The “no” campaign itself began with a broad investment in the claim that a constitutional convention could endanger women’s reproductive rights. When the constitutional convention question was last on the ballot in 2014, as it is every 10 years, the “no” campaign sent a direct mailer to registered Rhode Island voters making this argument just days before the election. Subsequently, the argument was widely ridiculed because Rhode Islanders support women’s reproductive rights, including abortion.
But what if voters could be hoodwinked into voting against their own core interests? That’s essentially what the current “no” campaign argues happened in 1986.
That year, the amendment approved by voters included the following clause, which, taken out of context, appears to restrict women’s reproductive rights: “Nothing in this section shall be construed to grant or secure any right relating to abortion or the funding thereof.”
What makes this argument so interesting is that the Rhode Island ACLU, a leader of both the 2014 and 2024 “no” coalitions, rebutted this claim in three legal briefs filed from 2019 to 2021 against Catholics for Life, an anti-abortion group that in 2019 brought a lawsuit making essentially the same argument the “no” coalition is now making. That lawsuit sought, unsuccessfully, to block the Reproductive Privacy Act, which had been passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly, on the grounds that the 1986 amendment made the legislation unconstitutional.
Like the “no” coalition, Catholics for Life argued that this clause restricted women’s reproductive rights.
The amendment included the following clause that explains its voter support: “No otherwise qualified person shall, solely by reason of race, gender or handicap be subject to discrimination by the state.”
Anti-abortion advocates among the convention delegates worried that a future court could interpret these vaguely specified rights as endorsing the right to an abortion. Thus, they ended the amendment with the clause stipulating the new rights shouldn’t be construed that way. As the ACLU successfully argued in its briefs, the General Assembly was free to enhance women’s reproductive rights, and the courts could protect those rights based on any constitutional provision except this new one.
In contrast, the anti-abortion group interpreted the clause as preventing the General Assembly from proposing any legislation enhancing women’s reproductive rights without first getting a constitutional amendment allowing it to do that. To support its argument, it observed that the “no” coalition made such a claim during its campaign against calling a convention in 2004. In response, the ACLU argued that the “no” coalition’s 2004 claims to the contrary were in an advocacy context, and should have “no independent weight” with the court.
I agree with the ACLU’s legal briefs filed in this case critiquing the anti-abortion group’s argument that the clause prevents the General Assembly from protecting and enhancing women’s reproductive rights.
I also agree with the briefs’ argument that the drafting history of the amendment shows that the convention did not intend to surreptitiously restrict women’s reproductive rights. Further, it wasn’t misleading when the ballot measure did not describe this clause in its ballot summary. That is, unlike the “no” coalition’s current implicit assumption in its advocacy claims, no conspiracy existed to hide the impact of this clause from the convention delegates and the public.
The “no” coalition will undoubtedly find reasons to dispute this analysis. I’d suggest that one of the ACLU’s legal briefs includes the best brief rebuttal of such claims: “[The choice clause in 1986] was neither understood nor intended to affirmatively restrict or interfere with the exercise of reproductive rights.”
The “no” coalition has promoted such bogus arguments to the public because the true reason its supporters oppose an independently elected convention — to preserve their power over the legislature — cannot be said publicly.
J.H. Snider is the editor of The Rhode Island State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse.
WEST GREENWICH, R.I. (WHDH) – An investigation is underway after four people were found dead inside a home in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, Friday.
Officials say a co-worker of someone who lived at the house called police after the person didn’t show up to work for two days.
Police say all appeared to have gunshot wounds.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Nationally, over half, or 54.5 percent of home listings in November, lingered on the market for at least 60 days, up from 49.9 percent from the same time last year, Redfin reported. The total was the highest for any November since 2019.
Milwaukee, Wis., followed Providence at 38.8 percent, with Montgomery County, Penn., in third at 41.4 percent, according to the report released Monday.
Miami saw the highest percentage of “stale” listings, with 63.8 percent remaining on the market after 60 days, followed by Austin, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The only New England city besides Providence included in the top 50 most populated metropolitan areas is Boston, which saw a rate of 44.2 percent.
“A lot of listings on the market are either stale or uninhabitable,” Meme Loggins, a Redfin real estate agent in Oregon, said in the report. “There’s a lot of inventory, but it doesn’t feel like enough.”
So what’s different about Providence?
There are a number of factors in play, including demand for rental properties, according to Alysandra Nemeth, a local Redfin real estate agent.
Nemeth told the Globe on Friday several multifamily homes she sold in the last few months moved quickly.
“If you have a multifamily [listing] that comes up and you’ve got an investor or someone that’s looking to owner-occupy a property and rent some out … it’s the perfect scenario because there’s no shortage of people that are looking to rent within the area,” Nemeth said.
Nemeth thinks the lack of inventory in the Rhode Island market is also keeping listings fresh.
Data released by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors in December showed there was a less than two months worth of supply of single-family homes across the state — well below the six-month supply level considered indicative of a healthy real estate market.
Driven, in part, by the competition for properties, the median statewide home price soared more than 11 percent year over year to $480,000, according to the association.
“It just continues to be a battle where, you know, if a good home comes on the market and it’s priced right, it’s probably going to go quicker, and entertain more offers than some other areas,” Nemeth said.
Providence’s location is also desirable for buyers, Nemeth said. There’s easy access to Boston and New York City, all with a considerably lower price point than those metro areas, Nemeth said.
And Providence has plenty of appeal of its own, too.
