TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalKey Democrats press bill to increase minority recruitment at Coast Guard Academy
Washington — Key House Democrats are backing a bill aimed at improving diversity at New London’s Coast Guard Academy, a move touched off by allegations of discrimination and a racially hostile environment at the school.
Introduced by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the “Coast Guard Academy Improvement Act,” would establish a commission that would make recommendations to foster “a more inclusive and supportive environment” at the academy.
The bill would require the academy to create a recruitment and retention plan for cadets, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds, and permanently establish a minority outreach team.
The legislation would also require the academy to select up to 50 percent of each incoming class from a pool of candidates nominated by members of Congress.
Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2019/07/01/key-dems-press-bill-to-increase-minority-recruitment-at-coast-guard-academy/
Raise for lawmakers
Rhode Island’s part-time legislators are getting a 2.4-percent raise on Monday.
Days after wrapping up the 2019 session, the raise will boost their annual salaries by $382.91 from $15,958.58 to $16,341.49. The House speaker and the Senate president will get double that amount.
And no, they did not vote to give themselves the raise.
Salaries for state lawmakers are governed by Article VI, Section 3 of the state Constitution, which calls for legislators’ pay to be adjusted annually based on “changes in the cost of living, as determined by the United States government during a 12-month period ending in the immediately preceding year.”
Read more: https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190701/raise-for-lawmakers
Two Rhode Island districts turn to collection agencies to collect school lunch debts
Two Rhode Island school districts have turned to collection agencies this year to pursue tens of thousands of dollars in school lunch debt, reflecting the lengths some districts are going to as they try to cover meal costs while avoiding “lunch shaming.”
Earlier this month, the school committee in suburban Cumberland voted to hire F.H. Cann & Associates Inc. to try to track down $47,000 in school lunch debt. And the city of Cranston began using Transworld Systems Inc. in January to go after school lunch debt that had approached $90,000.
But neither of those decisions received as much media attention as Warwick schools, which made national headlines earlier this year for giving sunflower-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, instead of hot meals, to students whose families owned lunch money. Public outcry over lunch shaming prompted the Chobani yogurt company to donate more than $47,000 to cover Warwick school meals, and the district revised its policy.
“I need the yogurt guy to come up to Cumberland, or maybe CVS will pay the bill,” Cumberland School Committee Chair Paul DiModica said this week.
Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/rhode-island/2019/06/26/two-rhode-island-districts-turn-collection-agencies-collect-school-lunch-debts/kIWgmICJjCagezLF8SVHHN/story.html
'The system is broken and the Providence public schools are in crisis,' Raimondo says
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The findings of an independent review of the Providence public school system are devastating and shed a light on what’s clearly a broken system, Democratic Governor Gina Raimondo said Wednesday.
The scathing 93-page report by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy released Tuesday night found severe dysfunction, including rampant bullying and fighting among students, crumbling facilities, and a tangled bureaucracy with no clear lines of authority. It concluded that everyone from the school district to the teachers union to the state Department of Education is failing children.
Many students don’t take school seriously enough, parents feel marginalized and demoralized and poor teachers are almost impossible to fire, according to the report.
Raimondo said Johns Hopkins staff told her it was among the worst school districts — if not the worst — they’ve ever seen.
Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/rhode-island/2019/06/26/the-system-broken-and-providence-public-schools-are-crisis-raimondo-says/8KBgCmrSoVrepIhZA2oBmJ/story.html
Rhode Island lawmakers pass bill giving sexual abuse victims 35 years to bring lawsuits
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island General Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation on Wednesday to give victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to sue perpetrators and hold institutions and public entities accountable.
The legislation heads to the desk of Governor Gina Raimondo, who is expected to sign it into law.
It extends the statute of limitations to 35 years after victims reach adulthood.
Victims will have 35 years to bring lawsuits against individual perpetrators, regardless of whether the case had been “time-barred” under previous laws. The bill also keeps state law allowing victims to file suits within seven years of “discovering” they’d been abused.
They will also have 35 years to bring lawsuits against institutions and organizations, as well as the state, municipalities and quasi-public agencies. Nesslebush said she insisted on adding those agencies, after seeing the widespread abuse by Jerry Sandusky at Penn State and Larry Nassar at Michigan State University.
Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/rhode-island/2019/06/26/rhode-island-lawmakers-pass-bill-giving-sexual-abuse-victims-years-bring-lawsuits/KVFDNvZBoJ5dsRfa95seiP/story.html
Joe Kennedy III calls for impeachment proceedings against President Trump
Representative Joseph Kennedy III is calling on the House to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump, adding his voice to a growing Democratic chorus calling for action in the wake of the scathing report by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I believe it is time for the House to begin impeachment proceedings against the President. This is not a decision I made lightly, nor is it one to celebrate,” Kennedy said in a statement Friday afternoon releasedafter an interview with WPRI. “It’s a dark day for our country when its Commander-in-Chief is accused of high crimes. But after reading the Mueller report in full, reviewing the facts and consulting with legal experts, I believe Congress has a responsibility to act decisively.”
