Free Republic

While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters. “So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate...

(CNSNews.com) – Although no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon, a leading al-Qaeda ideologue last year recommended that jihadists in America include sporting events in their list of prospective terror targets.

www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2013/federal-indictment-unsealed-as-rhode-island-state-police-and-federal-agents-arrest-seven-search-ten-businesses-and-residences-and-seize-cash-vehicles-and-business-records-in-alleged-cigarette-trafficking-conspiracy Federal Indictment Unsealed as Rhode Island State Police and Federal Agents Arrest Seven; Search Ten Businesses and Residences; and Seize Cash, Vehicles, and Business Records in Alleged Cigarette Trafficking Conspiracy Investigation and Indictment Alleges Complex Interstate Conspiracy That Allegedly Defrauded Rhode Island of More Than $1 Million in Tax Revenue U.S. Attorney’s Office May 08, 2013 District of Rhode Island PROVIDENCE, RI—A federal grand jury indictment that names seven individuals and alleges a complex interstate contraband cigarette trafficking conspiracy responsible for the sale of more than $1.2 million dollars of contraband cigarettes in Rhode Island and the loss of...

Rhode Island on Thursday became the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, as a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Roman Catholic state ended with the triumphant cheers of hundreds of gays, lesbians, their families and friends. Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed the bill into law on the Statehouse steps Thursday evening following a final 56-15 vote in the House. The first weddings will take place Aug. 1, when the law takes effect. "I've been waiting 32 years for this day, and I never thought it would come in my lifetime," said Raymond...

Rhode Island on Thursday became the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, as a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Catholic state ended with the triumphant cheers of hundreds of gays, lesbians, their families and friends.

Rhode Island is poised to join nine other states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Gov. Lincoln Chafee planned to sign gay marriage legislation into law Thursday evening, immediately following a final procedural vote in the state’s General Assembly. The outcome of the vote is not in doubt. Hundreds are expected to gather at the Statehouse to celebrate the new law, which has already passed the House and Senate once. The first weddings could take place Aug. 1, when the new law would take effect. …

Today I was able to meet “Misha,” whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov. Having been referred by a family in Boston that was close to the Tsarnaevs, I found Allakverdov at his home in Rhode Island, in a lower middle class neighborhood, where he lives in modest, tidy apartment with his elderly parents. He confirmed he was a convert to Islam and that he had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but he flatly denied any part in the bombings. “I wasn’t his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this,” Allakhverdov said....

The Rhode Island General Assembly is considering a nine-bill package of gun control legislation ­— including a statewide assault weapons ban — that Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 announced with other legislative and community leaders at a press conference last Tuesday afternoon. “This is a conversation that’s taking place right now in every state and at the national level,” said Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport. The bills are the product of months of collaboration between legislators and law enforcement officials, she said. The call to action was in part inspired by the Dec. 14 elementary school shooting in Newtown,...

Last Thursday's public hearing was effectively ground zero for "gay marriage" in Rhode Island. The hearing started early Thursday evening and lasted over 12 hours, until the following morning. Both sides were there in force. But the biggest impression in the State House that night was definitely made by the pro-family forces. The huge demonstration by the Hispanic community completely overwhelmed the homosexual activists who thought they would be dominating that day! It was an incredible sight.

Senate votes on climate change and the Keystone XL oil pipeline laid bare divisions among Democrats — and underscored why the White House, not Congress, will be where the critical climate decisions reside in President Obama’s second term.Several votes during the freewheeling debate over a nonbinding budget plan provided a political barometer of where the chamber, including vulnerable Democrats, stand on the topics. Advocates of the proposed pipeline scored a symbolic victory Friday when 62 lawmakers voted for an amendment backing the project to bring oil from Canadian tar sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries. Seventeen Democrats supported Sen....

