UPDATED: Tribes Call for Fairness in Homeland Restoration Process

Bipartisan legislation introduced to address damaging impact of Carcieri Decision

By Sen. Jon Tester

Over 500 tribes lost sovereignty rights under Carcieri

UPDATE: The Narragansett Indian Tribe, parties in the original Carcieri v. Salazar case, are calling on Rhode Island's Congressional Delegation to support the "Carcieri Fix" described by Sen. Tester. In the past, most of Rhode Island's Senators and Reps have OPPOSED the Carcieri Fix.

U.S. SENATE – On May 7, Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) held a U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing on five tribal land bills.  Topping the discussion, the Committee heard testimony on Chairman Tester’s bill which ensures that all federally recognized tribes have the same rights for placing land into trust, regardless of when they were recognized.

Tester’s bill proposes to end the uncertainty and unnecessary litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Carcieri v. Salazar decision.  That ruling held that the federal government has no legal authority take land into trust for American Indian tribes recognized after enactment of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).  The decision, in effect, has created two classes of tribes - those federally recognized before 1934, and those recognized after passage of the IRA.

What's worse than cyberterrorism?

Eli Dourado

Our Drone Wars Are Just Beginning

After 13 years, robot attacks are still escalating

Matt Bors in The Nib 

Click here to learn more about the history of drone warfare.

Funding to fight invasive species

Deadline for Lake Associations, Watershed Councils, Municipalities and Non-Profits to Apply for Financial Assistance is May 30

Please leave my autumn olives alone!

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management is accepting applications from lake associations, watershed councils, municipalities and non-profit organizations for financial assistance to implement projects to control aquatic invasive species in freshwater lakes and ponds.

Up to $200,000 in matching grants for projects that will reduce, control and manage the growth of aquatic invasive species – primarily plants – in order to restore habitat conditions in lakes and enhance public recreation and other beneficial uses of lakes and ponds, is available. Funding comes from the Narragansett Bay and Watershed Restoration Fund as part of the Rhode Island Open Space Bond Authorization of 2012. The deadline for submittal of an application is May 30, 2014.

Proposals for are limited to lakes, ponds and reservoirs that are classified as a surface water of the State of Rhode Island; known to be infested with one or more aquatic invasive species; and publicly accessible for recreation or considered a source of invasive species to a downstream lake that is publicly accessible.

Rotary cash for the college bound Chariho seniors

June 1 deadline for Rotary scholarship applications

David Henley

2013 scholarship winners

The Rotary Club of Chariho announced this week that it is extending the deadline for high school seniors to apply for scholarships to June 1.

The Club annually presents several $1,000 Brad Friel Memorial scholarships to Chariho students who have demonstrated a commitment to community service. Students can re-apply for additional funding in subsequent years if they meet the club’s qualifications.

Will environment suffer from pick of Mattiello as new Speaker?

New House Speaker and Fate of Environmental Bills

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

DINOs firmly control RI House of Representatives

PROVIDENCE — Environmentalists championed a slate of priority bills at the Statehouse last week. Does a new House speaker and leadership pose a threat to these and other environmental legislation?

The six priority bills put forth by the Environment Council of Rhode Island (ECRI), an organization that represents most environmental groups in the state, advance a number of green issues:

Because .... Benghazi!!!!!

Life Line?

From Fake Science

RI Marine Fisheries Institute formalized

New Partnership Will Enhance Collaboration and Support Sustainable Fisheries in Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management and the University of Rhode Island announce the establishment of the RI Marine Fisheries Institute (RIMFI) – a new partnership aimed at coordinating marine fisheries science, research, and educational activities of priority importance in Rhode Island.

The Institute will serve as a link between the marine fisheries programs at DEM and URI and as a focal point for collaboration with the Rhode Island fishing industry. 

Zero tolerance for corporate crime

Slapping Corporate Wrists a Little Harder

By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest

Governments will go to ridiculous lengths to punish criminals. States that cling to the death penalty now resort to back-alley methods for obtaining the drugs used in lethal injections, leading to grotesque results such as the recent botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma.

When it comes to corporate crime, a very different standard is applied. Prosecutors go out of their way to soften the impact on offenders. Criminal charges are often not filed, and when they are companies are offered deferred prosecution agreements that allow them to pay fines and make promises not to sin again.

From the earth's core to our seas

URI lecture to examine ‘mysteries of dynamic ocean planet,’ May 14

Dave Lavallee, URI

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. –Christopher Kincaid, professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, will present a free public lecture on May 14 entitled “Unraveling the mysteries of a dynamic ocean planet: A user’s manual for motion in our oceans and inner earth.”

Sponsored by the URI Friends of Oceanography, the event begins at 6 p.m. in the Coastal institute Auditorium at the URI Narragansett Bay campus. A reception with the speaker will follow the lecture. 

Kincaid will discuss geophysical fluid dynamics -- the study of why Earth’s various fluid systems circulate the way they do. He’ll share results on water circulation within Narragansett Bay and how this influences the transport of chemicals and biology, and discuss how the flow of hot material in the Earth's mantle layer influences volcanic output in the Pacific Northwest, with a particular focus on the Yellowstone hotspot and super volcano.

Collection date tomorrow (Saturday) for the RI Community Food Bank

Minimum wage truth or dare

The Right Doesn’t Want You To Know These Minimum Wage Myths Have Been Debunked

By Justin Acuff

For more cartoons by Barry Deutsch, click here.

In 1968, minimum wage was $10.86. Since then, it has decreased by 32 percent, resulting in millions of Americans working full-time hours and yet being unable to feed their families without assistance. Escaping poverty became, and is, a struggle. 

Of course, that isn’t true — the minimum wage in 1968 wasn’t $10.86. It was $1.60. However, $1.60 doesn’t have as much buying power as it used to, and when adjusted for inflation (as of today, May 1, 2014), that number is $10.86. 

Minimum wage was designed to keep workers out of poverty. It has not done so. Note that minimum wage follows inflation, not the other way around. Even if businesses were impacted and needed to raise prices (you’ll see below that businesses are not adversely affected by a minimum wage increase), the people making more money would need less government aid — if they can’t make enough money to live, the community will pay for it one way or another.

UPDATED: VIDEO: Charlestown budget hearing draws few town voters

UPDATED: Lots of sparks over plan to sell town-owned beach access to group of mostly non-residents

By Will Collette

It was great to see Henry Walsh, Charlestown Town Moderator, back in the saddle and presiding over the annual town budget hearing on May 5. Henry’s been ailing and we’ve all been pulling for him to make a full recovery. Great to see you on the job, Henry.

Too bad only 11 voters turned out, just one more than required to meet the quorum requirement of ten. Even at that, at least two of the people at the hearing were not Charlestown voters, as they are non-residents. They came to argue in favor of the proposed ballot question that would allow the town to sell them a town-owned beach path.

The actual budget drew no comments at all. Even though this budget contains the sixth consecutive property tax increase pushed by the CCA Party majority that has controlled the Town Council since 2008, the budget was not debated.

So the budget, and the separate ballot question of whether the town should spend $260,000 to re-build the Ninigret Park tennis courts will go to the voters on June 2, unless the Town Council decides to make changes at its Monday meeting on May 12.

The bulk of the 30 minute budget hearing was devoted to debate over whether the town should sell the 5 foot by 170 foot long path that leads from Charlestown Beach Road to the public beach. 

"I Have a dream"