Metro
Caught in Rhode Island
An investigation into how court fees and fines trap low-income Rhode Islanders in poverty
When Roberto Torres appeared in District Court on February 14, 2019, and plead no contest to a reckless driving charge, he …
Mattiello and the Machine
Nicholas Mattiello and the centralization of the Rhode Island House
Nicholas Mattiello has been touted as the most powerful man in Rhode Island. This power stems primarily from his position as …
Waving the Flag
Competition and community at the Providence Gay Flag Football League
From a distance, the scene looks and sounds not unlike a standard fair-weather gym class. Players clad in mismatched jerseys dart …
A Friday For Our Future
An interview with the organizers of the Rhode Island Youth Climate Strike
At 11AM on Friday, March 15, hundreds of thousands of students around the world walked out of their classrooms. From London …
Sealing the Deal
Competing narratives of conservation in the Narragansett Bay
It was not ideal weather for seal watching. The wind coming off of Rome Point was strong and unflagging, pressing against …
Cleaning Up the Workplace
Fuerza Laboral pioneers the first worker cooperative in Rhode Island
Last December, in a spacious, carpeted conference room inside Navigant Credit Union in Central Falls, nineteen graduates of the second annual …
There's Still Something in the Water
The Public Health Crisis of Providence's Lead Pipes
The Providence Water headquarters in Lower South Providence is wedged between Mashapaug Pond—contaminated, still, from toxic waste emitted by the old …
A Tale of Three Cities
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion in Seattle, New Orleans, and Pawtucket
Jails and prisons have become the United States’ largest housing complex and healthcare system for people with mental health and substance …
Building a Bigger Table
A look at Cohen v. Brown and legal battles over Title IX, in athletics and beyond
content warning: sexual assault Lifetime civil rights attorney Lynette Labinger is sharp and confident, sitting across from me in an ornately-decorated …
A Lawyer on Broad Street
Providence lawyer José Batista takes on police oversight
The mile-long boulevard of Broadway, in Providence, is a den of lawyers. Over 15 private law offices occupy the hodgepodge of …
"To Hell with the Stadium"
Can building trades and the left find common ground?
At a July 19 Providence City Council hearing, local progressive activists and local construction unions clashed. Chants and shouts from the …
#Blocked
Rhode Island politicians keep their constituents in the dark
Rhode Island politicians often struggle to keep their reputations clean, so maybe it isn’t surprising that when officials take to Twitter, …
Civic Disobedience
A class-action lawsuit in Rhode Island advocates for civics education
In 2015, only 23 percent of eighth graders in the United States demonstrated proficiency in civics, according to a national assessment …
Plugging the Drain
Getting Millennials to "#ChooseRI"
Rhode Island is worried about its size, and for good reason. Absent a mass migration to the Ocean State before the …
All In
Rhode Island legalizes sports betting
Ronny first came to what is now Twin Rivers Casino in Lincoln, RI—then a race track called Lincoln Downs—when he was …
Quilting the Statehouse
The Womxn Project organizes for the Reproductive Health Care Act
On the marble steps inside a packed Rhode Island State House on Tuesday, hundreds of protesters competed for legislative attention as …
Selling Out
Mayor Elorza's plan to privatize the Providence water supply board
The story of the Scituate Reservoir holds its own in the annals of Rhode Island history. A gruesome tale of eminent …
Best Rhode Island Tweets of 2018
An Indy Listicle
We never thought the day would come either. At the Indy, we pride ourselves on maintaining the kind of long-form, Leftist, …
Talking Heads
Sinclair and rising conservative influence in RI media
Last March, Frank Coletta and Alison Bologna, anchors at WJAR, the NBC affiliate station in Rhode Island, gave a speech on …
Week in Sad Food
1-800-BUTTERBALL “Alexa, how do I cook a perfect turkey?” This year, for the first time ever, you may have heard this …
Safety First — But Wait, There’s More
Juggling multiple interests in the improvements to Kennedy Plaza
Although plans to improve the downtown area have been a topic of conversation in Providence over the past decade, the City …
Artificial Sweeteners
Providence navigates urban development
Last week the Ordinance Committee of the Providence City Council voted favorably on a bill that would increase the building height …
No Vacancy
Worrisome real estate trends and the fate of Providence's abandoned properties
The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in 2007 sent Rhode Island’s home prices plummeting and forced thousands of families from …
The People’s Council
Rachel Miller reimagines Providence politics
On the night of the 2018 Rhode Island primaries, Rachel Miller, a candidate for Providence’s Ward 13 City Council seat, had …
We Can't Live on Books Alone
The Fight for Graduate Worker Power
Brown University’s Graduate School recently bought two Facebook ads targeting their students’ unionization efforts, one titled “Do You Need a Union,” …
Taking Back the Wheel
Lessons from the First Student drivers' strike
Wafaa is eleven years old and attends Nathanael Greene Middle School. She and her younger brother were two of the almost …
A Life for a Life
Kristen’s Law and the pitfalls of criminalization
On different days, in different Rhode Island towns, Sue Coutu and Anthony Hollins both picked up the phone to the news …
The Price of Freedom
One bill’s attempt to reform bail in the Rhode Island Judiciary
“No human being should be in jail because they don’t have $150,” said Michael DiLauro, Deputy Public Defender of the state …
Hotsauce, Honey, and Jam
It’s the Saturday night championship game for the Providence Roller Derby League, and excitement is running high. “Hips Don’t Lie” by …
S.T.D. Free?
An inquiry into safe sex among young Rhode Islanders and the state of sex ed in RI public schools
“If I drink Mountain Dew after having sex, will that prevent pregnancy or HIV?” a teenager earnestly asked in one of …
Escaping the Textile World
Nudity and community in northern Rhode Island
The campsite is quintessential New England. Cornfields in the distance, wooden cabins nestled between tall oaks and pines, a cluster of …
Can You Gentrify a Vacant Lot?
The Jewelry District and the myth of the American urban utopia
During a Providence Ordinance Committee hearing this July, opponents of the proposed 46-story Fane Tower framed the project as a referendum …
The Wizard Behind the Wall
Rhode Island Democrats' turbulent year
Last week’s Democratic primaries in Rhode Island capped a year defined by party dysfunction and statehouse discord. The state party followed …
The House on Keene Steet
College Hill reads the zoning code
Along College Hill’s Keene Street, identical teal blue signs placed in nearly every yard point to a street united. Unlike other …
Missing the Mark
The reality of the gun control debate in Rhode Island
On April 10, hundreds of people packed the galleries of the RI State House. As the House Judiciary Committee voted to …
Home-Field Disadvantage
The PawSox take a swing at the State House
Three years after plans for the construction of a new Minor League Baseball stadium in Providence fell through, the State House …
Priced Out
DARE's fight for rent stabilization
Federal Hill couple Butch and Madonna Trottier, aged 78 and 76 years old respectively, spent three months of the past year …
Leaving the Dungeon
Rhode Island sex workers and the prospect of a union
The one-story wood framed building, located just a few blocks from the Rhode Island State House, used to be home to …
Who Counts?
The end-to-end census test in Providence County
It is no small task to count the nearly 326 million people who live in the United States and its territories. …
To the Benefit of Few
The histories of the Providence Preservation Society
102 Benefit Street, the Gershom Jones-John Howland House, is built on land that was first developed by Abraham Whipple, a captain …