Connect with us

Rhode Island

Sabina Matos wants to win back Rhode Island’s trust – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Sabina Matos wants to win back Rhode Island’s trust – The Boston Globe


And then it all came crashing down.

Matos found herself mired in the most vexing of political scandals: a voter signature debacle that was both difficult to explain to average voters and that had just enough merit to entirely derail her campaign. She lost the Democratic primary in embarrassing fashion, finishing fourth and earning just 3,200 votes.

Now she finds herself picking up the pieces of her political career from a relatively sleepy office in state government that grants her far less power and has a smaller budget than she had when she was City Council president in Providence.

“Last year was tough,” Matos told me on Sunday, a phrase she uttered no fewer than six times during an hour-long lunch at La Lupita in Olneyville, the neighborhood she represented on the council. “But I’m a survivor.”

Having just turned 50, she’s going to need to prove herself all over again because she understands that she’s viewed as vulnerable as she begins thinking about 2026, when she plans to run for a second and final term as lieutenant governor.

There’s been talk that Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera is eyeing the job, and Rivera has already hired a talented campaign manager in Jason Roias and top fund-raiser Kate Ramstad for a reelection campaign this year that looks more like a trial run for something bigger in a few years. Even Attorney General Peter Neronha’s name has been whispered as a potential candidate (in a text message, he said, “Probably not, but who knows? Maybe with the right gubernatorial candidate as a ticket.”)

Matos knows she can’t afford to ignore politics — she’s beginning to raise funds again and says she fully supports McKee for reelection — but she said that she first wants to win back any trust voters may have lost in her and begin to carve out a policy niche in the lieutenant governor’s office.

Advertisement

Start with the signatures.

Christopher Cotham, a former campaign worker, was charged in March with two felonies and two misdemeanors for allegedly looking up voters’ names on whitepages.com and writing and signing their names on nomination papers for Matos during the congressional campaign last year.

More than 500 signatures on Matos’ nomination papers were disqualified last year amid intense scrutiny into signature collection — in some cases, people who allegedly signed her papers were deceased — but she still collected more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

But the damage was already done. In a special election when most of the Democratic candidates held the same policy views, the signature scandal dominated headlines for several weeks. Matos never recovered.

The hardest part for Matos wasn’t losing, she said. It was explaining to her 81-year-old father, a former mayor of Paraiso in the province of Barahona in the Dominican Republic, that she didn’t deliberately cheat to secure signatures.

Advertisement

“I really want to make sure this never happens to anyone again,” Matos said, noting that she supports Secretary of State Gregg Amore’s proposal to give candidates more time to collect signatures.

Matos acknowledged that she could have handled the signature situation better. She said that she wishes she “trusted my gut” more, and addressed the issue sooner. She’s quick to point out that she did earn enough signatures to appear on the ballot, a fact that was reported but largely ignored by her critics in the heat of the campaign.

As for her top priority as lieutenant governor for at least the next two years, Matos is honing in on what has been referred to as the silver tsunami, the oncoming mass retirement of baby boomers and what it means for the businesses they run.

When McKee appointed her lieutenant governor in 2021, Matos wanted housing to be her biggest issue. But she said that she is glad House Speaker Joe Shekarchi made it his top priority, because, as the state’s most powerful politician, he has had an outsized role in shaping and funding policies that she hopes will result in more housing.

But Matos said retiring business owners who don’t have anyone to pass off their companies to are going to need support in the near future. She hasn’t fully fleshed out a plan, but she wants to figure out ways to offer legal advice, transition support, and potentially, seed money to help employees potentially take over those businesses.

Advertisement

“You don’t want to close after you worked so hard for so long,” Matos said.

In some ways, Matos could make the same argument about herself. She’s proven herself as an effective politician over the years, winning three terms on the council and then a statewide election for lieutenant governor.

But she’s hit a rough patch in her political career.

Digging out would be her most impressive step yet.


Advertisement

Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.





