Friday, May 14, 2021
Rep. Julie Casimiro
When I was contacted by a concerned family over the turmoil at the Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities at Rhode Island College, I was horrified. How could these blind and visually-impaired students lose their teachers that have often been with the child since they entered the school system? How could the years of trust and familiarity built up between the students, their families and their teachers be so carelessly tossed aside? This was a serious situation involving some of our most vulnerable students and time was of the essence.
Thankfully, the General Assembly leadership, rank and file legislators and Governor McKee recognized the issue and in rapid time, pledged to fully fund the Sherlock Center in the state’s budget so that our blind and visually-impaired students and their teachers remain together.
The Rhode Island House of Representatives approved amended legislation to "strengthen the agreement" between the State of Rhode Island and IGT and Twin River, now Bally’s Corporation on Tuesday.
Marc Crisafulli - driving force behind the legislation
A new compromise version of the legislation enabling the agreement between the State of Rhode Island and IGT and Twin River, now Bally’s Corporation, will be considered by the House Finance Committee on Thursday, May 6.
The amended legislation has been named the Marc A. Crisafulli Economic Development Act to honor the executive vice president of Bally’s, who is battling cancer. He has been a driving force in the growth of Bally s.
H 5223 Sub A as amended is an economic development investment of more than $250 million to preserve and enhance Rhode Island’s third-largest source of revenue. GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
To the Editor:
In his letter last week Matthew B. McCoy uses the term âcommon-senseâ four times in describing the gun control bills introduced in this session of the Legislature. These bills do not pass because, when confronted with facts and logic, advocates like Mr. McCoy revert to emotional appeals and deceptive words like âgun safetyâ and âplague of gun violenceâ.Â
Mr. McCoy writes about the âsmall but noisy group of advocatesâ when referring to gun owners. I argue that description applies to moms demanding this and the coalition against that who claim Rhode Island membership in the tens of thousands and yet can only muster a few dozen for demonstrations. Compare that to the thousands from the Second Amendment community who turn out for âgun night on Smith Hillâ every year. Many of these are working men and women who have to take time off without pay to participate.