Community Submission

RI General Assembly Needs Proven Leaders for LGBTQ+ Community By Senator Tiara Mack In previous legislative sessions, legislators from Woonsocket to Westerly have overwhelmingly voted to protect LGBTQ rights and healthcare. The stakes this year were higher than ever, but I can’t help but ask: Did we do everything we could to protect trans kids […]

To the Editor: Newport is considering a major expansion of the Harbormaster facility at Perrotti Park. There are plenty of arguments about the design, size, cost and merits of the project. But there is a more fundamental question the City has yet to answer publicly: Can Newport legally use this land for the proposed expanded […]

Those of us fighting for the future of the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center at Newport Hospital celebrated several wins in the state budget enacted in June: $1.6 million in extra funding and significant new requirements that must be met before any hospital is allowed to close or reduce services at a birthing center. Newport […]

As I reflect on my first term serving as Ward 1 Councilor in Newport, I keep coming back to the young people in our community. This year, they reminded me why I do this work. From the City Council dais, I have advocated for policies that create safer, healthier, and more equitable opportunities for Newport […]

The City should move forward with repairing the failing Perrotti Park bulkhead. That work is necessary. But Newport residents should be very cautious about allowing a needed infrastructure repair to quietly become a much larger building project that changes one of downtown’s most important public harbor-view spaces. The concern is not the seawall. The concern […]

Hi Neighbor!  My name is Taryn Mazza and I am running for Newport City Council, At-Large. I’m a longtime Newporter who was born at Newport Hospital and graduated from Rogers High School in 1994 (Go Vikings). I spent nearly a decade on the West Coast but truly, nothing compares to our fair city. Newport is […]

Being a Rhode Island legislator is a challenging calling to pursue. To start with, we pay our state legislators less than $20,000 per year. This is not enough to quit your day job. And in this part-time gig, we expect our legislators to understand a number of complex legal, legislative, economic, environmental and social issues […]

I’m proud to officially announce my candidacy for Newport City Council. Newport isn’t just where I live. It’s home. I was born at Newport Hospital, attended Newport Public Schools, spent summers at Camp Rocky Farm and Braga Park, learned to play tennis at Vernon and Rogers Courts with my late great-uncle Frank Kenney, played softball […]

To the Editor: What an amazing day! We want to thank everyone who made Elliot’s Ride for Everyone such a success. On Saturday, June 6th, Bike Newport presented “Elliot’s Ride for Everyone – the annual event when the iconic Ocean Drive closes to cars and opens to people biking, walking, rolling and strolling – creating […]

Newport in Bloom and the founders of Daffodillion are formally requesting that the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and the Newport City Council restore the approximately 90,000 Dutch Master daffodil bulbs along the Pell Bridge off-ramps, Roundabout, and the Farewell-America’s Cup Avenue corridor. These areas underwent major renovations which resulted in the removal of […]

A lot has changed since the first Mental Health Awareness Week back in 1949. What started as a seven-day observance now lasts all of May, and we have no shortage of events to raise awareness about mental health. Far more important is the progress we’ve made. Treatments for mental health conditions have improved, care is […]

To the Editor, I would like to address misinformation surrounding the Newport School Committee’s decision to hire an interim superintendent for Newport Public Schools. Our current superintendent is retiring at the end of next month, and the School Committee has a responsibility to ensure there is qualified leadership in place without interruption. The decision to […]

To the Editor, What’s Up Newport: The Aquidneck Island Land Trust recently published a letter regarding the Sweet Berry Farm proposal. But it may have left readers more reassured than the facts warrant, because it does not answer the central question: will a project that destroys more than 1,300 mature fruit trees to construct an […]