I've been banging the drum on healthcare for several years now trying to wake others up. I warned against the tide of concierge and the threat of docs leaving. Nothing feels worse than being unheard, and then being correct. At this point, the dam I warned would break... is broken. In my opinion, this is the number one issue facing the state and it will take brave, difficult, reform, not duct tape!!

Watch video. Republicans will be angry. Far far Lefties will swoon. Mids will mid. Diplomacy prevails, I'll say this: Sabina is a truly lovely person. I genuinely like her. She is warm and sweet and soft. No one can say that she does not wear her singular, keenly focused ideals openly. Her specific anti DC views resonate deeply with many urban core voters. Frankly, I understand the lane. BUT : Will it be enough to sway regular, everyday Rhode Islanders who are concerned with: Pension reform, healthcare, children's education, Social Security, infrastructure, roads, the state budget, safety issues, taxation, high energy costs, business, wages, workforce and union protections, inflation, city mandated cost concerns, housing, and a hundred-hundred other fundamental meaningful aspects of the struggling middle class working RI'ers literal day-to-day living worries and concerns? Her message speaks to none of that... and that worries me. I am further concerned with her alliance to rising DSA presence in Providence; a very bold and decisive stance to take. LT GOV race is very tight. We have specific and narrowly, singularly focused messaging from her camp and far broader encompassing and inclusive messaging from John Loughlin's camp. SO: What Cheer, Netop? The polls will show on 11/3. .

"Segregation" is not the appropriate word. I love words.

We are not Amsterdam. My 96 yr old gramma is not biking to her docs appointments. Moms are not carpooling kids to school on bikes. This is utter and abject foolishness, and it is causing real harm to the city.

Possibly unpopular, but I stand on this as a nurse, an educator, and a parent. We need to bring back special ed instruction and differentiated classrooms. Children with behavioral needs, developmental challenges or intellectual challenges deserve a structured classroom with teachers that are trained to manage so those kids can truly thrive. Children that fall into the "normal bell curve" deserve a classroom that moves at a more standardized pace without distractions, so they can also thrive. Children who are gifted in some capacity may struggle in other ways and similarly deserve identification and catered instruction so they too can thrive. Teachers deserve a workplace that supports them, giving the opportunity to model their teaching directed to their specific population; so they can best serve students without feeling that their attention is split in too many directions. We can't set our teachers up for failure. We need to provide them with academic spaces where they can succeed with our kids. *We simply must return to ability grouping that actually lifts all children-- whether their needs are : advanced learners, general education students, or students with intellectual disabilities or behavioral struggles. Each child deserves a space that meets their challenges and their need. Why is this so unpopular? GWB did no child, no teacher, any good with NCLB mandates. I have heard this from many teachers they are struggling to do their best work... diverse integrated classroom populations are... I won't say impossible to teach... but beyond the challenge that a teacher should have to face, and many feel the frustration. Parents too, should not want mainstreaming, but should want their child to have their educational needs met exactly where their child is at -- because that is what will ensure every single American child succeeds. It would take an act of Congress to fix this, but Congress is too damn busy arguing about Trump and "politics" and national division to actually do any real work for everyday people. *It's time for Congress to stop the nonsense partisan R vs D infighting and actually do the work of the people who elected them. Educational reform should be first on their list.

Live next door to my 96 yr old gramma. She's a force. I love her deeply, even as she likes to remind us that grandchildren are not in the will. Like almost every aspect of my life, I serve with no trophy. My morals will surely be the death of me. God willing, I too will be old, old one day.

I guess not everyone understands sarcasm and irony in tweets. Agree with you, it’s gone beyond two-teired justice, to Looking Glass justice.

I am curious how to ratio these numbers. Do you happen to know the total enrolled? Thank you!

Every year I put out a post asking people to step up as a nursing home observer. It is a paid position. I have had exactly zero people to take me up on that. I think that is a terrible shame… they’ll complain for free, but they won’t fix it … not even for a daily stipend.

#1 in chicken dinners. 😀

Excellent. Pls read. My prediction: this will pass and it will go to the courts. There is no way to do this cleanly, MP points this out very clearly.

Good grief.

Warwick is on the doors every Tuesday night. (Obvi Other nights each week too, but never miss a Tuesday bc of scheduling)

100 percent.

If mom and dad are not singing the ABC song, expanding vocabulary through conversation, challenging kids with math riddles, pointing at sight words, nightly reading… Even a busy parent (digitally dependent) can supplement with educational programming or software. It’s simply a need for early exposure. A ton of people are gonna come at me in the comments and say work, life, challenges … believe me no one has more sympathy for the difficulty of parenting than I do. Parents have toiled for thousands of years, struggled for thousands of years… when they were unable to do home-start their kids, it created generations of illiteracy. That is a real historical phenomenon across the globe. (A quick glimpse of the past shows us that this isn’t new.) But I would counter that phenomenon with the fact that in the modern western world we have resources, we have libraries, we have access, we have social support-- We have digital encyclopedias at our fingertips. We have created a society that fronts education in order to prevent illiteracy as a generational legacy. Today’s problems prove that we’re going backward. There are very obvious social reasons for this.

What would Garrison Keillor say?

Just no.

Insurance is risk pool math. Those who do not use it subsidize those who do. It's considered to be equitable through the argument that those who don't use it, eventually will move the ladder of need. However, covered costs are so vast-- that the system, almost like a Ponzi scheme, it has met its tipping point. A return to catastrophic coverage options would cause the system to collapse and that is largely why ACA removed the option. However, I stand in favor of restructuring to allow catastrophic-only coverage with HSA support as an option for the young and healthy. HSAs are one key part of viable way forward ( a way out of this mess) and Congress has a bill on this subject now. Write to your congressman. A 5- minute email to make a difference. Use your voice. congress.gov/members/find-yo…

I can't weigh on this matter because they don't know much about it, but I'm intrigued by the fact that this type of situation was previously publicly disclosed and it is no longer publicly disclosed. What is the argument against public disclosure? I'm curious when and how this change happened. Honestly, Katherine, the news cycle in the last two months? Your fingers must be aching to the bone, there's been so much to cover! Trying to keep up with news has become a huge part of my day.