Central Falls Rhode Island

$3 million in debt, Central Falls in receivership
Central Falls City Solicitor John T. Gannon, left, and Joseph S. Larisa Jr., right, the special counsel the city has hired, appear at a news Conference with attorney Jonathan Savage, of Schechtman Halperin Savage, who will be managing the city under the auspices of Superior Court Justice Michael A. Silverstein. The Providence Journal / John Freidah CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — Declaring fiscal insolvency, city officials Wednesday persuaded a Superior Court judge to appoint a receiver to take...

State law bars Central Falls bankruptcy
The short answer: Rhode Island law does not allow it. Bankruptcy is a Federal Court process, and since 1934 the Bankruptcy code has included a section " Chapter 9 " that sets out how a municipality or other public body can file for Bankruptcy. (States cannot file for Bankruptcy.) The biggest Chapter 9 Bankruptcy took place in 1994, when Orange County, Calif., filed. More recently, Vallejo, Calif., went into Bankruptcy protection in 2008, and other communities in California, Michigan and...

Has First Public Sector Union Domino Fallen?
There is a legal and political drama unfolding in Central Falls, Rhode Island, which has national implications for municipalities suffocating under union contracts and Pension obligations, but which has received little attention outside Rhode Island. As I posted two days ago , the City of Central Falls (whose slogan is "A City With a Bright Future") filed for receivership, the state equivalent of Bankruptcy. Rhode Island law does not allow a municipality to file for federal Bankruptcy...

The Bankruptcy Option
[Guest post by DRJ] In my view, there are two ways for local, state and federal governments to resolve their fiscal problems and deal with their underfunded pensions and entitlements. One way is to limit benefits and get serious about budgeting. The other is to file for federal Bankruptcy relief or state receivership. The City of Central Falls, Rhode Island , has chosen the receivership option: “As I posted two days ago, the City of Central Falls (whose slogan is “A City With a...

Rhode Island Police Digest: Warwick mechanic killed when car slips off hydraulic lift
A mechanic at a Mobil Gasoline station at Post and Airport roads was killed Wednesday afternoon when the car he was working on slipped off the lift and fell on him. Joseph Greenwell, a battalion chief with the Warwick Fire Department, said Rescue Workers were called to 1776 Post Rd. at 1:19 p.m. The man, who has not been identified, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Greenwell said the lift is on the conventional pillar hydraulic lift, but one that lifts up a...

Jose Pol Of Rhode Island Tries To Bring Weapons On Plane To Boston From Puerto Rico
numSlides of totalImages A Rhode Island man allegedly tried to bring a bag full of weapons onto a Jet Blue flight to Boston from Puerto Rico. The Department of Justice said an x-ray of Jose Pol's luggage at a TSA checkpoint in Puerto Rico showed he was carrying a stun gun, a pepper spray canister, four Box Cutters, and a switch blade knife. Pol, who's 59 and from Pawtucket, was also found carrying two lighters, six batteries, a button device attached to a wire that gives a charge when pressed, a...

Rhode Island General Assembly > Press Releases
"Rhode Island has one of the highest Unemployment rates in the nation," said Representative Palumbo. "The state Budget is a mess. And while we all wait for the federal Stimulus money, as if it is some salvation from heaven, we are not addressing a major problem that is taking jobs away from U.S. citizens and that is putting an enormous and continuing burden on state spending." As state leaders move further along with Budget deliberations that will certainly involve significant cuts to a range of...

Rhode Island Becomes Arizona Part II
Rhode Island State Rep. Palumbo has gone ahead and introduced the AZ bill!!  It went in yesterday: https://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText10/HouseText10/H8142.pdf We need to stand together against this! bh

Rhode Island General Assembly > Press Releases
Representative Palumbo has introduced the "Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act," a bill that will authorize state and local Law Enforcement to work with federal authorities to discourage the unlawful entry into and presence of aliens in Rhode Island. The bill also targets those who knowingly hire, harbor or transport Illegal Immigrant laborers, and will require every employer, beginning January 1 of next year, to verify the employment eligibility of workers through the federal e-Verify...

Will the Courts Save State and Local Governments from Themselves?
Mike Shedlock notes that Central Falls, Rhode Island (the municipality that recently fired all of its Public School Teachers) has gone into receivership: Receivership was the smart choice for Central Falls. Notice the Pension Fund has $4 million, with liabilities of $35 million. Hopefully the Superior Court judge does the correct thing and voids the union contracts and Pension obligations. Then let’s hope that city after city chooses the same route. […] Unions bought...

Rhode Island City Files For Receivership
Central Falls, a Rhode Island City which gained fame when it fired its entire High School teaching staff after unions refused concessions (the unions later agreed ), now has filed for receivership , the state equivalent of Bankruptcy: A Rhode Island City facing a severe Financial Crisis was placed in temporary receivership Wednesday, a drastic step officials said was necessary to balance the Budget and restore order. Central Falls said in a petition for receivership that it faces a $3...

Immigration bill touches off protest at Rhode Island State House
--> "Peter Palumbo has to go!" From left, Susan Beaty, a Brown Student, Chelsea Miller, a Rhode Island College Student, and Bruce Reilly with DARE, lead the chant. The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

Receivership could set off domino effect, officials say
--> A day after Rhode Island’s poorest city admitted in court that it cannot pay its bills, key state officials warned that Central Falls’ move into receivership could set a dangerous precedent and have lasting impact on union contracts and other communities’ ability to borrow money. “This is all new ground. It’s new ground for the courts as well,” Governor Carcieri said. “It’s obviously very concerning.” The Governor said his office may...

