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What’s next for Cicilline?

After a couple of tough years — and some jabs from Buddy — how bright is his political future?
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline rode into office seven years ago as the fresh-faced anti-Buddy. Bleach for a soiled City Hall.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 21, 2010

Boston organization fighting good fight in Haiti

Quake Response
Good news from Haiti: the catastrophic earthquake that struck this Caribbean nation last week did no damage to the 10 Haitian-run hospitals and clinics aided by the Boston-based charity Partners in Health (PiH). Each of the 10, which offer free care to all comers swung into action immediately after the quake struck.

By JEFF INGLIS | January 20, 2010

Sexy and saucy

Glitter, body paint, and the burlesque revival
It's just before 9 pm on a frigid Saturday, and the basement-turned-green room of the Perishable Theatre in Providence is positively swarming.

By ELLEN CUSHING | January 13, 2010

It will not be a dull year!

The governor’s race, gambling, drama on Smith Hill, and more is on tap in 2010
The New Year is shaping up as potent dope for the political junkie.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 06, 2010

Worth the gamble?

A push for full-scale Vegas-style casinos is in the cards again. Can poker and craps save a state in freefall?
Just three years after Rhode Island voters killed plans for a full-scale, Vegas-style casino, big-time gambling is in the cards again.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | December 16, 2009

Tilting at Windows

Software 'Saint' Richard Stallman fights for computing freedom — and against corporate control
Stallman — a legend in the programmer community for more than a quarter century — considers it his life's work to proselytize the free-software gospel, educating the lay people who'd otherwise assume that Microsoft or Apple are exclusively synonymous with computing.

By MIKE MILIARD | December 18, 2009

News worth paying for?

The ProJo considers charging for access to its Web site
The Providence Journal , offering a rare window onto its own affairs, recently reported that the newspaper could start charging for access to large swaths of projo.com as early as the first quarter of next year.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | December 02, 2009

Phoenix critic wins grant

Cook gets to eat
It was announced earlier this week that Phoenix contributing writer Greg Cook's art blog, the New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, has been awarded a $30,000 endowment from the Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program, which rewards "commitment to the craft of writing and the advancement of critical discourse on contemporary visual art."

By MIKE MILIARD | December 02, 2009

Thanks for nothing!

In our first annual list of Rhode Island turkeys, the Phoenix fingers 10 people and institutions that made a bad year even worse
We'd like to be thankful, we really would. Change came to Washington this year and the Mad Men returned.

By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX STAFF | November 24, 2009

Unmaking a bad federal law

Justice for Some
It's been a depressing stretch for supporters of marriage equality.

By ADAM REILLY | November 24, 2009

We're killing the oceans

Is it too late to save the seas that sustain us?
I meet world-renowned undersea photojournalist Brian Skerry at Legal Seafoods, across from the New England Aquarium, where he's the explorer in residence. He orders a chicken Caesar salad.

By MIKE MILIARD | November 18, 2009

Kennedy, Catholic Church, and Politics of Compromise

Reform Dept.
US Representative Patrick Kennedy's confrontation with Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin over abortion and health-care reform has soaked up quite a bit of ink.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 18, 2009

Has Obama peaked? Yes, he has

Yes, he made history. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there.
To listen to some pundits, Barack Obama's public image began taking a serious beating when the off-year election returns came in a week ago. Or maybe it was the undeserved Nobel Prize, his approach to the war in Afghanistan, or when he revved up his pursuit of national health-care reform.

By STEVEN STARK | November 12, 2009

Has Obama peaked? No, he hasn't

Obama’s days of greatest power and popularity lie before him. But be warned: he might not do what you want with it.
Barack Obama's popularity should not be judged by the day-to-day, media-driven vagaries of politics — nor by the wishful thinking of his opponents.

By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 12, 2009

Make-believe Main Street

Lifestyle centers create public squares in private places. Can a nation undone by sprawl be saved by the Mall?
WaterFire, bocce, oh my!

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 10, 2009

Can the Rhode Island tea party brew a revolution?

The movement strives to be a coherent force for change. But is it just blowing steam?
The Rhode Island Tea Party, local wing of the national uprising against all things Obama, has some reason for hope.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 21, 2009

Hell on wheels

Providence roller derby — fast action, big fun, and grrrl power on skates
There are rules. No hands, no feet, no heads. No tripping, no hitting from the back — just thighs, hips, upper arms and torso, from the side or front.

By MARION DAVIS | October 14, 2009

Camelot: The Next Generation

Patrick Kennedy is a square peg in his family's historic round table
Senator Ted Kennedy's months-long battle with brain cancer inspired endless commentary about the demise of Camelot.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 01, 2009

You're all guilty!

In his new book, Three Felonies A Day , Harvey Silverglate dissects the corrupt justice practiced by federal prosecutors
Silverglate's thesis is as provocative as it is simple: justice has become sufficiently perverted in this nation that federal prosecutors, if they put their minds to it, could find a way to indict almost any one of us for almost anything. It is a truly radical notion.

By PETER KADZIS | September 28, 2009

Compassionate or coercive?

Pro-life pregnancy counselors say they are offering women hope, but critics see manipulation
The election of Barack Obama has inspired dread among pro-lifers nationwide. But for the Rhode Island wing of the movement, the anxiety goes back quite a bit farther.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 17, 2009