Latest news with #Paré
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Senate President Ruggerio back in the hospital days before scheduled return to State House
Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is shown on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, during Gov. Dan McKee's State of the State address in the House chamber. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is back in the hospital days before he was scheduled to return to the State House for the home stretch of the legislative session. The news was first reported by The Providence Journal, and confirmed to Rhode Island Current Friday afternoon by Greg Paré, a spokesperson for Ruggerio. Paré was unable to confirm what date Ruggerio was readmitted to Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, but said it was due to a reaction to a treatment he was undergoing for his cancer diagnosis. 'They're working to help him regain his health,' Paré said. Senate President Ruggerio takes more time off to focus on 'rebuilding his strength' The news comes five weeks after Ruggerio, 76, was last released from the same hospital's rehabilitation center after a bout with pneumonia. The North Providence Democrat has been absent for a majority of the 2025 sessions, attending just four of the 17 regularly scheduled Senate gatherings since January. He last presided over the chamber's regular session on March 25. Ruggerio declined recent interview requests about his health, though Pare said he was doing better, with plans to focus on 'rebuilding his strength' ahead of the final stretch of the session. An email sent from Ruggerio's Senate email address to lawmakers at 1:39 p.m. Friday, and obtained by Rhode Island Current, stressed the need for the chamber to address the primary care doctor shortage, noting recent actions by insurance companies and Gov. Dan McKee. The email is signed 'Donny, Val and David,' referring to Ruggerio, Sen. Majority Leader Val Lawson and Senate Majority Whip David Tikoian. Less than 90 minutes later, Paré sent another email to senators letting them know Ruggerio was back in the hospital ahead of the news being publicly reported. Ruggerio originally planned to return to the chamber following its April recess this week. Paré was unsure when asked Friday whether that was still the plan, given his hospitalization. Additional information regarding his condition from Fatima hospital was not immediately available. The full Senate will meet again at 4 p.m. on April 22.
CBC
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Encrypted by Arleen Paré
In September 2020, Arleen Paré's almost twenty-year old grandson moved into the basement of her home to attend courses nearby. After suffering a bout of severe anxiety and depression, he was forced to drop out of his second-year computer science program after one month. In an effort to quell her own feelings of helplessness and growing anxiety about the situation, Paré turned to poetry. In the words of Jane Munro, Paré assessed the age of anxiety with "anguished clarity"—social media, climate crisis, pandemic, addiction, inflation, depression. Both a tender tribute to a beloved grandson and an elegy for coming of age in our modern, online society, Encrypted is an honest and illuminating narrative of a life arrested and a home haunted by grief. Eventually, her grandson was able to return, little by little, to his studies. Paré's grandson still lives with her today. (From Caitlin Press) Encrypted is available in May 2025. Arleen Paré is a poet based in Victoria, B.C., and the author of nine poetry collections. She has received various awards, including the American Golden Crown Award for Poetry, the Victoria Butler Book Prize, a CBC Bookie Award and a Governor General's Award for Poetry. Paré was also shortlisted for the BC Dorothy Livesay BC Award for Poetry.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Out of hospital, Senate President Ruggerio has yet to return to the State House
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, left, shares a laugh with Sen. David Tikoian during his return to the Senate floor June 6, 2024. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) The wait continues for Senate President Dominick Ruggerio's return to the Rhode Island State House. Ruggerio, 76, missed Thursday's session. Greg Paré, a Senate spokesperson, confirmed Ruggerio would be absent in an email an hour before he was set to bang the gavel marking the start of the legislative session. He was initially expected to be back behind the Rhode Island Senate rostrum this week, after recovering from pneumonia. 'He just decided he's going to take another day at home,' Paré said in an interview Thursday afternoon. 