News Clips

Glamorous work it's not. The work that she has done for decades has placed her at odds with some of the state's most powerful public officials. The work has placed her on hard wooden benches in State House hearing rooms, waiting for hours to deliver testimony to leery legislators.

Omar Bah had sequestered himself on the back porch of a relative’s home, all the better to work on his doctoral dissertation, when he heard three hard knocks on the door. “They knocked on the door, very hard, like a police knock,” said Bah, an immigrant from The Gambia and executive director of Providence’s Refugee Dream Center.

One of the few environmental bills passed by the General Assembly in 2018 gives the governor greater authority to make appointments to the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). The changes may seem minor, but the fix to the committee overseeing waterfront development and coastal regulations makes it the last state entity to abide by Rhode Island's separation-of-powers rules.

The legislation, introduced in response to a lawsuit that Save The Bay filed in Superior Court, aims to finally bring the membership of the state Coastal Resources Management Council into compliance with the 2004 separation-of-powers amendment to the state Constitution.

Those who hoped the General Assembly would finally heed the public’s wishes, and place a strong line-item veto on this November’s ballot, cannot feel encouraged by the antics at the State House. A commission selected by legislators to look into the matter seems clearly antagonistic to the whole idea. As TV’s Gomer Pyle used to say, “Surprise, surprise!”

To boost participation in the 2018 Census test that’s taking place in Providence County, Common Cause is partnering with Central Falls to host a “Test Run” through the city’s streets on June 2. “We’re doing this for two reasons,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, which promotes transparent and effective government. “First, is the lack of awareness of the test right now and the fact that the Census Bureau has effectively zero budget devoted to promoting awareness.