Tagged: Rhode Island

The head of Rhode Island’s film office said tax credits helped lure an independent film production starring Mark Ruffalo. The movie will be shooting around the state until mid-May.

The film, “Infinitely Polar Bear” is based on the life of its director, who happened to have spent time in Rhode Island. Head of the state’s film office, Steven Feinberg, said Massachusetts and New York were courting the production, but Rhode Island landed the film thanks to tax credits and some unique locations.

The 2013 edition of the “Rhode Island Government Owner’s Manual” has been published and is ready for pick-up at the Statehouse.

The 300-page directory is published every two years to reflect the results of the November election. It includes contact information for hundreds of officials, including every member of the General Assembly as well as city and town councils.

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung announced an agreement Monday to improve the condition of one of the worst funded municipal pensions in the state.

Fung says the deal will save Cranston $6.5 million in pension costs over the next fiscal year while solving a lingering problem.

“This issue has been an albatross over the city for decades, close to half a century, and this agreement shows the progress that can be made when all parties come together in a spirit of cooperation,” said Fung.

A bill has been introduced in the Rhode Island House to form a Freshman Caucus. It’s sponsored by newly elected Representative John Lombardi of Providence.

He says 21 percent of the chamber is now made up of either first-time elected officials or those returning after a hiatus. The new, he says, can sometimes get lost in the not-so-new. 

As proposed in the Lombardi bill, after the Freshman Caucus has served for two consecutive sessions it would be dissolved and a new Freshman Caucus would be formed from among the then newly-elected members.