Rhode Island
A more complex picture of Rhode Island’s first couple, Roger and Mary Williams – The Boston Globe
And she discusses a new Rhode Island Historical Society exhibit that provides fresh insights into Williams’s wife, Mary, who has received a fraction of the attention and credit given to her husband.
“I hope with reading these sources yourself, you get a sense of Roger in all of his complexity, with all of those nuances,” Carrington-Farmer said. “And the same for Mary, too. I hope from the book and from the exhibit, you see that she played a really important role.”
In the book, Carrington-Farmer demonstrates that the story of Roger Williams is complicated, filled with contradictions.
“He proclaimed Indigenous People were equal in God’s eyes, but also referred to them as proud and filthy barbarians,” she wrote. “He described how he longed to convert Indigenous Peoples to Christianity, but later changed his mind and declared that forced religious worship was so offensive to God it stunk in His nostrils.”
And while Williams is famous for creating “Rhode Island’s bold experiment in religious freedom for all,” she said he “detested the Quaker religion.”
In the 17th century, Quakers were considered some of the most dangerous people of that time, Carrington-Farmer explained. “We tend to think of Quakers in the 18th and 19th century as being these pacifists,” she said. But they were then challenging the hierarchy of the church and state, and some Quakers “turn up to church naked, protesting established religion by taking their clothes off,” she said.
Williams considered Quakers “clownish,” she said, but he allowed them to practice their religion in Providence “for better or worse.”
The contradictions in Williams are clear, Carrington-Farmer said, when he founds Providence in part on “this ideal of Indigenous land rights,” but later “takes a young Pequot boy as an unfree person in his house.” She said it’s unclear if the boy was enslaved, but Williams later described him as his Native servant.
The book also tells the story of how Roger Williams fell in love with a woman named Jane Whalley before he met Mary. Williams went to Whalley’s aunt, Lady Joan Barrington, and asked for her hand in marriage.
“But he was not of the gentry status, and so she forbids the marriage on that ground, and those letters are cringeworthy,” Carrington-Farmer said. “I’ve included them in my book because I think they really humanize Roger Williams.”
Carrington-Farmer wrote that Roger Williams “is arguably the most written-about person of 17th-century New England,” and the traditional “great man” narrative depicts him as “a lone hero in the grand founding of Providence.” But, she wrote, “none of his accomplishments would have been possible without Mary Williams.”
For example, she noted Roger Williams returned to England twice to secure a royal charter for his colony.
“And it’s Mary who’s left running the show,” Carrington-Farmer said. “Roger, whilst he’s in England in the 1650s, writes these desperate letters begging Mary to join him in England, and she refuses. She’s got a job to do in keeping Providence going.”
Mary Williams’s independent streak was also clear when she continued to participate in services at the Salem Church after her husband stopped attending, and he refused to pray or give thanks at meals with her.
“It must have been awkward, right?” Carrington-Farmer said. “We don’t have Mary’s account of what that was like, but again, it’s these small glimmers of Mary’s agency.”
But telling the story of Mary Williams can be challenging, she said, because there’s only one surviving copy of her handwriting — an unsent letter she addressed to “My dear and loving husband.”
Carrington-Farmer curated the exhibit about Mary Williams that will be on display at the John Brown House Museum, in Providence, for the next three years.
“It is the first public history display telling the important and overlooked role of Mary in the founding of Providence and later Rhode Island,” she said.
The Rhode Island Report podcast is produced by The Boston Globe Rhode Island in collaboration with Roger Williams University. To get the latest episode each week, follow the Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
Rhode Island
R.I. House Finance budget phases in millionaires tax over three years – The Boston Globe
In January, Governor Daniel J. McKee touched off a debate about a millionaires tax by proposing a state budget that would impose a 8.99 percent tax rate on personal income of more than $1 million — a 3 percentage point increase over the current top bracket that would have generated $67 million in fiscal year 2027.