Source link

Rhode Island

Bodycam footage shows moments police respond to Pawtucket shooting

Published

on

Bodycam footage shows moments police respond to Pawtucket shooting


Police bodycam footage shows the moments officers arrived to the scene of a deadly mass shooting in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

The shooting on Feb. 16 at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena killed Rhonda Dorgan and Aidan Dorgan, the ex-wife and son of the shooter, who died by suicide.

Gerald Dorgan, Rhonda’s father, died from his injuries this week. His wife, Linda Dorgan, and family friend Thomas Geruso remain hospitalized.

Around five minutes after the first officer arrives, he beings helping paramedics with a man who identifies himself as Aidan. Twelve minutes in, Aidan Dorgan is transported to the hospital, where he would later die from his injuries.

Advertisement

For the last 10 minutes of the footage, the officer then begins helping paramedics transport the other three gunshot victims.

The video ends with police prepping witness interviews.

The shooting rocked the Pawtucket community. Chris Librizzi, head coach of the Blackstone Valley Schools hockey team impacted by the shooting, said the players and coaching staff “are devastated over the events that took place at Lynch Arena on Monday and intimately affected one of our teammates.”

As authorities continue investigating the shooting in Pawtucket, three patients remain in critical condition.

“We will lean on each other and support one another, as we have always done as a team,” he added.

Advertisement

Pawtucket police said two handguns were found at the scene after the shooting, a Sig Sauer P226 and Glock. Other weapons have been seized at the suspect’s storage unit in Maine.

Investigators continue reviewing all video evidence from before, during and after the shooting, including surveillance footage from the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, police body-worn camera footage and other records — a high school sports livestream captured the shooting from a distance — police said.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Rhode Island

Man killed in RI shooting; suspect involved in Mass. car crash that killed 2 others

Published

on

Man killed in RI shooting; suspect involved in Mass. car crash that killed 2 others


A man has died after a shooting in Cranston, Rhode Island, and investigators say a suspect was later involved in a car crash in Swansea, Massachusetts, that killed two other people.

The shooting victim was found Thursday on Legion Way, shot multiple times in the chest, Cranston police told NBC affiliate WJAR-TV. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he later died. His name has not been released.

The suspect initially fled on foot, setting off a shelter-in-place order while investigators searched the area.

Police said Friday that investigators identified a suspect vehicle, which was later spotted by Massachusetts State Police. A trooper followed the car down Route 6 and Interstate 195, but stopped when it crossed back into Rhode Island. The car was later involved in a crash on Route 136 in Swansea, Mass.

Advertisement

Swansea police say that crash on Route 136 (James Reynolds Road) resulted in the deaths of two other people.

According to the Swansea Police Department, two officers saw a white Infinity G37 speed past them around 12:18 a.m. Friday on Route 6, otherwise known as Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Moments later, officers observed that the vehicle had crashed into the side of a blue Subaru Ascent that had been traveling southbound on Route 136.

Both vehicles sustained catastrophic damage, police said.

The vehicle that was struck was fully engulfed in flames. First responders and bystanders tried to extinguish the fire, but both occupants — a man and a woman — were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Their names have not been released.

The 28-year-old Infinity driver, who struck the victims’ Subaru, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries and later into custody by Cranston Police. They have not been publicly identified at this time.

Advertisement

Swansea police said they are aware that the Infinity was the subject of a police pursuit, and know the driver was wanted in connection to the Rhode Island homicide investigation. While Swansea police had been alerted to be on the lookout for the suspect’s vehicle, however, they say they were not involved in the pursuit and were not pursuing the vehicle at the time of the deadly crash.

The crash in Swansea is under investigation by Massachusetts authorities, including state police and the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. Meanwhile, Cranston police said they would give an update on their investigation around 1 p.m.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Rhode Island

RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know

Published

on

RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know


play

  • Rhode Island House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi has introduced a new package of housing legislation.
  • Highlights include allowing property owners to divide single-family lots and legalizing single-staircase, four-story apartment buildings.
  • The package also seeks to expand the Homeless Bill of Rights and streamline the creation of emergency shelters.

