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..

President Trump says he feels confident New York Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani will do an effective job. The two met at the White House today for the first time since Mamdani was elected. Trump added that the better Mamdani does, the happier he is because he loves New York.        Wall Street is ending the week with stocks higher. Stocks rebounded from Thursday's sell-off after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said he expects the central bank has more room to lower interest rates. Even with Friday's gains, the three major averages chalked up weekly losses of one percent or more. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones gained 493 points to 46-245. The S&P 500 rose 64 points to 66-02. The Nasdaq climbed 195 points to 22-273.        President Trump says he wants a group of Democrats to be punished, not put to death. Trump was asked by Fox News' Brian Kilmeade about his post saying a group of Democrats should be tried for "seditious behavior, punishable by death" for a video they made, telling military members to ignore orders issued by Trump if they're illegal. Trump said those Democrats did a "horrible" thing.        It could soon cost travelers without a REAL ID or passport 18-dollars to go through airport security. The money would go towards the costs of an alternative identity verification program that uses biometric data to verify identity. A public notice about the proposal was published Thursday by the TSA, but no start date has been given.        This year's Thanksgiving dinner is costing five percent less. The American Farm Bureau Federation says the cost of the holiday meal dropped after retailers implemented a 16-percent drop in the price of a 16-pound turkey. In a statement, the Farm Bureau said while the wholesale price for fresh turkey is up from 2024, grocery stores are featuring Thanksgiving deals and are attempting to draw consumer demand back to turkey, leading to lower retail prices for the holiday bird.        Fans are flying to theaters to see "Wicked: For Good." The sequel to last year's smash hit earned 30-point-eight-million dollars from preview screenings. It's expected to challenge April's "A Minecraft Movie" for the biggest opening of the year by bringing in somewhere between 150-and-180-million dollars this weekend.       

Old News Archives