE ALWAYS been drawn to estuaries and coasts for their natural resources and their beauty. via Providence Journal

“She was saying Momma. She was saying she was in the hospital. It has been such a long, long time.”

Sylvia Bogusz, the 17-year-old critically injured by a drunken driver, is talking for the first time in four months. via Providence Journal

Police hope to hear from possible witnesses to an apparent hit and run pedestrian accident that left a local woman in critical condition. via The Call

“But there is no ongoing analysis of costs or of outcomes. We must examine these indirect spending programs to make sure we are not needlessly sacrificing other public programs that are proven to help Rhode Islanders work, learn and stay well.”

Hundreds of special tax breaks for individuals and corporations are costing Rhode Island "untold billions of dollars," but the state has a handle on the total cost of only about 40 percent of them, a coalition ... via The Pawtucket Times

Music from China will bring a 90-minute program of traditional and contemporary music to URI's Fine Arts Center tomorrow night. via Providence Journal

“A lot is going to hinge on what happens over the next week.”

Very few people seemed to notice what was happening in Room 35 in the State House basement yesterday. via Providence Journal

Lawmakers meeting in a special session of the General Assembly have overridden nearly three dozen vetoes by Governor Don Carcieri. via WJAR-TV

“If you wait until March 4, the race is over”

Lawmakers were hastily rewriting a bill that would move Rhode Island's presidential primary up to Feb. via The Associated Press

“As the waters of Narragansett Bay grow warmer, cold-water fish species with high commercial value, like winter flounder, have been replaced by warmer-water species, like scup, whose value to our fishermen is lower”

New regulations praised By Pippa Jack A prominent climate change expert has praised Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council for being one of the first state agencies to draft regulations preparing ... via The Block Island Times

“This isn't about the murderers, rapists, robbers - they could all be waived”

It was conceived as a way to save money in the face of a $450 million deficit in Rhode Island 's current budget: making 17-year-olds adults in the eyes of the law, shifting their cases to criminal from juvenile ... via New York Times