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Rhode Island
Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg reflects on 35 years on Rhode Island’s high court
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Judge Maureen McKenna Goldberg walks into the Rhode Island Supreme court with reverence even after serving 35 years in the court building on the East Side. Goldberg points to a statue in back and tells the story.
“There is lady justice up there. She is really the guidepost for us all. Justice is blind, even and the sword for enforcement,” she said.
Thirty five years on the bench and one of only three women to ever serve the high court. Goldberg’s office said she is the second-longest serving justice in state history. She’s served under seven governors and three chief justices.
Goldberg is the queen of the court and a trailblazer. She attended St. Mary’s Academy Bay View, Providence College and Suffolk Law school in Boston.
Judge Maureen McKenna Goldberg spoke with NBC 10’s Dan Jaehnig. (WJAR)
Goldberg served as the only women on the court for span of 20 years, and in a male-dominated world, she quickly earned her reputation.
“I remember I had a witness in the grand jury, and we took a break and he came out and said ‘if you were a man I’d punch you in the mouth.’ I said go ahead. And there was a couple of state troopers there and they immediately went to headquarters and reported it,” she said.
The photo behind her desk is of famed State Police Col. Stone. Both friends and tough cookies. Goldberg was known as a fierce prosecutor before she put on the robe. She prosecuted big cases from the mob to Buddy Cianci’s attack on a man he thought his then wife was having an affair with.
“He was a very difficult case. You know he committed a serious crime and he’s lucky he didn’t go to jail for it,” said Goldberg.
She has a love for the law, is studied, and passionate about the Bill of Rights. Goldberg revealed for the first time the Rhode Island law she would like to see changed.
“Well, I don’t think the mandatory consecutive life sentences for a gun crime, where the judges have no discretion but to impose that. Where there is a homicide committee with a firearm and a conviction for a murder, mandatory life sentence,” said Goldberg.
She is known for her tough sharp questioning of lawyers before the court. Goldberg said she got that toughness from growing up in a family of seven.
Born in Pawtucket, she grew up in East Providence in an Irish Catholic family with strong parents where dinners at the table and education were a priority. Goldberg said her father was tough in teaching her to stand up for herself.
“Honesty, integrity and character were the most important aspects of his life. And he was an alcoholic. A prominent member, to the extent you can be prominent of alcoholics anonymous for 45 years. He was a wonderful father and my mother was too. We had a wonderful home life,” she said.
Goldberg has been married to her husband Robert for 45 years. He is a prominent attorney and Republican lawyer which forced her to recuse herself in some cases.
They are career-driven and met in Matunuck in a typical Rhode Island story. Her aunt worked for his father, who also became a judge.
“I’m lucky very lucky and I think he’s lucky too,” she said.
When Goldberg is not whipping up a veal dish or reading a Robert Gresham novel, the two are avid boaters.
“We spent a lot of time on block island and sailing waters of New England,” she said.
No surprise, her favorite movie is “The Godfather,” and their favorite restaurant is a toss-up between 22 Bowens in Newport or the University Club which she is a member of.
She has a good sense of humor and a contagious smile and when you ask her about her legacy.
“I’ve always said to family and friends and everybody else. Make sure you remember me as a good sport, but I’d like them to know I tried my best,” said Goldberg.
In retirement, she still has court responsibilities, but she is not finishing up cases she will be on the boat or spending time with her 13 nieces and nephews who she is close to.
New East Bay Bike Path bridges are open and ready for bikes
What’s it like to ride over the new East Bay Bike Path bridges? We sent a reporter to try them out.
I’ve long thought bike paths are among Rhode Island’s premier attractions, up there with the beaches, the mansions and the bay.
We like to knock government, but credit where it’s due, the state has done an amazing job building out an incredible pedaling network.
It’s clearly a priority.
At least I thought it was.
But they’ve just dropped the ball on what should have been a beautiful new stretch.
The plan was to finish a mile-long connector from the East Providence end of the Henderson Bridge all the way to the East Bay Bike Path.
There was even $25 million set aside to get it done.
Except WPRI recently reported that it’s now been canceled.
The main fault lies with the Trump administration, which is no friend of bike paths, and moved to kill that $25 million.
But it gets complicated, as government funding always does.
To try to rescue that money, the state DOT reportedly worked with the administration to refunnel it into a road project. Specifically, the $25 million will now be spent helping upgrade the mile-long highway between the Henderson Bridge and North Broadway in East Providence, turning it into a more pleasant boulevard.
That totally sounds worthy.
But it’s insane to throw away the bike path plan.
Especially for a particular reason in this case.
They’d already put a ton of money into starting it.
When state planners designed the new Henderson Bridge between the East Side and East Providence, they included a bike path.
It’s a beauty – well protected from traffic by a barrier, a great asset for safely riding over the Seekonk River.
The plan was to continue it another mile or so along East Providence’s Waterfront Drive, ultimately connecting with the East Bay Bike Path, which runs all the way to Bristol. Which, by the way, is one of the nicest bike paths you’ll find anywhere.
But alas, that connector plan has been canceled.
So the expensive stretch over the Henderson Bridge to East Providence is now a bike path to nowhere. Once the bridge ends, the path on it continues a few hundred yards or so and then, just … ends.
Too bad.
We were so close.
Most of the stories on the issue have been about the complex negotiation to rescue the $25 million by rerouting it to that nearby highway-to-boulevard project. But I don’t want to get lost in the weeds of that bureaucratic process here because it loses sight of the heart of this story.
Which is that an amazing new addition to one of the nation’s best state bike path systems has just been scrapped.
You can knock the Rhode Island government for blowing a lot of things.
The PawSox.
The Washington Bridge.
But they’ve done great with bike paths.
And especially, linking many of them together.
Example: not too many years ago, Providence bikers had to risk dicey traffic on the East Side to get to the more pleasant paths in India Point Park and on the 195 bridge to the East Bay Path.
But the state fixed that by adding an amazing connector that starts behind the Salvation Army building and beautifully winds along the water of the Seekonk River for a mile or so.
That makes a huge difference – and no doubt has avoided some bike-car accidents.
We were close to a comparable stretch on the other side of the river – that’s what the $25 million would have done.
But it’s now apparently dead.
Online commenters aren’t happy about it.
On a Reddit string, “Toadscoper” accused the state of being “complicit” with the feds in rerouting the money from bikes to cars.
And there was this fascinating post from FineLobster 5322, who apparently is a disappointed planner who worked on the project: “Mind you money has already been spent on phase one so rejecting it at this point is wasting money and also against the public interest … but what do I know? I only worked on the project as an engineer … I didn’t get into this to build more highways. I do it … to give back to communities and give them more access to their environment.”
Wow. One can imagine the state planning team is devastated. That’s not a small consideration. Good people go into government to make life better in Rhode Island, and it’s a bad play to take the spirit out of the job by first assigning a great human-scale project and then, after a ton of work, trashing it.
A poster named Homosapiens simply said, “We just accept this?”
Hopefully not.
The first stretch of the path over the Henderson Bridge is done, money already sunk.
What a shame to leave that as a path to nowhere.
It doesn’t have to happen.
Between Governor McKee and our Washington delegation, there’s got to be a way to get this done.
There’s got to be.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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