Frank Prosnitz

Newporters are likely to be voting on a substantial school bond referendum next fall (2020), following a School Building Committee vote last week that approved the concept of building a $101 million high school to replace Rogers High School. “The goal is to have a bond referendum on the 2020 ballot – the impact on […]

Parents of private school pupils in Newport will likely have to wait until October for the School Committee to address concerns about busing policies that now have some private school pupils spending more than two and a half hours a day on the school bus. Additionally, some pupils are walking to new drop-off points (depots), […]

With many economists projecting a likely national recession by the end of 2020, a local economist is suggesting that Rhode Island could lead the way and go into recession as early as late 2019. University of Rhode Island Economist Len Lardaro, author of a monthly Current Conditions Index that measures the health of the Rhode […]

The Newport City Council and School Committee will hold a joint workshop tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the council chambers, 43 Broadway, to discuss the prospective school building project and debt service, a cost that could exceed $200 million. Newport Councilwoman Jeanne Napolitano said today that the council has just received a 600-page document from […]

Andrew Nota, in his sixth year as town manager in Jamestown, will likely become town manager in East Greenwich when that council meets on Monday to formalize his contract. His hiring is what Nota said is likely the “last chapter” in repairing relationships between town employees and the town administration, relationships that deteriorated in the […]

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 […]