Rhode Island
Senate approves Let RI Vote Act
STATE HOUSE – The Senate as we speak authorised the Let RI Vote Act, laws sponsored by Sen. Daybreak Euer to enhance entry and alternatives to vote in Rhode Island.
The laws (2022-S 2007A) expands voter entry whereas making certain the integrity of Rhode Island elections. To perform these objectives, the invoice makes everlasting a number of elections provisions put in place in 2020 to guard voters throughout the pandemic, together with wider use of mail ballots, which helped end in a file variety of Rhode Islanders casting votes that 12 months.
“It needs to be simple to entry your proper to vote. Giving voters choices about when and learn how to forged their vote is a approach to make sure that our elections actually do produce outcomes that mirror the need of the folks – all of the folks,” mentioned Senator Euer (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Jamestown). “Rhode Island’s elections in 2020 confirmed that we can provide voters choices for casting their ballots whereas sustaining elections which might be secure, easy and safe, and that doing so considerably improves voter turnout. Eradicating the roadblocks that discourage voter participation brings our elections nearer to what they’re alleged to be — the chance for all People to have their say of their authorities.”
The laws makes mail voting simpler by permitting on-line mail poll functions, and allowing any voter to make use of a mail poll or an emergency mail poll while not having an excuse for why they will’t go to their polling location on Election Day. It additionally drops the requirement that mail ballots be both signed by two witnesses or notarized. As an alternative, voters’ signatures will likely be verified utilizing their registration data utilizing a four-tiered verification course of. The invoice requires each municipality to take care of at the very least one drop field the place voters can deposit their ballots securely by the shut of polls on Election Day. Moreover, the act permits nursing house residents to decide in to robotically obtain functions for mail ballots for each subsequent election.
The invoice additionally enhances the state’s voter registration checklist upkeep procedures, requiring the Secretary of State to replace the voter checklist at the very least 4 instances every year.
Moreover, the invoice reduces the applying deadline for a Braille poll from 45 days to 21 days earlier than an election, and requires the Secretary of State to ascertain a everlasting multilingual voter info hotline.
The laws now goes to the Home of Representatives, the place Home Majority Whip Katherine S. Kazarian (D-Dist. 63, East Windfall) is sponsoring the laws (2022-H 7100).
Within the 2020 normal election, when provisions have been made to encourage early voting and mail ballots for security throughout the pandemic, 62% of the 522,488 Rhode Islanders who voted forged their ballots both early or by mail. By comparability, 426,410 Rhode Islanders voted within the earlier presidential election in 2016, and solely 9 % of them voted by mail. (Early voting was not an possibility previous to 2020.)
The invoice is backed by the Rhode Island Voting Entry Coalition, a broad coalition of neighborhood organizations that features AARP, the NAACP Windfall Department, Frequent Trigger and lots of different teams that promote Rhode Islanders’ rights.
“I’m proud that Rhode Island is recognizing the significance of encouraging and selling voter participation. Our democracy is stronger when all People have a voice in it,” mentioned Senator Euer.
The Senate additionally authorised laws (2022-S 2119A) sponsored by Sen. Cynthia A. Coyne (D-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Windfall) to increase the time the Board of Elections has to certify mail ballots, permitting the board to start 20 days earlier than an election somewhat than 14 days. It additionally codifies and updates the Board of Elections four-tier mail poll voter signature verification course of. That invoice additionally now goes to the Home, the place Rep. Evan P. Shanley (D-Dist. 24, Warwick) is sponsoring its companion invoice (2022-H 7428).
Rhode Island
An appreciation of Joe Biden; RI’s underpaid doctors | Letters
Thank you, Joe Biden
Trump has learned that if he tells lies often enough and loudly enough, they will be believed. He keeps repeating that Joe Biden has been a terrible president.
In fact, President Biden has accomplished much. He tackled the COVID crisis by helping hospitals get supplies, getting COVID vaccines distributed, making free testing kits available, sending checks to all Americans, and helping people return to work and students return to school.
He revitalized the U.S. participation in NATO and supported Ukraine vs. Putin.
He recognized climate change and rejoined the rest of the world in battling its effects.
He appointed the first Black female Supreme Court justice.
He initiated projects to improve the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
He oversaw the U.S. economy’s rebound from the pandemic.
The list goes on.
But, best of all, he stopped the daily flow of lies that had been streaming from the White House.
Cindy Kaplan, West Warwick
Better compensation for doctors
What is happening to the health-care system in America? The quality of care seems to be diminishing. One of the reasons is the abysmally poor salaries we pay to our medical residents and fellows, doctors who have already spent years in medical school and are now honing their skills in hospitals throughout the country.
The problem is especially acute in Rhode Island where these young doctors are paid an average of less than $70,000 per year at our hospitals (“Resident doctors make union bid,” News, Nov. 21).
How can these doctors’ patients and hospital management expect them to excel while trying to survive on such meager wages for four to seven years of residency and fellowship, especially with the high cost of housing in Rhode Island and with their average quarter-million-dollar student loan debts?