The House Finance budget would phase in that millionaires tax by raising that top rate by 1 percentage point per year over three years — 6.99 percent for tax year 2027, 7.99 percent in 2028, and 8.99 percent for 2029. The move would generate an estimated $22 million in 2027, $68 million in 2028, $115 million in 2029, and $142 million in 2030.
Blazejewski said phasing in the millionaires tax will help Rhode Island deal with federal funding cuts as they take effect in the years ahead. Advocates see that tax as a crucial source of funding for essential programs amid federal cuts, he noted, while opponents predict it will hurt small businesses and drive away rich residents.
“We thought this strikes the right balance here for our state, given the situation we’re in with the federal government,” Blazejewski said. “We think this is a prudent way of increasing revenue over time, and then phasing it in, so it has less shock, it has more time to be absorbed, and then also comes online exactly when we need it.”
Rhode Island is pursuing a millionaires tax three years after Massachusetts imposed a 4 percent millionaires tax on top of its 5 percent income tax, raising billions in revenue. On May 25, the Globe reported that the Massachusetts surtax on that state’s highest earners has already generated more than $3.1 billion in revenue this fiscal year, with two months remaining — surpassing the $2.4 billion projected.
Inspector general
The House Finance budget includes $1.3 million to fund an independent inspector general’s office staffed with 12 full-time employees who will investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in state government.
Blazejewski called for creating an inspector general’s office soon after becoming House speaker on May 7. The move by the state’s most progressive House speaker came as a surprise to some because Republicans have long made the inspector general’s office a top legislative priority.
But Blazejewski noted he introduced inspector general legislation in 2015. On Friday, he said the federal government is cutting funding at the same time the state has seen “high-profile state failures” such as the closure of the Washington Bridge westbound and the botched rollout of a $99 million state payroll system.
McKee and Republican lieutenant governor candidate John J. Loughlin II questioned why Blazejewski wants the inspector general to oversee the executive branch — but not the Legislature.
On Friday, Blazejewski noted that voters approved a separation of powers amendment to the state Constitution in 2004 to ensure the three branches of government are separate and distinct, and that the inspector general’s office would be an administrative agency of the executive branch.
“If you allow the executive office to run roughshod over the Legislature, the judiciary, you no longer have three branches of government,” Blazejewski said. “It’s not original to Rhode Island. It’s a fundamental principle of government.“
RIDOT audit
The budget includes an audit of maintenance work by the state Department of Transportation. “We just have had too many high-profile failures, and we need to conduct an audit as to the maintenance program,” Blazejewski said.
The budget also removes the Department of Transportation director as chairman of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. Former DOT director Peter Alviti Jr. began serving as chairman of the bus agency’s board in 2023. But Blazejewski said, “We just think it’s a conflict of interest.” The DOT director can continue to serve on the board, but not as chairman, he said.
No line-item veto
The House Finance budget rejects McKee’s call for placing a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters to give the governor line-item veto power, which would allow him to strike specific items from the budget without having to approve or veto the entire bill.
Last year, McKee refused to sign the state budget approved by the General Assembly because it raised taxes and fees, but he did not veto the bill. And McKee noted that 43 other states have some form of line-item veto authority.
But Blazejewski said, “That line item veto is about changing the power structure between the governor and the General Assembly,” and the current process works with the governor proposing a budget and legislators passing a budget. Other states have had “issues” with the line item veto, he said, noting Wisconsin’s governor used that power to delete words, numbers, and punctuation from a bill to change its meaning.
Budget exceeds $15 billion
The budget totals a record $15.2 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1, marking an increase over the $14.859 billion proposed by McKee.
In August, the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council warned that the state’s rate of spending was not sustainable. And in the Republican response to McKee’s State of the State, House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale said the state budget has grown by 200 percent since 2000, when it was about $4.5 billion.
URI medical school funding
The House Finance budget includes $5 million as an initial investment in creating a medical school at the University of Rhode Island.
The Senate had included that proposal in a 17-bill package aimed at strengthening the state’s strained health care system. Blazejewski said the medical school will help alleviate the state’s severe shortage of primary care doctors in the future.
