Utility bill revolt; Social Security anxiety; March Madness in RI: Top stories this week
Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of Rhode Island's descent into COVID lockdown as the novel coronavirus upended daily life in every way, shuttering businesses and schools, canceling or limiting social gatherings and ultimately killing more than 4,450 people. The Journal takes stock of what medical professionals learned from that experience that positions the state to handle the next pandemic; how the endurance of remote work has reshaped the labor market and hollowed out downtowns; and how well students have recovered from learning losses associated with the shutdown.
For the first time in nine years, Providence will host eight of the top men's basketball teams in the country next week. Here's a look back at the last time the Big Dance came to town – in a perfect storm that collided with St. Patrick's Day revelry and a building trades convention. Want to bet on the games? Here's how. And we look back at the played in Providence. For that and more and sports news, go to .
Speaking of St. Patrick's Day, here's how you can join in the fun, with parades today in Newport and tomorrow in West Warwick and Little Compton (where a testy interstate dispute about whether this event is really the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade is part of the show).
Not to forget St. Joseph's Day on March 19, here's where to get your zeppole and how to vote for the best zeppole in Rhode Island. Voting in the first round bracket continues through 11:59 p.m. Sunday.
Here are the week's top reads on providencejournal.com:
A hearing Monday night in Warwick was supposed to be about proposals that would see a net decrease in energy bills for most Rhode Islanders, but it sure didn't feel like it.
Beforehand, protesters rallied outside the offices of state utilities regulators to complain about Rhode Island Energy's prices, and during the standing-room-only hearing, speaker after speaker aimed criticism at the state's largest gas and electric utility.
Joyce Fiore was one of several customers who brought their bills up to the podium to read off the skyrocketing numbers. Her electric bill jumped from $164 in December to $580 in February, she said.
'I've lived in Cranston for close to 50 years now, and I've never seen bills like this,' she told the two members of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission who were present at the hearing.
Read the full story to see what Rhode Island is proposing to bring relief from high utility bills
Local news: 'I can't afford it anymore.' Rhode Islanders slam utility and high costs of energy
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, the ex-administrator of the Social Security Administration, said he knows why President Donald Trump is letting Elon Musk's minions at the Department of Government Efficiency "break" Social Security from the inside out – and he hopes people "wake up, rise up" before it's too late.
Appearing with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on a virtual "town hall" on Tuesday night, O'Malley ‒ who has predicted benefit interruptions within 90 days ‒ told the audience:
"They're gutting it. They're breaking it from the inside to make it incapable of serving the American people who paid for it and who paid for the customer service. I do believe they want to break it so they can liquidate it, because they want those trust fund dollars ... the $2.7 trillion that is built up in that trust fund reserve, intentionally."
The full story offers details about O'Malley's prediction of benefit interruptions and Whitehouse's proposed fix to indefinitely extend the solvency of Social Security.
Government: Martin O'Malley joined Sheldon Whitehouse to raise the alarm on Social Security.
Maybe Rhode Island's state auditors should take a cue from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and start loudly crowing about all the government waste they've found.
It might get people to pay attention, or even just realize they exist.
Last year, the Office of Internal Audit saved the state $3.7 million by finding a coding error that the Department of Human Services had overlooked. But most Rhode Islanders probably never heard about that.
Or how about the fact that 1,640 people were still on Rhode Island's Medicaid rolls a year or more after their deaths?
That's just one of the eyebrow-raising items on the long list of problems that the Office of the Auditor General (yes, there are two separate offices dedicated to audits) highlighted in the most recent report summarizing its annual review of the state's finances.
Political Scene explores what each of the auditor offices do, whom they report to, and whether either one is truly independent and immune from political pressures.
Political Scene: RI's two state auditor offices routinely find waste and problems. But is anyone listening?
PROVIDENCE − Aiden Craft set the table. Mason Crain faked a shot and unselfishly surrendered the moment. And Frank Tillinghast graduates as a hero and a four-time hockey champion.
All three Hendricken skaters touched the puck in the game-winning sequence in triple overtime against Prout. Crain sliced the puck through the slot, to Tillinghast on the right wing, and the senior didn't hesitate. Tillinghast guided the forehand shot and Hendricken, to its fourth straight boys hockey State Championship at Providence College's Schneider Arena.
The, 3-2, triple overtime triumph is Hendricken's 11th title overall. The Journal's Jacob Rousseau breaks down the thrilling overtime win.
High school sports: In 3rd overtime, Hendricken wins RIIL Boys Hockey State Championship. Here's how
PROVIDENCE – Cracked sidewalks are an ordinary part of city life, but one local artist sees them as an opportunity to start dialogues about environmental threats to the community.
Providence-based artist Linda Ford is an avid cyclist and walker who spends a lot of time outside. A few years ago, as she was learning more about pollution and contamination issues in Rhode Island, she started noticing how cracked sidewalks looked a bit like waterways and how relevant that felt to living in the Ocean State.
'New England is surrounded by water of all different kinds,' Ford said. 'I started to fill them with blue cement and became interested in them as these miniature riverscapes.'
A grant allowed her to expand the project into a citywide public art installation that beautifies an eyesore while raising awareness of environmental issues.
Good news: 'They might be a surprise': Why a Providence artist is turning sidewalk cracks into art
To read the full stories, go to providencejournal.com. Find out how to subscribe here.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Utility bill anger; Social Security fears; March Madness in Providence
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