Kennedy has, until now, advocated the continuation of existing inquiries, telling the Globe in May that while impeachment couldn’t be ruled out, “we should continue to investigate his potential obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and financial conflicts of interest in the relevant committees.”
His announcement marks a rare instance of Kennedy bucking his caucus leaders. He’s developed a reputation as a team player and loyal ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been steadfast in her view that pursuing impeachment against Trump is the wrong political strategy for Democrats to take.
Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/06/28/joe-kennedy-calls-for-impeaching-president-trump/A0r5huOprBiRaUj4ntqvzJ/story.html
Should Democrats Talk More About Religion?
While the group of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates has already proven to be unusual due its large size and the schisms in policy between the party’s more moderate and more progressive wings, there hasn't been much discussion about religion. However, some, like South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, believe it’s time for Democrats to begin speaking more openly about faith.
“The Republican Party likes to cloak itself in the language of religion. Now, our party doesn’t talk about it as much, largely for a very good reason because we are committed to the separation of church and state, and we stand for people of every religion and no religion,” Buttigieg said during last week’s Democratic candidate debate. “But, we should call out hypocrisy when we see it.”
Though some have applauded Buttigieg’s embrace of his spirituality, others say they find it offputting.
Reverend Emmett G. Price III said that in modern political parlance, references to religion often come across less as a way of genuinely describing one’s faith and more as a tactic to woo a new demographic of voters. Price is the Professor of Worship, Church & Culture and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Read more: https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2019/07/01/should-democrats-talk-more-about-religion
Arts agency gets reined in by lawmakers - and a raise
NO STATE AGENCY has taken more of a pounding from the press this year over its spending practices than the Massachusetts Cultural Council, but the agency is poised to emerge from the Beacon Hill budget-writing process with its highest appropriation in years, even if that comes with some new restrictions on its spending.
How that came about is partly a story about a tabloid feeding frenzy, but it’s also evidence of how state funding for arts and cultural projects at the municipal level has become a sought-after prize for Beacon Hill lawmakers. For them, it’s all about money fueling an arts and cultural scene across the state that attracts tourists, spurs economic development, and builds neighborhood pride.
“It’s a very popular program because it brings grants to our cities and towns that enhance tourism,” said Rep. Brad Hill, the assistant Republican leader in the House, who pointed to the council’s support for an annual festival in his district that illuminates the Ipswich River with bonfires, along with other lights and music.
Rep. Louis Kafka, a Stoughton Democrat who is a member of House leadership, said the council’s popularity derives from the resources it pours into local programs, not from its Boston-based leadership.
Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/arts-and-culture/arts-agency-gets-reined-in-by-lawmakers-and-a-raise/
'Screwed and burned': Holyoke marijuana company Positronic Farms leaves trail of unhappy investors
Tennessee resident Darren Singleton is interested in investing in startups and saw an opportunity in Massachusetts’ nascent legal marijuana industry.
He got an email alert about a Holyoke company that had a property lease in a city that was friendly to marijuana businesses. He and his wife flew to Massachusetts, met Positronic Farms founder David Caputo and toured the space in a former paper mill, which Positronic Farms planned to lease to marijuana cultivator Holyoke Gardens.
“It looked like it was going to be a solid play,” Singleton said.
Singleton withdrew money from his 401(k) and sent Caputo a cashier’s check for $25,000. He convinced two friends in Tennessee to invest $25,000 each.
Read more: https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/06/screwed-and-burned-holyoke-marijuana-company-positronic-farms-leaves-trail-of-unhappy-investors.html
'I don't have a problem' with late budget, Gov. Charlie Baker says
As Massachusetts enters the new fiscal year without a permanent budget in place, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, declined to criticize the Democratic-led Legislature for the delay.
“I don’t have a problem about the budget being a week or two late. I care a lot more about the quality of the work product and the completeness of the work product in giving people the ability to do the stuff they need to do,” Baker told reporters at the Statehouse.
A team of House-Senate negotiators has been meeting to try to hammer out a final version of the state budget. The new fiscal year began Monday, and the state is operating under a one-month budget, which will fund current programs until the end of July or until lawmakers pass a full-year budget.
On Monday, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, would not commit to getting a budget done before the July 4 holiday.
Read more: https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/07/i-dont-have-a-problem-with-late-budget-gov-charlie-baker-says.html
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