The nationwide eviction moratorium expired last month, leaving thousands of Rhode Islanders at risk for becoming homeless. The moratorium, issued early in the pandemic by the CDC, halted landlords from forcibly evicting tenants until the protection expired. Congress appropriated billions of dollars meant for rental assistance, but only a fraction of the money has made […]
We are counting the days until the Washington County Fair returns to Richmond! We loved the virtual programming last year — we could almost smell the goats — but it just wasn’t the same. This year, we can’t wait for the carnival rides, live bands, games and demonstrations that show agriculture is alive and well […]
We just heard some news that got us so excited we had the 3am zoomies for a week. Bajah’s Cat Cafe in Tiverton recently celebrated the grand opening of a new concept cafe. Bajah’s looks like a normal cafe, complete with New Harvest coffee and Wicked Whoopies, but attached to the cafe by a large […]
Oooh, you bitch! The British would call it, with a dismissive sneer and a smile, “handbags at 10 paces.” That about sums up the much-inflated confrontation between Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza and Governor Dan “Who He?” McKee at a recent press conference for the illustrious WaterFire. A lot of heated blather, especially from the diminutive […]
Do you recognize that hand on our cover? No? Let’s play a little game. Gen Xers over here, Zoomers over there. Now, Xers — picture that hand chopping wildly at the air, dressed in an oversized suit, the epitome of cool. Zoomers — picture that hand on TikTok, chopping wildly at the air, the epitome […]
The RI Food Truck & Drink Awards are a celebration of two of our most valuable communities, which keep us happy and fed and deserve recognition. Those same communities have been all but overwhelmed with labor, supply chain and COVID-related complications. We get it – summer is fleeting and often packed with activities, and our […]
The Oscar-qualifying Rhode Island International Film Fest (RIIFF) is back in a big way this year with a COVID-safe hybrid schedule of programming. The event takes place August 9 – 15, with a stacked set of online options and in-person screenings taking place at local drive-ins and outdoor venues. The festival is boasting an impressive […]
UPDATE: This extension of the eviction moratorium was ended by the US Supreme Court on Aug 26. See our follow-up: motifri.com/eviction-october-2 With an estimated six million Americans behind on their rent due to the pandemic, the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium on July 30 set off alarms about the possibility of a major economic […]
Required weekly recertification for unemployment insurance was failing on the RI Department of Labor and Training (DLT) website, according to hundreds of reports on Twitter. DLT advised Motif at 9:41am the problem had been fixed, and users could now certify. Motif broke this story today just before 5am — twitter.com/MotifMagRI/status/1421757112884121601 — asking for reports as […]
Leaders of Rhode Island’s theaters and theater community gathered in person and on Zoom for more than two hours on July 26 to address weaknesses in their internal processes and policies that have allowed incidents of sexual harassment and abuse to occur in the community. The meeting included a panel discussion and loose roundtable discussion […]