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi is once again taking aim at the regulations he says are stifling new homebuilding.

The Warwick Democrat unveiled his sixth annual suite of housing legislation on Thursday, Feb. 26, a few weeks after announcing he would not be running for governor this year.

Advertisement

“We are still trying to play catch-up for all the years that Rhode Island was dead last in the country for new housing starts,” Shekarchi said. “While Rhode Island remains a relatively affordable option for people moving here from other states, our own residents are too often priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in.”

The legislative text of the nine-bill housing package, and with it the specifics of how it would work, were not available for Thursday’s news conference.

But highlights of the package, according to summaries, include:

  • Infill housing. Allow property owners to divide lots in single-family zoning districts, creating multiple dwellings instead of one, provided they have water and sewer service.
  • Parking maximums. Put new limits on how much off-street parking communities require for new apartment buildings.
  • Homeless Bill of Rights. Expand the state’s Homeless Bill of Rights to require 15-day notice to the occupants of encampments before local authorities clear them.
  • Emergency shelters. Let communities build temporary shelters, such as the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence, during a state of emergency.
  • Stairs. Legalize the construction of four-story apartment buildings with a single staircase.
  • Affordable housing taxes. Overhaul the tax system for income-restricted housing covered by the state’s “8 Law.”

Is land-use reform working?

Since Shekarchi was elected speaker in 2021, the General Assembly has passed dozens of bills he backed that tweaked state land-use statutes or streamlined the process for building.

Advertisement

How successful this approach has been is subject to debate.

Many local elected officials wary of development in their communities continue to rail against efforts to erode their power over construction.

Others in the growing Yes In My Back Yard movement see Rhode Island’s piecemeal approach as inadequate in comparison with the scale of the affordability problem and what other states are doing.

As evidence that his changes are making a difference, Shekarchi said Rhode Island saw a 70% increase in building permits in 2023 and a more modest increase in 2024. (Statistics for last year were not immediately available.)

Gov. Dan McKee’s 2030 plan calls for 15,000 new housing units built by that year.

Advertisement

Democratic primary challenger Helena Foulkes is slated to roll out her housing plan on Monday.

It is expected to include a millionaires tax to fund affordable housing, a revolving fund and target of 20,000 new homes.

What would the new laws do?

Letting property owners put multiple homes on a plot of land is one of the most direct ways that lawmakers can encourage the construction of more homes, but it is also one of the most controversial.

That’s especially true in areas zoned for large lots and single-family homes.

How far the new bill allowing lots to be subdivided in single-family zones goes is unclear. It is sponsored by Rep. Stephen Casey, D-Woonsocket.

Advertisement

Legislation setting maximum parking requirements for new developments, introduced by Rep. Joshua Giraldo, D-Central Falls, would apply to areas accessible by public transit.

Critics of off-street parking requirements say they make it harder to build new apartments and make the units that are built more expensive.

Shekarchi proposed the emergency shelter bill last year. It passed the House and died in the Senate.

It was the result of how long it took state officials to navigate Rhode Island’s building code and open the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence.

The staircase bill, sponsored by Rep. June Speakman, a Warren Democrat and chair of the House’s home affordability study commission, follows a wave of cities and states relaxing rules on how many exits are required in new construction.

Advertisement

Currently, the state building code requires two stairways in buildings with more than three stories, and fire officials have opposed all efforts to change that.

Speakman’s bill would allow four-story buildings with a maximum of 16 units with a single staircase.

Supporters of single-stair buildings say they allow development of small sites that would otherwise sit vacant and allow family-sized units with more light and better ventilation.

A previous Rhode Island single-stair bill would have allowed six stories, but it died in committee.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order in mid-February to study the idea.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending