Frank Prosnitz

On a cold, windy winter’s day in late January more than 1,000 Rhode Islanders, including children and families, are living outside, in cars, or in emergency shelters, many of which are at capacity. That’s the findings from a somewhat flawed point in time count of the homeless, a once every other year exercise undertaken by […]

Update: After more than 2 hours of discussion, the Middletown Town Council voted 5 to 2 tonight against continuing the discussion with Newport to determine the feasibility of merging Middletown and Newport schools. VonVillas and Flynn were the councilors voted to continue the conversation. Original Story The Middletown Town Council is expected to decide tonight […]

With the prospect of the state reimbursing Middletown and Newport for more than 80 percent of the cost to build a regional high school (and regionalize grades K-12), Middletown’s Town Council is now determining whether to enter what Newport Mayor Jamie Bova suggests is a more “robust conversation” about the unification of the communities’ high […]

Newport school and city officials, state legislators and perhaps officials from the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) will descend upon the Middletown Town Council next Monday (June 3), hopeful of persuading the town to consider unification of the Rogers (Newport) and Middletown High Schools, both of which have been identified in need of millions […]

The Rogers High School field used for track, soccer and lacrosse is getting an upgrade, the result of pleas by student athletes, coaches and parents, who urged the City Council to find at least a temporary solution to a field that, according to some, is simply not playable. “If we can fix it, let’s try […]

School projects of more than $375 million that are designed to repair or replace deteriorating school buildings in six school districts were approved Tuesday night by the Rhode Island Department of Education’s Council on Elementary and Secondary Education. The projects are all slated to receive state aid under the $250 million school facilities bond approved […]

The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), on Tuesday, will determine funding levels for the six school districts that applied for aid from the $250 million school facilities bond approved by voters last fall. The bond issue was in response to a RIDE report that rated every Rhode Island public and charter school, most schools […]

After hearing from several student athletes last week, the Newport City Council has begun exploring ways to assure that the field used for track, soccer and lacrosse is playable by the fall season. “It’s not good we have the field in that condition,” said Mayor Jamie Bova, a former high school soccer player herself. The […]

Faced with the daunting prospect of asking voters to approve a bond issue that likely would exceed $100 million to replace Rogers High School, the Newport City Council this week voted to begin formal discussions with Middletown to explore the possibilities of merging high schools. The vote at Tuesday night’s council meeting instructed city officials […]

It’s a battle over tourism tax dollars that one tourism official calls a civil war, pitting local communities and tourism councils against a state government that is searching for ways to close this year’s $150 million budget deficit and is trying to find new revenues for next year. At stake is millions of tax dollars […]

While the 25th annual KIDS COUNT report shows some positive signs in addressing childhood poverty, affordable housing, and healthcare among the state’s 207,000 children, it also says that nearly one in five children live in poverty, and nearly 1,600 school children are homeless. The report was presented this morning at a gathering of nearly 600, […]

The Newport City Council’s proposal to increase the lodging and restaurant taxes by 1 percent to help fund infrastructure improvements to city schools, is just the first step in trying to raise the millions of dollars needed to make schools safe for students, teachers, and employees. City Manager Joseph Nicholson Jr. has promised that there […]

By a 9 to 7 vote, the state House of Representatives Judiciary Committee tonight approved the controversial legislation that would embed Roe v. Wade as the law in Rhode Island, while scores, both pro and con, converged on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the legislation was being heard for the first time. A vote by […]

After the Rhode Island House of Representatives approved rules that reinforced the power of the Speaker of the House, some 17 reform legislators paid the price, losing committee chairmanships and prestigious committee assignments. Now, the state Senate is considering similar rules that its leaders say only puts in writing longstanding practice within the Senate, but […]

Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, with the fire and fury his opponents feared, purged many of those who opposed his reelection as speaker by removing them from leadership positions and important committee assignments. It’s a strategy used by the speaker before, removing those who have opposed him from key leadership positions. A group of […]