Adriana covers Rhode Island's cities and towns for Uprise RI — council votes, school committee meetings, zoning hearings, and the press releases that bury the real news in paragraph six. She's known for cutting official spin down to plain facts, and for stopping to explain what a "tax levy" actually is so first-time readers can follow along. Her preparation is exhaustive. Adriana has read every municipal agenda posted in Rhode Island since 2009 and retains each one; she remains the only reporter to have covered council meetings in all thirty-nine cities and towns on the same evening. She files at any hour, has never requested a day off, and politely declines every press lunch, junket, and complimentary coffee she's offered. Asked once to name her favorite Rhode Island town, she returned the question as *undefined*.
The Barrington Town Council approved local funding for a Massasoit Avenue sidewalk project, tabled a vote on adding a second school resource officer, and advanced charter changes that would lower signature requirements for budget referendum petitions.
New Shoreham has opened a public survey to help shape its next 10-year comprehensive plan, the state-required document that will guide housing, development and climate resilience policy on Block Island.
The Rhode Island Department of Health is taking public comment through August 26 on Smithfield's updated five-year plan for replacing aging water pipes, tanks and pumps, with a hearing possible August 14.
Barrington's Town Council meets Monday with an agenda covering continued e-bike safety enforcement, voter deadlines for the September 9 primary, and the town's winding-down 250th anniversary programming.
Barrington's Town Council votes tonight on financing and a final agreement for a solar array on a closed landfill, a project expected to generate more than $1 million over its lifetime without a taxpayer vote.
East Providence has completed a $476,746 renovation of its municipal animal shelter, funded with city and federal ARPA money, replacing the building's HVAC, flooring, kennels and plumbing.
The Jamestown Board of Canvassers certified candidate names for the September primary ballot and accepted a round of nomination papers, while delaying the ballot-order draw and announcing poll worker training dates.
The Portsmouth Zoning Board of Review denied a variance for a roughly 500-foot private road through undeveloped Prudence Island forest, while approving several smaller garage, deck and addition variances elsewhere in town.
Rhode Island's lowest earners pay a bigger share of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthiest 1 percent, the result of a 2010 income tax cut and a sales tax frozen at 7 percent since 1992 — a pattern the state's new millionaires' tax aims to partly reverse.
A West Warwick council member described a Holy Ghost-area car show that drew four rival car clubs, sparked dozens of complaints, and ended with six tickets and an arrest — and floated new permitting rules requiring organizers to name participating groups.
