Northeastern grocery chain Stop & Shop has been goosing its profits at its workers' expense, increasing their healthcare costs, reducing company pension contributions, and reducing holiday and Sunday overtime pay; the United Food & Commercial Workers, who organize the Stop & Shop employees called for a strike nearly two weeks ago, and since then, 31,000 workers from 240 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island have been off the job. Read the rest

In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not guarantee Americans "equal" education (which would require similar per-student funding in both rich and poor neighborhoods), merely "adequate" education. Read the rest

Rhode Island Democratic state Senators Frank Ciccone (@senatorciccone) and Hanna Gallo (@hannagallo27) have proposed grandstanding, unworkable legislation, "Relating to Public Utilities and Carriers—Internet Digital Blocking" which would mandate the state's ISPs to identify all the pornography on the internet, and then block it for all Rhode Islanders, unless those Rhode Islanders specifically requested their porn to be unblocked and paid $20 for the privilege. Read the rest

A majority of the Rhode Island school districts with "1-1" programs where each student is issued a laptop have a blanket policy of spying on the students and everything they do on their laptops, during, before and after school hours, on or off school premises, without any evidence (or even suspicion ) of wrongdoing. Read the rest

Rhode Island dickhead Alan Sorrentino wrote a letter to the editor of the East Bay RI, the local paper of record, chastizing women over 20 for wearing yoga pants in public because they lack the "benefit of nature's blessing of youth" and thus "on mature, adult women there is something bizarre and disturbing about the appearance they make in public." Read the rest

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo -- a former venture capitalist who invested state funds with hedge funds during her tenure as state treasurer -- invited Goldman Sachs to set up a partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island, then kicked out the college's daycare center to make room for Goldman staffers to work. Read the rest

Inspired by Rebecca Hains' harrowing tale of cupcake confiscation by the Las Vegas TSA, Providence, RI's Silver Spoon Bakery is selling "TSA-compliant cupcakes." These have exactly three ounces of frosting, and come in a ziplock baggie with a boarding card and a little Richard Nixon badge bearing the legend, "I am not a gel."

Bakery's TSA Compliant Cupcake is latest volley in Cupcakegate

(via Digg) Read the rest