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The holiday break is over and it’s time to recognize once again the incredible achievements of Rhode Island’s high school students.
Below you will find the nominations for The Providence Journal’s Student of the Week initiative and it’s time for you to pick the best of the best.
Voting is open until noon on Thursday, Jan. 16.
High schools across the state have been asked to submit nominations. A new round of nominees and voting will be available every Monday and close the following Thursday.
Participating Rhode Island high school principals, teachers and guidance counselors nominated students they say have shown outstanding academic and school achievement and community service.
We will announce a winner on providencejournal.com on Friday and in print in the Providence Sunday Journal.
Take a look at this week’s nominees and cast your ballot below.
Matalyn McLaughlin, Ponaganset High School
Ponaganset High School would like to nominate Matalyn McLaughlin as the Providence Journal Student of the Week. Matalyn is the ultimate verbal communicator. As a peer mentor assigned to a freshman home base, Matalyn enters the room with a huge smile and has control of the space. She immediately has the students’ attention and carries out the mentoring task with the control of a well-seasoned teacher. This student is a poster child of the PHS Vision of a Graduate as she displays all four of the learner qualities. Overall, she is an asset to the school and exemplifies the type of person we strive to educate at Ponaganset High School.
Marcos Ramirez, Toll Gate High School
Marcos Ramirez of Toll Gate High School won the 120lb bracket (35 wrestlers) at the Marshfield Holiday last week and now is currently ranked 20th in New England.
Kate Maness, South Kingstown High School
Kate Maness is an outstanding student and a leader and advocate for others in the South Kingstown High School community. She is an All-State field hockey player. She served as a team captain this year and is using her senior project to run a field hockey tournament to support the sport and donate money back to the SKHS program. Kate is a co-coordinator of the SKHS Freshmen Mentors, supporting ninth graders weekly in advisory and organizing student support for open house, showcase, and orientation events. As president of SKHS’s SafeBae chapter, Kate is an advocate against the normalization of sexual assault and promotes support for victims. Kate is also president of the SKHS Civics Club and a member of the RI Secretary of State’s Civic Liaison Program, meeting monthly with state staff and other RI students monthly, and working to increase youth civic engagement locally.
Landon Resendes, Middletown High School
Landon Resendes is a senior who was selected as one of two Rhode Island students to attend the US Youth Senate Program. In addition, he is our student government president and student liaison to the school committee and is retiring this month.
Landon is a natural-born leader, and a member of our winning Mock trial team, as well as our The Wave newspaper.
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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