“Rhode Island” on The Daily Caller

An atheist group is pressuring Woonsocket, R.I., to remove a 91-year-old Latin cross located in the City of Woonsocket’s fire station parking lot. (more)

Central Falls, Rhode Island’s poorest city, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection as it struggles to meet its pension obligations. (more)

Five days after New York legalized gay marriage, Rhode Island is headed in a similar direction. On Wednesday evening, the Rhode Island state Senate passed a bill that legalizes civil unions for same-sex couples. (more)

Buddy Cianci once beat a man up with a log of firewood and an ash tray. Later, he went to jail for five years on charges of racketeering conspiracy. But the crowd at Café Milano in Georgetown on Tuesday night had nothing but smiles for the man, who was also the longest-serving mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and who is credited with cleaning up Providence and making it the vibrant city that it is today. (more)

Remember those lists of school problems that contrasted the problems that faced schools in the 1950s with the problems that face schools today? In the ’50s, gum chewing, running in the hall and tardiness were right up there. Today, it’s drugs, sex, unwanted pregnancies, STDs, gang fights, assaults on teachers, bullying and all-around violence. Plus, some high school students can’t read at a sixth grade level, or go to the movies without texting — even during car chases. Example: “This R a gud flik. U shud B here!” (more)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The school district plans to send out dismissal notices to every one of its 1,926 teachers, an unprecedented move that has union leaders up in arms. (more)

During the past 20 years, nearly 110,000 Ocean State residents have exited the state, never looking back. They have taken their capital with them, costing Rhode Island’s economy roughly $1 billion. (more)

1.) Remember: The five worst reactions to the Loughner shooting — Washington never fails to disappoint. While normal people cry in response to tragedy, the buttinskys on Capitol Hill are attempting to legislate away the pain. The Daily Caller’s Chris Moody rounds up the dumbest of the dumb, from a plan to “encase the entire House and Senate floor with Plexiglass so the tourists can’t throw things at members of Congress,” to a Republican-proposed law that would make it illegal to carry a firearm within 1/5 of a mile “of any ‘high-profile’ public official.” In a lapse of judgment that will go unpublished by his base, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn argued that the FCC–on which his daughter is a commissioner–should bring back the Fairness Doctrine. “You cannot yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater and call it free speech and some of what I hear, and is being called free speech, is worse than that.” And people say Congress doesn’t listen… (more)

1.) John Shadegg: House GOP is ‘on probation’ — After 16 years in the House, Rep. John Shadegg is retiring to Arizona. The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward caught up with the son of Barry Goldwater altar ego Stephen Shadegg on his way out the door. Ward asked him, for instance, what makes the Tea Party different from previous conservative waves, such as Newt Gingrich’s 1994 production, in which Shadegg had a walk-on part as a newly elected congressman. “When the Gingrich revolution happened, the Gingrich revolution collapsed,” Shadegg told Ward. “It had betrayed its supporters.” By “it” Shadegg means Republican detractors and other “old bulls” like Tom DeLay, who claimed in 2005 that the government could not cut its spending any further. Now the party is getting a second chance, Shadegg said. “What happens to this class? Does this class get turned by Washington? Does the class change or does this class actually change Washington? I personally think that’s the $64,000 question.” Or, you know, the $1.7 trillion question. (more)

The results are (mostly) in regarding ballot initiatives from across the country: Colorado won’t fund a statewide UFO commission. Californians still can’t smoke pot legally unless they’ve been diagnosed with anxiety or early-onset balding or gas. Arizona can’t use affirmative action to hire for government jobs. Rhode Island will stay Rhode Island. Here are some of the more notable ballot initiatives and how they fared. (more)

President Barack Obama began his term with the highest of accolades in the press. Hardball host, TV’s Chris Matthews, felt a tingle go up and down his leg whenever Mr. Obama spoke. Newsweek’s Evan Thomas said Obama hovered over the nations, like “a sort of god.” All too soon, however, the president came crashing down, like Icarus in Greek legend. Young Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wax that attached the feathers to his homemade wings melted. Icarus plunged into the sea. President Obama may have gotten too close to those klieg lights. (more)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — President Obama’s final stop was a $7,500-a-head fundraiser in the well-appointed home of Arnold “Buff” and Johnnie Chace on the East Side, not far from Brown University. (more)

WASHINGTON – Rhode Island’s Democratic gubernatorial hopeful has a sharp message for President Obama: “Shove it.” (more)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio, in a radio interview Monday morning, reacted angrily to President Obama’s decision not to endorse him during a visit to the Ocean State Monday. (more)

What is the cost of corruption in government? For Rhode Island’s Central Falls, the smallest and most densely populated city in the nation, the cost of corruption was so great that it put the city into bankruptcy. And one reporter got it all on video. (more)

Polls opened around the country this morning for the last major round of primaries before the midterm general elections in November. Today, voters are going to the polls in Delaware, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland and Wisconsin. (more)

President Obama recently proposed spending $2 billion for the creation of 5100 green jobs. On government standards, that’s a very thrifty $392,156 per job – a bargain compared to the $2.2 million being proposed in Rhode Island and other coastal states where the only windy, rent-free space to build windmills is on the ocean. (more)

The Senate confirmed Elena Kagan last week, making her President Barack Obama’s second Supreme Court nominee to reach the bench. (more)

Congressional Democrats don’t always legislate as though they understand human nature. In fact, legislation in theory often deviates from its practical implementation. Senator John Kerry’s recent attempt to avoid the high boat-use tax rates of the Bay State shows that when a legislative body aims to alleviate its fiscal morass by imposing ever-higher tax rates on its people they often only succeed in producing unintended consequences. Those advocating the expiration of the Bush tax cuts should take note. (more)

Arizona school children are told they can’t pray in front of the Supreme Court building … Two University of Texas Arlington employees are fired for praying over a co-worker’s cubicle after work hours … In Cranston, R.I., a high school banner causes controversy when a parent complains it contains a prayer and demands that it be removed. (more)