Rhode Island

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Nancy Holt locates the cosmos

View finder
Holt is part explorer, part surveyor, part hippie/New Age dreamer. And this thorough survey of her art from 1966 to '80 shows her finding her way to becoming one of the pioneers of the "Land Art" or "Earthworks" movement.
By GREG COOK | February 14, 2012

Taking on payday loans

Commerce Dept.
State Representative Frank Ferri, owner of a Johnston bowling alley, has seen how the short-term, high-interest loans available at neighborhood payday loan shops can leave customers on a debt treadmill.
By JOHN LARRABEE | February 08, 2012

Bowing to Amalur; Karl vs. Clint; Mitt the nitwit; local color

State of the art
OK, P&J have found a solution to that nasty little dispute about whether or not to include "Providence Plantations" in Vo Dilun's formal name — State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | February 08, 2012

Here's the essence of Rhode Island

The nifty fifty
Long after you've left the state in search of greener pastures and cheaper taxes, there will come a time when you have to explain to a child, lover, friend, or therapist why you chose to attend school in Rhode Island.
By DANIEL MCGOWAN | January 24, 2012

A modest proposal; farewell, Johnny and Etta; leave Jessica alone!

Share the pain?
If, as suggested by Governor Linc, state agencies are facing the chop in all areas of government, may Phillipe and Jorge offer a solution to at least minimize the bleeding, and perhaps build a little "all for one, one for all" spirit as well?
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | January 25, 2012

Review: Vine Yard East

Come for the wine, stay for the food
The spelling of this six-month-old restaurant's name indicates one of its primary draws: an emphasis on wine.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | January 17, 2012

The battle over internet piracy

Rhode Island's congresional delegation splits over the issue burning up the netroots
The Internet is angry. Perhaps you've heard.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 18, 2012

Confronting rising HIV rates among gay and bisexual men

Health Dept.
HIV infection is on the rise among gay and bisexual men in Rhode Island, even as it is declining for other populations: injection drug users, who are considered particularly at risk, and heterosexuals.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 09, 2011

Sex and jealousy, Rhode Island-style

The Big Screen
Francesca Gregorini, co-director of the film Tanner Hall , which was shot in Rhode Island and opens here this week, drove a vintage Porsche while she was a student at Brown University . . . or so I had read. I asked her whether this was true.
By AMY LITTLEFIELD | September 14, 2011

Organized labor's big moment

How much clout do Rhode Island's unions wield, circa 2011? We're about to find out
The public discussion around organized labor's influence on Rhode Island politics is a crude business.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 15, 2011

A decade of turmoil

Rhode Island’s brightest minds on where we are now
9/11 has become such a given — such a fixed star in American culture and politics — that as the tenth anniversary approached, it was easy to imagine we had somehow come to terms with the attacks.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 07, 2011

The heartbreak and hilarity of Rhode Island amateur baseball

Endless summer
By the eighth inning it's clear the Dodgers, a middling team in the 22-plus age division of Rhode Island's largest amateur baseball league, aren't going to win.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 01, 2011

Indentured servitude and other keys to the Rhode Island recovery

Dollars and Sense
Despite the continual awarding of tax breaks to various upper-income types, we Rhode Islanders are told our business climate is still near bottom. So I make these seven modest suggestions for addressing the problem.
By BARRY SCHILLER | August 31, 2011

Zumo Kollie expands his reach on The Last Showing

Renaissance man on the move
Providence-based wordsmith Zumo Kollie made his mark on the Rhody rap community with his 2009 debut, The Idiot Savant .
By CHRIS CONTI | August 25, 2011

Is Rhode Island a paywall mecca?

As the ProJo Turns
Media analysts say Rhode Island could be especially fertile ground for a declining newspaper industry's primary survival strategy — charging readers for access to its heretofore free web sites.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 17, 2011

At the trough

Good money after bad; letter from London; road woes
In another example of the wonderful money management skills of government everywhere in Rhode Island, it appears that when it comes to getting rid of a budget deficit, you do it by throwing money at lawyers.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | August 17, 2011

Review: Café Zelda

A truly memorable experience
Café Zelda is one of those places that feels elegant but homey; luxurious but not pretentious.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | August 09, 2011

The debt crisis is only on hold

Plus, what does congressman Bill Keating have against Cuban families?
The United States was only hours away from joining in the international community of deadbeats and bunko artists — think Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal — when President Barack Obama signed the legislation raising the national debt ceiling and cutting trillions of dollars in federal spending.
By EDITORIAL | August 03, 2011

Review: The 15th Annual Rhode Island Film Festival

Super shorts and more
The Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival is holding its 15th annual presentation August 9-14.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | August 03, 2011

Chafee’s number

Gubernatorial Scorecard
This week, we continue with a running feature, the Gubernatorial Scorecard. Every so often, we'll rate Lincoln Chafee from 1 to 10 on both the politics and substance of his most recent maneuverings.
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX STAFF | July 27, 2011

Oh Captain, my Captain

Bruce Sundlun was larger than life; judicial musings
Dominating the news in the Biggest Little at the end of last week and over the weekend — and rightfully so — was the passing of former Governor Bruce G. Sundlun.
By RUDY CHEEKS | July 27, 2011

Portland’s medical-pot prognosis: Keep patients waiting

Stoned-walling
The bloom is off the buds, that's for sure.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 20, 2011

Big conservative funders are making a new push at universities

Right turn on campus
Funders are working through official university channels to underwrite lecture series, conferences and colloquia, and centers geared for the general-interest student, all carrying university imprimatur.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | July 18, 2011

Up in smoke?

Obama is threatening a medical marijuana crackdown in Rhode Island and across the country. Should Governor Chafee call his bluff?
Ten months after President Obama took office, his Justice Department issued a remarkable directive.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | July 19, 2011

The plan to turn Rhode Island red

GOP strategist Ken McKay is quietly plotting a data-driven explosion of the state’s one-party rule
The Rhode Island Republican Party's reputation for ineptitude is, by any reasonable measure, richly deserved.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 12, 2011

Angry art: ''Rhode Island Blows''

Design Dept.
A few months back, openly gay Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox backed away from a same-sex marriage bill, which he believed would not pass, and threw his support behind civil unions.
By GREG COOK | June 15, 2011

Segal weighs another race

Thinking It Over
David Segal hasn't decided whether he'll run for Congress. Far from it. But it is mulling season. And he is mulling.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 01, 2011

Hail the swinging geniuses!

A fan's notes on the Young Adults
For a tiny state, Rhode Island has offered much to the world — Mr. Potato Head, the Claus von Bulow trial, and a rich local music scene that covers the waterfront from alternative acts to blues, country, and a wide variety of artists in electronic noise, working out of the mill buildings and factory lofts that dot the landscape around Providence and Pawtucket.
By TED WIDMER | May 25, 2011

The stunning demise of gay marriage

Two questions for advocates: What happened? What next?
This was supposed to be the year.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | May 04, 2011

A bank robber downsizes

The long fall from ripping off Rembrandts to shoplifting sunglasses
There's nothing like an art heist to make journalists spout hyperbole. What else could explain the wild things they've said about Myles J. Connor, the Boston career criminal who by his own account has tiptoed by night through literally dozens of museums?
By JOHN LARRABEE | April 27, 2011