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - - As of midnight, Rhode Island became the 15th state to decriminalize non-medical marijuana possession, meaning that anyone caught with up to one ounce will get a $150 ticket instead of facing a misdemeanor criminal charge. The softened penalty is the state's latest move to regulate use of a drug that has become more acceptable. The ball began rolling in 2006, when the General Assembly passed a law establishing a state medical-marijuana program, allowing patients to grow their own cannabis or get it from caregivers, or growers, certified by the state.

Last Thursday's public hearing was effectively ground zero for "gay marriage" in Rhode Island. The hearing started early Thursday evening and lasted over 12 hours, until the following morning. Both sides were there in force. But the biggest impression in the State House that night was definitely made by the pro-family forces. The huge demonstration by the Hispanic community completely overwhelmed the homosexual activists who thought they would be dominating that day! It was an incredible sight. When you entered the Rhode Island State House, this is the first thing you saw! As reported last week, if the "gay marriage"...

Customers who want to pay with a $100 bill at a Rhode Island chain of restaurants will now have to fill out a form. WPRI reports that Gregg's locations will now require a name, phone number and driver's license number whenever someone pays with a $100 bill. Owner Bob Bacon says it's because they have received five fake $100s in the last three months. He tells the station the policy is not about getting restitution if they receive a fake bill. He says it's about creating a paper trail so they can track down whoever is making the fake bills.

Rhode Island has the highest unemployment rate in the country, it’s crushed by unsustainable public sector salaries and pensions which are protected by union control of the legislature and politicians at every level, it is one of only two states losing population and may lose one of its two congressional seats in the 2020 census if trends continue. Yet Rhode Islanders continually vote Democratic, even reelecting to Congress the disgraced David Cicilline in 2012 when even the liberal Providence Journal turned on him. The Democrat-union grip on the state never has been tighter, and Rhode Island never has suffered more,...

<p>WOONSOCKET, R.I. – The economy of Woonsocket was about to stir to life. Delivery trucks were moving down river roads, and stores were extending their hours. The bus company was warning riders to anticipate “heavy traffic.” A community bank, soon to experience a surge in deposits, was rolling a message across its electronic marquee on the night of Feb. 28: “Happy shopping! Enjoy the 1st.”</p>

On Thursday, Jan. 24, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed the "gay marriage" bill (H5015) by a 51-19 vote, two days after the bill was passed by the House Judiciary Committee. The move was not unexpected, given that the Speaker of the House, Gordon Fox, a Democrat, is openly homosexual and has been a champion of this bill. But the bill now moves to the Senate, where its fate is very uncertain. The Rhode Island Senate has not been as monolithic in its support for this bill as the House. The Senate President is on record as opposing it,...

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) announced Sunday that she has spearheaded a bipartisan letter calling on the French government to cancel plans to release a convicted terrorist who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an American and an Israeli diplomat. The letter, which was sent to France’s Ambassador to the United States, urges French officials to stop the release of George Ibrahim Abdallah, the former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade who was convicted in 1987 of killing an Israeli diplomat and a U.S. military attaché. The U.S. State Department has also expressed its opposition...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Rhode Island House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation to allow gays and lesbians to marry in the only New England state where they can't. The House voted 51-19 after an often emotional debate that touched on civil rights, religion and the nature of marriage. The bill now moves to the Senate, where both supporters and opponents of gay marriage say it is difficult to predict the bill's fate. "This has been a long journey," said House Speaker Gordon Fox, who is gay and supported same-sex legislation when it was first introduced in 1997. "Today...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy: 'I don't need Bush's tax cut. I have never worked a [bleeping] day in my life'....

Rhode Island’s blue-on-blue showdown is heating up. Famed litigator David Boies is taking a 96 percent pay cut to represent the state against recalcitrant public sector unions. The New York Times reports: Mr. Boies became involved, he said, because he was convinced that Rhode Island’s pension troubles were just the tip of a $5 trillion iceberg of unsecured retirement promises to the nation’s millions of public workers. “This is something that can cripple state and municipal governments at a time when the federal government is, more and more, cutting back on the services it provides,” he said. Public unions and...