News & Commentary

Calling the controversy “one of the most significant challenges to the public’s right to know under the state’s Access to Public Records Act” since its enactment, the ACLU of Rhode Island today filed an appeal to the R.I. Supreme Court on behalf of former House Minority Leader and Gubernatorial candidate Patricia Morgan, whose access to documents pertaining to the Attorney General’s expenditure of more than $50M in funds from the “Google settlement” has been stymied by hundreds of questionable redactions.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced the settlement of a class-action lawsuit that was filed against the State last year, claiming that participants in a Medicaid program run by the state were not being given proper notice before being kicked off the program, leading to a loss of income that the suit says put low-income residents “at risk of losing their homes and their utilities and…funds needed for their daily living expenses, including food.” The suit tied the improper notice to the state’s infamous UHIP computer system, the subject of another pending ACLU suit regarding food stamp benefit delays.

While almost nobody was looking, the Office of the Attorney General (AG) has abruptly made secret literally tens of thousands of government records. It happened in the context of a dispute over the release of one of the most innocuous documents one could imagine: a memo seeking the purchase of ceremonial lapel pins for members of the Attorney General’s staff. Yet this dispute’s ramifications for open government are nothing short of monumental.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a “friend of the court” brief in the R.I. Supreme Court, arguing that the Providence Board of Licenses’ revocation of the Foxy Lady’s entertainment license earlier this month, and the failure to issue a stay of the decision pending full judicial review, violate the club’s First Amendment rights. All of the club’s licenses to operate were revoked earlier this month by the Board after undercover officers arrested three female employees for allegedly soliciting for prostitution.

It has been yet another challenging year for civil liberties. As we approach our 60th Anniversary at the ACLU of RI in 2019, we've been reflecting on how we got to this strange place in history. Fortunately, steadfast enforcement of the Bill of Rights is one of the most effective antidotes we have against the country's current, hostile political climate.

Citing concerns about the potentially devastating impact on veterans wishing to participate in Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program, six state and national advocacy organizations have expressed strong opposition to a Department of Human Services proposal to ban the use of “narcotics prohibited by federal law” – including medical marijuana – at the Veterans’ Home in Bristol. 

Although the Foxy Lady has been providing adult entertainment in Providence for decades, it had never been called before the Providence Board of Licenses until this month, after a police sting there resulted in three women being charged with the misdemeanor offense of soliciting for prostitution. The Board, rather than commend the club for its longstanding record of compliance with the licensing laws, instead took the extraordinary step of permanently revoking the Foxy Lady’s entertainment and liquor licenses, throwing more than 200 people out of work just a week before Christmas.

Read top 10 below:

Joined by a number of local and national organizations, the sex worker advocacy group COYOTE-RI today blasted Providence city officials for their arrest last week of three sex workers on charges of soliciting for prostitution at the Foxy Lady adult entertainment establishment. In a statement issued today, the groups called for the charges against the women to be dropped and an end to “the ongoing harassment of sex workers.”