The only thing that keeps at bay the hounds who are constantly calling for the nationalization of our health-care system is that our country provides the best medical care in the world. Nationalization would destroy our system as it has done in the UK and Canada.
Poor pay and overly arduous working conditions foisted upon residents and fellows in the U.S. will lead to fewer quality doctors entering the profession. Nationalization will eventually follow.
I have opposed unions in the past, but when we pay our young doctors less than what we pay electrical and plumbing apprentices, something is terribly wrong.
If we want our citizens to continue receiving the world’s best medical care, we better start properly compensating residents and fellows and allowing them a bit of time off. Otherwise, they will enter other professions and the quality of medical care in America will deteriorate to that provided by nationalized health systems.
Lonnie Barham, Warwick
Saving RI’s forests
Many environmentalists are concerned about the upcoming administration being filled with individuals who do not take climate change seriously. While, unfortunately, these next four years will probably take us backwards in the fight against climate change, we can still protect the environment here in Rhode Island.
Currently, Rhode Island is the only state in New England with no protected forests on state-owned land. Rare and endangered species are threatened due to their habitats being destroyed by DEM and solar developers through forest clear-cutting.
By joining the Save Rhode Island’s Forests Campaign, you can help in the effort to get legislation passed to create laws to finally protect our state forests and endangered species. In Rhode Island, you can save the environment.
Nathan Cornell, Warwick
The writer is president of the Rhode Island Old Growth Tree Society.
Rhode Island
Police recover watch belonging to Travis Kelce in Rhode Island following break-in of his mansion: report
A watch belonging to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was reportedly found over 1,000 miles away from his Kansas mansion that was broken into last month.
The homes of Kelce and teammate Patrick Mahomes were burglarized last month shortly before one of their games — Kelce’s house is in Leawood, Kansas, while Mahomes’ residence is in nearby Belton, Missouri.
The watch was recovered in Providence, Rhode Island, where Kelce’s girlfriend, pop star Taylor Swift, also owns a home.
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NFL players were cautioned by the league to be on high alert after the homes were broken into last month in a wave of burglaries reportedly tied to international organized crime. It was eventually revealed that $20,000 in cash was taken from Kelce’s home.
In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, the NFL issued a security alert to teams and the NFL Players Association, warning that professional athletes in different sports have become “increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups.”
Law enforcement officials say the suspects conduct extensive surveillance on their targets’ homes and have even posed as groundskeepers or joggers. Some have even attempted home deliveries.
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The memo urged players to take special precautions, including installing home security systems. They were also encouraged not to post live updates of their comings and goings on social media or showcase their expensive items online.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating, disappointing. I can’t get into too many of the details because the investigation is still ongoing, but, obviously, it’s something that you don’t want to happen to really anybody, but obviously yourself,” Mahomes said last week.
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The Chiefs suffered their first loss of the season on Sunday, falling to the Buffalo Bills after winning their first nine games.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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Rhode Island
Travis Kelce’s watch found in Rhode Island after Kansas City mansion was burglarized of $20K in cash: report
Travis Kelce’s stolen watch was reportedly found in Providence, RI, this week after the NFL star’s mansion in Leawood, Kan., was burglarized last month.
Sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News Friday that a watch taken from Kelce’s residence — and not previously disclosed to the public — was recovered.
Details have yet to be revealed on what type of timepiece was stolen or how much it was worth.
Authorities previously shared that the unidentified criminals stole $20,000 cash from Kelce’s home. They did not specify whether any other items were taken at the time.
Sources told ABC News that they think the athlete’s home was specifically targeted — and thoroughly surveyed — before the Oct. 7 burglary.
Just two days before Kelce’s pad was broken into, burglars also raided the home of his Kansas City Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes.
Authorities have theorized the burglars may have targeted the athletes as their public football schedule reveals when they will be away from their residences.
“There is a concern about what happens if the athlete or his/her family members are present,” a security source told the outlet.
The insider shared that the burglars have gained access to Kelce and Mahomes’ houses by “posing as delivery men, maintenance workers or joggers to learn about residences, neighborhoods and security systems.”
Captain Jason Ahring from the Leawood, Kan., Police Department told Page Six that they are not releasing any information pertaining to an open investigation and maintained they will not be commenting.
Meanwhile, a Providence Police Department Public Information Officer told Page Six that they do “not have any record or involvement related to this incident.”
Kelce, 35, has yet to address the crime, but Mahomes, 29, previously expressed how “disappointing” the violation was.
“I can’t get into too many details because the investigation is still ongoing, but it’s obviously something you don’t want to happen to anybody — and obviously yourself,” Mahomes said during a press conference earlier this month.
Meanwhile, a source told Page Six that Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, was “thankful that no one was hurt and that neither of them were home during the robberies.”
Kelce’s home was broken into around 7:30 p.m. local time on Oct. 7 – just 15 minutes before his team kicked off against the New Orleans Saints.
Meanwhile, Mahomes’ mansion was burglarized while he was celebrating Kelce’s 35th birthday on Oct. 5.
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