The commission created last year by the Rhode Island General Assembly to study legalizing recreational cannabis has missed its reporting deadline of March 1, 2018, and a possible extension remains mired in disagreement between the two legislative chambers. Proponents want to regulate and tax cannabis for recreational purposes similarly to alcohol. Although the study commission […]
Broadcast radio underwent changes in the 1990s that had consequences impossible to foresee. As the first stirrings of what would become internet radio appeared – RealAudio in 1995, SHOUTcast in 1998, Napster in 1999, iTunes in 2001 – Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996, removing most anti-monopoly limits on corporate ownership, ushering in a […]
Providence considered a number of solutions to its scourge of potholes. According to Mayor Jorge Elorza, rejected proposals included filling several million potholes with helium and releasing them to the winds, but when Cleveland tried something similar, damages had to be paid for an injured horse and a wrongful death. The Oregon Highway Department recommended […]
A surprising amount of common ground underlies the positions of opposing stakeholders on proposed legislation that would create an “Extreme Risk Protection Order” (ERPO) (“red flag”) law, but the devil is in the details. A bill proposed in the RI General Assembly (House 7688 and Senate 2492) would allow family members and law enforcement to […]
I am an outlier in the debate about guns. I’m a Northeasterner, and most of my friends are very unfamiliar with guns. There are exceptions, but on social media the most common view I see expressed is to wonder why anyone would want a gun, to wonder why they are legal for civilians to own […]
Weather is an endlessly fascinating topic: It affects everybody and can literally be a matter of life and death. Forecasting seems to many some kind of black art, but the basic principles are fairly simple: Collect a lot of observations, plug them into a set of theoretical models, and turn the crank repeatedly to advance […]
Stillwater Books, the first bookstore in Pawtucket for many years, opens with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10:45am, Thursday, Mar 1. Located at 175 Main St on the corner of Roosevelt Ave, in the same building as the visitor center for the Blackstone Valley National Historic Corridor and the RIPTA Pawtucket Transit Hub, it is […]
An annual event since 1998, the Providence French Film Festival takes place Saturday, February 24, through Saturday, March 3, with all screenings at the Cable Car Cinema. Although the event is presented by Brown University, the films are not academically oriented and are open to the public. Richard Blakely, director of the festival, said he is […]
The 13th annual Salve Regina French Film Festival take place from Sunday, Febrary 25, through Thursday, March 8. There are a total of six films, said French professor Dean de la Motte, the festival coordinator, all open to the public. “We’re always trying to involve both the [broader] community and the university community and encourage different groups […]
My colleague Kevin Broccoli recently pronounced theater criticism dead: “You’re better off hiring 50 20-year-olds to talk about your show on social media than you are cozying up to a Motif contributor on opening night.” (“Let’s Talk About Critics,” Jan 10). He cites “an army of straight, white, male critics” whose perspective makes them less […]