Last night on the BRU Brief, the News team delivered on their promise to avoid words like “Palin” or “Joe the Plumber” as much as possible as we try to move on from the 2008 campaign. You can check out podcasts of the Brief pieces below–and in case you’re wondering, we’re aware that the Community News and Spotlight pieces’ subjects are separate entities. Very separate. But the title got your attention, didn’t it?
First up, here’s Emily Jones and Jeremy Ader with this week’s Headlines:
November 18th, 2008 @ 11:45 am :: Filed Under: News, News Podcasts ::
Update: Listen to Emily’s report from the State House:
Update 2: A montage of sound from the rally:
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Crowds at the Statehouse braved the rain Saturday to protest California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in that state. The focus, however, soon turned to Rhode Island’s own marriage policy.
Bearing signs declaring “Separate is Never Equal,” “Equality is for Everyone,” and “Str8t Family Against H8,” protestors joined in chants and cheers for marriage equality. Providence Mayor David Cicilline, State Senator Rhoda Perry, and officials from Marriage Equality RI and RI Pride spoke to a sea of supporters with umbrellas, praising their tenacity in the push for same-sex marriage rights.
The speakers denounced the vote in California as “discrimination” and promised to make Rhode Island the next state to legalize gay marriage, drawing enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Protesters then settled into an emotional silence as RI Pride’s Rodney Davis broke into an impassioned song.
The planned program then gave way to impromptu speeches from the crowd. They told stories of their own struggles for marriage and rights, many expressing the joy they felt upon getting married across the border in Massachusetts. A student from Warwick Memorial High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance announced that she and her classmates had gathered more than 700 signatures on their Petition for Rhode Island Marriage Equality, an initiative they organized in reaction to the California vote.
One repeated theme of the day was the call to keep up momentum in the push for same-sex marriage in Rhode Island. Student groups and gay rights organizations plan to keep working until they achieve their goal.
Last night on the BRU Brief, we heard three great reports from the BRU Election News Team, an organization that is now defunct, at least for two years. “Alt-rocking the vote” was such a catchy rallying cry, too…
First, we heard from Reiko Koyama. There’s no doubt that Tuesday, Nov. 4, was a historic day for Americans. Barack Obama was elected the first African American president of the United States and Democrats expanded their majority in both the House and Senate. Three Democratic incumbents in RI, Senator Jack Reed and Congressmen James Langevin and Patrick Kennedy, were successfully reelected. The economy, the war in Iraq, and President Bush’s low approval ratings led Obama to victory over Republican opponent John McCain. Check out Reiko’s report below, and keep reading after the jump to hear from Maggie Lange and Jeff Bayne.
Rhode Island Democratic Lawmakers will meet tonight to endorse a candidate to replace state Senate President Joseph Montalbano. Monalbano served in the top post since 2004, but was unseated on Tuesday by independent Ed Harris. The entire Senate will officially elect a new president when they reconvene in January. But given the Democrats enormous majority, the candidate they back will likely become the next Rhode Island Senate president.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island republicans lost eight local seats on tuesday. The RI GOP now has only ten members in the state legislature. For more on the state of the Rhode Island Republican Party, tune in to the brief at 11pm Monday November 10th.
President George W. Bush welcomed President-elect Barack Obama to the White House in their first face-to-face meeting since the election. Once inside, Laura Bush took Michelle Obama on a tour of her future residence, while the president and president-elect began to go over issues surrounding the transition of power. Bush chief of staff Josh Bolten said both men would likely have a list of issues to cover. Bolten added Bush would want to convey “his sense of how to deal with some of the most important issues of the day,” including the war in Iraq. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino echoed this sentement, saying that a smooth transition is especially important given the financial crisis.
Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States on January twentieth.
A hearing that would decide if Rhode Island Governor Carcieri could be held in contempt of court has been postponed until Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union wants Carcieri held in contempt of court for failing to seek public comment before issuing an executive order that requires companies doing business with the state to verify the immigration status of their workers. This would be done through a federal database called e-verify. Last month a Rhode Island superior court ruled that this program is legal, but still subject to state laws requiring public notification and feedback. The ACLU asked for the hearing to be postponed because one of their lawyers had a family emergency.
Gas prices continue to fall in Rhode Island. A Triple-A Southern New England survey found that a gallon of regular-unlead gas averages two dollars and twenty-three cents. This is twelve cents lower than last week, and twenty six percent lower than it was one year ago. The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources also released its gas price survey Monday. It had the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded a penny lower, at $2.22.
This marks the eighth week of declining gas prices for Rhode Island motorists.
BRU News broke down the issues in last night’s Special Election Edition of the BRU Brief. Click here to hear Maggie Lange’s explanation of where the candidates stand on potential appointments to the Supreme Court. And click here to hear Eric Johnson and George Mesthos’ breakdown of foreign policy issues confronting the next President.
Make sure to tune in to future editions of the BRU Brief, Monday nights @11:00!
Last night on the BRU Brief, the News team delivered on their promise to avoid words like “Palin” or “Joe the Plumber” as much as possible as we try to move on from the 2008 campaign. You can check out podcasts of the Brief pieces below–and in case you’re wondering, we’re aware that the Community News and Spotlight pieces’ subjects are separate entities. Very separate. But the title got your attention, didn’t it?
