Woonsocket Radio News Room

House of Representatives Meets Tomorrow to Consider FY 2021 Budget and for Advice and Consent of RI Supreme Court Picks

STATE HOUSE – The Rhode Island House of Representatives will be meeting tomorrow, December 16 at 2 p.m. at the Vets Auditorium to consider the FY 2021 budget and for the confirmation votes of two appointments to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

The House will consider the FY 2021 budget (2020-H 7171A) which is a pared-down state budget for the 2021 fiscal year that restores funding to cities and towns, uses federal coronavirus relief funds to aid struggling Rhode Islanders and does not raise taxes or fees.

The House will also consider the Supreme Court appointments of Superior Court Judge Melissa A. Long and former Sen. Erin Lynch Prata to fill the seats being vacated by Supreme Court Justice Francis X. Flaherty and Supreme Court Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia.

The Vets Auditorium is closed to the public as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hearing will be televised live on Capitol Television, which can be seen on Cox on Channels 15 and 61, in high definition on Cox Channel 1061, on Full Channel on Channel 15 and on Channel 34 by Verizon subscribers. It will also be live-streamed at www.rilegislature.gov/CapTV.

Media members wishing to arrange for in-person coverage are asked to contact Larry Berman at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The head of NATO and President Trump met today at the White House, just 24 hours after Trump pulled the plug on a second summit with Russia's leader. The meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte [[RUH-tuh ]] was announced after a possible summit between Trump and Vladimir Putin was canceled by Trump, who called it a "waste of time." Trump continues to press Putin to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and announced sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies on Wednesday.        The Senate has again rejected a measure that would end the government shutdown. It comes after Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley spoke on the floor for over 22 hours. Senate Democrats refuse to vote for a House funding resolution unless it extends health insurance subsidies used by over 20-million people.        The candidates for New York City mayor are facing off in their final face-to-face debate tonight. Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, Independent Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa are putting forward their competing visions for the future of America's largest city. In the first debate, Mamdani played mostly defense, with the front-runner taking a lot of shots from Cuomo and Sliwa.        North Carolina is passing a new, GOP-friendly congressional map in order to pick up another House seat. It's the latest round in the redistricting battle involving several states. The GOP controls the state's legislature and today, the House passed the measure that would probably give Republicans an advantage in 11 out of 14 House seats from the state, up from the current ten.        New forecasts show the most intense portion of an anticipated atmospheric river expected to hit the Pacific Northwest may have shifted. Light rain is forecast for much of the region Wednesday ahead of a more powerful system with its strongest impacts targeting southern Oregon and Northern California later in the week. For elevations above five-thousand-feet in the Cascade Mountains, snow accumulations could reach two-feet or more in some areas.        Sean "Diddy" Combs is reportedly lucky to be alive following an incident in prison. A longtime friend of Diddy told the Daily Mail that an inmate armed with a shiv snuck into Diddy's cell, with the hip-hop mogul waking up to a knife to his throat. Diddy's lawyer mentioned this incident during the sentencing hearing, saying a guard stopped anything from escalating.       

Old News Archives