Tax on Social Security
The House Finance budget includes the first year of McKee’s proposal to eliminate state personal income taxes on Social Security benefits over three years.
Under current law, taxpayers who have reached full Social Security retirement age (67 or older) and have incomes of less than $107,000 for single filers, or $133,750 for joint filers, are exempt from state income tax on Social Security income. The House agreed to eliminate the current minimum age threshold.
Child tax credit
The House Finance budget does not adopt McKee’s proposal to replace an existing tax deduction for dependents with a new child tax credit that would refund families $325 on their taxes per child, per year.
But it does build on the existing tax deduction structure and adds a $330 child tax credit to help lower income families. Blazejewski said the new system “costs a little bit more but gives even more of a benefit to families in Rhode Island.”
Bond questions
The budget includes a record $600 million in bond questions on the November ballot, but it modifies some of the proposals in McKee’s budget.
- Blazejewski said McKee’s budget “underfunded” an integrated health building at URI. So the budget provides $275 million (rather than $215 million) for the state’s three colleges, including $165 million (rather than $105 million) for the URI building, $50 million to renovate Rhode Island College’s Adams Library; and $60 million for a workforce innovation center at the Community College of Rhode Island.
- $120 million for housing, including $25 million for producing housing units for homeownership.
- $100 million (rather than $115 million) for economic development, including $55 million (rather than $70 million) for site development at the Quonset Business Park and I-195 District.
- $50 million for the “cultural economy,” including $45 million for a State History Center that would display the state’s founding documents.
- $55 million for “green economy bonds.” Blazejewski said, “Our caucus spoke over and over about making the green bond greener, and we’ve done just that.“
- The House budget eliminated the $50 million McKee proposed for Career and Technical Education. Blazejewski said testimony indicated the proposal was underfunded even at $50 million, “so we’re going to go back to the drawing board.”
Energy proposals
The House Finance budget adopts some, but not all, of McKee’s proposals for lowering energy bills.
House Majority Whip Katherine S. Kazarian, an East Providence Democrat, said the budget expands the renewable energy standard to including hydro and nuclear energy, which will result in savings.
But she said the budget would reject McKee’s plan to push back the 2033 deadline to reach 100 percent renewable energy sources for state electricity until 2050. “We’re going to continue to keep that 2033 deadline, which is really important to our caucus and, frankly, to the renewable energy investments that have come to the state,” she said.
Central Falls schools
The budget returns the Central Falls school district to local control after 35 years of state control. Blazejewski said this was a priority of Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera.
Domestic violence calendar
The House budget includes $600,000 to hire three full-time employees and create a domestic violence calendar in state Superior Court to address a backlog of 1,200 felony domestic violence cases.
The House Finance Committee voted 11 to 2 to send the budget to the House floor for a vote next Friday, June 5.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Health professionals are warning Rhode Islanders to look out for a fast-moving threat in the brush this summer: the Lone star tick.
NBC 10’s Martha Konstandinidis went out to see the increase in ticks firsthand and has some simple steps to protect your family.
(WJAR) — The Rhode Island House has passed a Bill that offers a rare alternative when considering end-of-life options: water cremation and human composting.
These processes are actually considered better for the environment.
Instead of being rooted in flames during cremation, remains are placed in water and no greenhouse gases are released.
Tom Harries, CEO of Earth Funeral – Green Funeral Home, explains the natural organic reduction also known as human composting, process while standing in front of an actual vessel in the warehouse during a tour at their new location, which will open in Elkridge. Eventually it will house 126 vessels. Jeffrey F. Bill/Baltimore Sun)
Last year NBC 10 was able to get a first-hand look into how it works.
The John F. Tierney Funeral Home in Connecticut became one of the first in Southern New England to offer water cremation or “Aquamation” for humans.
Remains are placed into a machine, and water begins to circulate, leaving bone material behind.
Human composting uses fertile soil to break down remains.
Lawmakers on both sides spoke before the vote.
It passed 47-17.
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It now heads to the Senate.
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