Tag: rhode island

SHOCKING DISCOVERY: Human Remains Found Just a ‘Stone’s Throw’ from Taylor Swift’s Lavish Beachside Mansion

Human remains were discovered just a ‘stone’s throw’ from pop megastar Taylor Swift’s sprawling oceanfront compound, according to the New York Post.

At approximately 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Westerly Police responded to a call about possible human remains in the elite Watch Hill neighborhood—a gated oceanside enclave known for its multimillion-dollar mansions, celebrity residents, and ironclad privacy.

“Upon arrival, officers located what appeared to be a human leg bone,” Westerly Police Chief Paul Gingerella told The Post.

The grim find was recovered and transferred to the Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office for further analysis. So far, the identity of the remains is unknown.

More from The Post:

“It was probably a couple football fields away from Taylor Swift’s house and the Ocean House,” Taylor Day, a local resident who was driving by just as authorities descended on the scene, told NBC10.

“I would definitely disagree with that,” Day said. “I think finding a leg is very suspicious.”

“I saw three police cars—one undercover—two looked like Westerly town police officers, and there was a medical examiner pulling in behind me,” Day added as she described the scene.

“It kind of alarmed me, and it was just something very out of the ordinary for Westerly.”

Swift wrote “Last Great American Dynasty” about the history of her 11,000-square-foot mansion, nicknamed “Holiday House” — and about local residents grumbling over her purchase of the $17.75 million property.

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Priorities at U. Rhode Island include hiring more ‘faculty, staff of color’

A goal in the University of Rhode Island’s “Strategic Plan 2023-2033” to “prioritize” hiring people “of color” is raising concerns about equal protection violations among civil rights experts.

The multi-part plan describes various priorities for the university over the decade-long period. Specifically, “Priority 3: Foster an Inclusive Culture” outlines ways the university intends to advance “anti-racist” and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” efforts in faculty and leadership positions, according to the university website.

One of the goals of “Priority 3” expresses the university’s intentions to “enhance search and hiring processes to prioritize the recruitment, hiring, and retention of faculty and staff of color.”

Two outside civil rights and legal advocates told The College Fix that this practice could be a violation of the law.

“Prioritizing color over merit and qualifications sets a bad precedent that on its face can be discriminatory,” Linda Lee Tarver said as an ambassador of Project 21, an African-American civil rights initiative at the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Tarver, a former Michigan civil rights commissioner, told The Fix in a recent email that such practices undermine merit-based hiring.

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Rhode Island Bill Would Allow State Residents To Spend $10,000 Monthly In Bitcoin Tax Free

A bill introduced to the Rhode Island Senate would enable the state’s residents to spend or sell just under $1,000 in bitcoin 10 times per month without incurring state capital gains taxes.

Bill S. 0451, which was introduced to the Rhode Island Senate last month, permits the state’s residents and businesses to make up to 10 payments in bitcoin valued at less than $1,000 per month (or sell the equivalent amount) without being subject to state capital gains taxes.

The bill is an amendment to existing state income tax laws, and the exact language in the proposed legislation is as follows:

“Any sale of [b]itcoin by an individual or business in Rhode Island shall be exempt from state taxation if the total value of sales is less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) per diem. The limit of the state tax exempt [b]itcoin transaction shall not exceed ten (10) sales per a thirty (30) day cycle.”

And the bill defines a “sale of [b]itcoin” as “any transaction in which [b]itcoin is sold or exchanged for another form of value, such as fiat currency or other physical or digital assets.”

The bill also clarifies that this exemption only applies at the state level and that it doesn’t affect federal tax obligations.

Under the bill, individuals and businesses who engage with these types of tax-exempt bitcoin transactions are responsible for keeping records of these transactions, including the total value of sales per day, and should be prepared to provide these records to the Rhode Island’s department of revenue for audit or compliance purposes.

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DOJ to Investigate Anti-White Discrimination in Rhode Island Public Schools

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into possible discriminatory employment practices at the Rhode Island Department of Education (“RIDE”) and Providence Public Schools (PPS), Breitbart News learned exclusively Friday.

DOJ opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into RIDE and PPS to assess whether their employment practices discriminate against teachers at PPS who identify as white by offering a student loan repayment program only to non-white teachers.

“Establishing or using race-conscious terms and conditions or benefits of employment is a denial of equal employment opportunity and violates Title VII,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mac Warner of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement obtained by Breitbart News. “This investigation will evaluate whether the Rhode Island Department of Education and Providence Public Schools have violated Title VII in failing to provide equal benefits of employment to all its teachers.”

