Jeff Neal

Latest Articles

Unspeakable

What lies ahead in the trial of two former CVS officials?
Just when you thought Hillary Clinton couldn’t be more vile or shameless, along comes her remark about Bobby Kennedy’s assassination on the campaign trail.
By PHILLIPE + JORGE | May 28, 2008

BeloJo? Think Cosmo!

The Other Paper’s Web site wants to emphasize its feminine side
A recent Urinal survey of women readers purportedly revealed that what women want from their organ of record is . . . wait for it . . . news (!?!?).
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 02, 2008

The trouble with Carcieri’s musical chairs

Roundabout
Well, so much for the Carcieri administration’s assurances that the governor’s latest round of musical chairs would not bring with it an increase in staff positions and/or salary costs.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | March 12, 2008

Our bridges are in a heap of trouble

Local motion
About 40,000 vehicles cross the Sakonnet River Bridge, which connects Tiverton and Portsmouth, most days — more than the combined traffic of the Pell and Mount Hope bridges.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | January 30, 2008

Carcieri and his pals: much ado about nothing?

Talking Politics
“There are no relationships.”
By IAN DONNIS | January 23, 2008

State for sale

A modest proposal for Rhode Island prosperity (with apologies to Jonathan Swift)
Now is hardly the time for half-measures or conventional and narrow-minded thinking.
By IAN DONNIS | January 09, 2008

Memory Lane time for Leo’s

Old-line Providence hipsters to regroup over hard stuff
There is certain to be a run on Botox injections, Grecian Formula, and William Shatner rubber corsets.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 19, 2007

State house stalemate

Carcieri takes another run at cutting state workers, but the outlook is murky
Many Rhode Islanders take an almost visceral delight in those occasions when a state worker is shown to be goofing off on the public’s dime.
By IAN DONNIS | September 12, 2007

Screwing the youth

When the budget gets tight, young people become an easy target
Wole Akinbi was 16 when someone phoned to say his best friend had been shot.
By BRIAN C. JONES | August 20, 2007

Another hummer

The Dunk cost overrun takes taxpayers for a soaking
What do the new Jamestown Bridge and the renovation of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center have in common?
By PHILLIPE + JORGE | May 18, 2007

Doherty seen in lead for state police post

Talking politics
Despite denials by the Carcieri administration, the widespread belief is that the governor sought the resignation of Colonel Steven Pare, the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, and that former state police Major Brendan Doherty will be his successor.
By IAN DONNIS | January 31, 2007

Got Members?

RI is overrun by archaic boards and commissions
Post-9/11 Rhode Island has only one state Emergency Management board, while a 1995 statutory commission to examine workplace sexual harassment remains inactive.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | January 31, 2007

How will speaker Murphy use his power?

A brain drain, looming deficits, and other challenges await solutions
It was no big surprise when House Speaker William J. Murphy recently presented his wife, Stacey, with a bunch of roses — as thanks, he said, for the nights he had missed dinner while working late at the State House.
By IAN DONNIS | January 10, 2007

Advocates call on Carcieri to fill vacant PUC positions

Cold comfort
Like a medical researcher refusing to believe an intractable disease has no cure, Henry Shelton keeps looking for new ways to stop poor households from having their heat shut off in winter.
By BRIAN C. JONES | December 13, 2006

Carcieri should consider his own office for fiscal savings

Budget buster
The president of the US, who earns $400,000 a year, traditionally has the top-paying federal job.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | December 06, 2006

Déjà vu all over again for RI GOP

Carcieri faces failure in having fostered a real two-party system
Lincoln Chafee should be the next head of the Rhode Island Republican Party.
By IAN DONNIS | November 15, 2006

The road to November

Two big questions highlight the run-up to RI’s general elections
For all the unusual drama of Lincoln Chafee and Stephen P. Laffey’s GOP Senate primary gunfight, it was politics as usual that helped Chafee to score what many considered an unexpectedly decisive win.
By IAN DONNIS | September 20, 2006

The blacks try to get back in the game

Increased political organizing is targeted after years of lethargy
If ever there were a golden opportunity to increase black political representation in Rhode Island, it would be this fall’s City Council elections in Providence, home to the largest black community in the state.
By IAN DONNIS | August 18, 2006

Caprios on the rise

Frank and David Caprio could challenge the Lynches as Rhode Island’s leading political family
Like professional athletes employing a well-worn phrase — the familiar expression about focusing on the task at hand and not looking too far ahead — brothers Frank T. Caprio and David A. Caprio strike the same muted tone in separately discussing their respective futures in public life.
By IAN DONNIS | March 02, 2006

Carcieri’s no-show at Follies raises eyebrows

Talking Politics
Suffering the merciless slings and arrows of the Providence Newspaper Guild’s Follies has become a time-honored rite of passage for the state’s politicians since the festive event was first held in 1974.
By IAN DONNIS | March 02, 2006

Rhode Island’s great communicator

Is Carcieri RI's Barry Goldwater?
The Governor's message mastery is a prime asset — and a leading challenge for democrats — in the 2006 campaign
By IAN DONNIS | January 13, 2006

Politics of pain

Rhode Island follows through on medical marijuana
When it comes to the legalization of medical marijuana in Rhode Island, the question has generally been when — not if — it would happen.
By IAN DONNIS | January 07, 2006