“There’s just a lot of, like, great culinary experiences in Providence — like the food here is amazing,” Nemeth said. “So that also goes hand in hand with it. There’s a lot going on. This city is probably like the next city to watch out for.”
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
Here are the biggest business news stories to watch in Rhode Island in 2026.
Hasbro Inc. has been teasing Rhode Island’s leaders in mulling a move to Boston, and officials are tossing out all sorts of ideas — tax credits, an annual “Rhode Island Hasbro Day,” special access to airport lounges, subsidies for on-site child care — to see what might keep the century-old toy company anchored in its home state.
State leaders pitched Hasbro earlier this winter on six potential locations in three cities where Hasbro could relocate. But in that same meeting, leaders from Rhode Island Commerce and Governor Dan McKee’s office also pitched a series of incentives for the maker of Monopoly, My Little Pony, and Nerf, according to a report and videos released to the Globe on Monday in response to a public records request.
Hasbro spokespeople maintain that they have “no updates” on any potential relocation, but CEO Chris Cocks told employees in late 2024 that they would hear from the company’s leadership team sometime in the first quarter of 2025 about whether they’d be heading for greener pastures beyond Rhode Island.
Antonio Afonso, McKee’s chief of staff and the state’s “point person” on Hasbro, declined to be interviewed.
In Newport, there’s one man who seems to be everywhere: Nicholas S. Schorsch.
A wealthy entrepreneur and investor, Schorsch has been on roll with his Heritage Restaurant Group since relocating to Newport from New York City 12 years ago, and has amassed a growing portfolio.
In 2024 alone, the group acquired restaurants Caleb & Broad, Flo’s Clam Shack, The Reef, The Red Parrot, The Brick Alley Pub, and many more. In late December, the group also announced it would acquire the historic Vanderbilt hotel, a Georgian Revival mansion. It’s not yet clear what the Heritage group paid for the hotel, but the transaction is expected to close in early 2025.
The group also operates Newport Craft Brewing, La Forge Casino Restaurant, La Costa Lobster Rolls and Tacos, Cluck Truck, Cluck House, A Mano Pizza & Gelato, Wiener Wagon, and Wally’s Wieners. It also owns Newport Lobster Company, one of the largest seafood wholesalers in the area, and runs concessions at Easton’s Beach.
Many of the restaurants Schorsch has acquired were family-run operations where the owners were nearing retirement age. His purchase, some say, was a lifeline so they could step away from their businesses. But critics are concerned about the powerhouse the group is becoming, saying that much control over businesses on Aquidneck Island could raise prices and stifle competition.
Rhode Island’s largest health care system, Brown University Health, previously known as Lifespan Corp., acquired St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River and Morton Hospital in Taunton from bankrupt Steward Health Care for $175 million in 2024. This year, the hospital owner plans to expand in Foxborough, Mass., by bolstering two outpatient clinics it purchased from Steward that could generate $43 million annually by fiscal year 2027. The clinics could be an opportunity, officials told investors in December, to expand cancer care and ambulatory surgery into Massachusetts. They also plan to broaden their specialty physician groups.
The Washington Bridge westbound on Interstate 195 abruptly closed more than a year ago, leaving drivers scrambling, and a long list of questions about went went wrong. The bridge — meant to last at least two more decades — needs to be demolished and rebuilt. Demolition is expected to take another year, and there is no timeline currently for when a new span will be completed. Chicago-based Walsh Construction Company will compete with a joint venture of American Bridge Company from Pennsylvania and New York-based MLJ Contracting Corp. to build the new bridge.
The state has sued 13 companies who were previously hired by the state to inspect the bridge, or do construction or design work. Several defendants have already pushed back on the suit, calling it a political “blame game.” A judge is expected to consider their motions to dismiss the lawsuit this month.
On New Year’s Eve, Tara Booker, the executive director of homelessness response for the R.I. Department of Housing, submitted her resignation. In a phone conversation with the Globe, Booker declined to comment as to why she would leave, and said she would remain at her post “through at least Jan. 31, and potentially longer.”
“I have a transition plan,” said Booker. “I don’t really want to comment on anything right now. I’m still working and want a productive transition.”
Booker also declined to comment on any winter shelter plans, which is a program she has overseen at the department since she was hired in March 2024. She is one of several of the department’s high-ranking leaders who have given their notice in the last year. Over the summer, former secretary Stefan I. Pryor resigned. Under his leadership, the department faced internal struggles and incomplete projects, and was circumventing procurement rules that may have cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, the Globe reported. In November, after less than a year on the job, deputy housing secretary Deborah Flannery resigned.
Leaders in the General Assembly, including Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, said they have been “disappointed” in the department’s former leadership. In late November, agency consultant Deborah Goddard was appointed by Governor Dan McKee as the department’s fourth housing secretary since it was created in 2022. Her appointment will need the Senate’s approval.
Like her predecessors, Goddard will face a housing crisis that has been worsening for more than 30 years, developers who may want to build affordable housing but are facing red tape, and inflation.
It’s been two years since the state unveiled plans to redevelop the long-vacant “Superman” building in downtown Providence ― the tallest building in the state ― into apartments with room for commercial space. It was seen as a major win for the McKee administration, but not much has been done since. When asked if the idea of redeveloping 111 Westminster St. from office space into 285 residential units was dead, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said, “They’re hanging on by their fingernails.”
“They want money,” Ruggerio told the Globe. “The problem is, they never told us how much.”
In August, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told the Globe that the owner of the Industrial National Bank Building is asking for more than $10 million in additional support to convert the 26-story skyscraper into apartments, but wouldn’t say exactly how much.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.
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