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, and religion. That law gives DOJ the authority to investigate state and local government employers where it has reason to believe that a “pattern or practice” of employment discrimination exists.

DOJ’s letter to RIDE and PPS notifying them of the investigation was signed by acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle, who Attorney General Pam Bondi charged with supervising the investigation.

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Town Secretly Seizes Developers’ Property Then Threatens Them With Trespassing Citation

As readers might recall, in the Providence suburb of Johnston, the town government and its very outspoken mayor have been attempting to seize a family of developers’ land to prevent their construction of an unsubsidized affordable housing project.

Last week the developers sued to stop the seizure in federal court, alleging that the “municipal campus” Johnston was seizing the land for was merely a pretext to stop new affordable housing.

Already, Rhode Island law establishes a fairly elaborate process that local governments have to follow when using eminent domain to take land for public buildings.

The developers’ constitutional challenge to the town’s seizure would typically delay things even more.

But in a surprise turn of events late last week, the town is claiming to have already seized the developers’ plot without providing any advance notice to the owners and without following the processes laid down in Rhode Island law.

The owners first learned of the seizure via Johnston’s mayor’s X post. With the town now alleging that the seizure is complete, it’s telling the former owners of the land they have until Friday to get off it or else they’ll be cited for trespassing.

In response, the developers are now filing for a temporary restraining order to stop what they describe as the town’s unprecedented lawlessness in taking the land.

“In 40 years, I’ve seen some pretty outrageous exercises of eminent domain powers. Never anything like this,” says Robert Thomas, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a public interest law firm, who is representing the developers.

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Rhode Island Officials Consider Letting Marijuana Packages Have More Color—And Requiring More Info About The Product

Drive along the highway and you’ll see plenty of big, attention-grabbing billboards with bright colors advertising Rhode Island’s few licensed cannabis retailers. But go inside one of those stores and you’ll be met with a sea of neutral colors: white, gray or black. Occasionally, there’s navy blue.

Those neutral colors are by design, mostly to ensure products are not attractive to children who might accidentally ingest them. But state regulators may allow for some color in the future as the Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission ponders changes to its packaging regulations.

Commissioners were presented with the idea during their July 30 meeting, where the three-member panel decided to add the language to its ongoing draft regulations that will govern the state’s fledgling cannabis sector. Other proposals include placing the name of the lab that tested the cannabis, the use of a QR code (with commission approval), and a list of cannabinoids that make up the product.

Allowing color “provides for more branding freedom for licensees” and came at the recommendation of the commission’s 18-member Cannabis Advisory Board, according to the July presentation.

“We’re trying to give the people the ability to brand the product, which gives them the ability to differentiate themselves in the market,” advisory board member Stuart Procter, co-founder and lab director for cannabis testing facility PureVita Labs in West Warwick, said in an interview.

The commission was formed last June, just a little over a year after recreational cannabis was legalized. Commissioners spent last summer on a listening tour, hearing the concerns of community members and cannabis workers, which include ensuring the commission prioritizes social equity measures.

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Rhode Island Bill Would Allow Psilocybin Cultivation, Possession Under 1 Ounce

Several states across the U.S. are forging ahead with their respective psilocybin reform programs, largely embracing policy changes around possession and cultivation while working to implement therapeutic practices involving the “magic mushroom” compound. 

And kicking off the new year, more states are looking to join those ranks. Most recently, Rhode Island Rep. Brandon Potter (D) introduced his proposal — described in his own words as a decriminalization model — with a number of details standing apart from reform measures that have already been enacted.

The bill, H 7047, would remove penalties around possession, home cultivation and sharing of one ounce or less of psilocybin. The bill specifically notes exemptions for psilocybin, so long as it is “in possession of one person or shared by one person to another” and that psilocybin “has been secretly cultivated within a person’s residence for personal use.” The bill would not work to establish a psilocybin retail system, though that could shift along with broader policy.

The bill also leaves room for potential evolution in federal law, namely if psilocybin ends up being rescheduled on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The compound is currently classified as a Schedule I controlled substance.

The measure suggests that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), referred to incorrectly in some of the bill’s language as the “Federal Drug Administration,” would be the authority responsible for rescheduling psilocybin, though this is typically a job of the DEA. The FDA, however, has the ability to approve specific pharmaceutical drugs.

