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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In advance of a global synod in Rome next month, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said Thursday that the church should consider simplifying its annulment process and lifting the ban on Holy Communion for Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried. Bishop Tobin addressed the issue in his column in the Rhode Island Catholic, the Diocese of Providence newspaper. He noted that bishops from around the world will examine the subject at the synod on “Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization,” with Pope Francis, next month and again next year. Catholic Church...

A new government report confirms what pro-life advocates have long feared: President Obama's health care reform law allows for taxpayer-funded abortions. In a report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office found 28 states with no laws restricting qualified health plans that limit abortion coverage. In Massachusetts, only two of the 111 state-approved plans comply with the historic Hyde Amendment, which prohibits abortion funding except in cases of rape or incest. Five states (Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont) don't offer any qualified plans that follow Hyde's precedent, in place since 1977. That directly contradicts the president's 2010 executive...

FORT HUACHUCA — A training brigade currently based in Providence, R.I., will be relocated to Fort Huachuca with an execution date of Oct. 16. The Headquarters, 1st Brigade (Military Intelligence) 100th Training Division (Operational Support) will transfer 72 positions to the post in Sierra Vista, Tanja Linton, spokeswoman for the fort media office said Monday. Fifty-eight of those positions will be part-time reservists who will be at the fort one weekend a month for drills and two weeks a year for annual training. The 1st MI BDE trains both active and reserve soldiers in several military intelligence occupational skills. The...

PROVIDENCE - Tolls on the Sakonnet River Bridge were rejected by popular demand, but a proposed toll on Interstate 95 near the Connecticut border had less opposition. Any toll would need federal government approval, and Rhode Island Public Radio's Ian Donnis asked the Democrats running for governor what they thought of the idea during an NBC 10 live debate Wednesday. "Yes. I think people deserve a straightforward answer. This state should be looking in comprehensive ways," Pell said. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras said he does not support adding a toll on I-95. "It's a regressive tax that has an impact...

Rhode Island is finishing preparations Friday morning for a visit from President Barack Obama. Obama is expected to headline three events in the northeast on Friday. Two are scheduled in Westchester County, New York, and the third is set for Newport, Rhode Island.

AuthorÂ’s Note: Some of the themes discussed in this column were part of a speech I gave at an Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) event in July. The full speech can be viewed by clicking this link. March 18, 2010 was one of the worst days of my life. That was the day Judge Malcolm Howard threw my lawsuit against UNCW out of court. Three years after filing suit and a full eight years after I started to criticize universities, including my own, for violating the First Amendment I lost a bid to go to trial. I also lost all credibility...

A program designed to help Rhode Island's older adult population prepare for climate change threats is one of several projects that will receive federal money as part of the state's disaster recovery action plan. This program will receive $150,000 over the next two years. Julia Gold, the health department's climate change program manager, said the agency and its partners will develop these plans during a pilot project to kick off this fall in Washington County. The grant to support this program comes from federal money designed to help long-term recovery efforts related to Hurricane Sandy.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Although the Obama administration has asked Connecticut and Massachusetts to shelter some of the unaccompanied children crossing the border from Central America illegally, so far no request has come to Rhode Island. A spokeswoman for Governor Chafee said on Wednesday that “No federal entity has reached out to the State of Rhode Island requesting assistance with housing undocumented immigrants.”

Grown-up time means Jim Vincent, president of the Rhode Island NAACP, calling a news conference on the steps of the Garrahy Judicial Complex in response to a drive-by shooting in Chad Brown late Tuesday night in which five people were injured. The NAACP, in consultation with other neighborhood groups, issued a “Call to Action,” demanding that Providence Mayor Angel Taveras call a leadership conference to discuss solutions to a problem that is putting families and children at risk. In addition to the leadership conference the NAACP also called upon Governor Chafee to direct the Governor’s Workforce Board “to establish targeted...

Where states are failing to repeal the controversial Common Core standards, many parents have decided to take matters into their own hands and petition their local school districts to drop the nationalized standards and replace them with others of their choosing. In Rhode Island, Smithfield parent Rema Tomka has organized a group of other local concerned parents who have joined a larger anti-Common Core group called “Collapse the Core.” Tomka and her group have signed almost 200 people to a petition calling for their school district to opt out of the Common Core standards. The petition reads as follows: We,...

NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I. – First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthy school lunch menu is finally getting some love from a group of young eaters. Some 3,000 pigs at My Blue Heaven Farm in Rhode Island have been dining on students’ lunch leftovers from two nearby school systems, according to WoonsocketCall.com.The pigs are enjoying “half-eaten tuna sandwiches and other food scraps students discard during their lunch periods” as part of a new recycling program established by the town of Cumberland, the news site reports.The recycling program has been so successful that officials are planning to expand it in the fall.The school food...

