Posts by Kat Thornton

I know the weather’s looking B-E-A-U-tiful this morning, but nay! to weather.com. I just can’t get over the fact that you’re advertising a social site for people to talk about the weather?

Nay! for unemployment. Today, WPRI reported that if not for Sacremento, CA, Providence would be the only city in America to have job losses this year. Rhode Island currently has the second highest unemployment in the nation, standing at 11%.

Yea! for truth in the form of PolitiFact, which has repeatedly corrected presidential contender Mitt Romney’s claim that 92 percent of jobs lost in the last three years belonged to women. Romney visited the Ocean State and boasted this statistic on Wednesday.

   Yea! for creative Sen. Herald Metts, who wants to pull funding from state casino revenue into the public school system. Who knew gambling and education could go hand in hand?

   Yea! for the rumblings of Occupy Wall Street‘s spring awakening. This reporter is interested to see what revival looks like for Providence (and Portsmouth).

Nay! to Fitch Ratings, for downgrading Providence’s bond rating.  Aw, come on guys, why‘d you have to go do that?

Yea! for local anonymous Powerball winner in Smithfield. For a state so unlucky with current finances, this second winner in a month is incredible. Will that 2.6 million in tax revenue help the deficit?

Nay! for city administrators who recently stumbled upon a box of uncashed checks, to the sum of $334,000. What was that doing just lying around?

Yea! for Occupy Joe Biden. The Herald is still upset we couldn’t get press passes.

Yea! for Governor Chafee’s appointment to Obama’s re-election campaign. With him and Eva Longoria, how can he lose?

Yea! for the news that Providence will host X Factor auditions this spring. Get your sing on.

 
It’s been a good week, Providence.

Yay for local advocates who have started to hold a lunchtime soup kitchen at the State House, serving PB&J sandwiches and fruit to call attention to homelessness in Rhode Island. But be careful — we hear Taveras has a peanut allergy…

$172 million? That’s Rhode Island’s cut of a national settlement for wrongfully foreclosed homes. I think that gets a WOOHOOO.

Nay to MBTA’s proposed increases on student fare and cuts in service. A girl’s gotta get to Boston.

Libby Kimzey may not have her undergraduate degree yet, but she could be on her way to a seat in Rhode Island’s House of Representatives. As of today, she is officially a candidate for the District 8 seat where Representative Mike Tarro, a first-termer, currently resides.

Originally admitted in the class of ’09, Kimzey has since taken off several semesters to lobby and organize for political groups in the state.

Kimzey started lobbying for Rhode Islanders for Fair Elections in Spring ’09. At the time, “there were certainly some people that didn’t take me seriously because…I was 19 years old,” Kimzey said. Later, when she worked as campaign manager for Teresa A. Tanzi (D-34, Narragansett, South Kingstown), she helped unseat one of those representatives, David Caprio.

Working on the Tanzi campaign has taught Kimzey to effectively communicate the issues, even to people who might not agree with her, she said. “She’s been my role model in a lot of ways,” Kimzey said. Tanzi’s campaign proved that to take on an incumbent, “You have to work in coalition and you have to start early and you have to think about your resources.” [Read more →]

The City Council voted yesterday to send a report to the Ethics Commission that claims former Providence Mayor David Cicilline and his administration inadequately dealt with state finances and disobeyed the Home Rule Charter. The report, compiled by City Council financial adviser Gary Sasse and internal auditor Mathew Clarkin, says that Cicilline “inflated revenue estimates and ignored budget procedures” in his final years as mayor. The city law department has begun researching the reports’ claims, said Majority Leader Seth Yardin. If the department finds evidence of the report’s claims, the case will be presented to the state police. [Read more →]

The City Council presented a report today revealing that former Providence Mayor Cicilline did not “deal ‘honestly’ with the city’s financial challenges.” Gary Sasse, City Council financial adviser, worked alongside internal auditor Mathew Clarkin to find that the mayor did not appropriately confront economic issues during his term. Cicilline faced the national recession and a 19 percent decrease in state aid, but Sasse and Clarkin reported in a briefing on Tuesday that the administration failed to submit a corrective action plan “when the city was clearly experiencing fiscal stress.” Sasse and Clarkin also said the mayor did not implement “four of the nine budget directions outlined in Providence’s Home Rule Charter.” The report, presented at City Hall today, recommends that the city appoint a non-governmental audit committee to keep an eye on charter deadlines and make an accounting procedures manual. [Read more →]

The unexpected $1.4 billion pension gap in the Rhode Island budget may have “enormous” effects on the state infrastructure. The state pension system relies on three factors: stock market returns, employee contributions and employer contributions. Consultants will present these findings to the Rhode Island Retirement Board this morning. The gap comes from “overly optimistic” assumptions about returns from the stock market.  To bridge the gap for the 50,000 expected retirees, taxpayers and the state need to double their current contributions by fiscal year 2012. Taxpayers’ taxes would rise 9.79 percent to 36.34 percent of income to support state workers’ pensions. State and local taxes toward teachers’ pensions would increase by 9.04 percent, to 35.25 percent of payroll. Infrastructure expected to be effected includes public schools, road work and medical care. [Read more →]

Beloved Jersey Shore star Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio will have his own MTV show in 2012, “as he builds his DJ career internationally.” The Rhode Island native comes from Johnston, where he currently resides. His 12 part series will feature him and his childhood “chums” on the road to promote Pauly D’s DJ career. Jersey show co-stars Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jenni “JWOWW” Farley are also rumored to have reality shows coming soon. [Read more →]