The bill notes that provisions could shift, should federal access to psilocybin expand to include “patients with a serious or life-threatening mental or behavioral health disorder, who are without access to effective mental or behavioral health medication.” In that case, the bill references that psilocybin could be available in the state in locations approved by the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Another notable distinction is the temporary nature of the bill, which would take effect on July 1, 2024 and sunset on July 1, 2026.

Prior to this date, the attorney general would need to provide a report to the speaker of the house and the president of the Senate, providing data on the number of violations issued for psilocybin possession, cultivation and distribution. The director of the Department of Health would also be required to provide a report to the same parties surrounding the scheduling of psilocybin and “permitted use for the treatment of mental or behavioral health disorders.”

While the bill has a number of specific differences from many that have already been enacted, this is by design according to Potter. In an interview with Marijuana Moment, he said that the bill is meant to provide more flexible accessibility for those who may benefit from the effects of psilocybin.

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Rhode Island House Panel Weighs Bill That Would Temporarily Legalize Psilocybin

Lawmakers on Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee considered a bill on Thursday that would effectively legalize psilocybin mushrooms in the state, temporarily removing penalties around possession, home cultivation and sharing of psilocybin until mid-2026.

The proposal, H. 7047, from Rep. Brandon Potter (D), would not establish a commercial retail system around the psychedelic—at least until after federal reform is enacted. Until then, it would exempt up to an ounce of psilocybin from the state’s law against controlled substances provided that it “has been securely cultivated within a person’s residence for personal use” or is possessed by “one person or shared by one person to another.”

The measure is identical to a bill passed 56–11 by the House last year, though that matter did not move forward in the Senate before the end of the session.

“I don’t think it was that long ago that if you were to put a proposal like this forward, it would be thought of as very controversial,” Potter told the panel on Thursday. “But I think it’s become much more popularized and people are well aware of it, especially when you see just like the abundance and overwhelming amount of clinical research and medical science that is promoting the effects this has had on people.”

“These are not, you know, small, low-budget operations,” he added of emerging scientific research indicating the therapeutic potential of psilocybin. “These are leading medical institutions like Johns Hopkins and Yale and Stanford and so on and so forth—NYU, Columbia.”

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Local outlet calls on Providence, Rhode Island to ‘sever any and all official ties’ with HP Lovecraft

Providence, Rhode Island has officially designated September 10 Edward Mitchell Bannister Day as a tribute to the trailblazing 19th-century African-American painter. While some simply celebrated the move, others used it as an opportunity to suggest that the city’s other artistic giant, HP Lovecraft, should be canceled. 

GoLocal Providence ran an editorial piece on Monday urging Providence to erase any trace of the acclaimed horror author, citing statements he had made about black people and Jews.

“With the celebration of African Bannister’s contributions to the city’s vibrant art community, Providence, once, and for all, needs to sever any and all official ties to Lovecraft,” the outlet wrote. To not do so undermines the city’s efforts to celebrate its racially and ethnically diverse past and present.”

While the authors described Lovecraft as a “talented horror writer,” they accused him of also being a “documented anti-Semite and racist,” pointing out that there is an online game wherein players have to choose whether a given quote is attributable to him or Adolf Hitler.

“These weren’t the ‘antiquated’ musings of America’s slave-holding founding fathers; nor were they of the Civil War era,” they explained. “They were the beliefs of a documented racist and anti-Semite well into the 20th century, at the very moment the seeds were being sewn for the Second World War and the Holocaust.”

The authors cited Lovecraft’s claims that black people were “fundamentally … biological inferior of all white and even mongolian races,” as well as one instance where he wrote that, “Just as some otherwise normal men hate the sight or presence of a cat, so have I hated the presence of a Jew.”

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Rhode Island senator arrested, accused of keying car with anti-Biden bumper sticker

State Senator Josh Miller was arrested on Thursday, accused of keying a car in the Garden City shopping center parking lot that was sporting a bumper sticker reading “Biden sucks.”

Body-worn camera videos released by the Cranston Police Department showed Miller initially denied keying the man’s car when stopped by police at Garden City, but at his home later Thursday night acknowledged he did so because he felt he was being threatened by the man.

The arrest report says the alleged victim returned to his car parked near Ben & Jerry’s Thursday afternoon and heard a scratching sound coming from the passenger side.

“Upon checking, he observed a large scratch on his passenger side rear door and a male, later identified as Joshua Miller, quickly walking away, holding keys in his right hand and gripping a single key which he says was pointing towards his vehicle,” Officer Alberto Diaz wrote in the report.

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