Unions Plan $100 Million Spending Spree Leading Up to November Elections
Don’t you wonder where the Unions get the Money to spend on politics? In the case of Public Employee Unions, they get it from us! Isn’t that nice. They’re Spending millions of dollars they took from us to make sure the gravy train keeps on rolling. The Hill : At least two influential Unions will spend close to $100 million on the 2010 Election, with most of those funds going to protect Incumbents. Union officials told The Hill they plan to help endangered members -...

Judge appoints temporary receiver for Rhode Island city in fiscal crisis
Story Tools PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A Rhode Island city facing a severe Financial Crisis was placed in temporary receivership Wednesday, a drastic step officials said was necessary to balance the Budget and restore order. Central Falls said in a petition for receivership that it faces a $3 million Deficit in its $18 million Budget, can't afford its Pension Fund obligations and is hobbled by revenue shortfall and cuts in state aid. The city is in "extreme fiscal stress," the...

Central Falls residents not surprised by city's financial predicament
CENTRAL FALLS — In a hurting little place where the state already pays for the deficient school system, Corruption investigators are clawing into City Hall and Poverty keeps a tight grip on many lives, the news that City leaders were surrendering control of municipal spending to the courts seemed almost old news to some residents Thursday. “This City is a mess,” declared Robert Ledo, 50, as he sat in the shade outside City Hall, waiting for a bus to work. “It needs a...

Toyota to invest $50 million in electric car plant
Los Angeles (AP) - The heads of Tesla Motors Inc. and Toyota Motors Corp. surprised the auto world Thursday by announcing a partnership to develop and build Electric Cars at a recently shuttered auto plant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Akio Toyoda, CEO of the world's largest automaker, said Toyota will invest $50 million in Tesla when the company begins selling stock to the public, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company will purchase the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. factory, known as...

Toyota To Invest $50M In Tesla Electric Car Plant
The heads of Tesla Motors Inc. and Toyota Motors Corp. surprised the auto world Thursday by announcing a partnership to develop and build Electric Cars at a recently shuttered auto plant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said his company will invest $50 million in Tesla when the company begins selling stock to the public, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company will purchase the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., known as Nummi, in Fremont, Calif., where the Model S...

Toyota to invest $50M, will partner with Tesla to build electric car at shuttered Calif. plant
Los Angeles — The heads of Tesla Motors Inc. and Toyota Motors Corp. surprised the auto world Thursday by announcing a partnership to develop and build Electric Cars at a recently shuttered auto plant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Akio Toyoda, CEO of the world's largest automaker, said Toyota will invest $50 million in Tesla when the company begins selling stock to the public, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company will purchase the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. factory, known...

Analyst sees end to decline
After three grueling years, the Recession in Rhode Island “has likely ended,” according to an Economic forecast to be released Thursday morning by a regional analysis group. It is the news this state has waited for. “The most recent Economic Indicators suggest that the Rhode Island economy has hit the trough and stabilized, particularly in the Job Market,” declares the report from the New England Economic Partnership, a nonprofit forecasting group. “The bleeding of...

RI unemployment rate down to 12.5 percent in April
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island's Unemployment rate ticked down one-tenth of a percentage point in April, to 12.5 percent, although the number of Jobs also declined, mostly because of widespread Flooding. The State Department of Labor and Training released the numbers Friday. They show about 4,400 Jobs lost between March and April. The State's Unemployment rate is among the worst in the nation and has been in double digits for more than a year. Job Losses because of Flooding were not...

Northeast states seek plan for rail upgrades
A coalition of 11 states asked Federal railroad officials on Thursday to develop a plan to dramatically upgrade High-speed passenger Rail service along the Northeast Corridor during the next four decades, part of an effort to relieve strangling traffic congestion and airport delays in the region. The planning effort would be "one of the most comprehensive and inclusive transportation plans ever attempted on a broad, regionwide basis," the coalition wrote in a proposal submitted to the Federal...

RI unemployment rate down to 12.5 percent in April
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island’s Unemployment rate ticked down one-tenth of a percentage point in April, to 12.5 percent, although the number of Jobs also declined, mostly because of widespread Flooding. The State Department of Labor and Training released the numbers Friday. They show about 4,400 Jobs lost between March and April. The State’s Unemployment rate is among the worst in the nation and has been in double digits for more than a year. Job Losses because of Flooding...

Gulf spill can kill our tourist season
leaks -- not two -- in the mile-long pipe that connected the platform to the Wellhead. The slick is larger than Rhode Island, and a shift of wind is pushing it into the wetlands of bayou country, imperiling birds, marine life and Commercial Fishing. Tourist beaches in Alabama and northwest Florida are also at risk. Barely a month ago, President Obama announced plans to expand offshore oil operations in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast as far south as central Florida....

RI General Assembly debates modifications of medical-marijuana law
--> PROVIDENCE — Marijuana growers went to Smith Hill on Wednesday to Protest the potential loss of their state-licensed cottage industry as committees in the House and Senate took up separate bills to deal with Rhode Island’s four-year-old Medical-marijuana program. First, a Senate committee approved a bill to shut off public access to all information about the program, including the names of the doctors responsible for providing the vast majority of the Marijuana-use cards to...