Ted SieferJune 16, 2014 Deer ticks, also known as blacklegged ticks, are the prime carriers of Lyme disease, which is particularly common in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Large numbers of ticks, the parasites that carry Lyme disease, are expected to emerge in New England in the coming weeks, experts said on Friday. Abundant snow over the winter and a wet spring have created ideal conditions for ticks to come out in the warm weather and try to latch onto hosts, they said. "The next three to four weeks is the peak season of risk," said Sam Telford, an infectious disease...

The Mount Vernon Assembly – Indianapolis FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Skip Brown skip.brown@iga.in.gov 317-232-9521 The Mount Vernon Assembly to Meet at Indiana Statehouse June 12 and 13 INDIANAPOLIS (June 9, 2014) – More than 100 state legislators representing 33 states will meet at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on June 12 and 13 to continue establishing the rules and procedures needed for a future state-led convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as authorized by Article V of the Constitution. The meeting is a continuation of efforts that began in December 2013 at George Washington’s historic Mount Vernon estate...

Blue-state defenders say that progressive policies work. After all, liberal-leaning states boast some of the nation’s wealthiest and best-educated populations. But many are also reeling from problems ranging from high costs of living and widening income inequality to chronic fiscal crises. And leading blue states such as California, Massachusetts, and New York possess unique assets—respectively, favorable climate, educational hubs, fortress industries—that shelter them, at least for a time, from the full economic consequences of their public policies. What happens when you go blue in a more average, workaday place? Rhode Island—a blue state in its purest form—provides an answer. “Rhode...

At the behest of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Cale Keable, D-Burrillville, the Rhode Island House has finally voted to ratify the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reqired direct election of U.S. Senators. Before the amendment took effect in 1913, senators were elected by state legislators. That system was widely criticized for breeding corruption as senate aspirants bribed lawmakers to secure the votes needed to win senate seats. The ceremonial resolution approved by the House doesn’t change anything, Keable acknowledged, but he said it does send a message ``that Rhode Island values democracy.’’ Rhode Island never ratified the 17th...

The Tea Party Patriots group has accused Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in a formal complaint of breaking ethics rules by pressuring the administration to target conservative groups engaged in political activities. Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, sent a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee Monday urging an investigation of Whitehouse’s activities. She argues the senator's “inflammatory attacks” against conservative groups appear to constitute “improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate,” citing the Senate’s ethics manual. She claims Whitehouse “publicly berated” the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice for not prosecuting conservative groups classified...

The movement to change how presidents are elected is gaining steam and proponents of the long-stalled popular vote initiative are predicting victory by 2020. Eleven states/jurisdictions have enacted the National Popular Vote (NPV) bill, giving the proposal 165 electoral votes — 61 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to trigger the new voting system. Legislatures that passed the law include California, Illinois, New Jersey. Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Rhode Island and Vermont. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a popular vote bill into law last week. All of these states, as well as the nation’s capital...

The Internal Revenue Service has revoked the tax-exemption for a conservative charity, saying the group’s criticism of Hillary Clinton and John Kerry violated rules against political activity. The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty engaged in “deliberate and consistent intervention in political campaigns,” according to the IRS decision released Friday and first reported by USA Today... Tax-exempt groups are restricted from engaging in certain political activity, including participating in partisan campaigns in support or opposition to a candidate. The IRS said the Patrick Henry Center violated this rule, in part, by publishing “alerts” on its website that highlighted columns by...

Prop 19 went down in smoke, but the world's fifth biggest economy passed three propositions that address its yearly budget crisis. One makes it better and two make it worse, according to Bond Buyer. First, California voters passed Prop 25 to allow the legislature to pass a state budget without a 2/3 supermajority. This was the main obstacle to passing a budget this year for over 100 days past due. Arkansas and Rhode Island are the only states that still require a supermajority to pass the budget, and Rhode Island is another fiscal disaster. Second, California voters passed Prop 26...

Governor Cuomo has signed off on the National Popular Vote Compact, giving New York's 29 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. SILive: Count New York in. The Empire State has joined the National Popular Vote compact with legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. States that have signed on to the interstate agreement will award electoral votes for president to the candidate who receives the majority of the national popular vote. "With the passage of this legislation, New York is taking a bold step to fundamentally increase the strength and fairness of our nation's presidential elections,"...