As someone who is young (I don’t always feel it!) and a democrat, I have to commend the work that the RI Young Democrats are undertaking.
Check out this video supporting Rep. Pacheco’s young voter pre-registration legislation. Pre-registering voters is one way that we’ll streamline our state’s voter rolls and increase voter participation.
I consider this good news–Caritas Christi Health Care has formally asked for permission to enter in to talks with Landmark:
Landmark Medical Center has revealed its intention to become part of Caritas Christi Health Care, a Massachusetts-based chain of six Catholic hospitals.Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein, who has been supervising the struggling hospital’s management for more than a year, on Thursday approved Landmark’s proposal to negotiate exclusively with Caritas Christi.
It will take many months to bring the proposal to fruition. But Thursday’s ruling marks a significant milestone in the effort to save the Woonsocket hospital, which asked for court supervision in 2008 because it was in danger of financial collapse.
You can read the whole ProJo article here. I’ll add my press release to this shortly…
Tonight, I went and testified at the Public Utilities Commission to express my strong reservations about National Grid’s request for yet another rate increase. (The hearing in Woonsocket was one week ago, and I was unable to make that due to a prior committment to attend the Boys and Girls Club’s Annual gala.) So I headed down to Warwick tonight. Here is the text of my statement:
My name is Chris Fierro. I am a Rhode Island State Representative representing District 51, which is in the City of Woonsocket. I am here tonight on behalf of my constituents to urge this commission to exercise your power to deny National Grid’s requested rate increase.
We in Woonsocket cannot afford an increased burden. Across our state, wages are stagnant and unemployment is amongst the highest in the nation. At a time when we’re all struggling to get by, please do not give a rate-payer funded bailout to National Grid. We’re all getting by with less–Grid can too.
There were about thirty people in attendance. I was surprised when they clapped at the conclusion of my short remarks.
Well, it is the end of summer, and election season here in Woonsocket. I’ll have some thoughts on the municipal elections shortly. In the meantime, the biggest question that I’ve heard around the district is “When are you guys going back into session?”
The ProJo reports that we’ll be back on October 28th and 29th. I am a bit skeptical, as the dates have moved at least three times. None of the rank and file reps seem to know exactly what the agenda will be for those two days.
I will post an update when I have more details.
Other than that uncertainty, I have been very busy. Tonight I’ll be attending Common Cause RI’s panel discussion on ethics and the so-called “speech in debate” clause. We need strong ethics rules, and I am proud to co-sponsor legislation that will restore the power of the ethics commission.
Tomorrow, I will be attending the Public Utility Commission’s public hearing for National Grid’s rate increase request. I haven’t written it up yet, but I intend to make the point that the rates keep going up unchecked while wages are stagnant. I’m also looking for a legislative fix to the problem of the rubber-stamp PUC.
This weekend, I’m officiating one of my best friends’ wedding and then off to a work-related conference for the first half of next week.
Longer-term; I am planning two events in Woonsocket for the Fall as well as working on an end of session newsletter…I’ll have some details on those shortly.