'He's been through a lot.' Ruggerio has not set a new date for his return, instead 'taking it day by day,' Paré said. Ruggerio last appeared on the Senate floor on Feb. 11. Including Thursday, he will have missed nine out of 13 legislative sessions this year, some of which were held while he was in-patient, followed by a stay at the rehabilitation center, at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence. Ruggerio was released from the rehabilitation center on March 12, but also missed the Senate's session that afternoon, and again on Tuesday, despite repeated reassurances by Paré that his recovery was going well. The Senate has been meeting weekly since January 7, increasing to biweekly at the beginning of March. Paré said Ruggerio 'sounded great' when the two spoke by phone Thursday morning. Ruggerio opted to skip Tuesday's session due to the 'limited Senate business' — the calendar included a dual celebration for St. Patrick's and St. Joseph's Day — Paré said in a text message. At that time, Ruggerio planned to return to the chamber on Thursday, Paré said. Ruggerio's multiple absences during the 2024 legislative session due to illness caused friction among Senate Democrats, including with his former majority leader, Sen. Ryan Pearson. After Ruggerio backed Sen. Valarie Lawson to replace Pearson as his second-in-command, Pearson challenged Ruggerio for the president role. Ruggerio held on to his seat in the November caucus, though nearly one-third of Senate Democrats sided with Pearson in the caucus, again voting 'present' rather than for Ruggerio on the first day of session on Jan. 7. Senate President Pro Tempore Hanna Gallo presided over the Senate on Thursday in Ruggerio's absence. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
R.I. Senate looks to publish written testimony online, four years after the House
The Rhode Island Senate is moving to put written testimony online, mirroring a practice adopted by the House of Representatives in 2021. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Better late than never. That's the message of the Rhode Island Senate, which announced Thursday that it was moving to make public testimony on legislation available online. The proposal, part of a larger set of chamber rules included in a resolution sponsored by Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, will be introduced for preliminary hearing before the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight on Monday. 'It's time, it's long overdue,' McKenney, who chairs the rules committee, said in an interview on Friday. 'It's 2025. We have got to get this done.' McKenney, along with public access advocates and members of the media, have pushed for years for the Senate to post committee documents, including written testimony on bills, on the General Assembly website, mirroring the practice adopted by the House of Representatives in 2021. Senate leadership has historically resisted following suit, citing the lack of staff. Unlike the House, which has full-time clerks, the Senate's clerks work part-time and typically begin their days shortly before the afternoon and evening committee hearings, said Greg Paré, a Senate spokesperson. The Senate is planning to hire a new, full-time staffer specifically dedicated to sorting public commentary and posting it online with the appropriate committee to meet the proposed rule change, Paré said Friday. Additional information on the hiring plans, including whether there will be a public job posting and the salary, was not immediately available. Funding will come from the General Assembly's fiscal 2025 budget, which has 'a little cushion,' Paré said. Asked why the Senate had not previously considered hiring another staffer if it had the money, Paré pointed to McKenney's advocacy with legislative leaders this year. 'He made it his top priority, so credit goes to him,' Paré said. McKenney tells it differently, saying he has urged the Senate to adopt the practice since he was reelected in 2022. While the Senate provides submitted testimony upon request, most people don't know that option exists, or how to get it. And, as McKenney noted, the process of responding to individual requests for testimony also eats up staff time. Both McKenney and Paré denied any relationship between the timing of the decision and increased scrutiny over Senate President Dominick Ruggerio. Ruggerio missed the Senate's weekly session Tuesday — his third absence this year — because he was hospitalized with pneumonia. Ruggerio was transferred from the hospital to the rehabilitation center at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital Wednesday, where he remains and is 'doing very well,' Paré said. Ruggerio's absences for large chunks of the 2024 legislative session due to his health created a rift among Senate Democrats over his ability to continue leading the upper chamber. McKenney, who voted for Ruggerio in the contested caucus leadership vote in November, said the continued divisions were irrelevant to the rules change. 'We all recognize there is a faction in the Senate that is trying to suggest the body is not functional, not doing things as well as it should in part because the Senate President is having health problems,' McKenney said. 'The important thing for me is that we are getting this done. And soon, it will just be the status quo.' Ruggerio expressed support for the proposal in a statement Thursday. 'Responsibly balancing our available resources with the many demands on staff is always a challenge, but it is time to take this important step forward,' he said. 'Improving access to public testimony will strengthen the committee process, improve public transparency, and foster trust in government, all of which is essential to the work we do at the State House.' The text of the resolution, including other proposed rule changes, was not available as of Friday afternoon. The initial hearing, slated for 4 p.m. Monday, will not include a committee vote, a date for which has not been scheduled, Paré said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
