Vanessa Lopez knew the odds were stacked against her. A first-time candidate going up against a three-term incumbent, Lopez realized she needed outside help to succeed in her Democratic primary challenge against Sen. Meghan Kallman for the District 15 seat representing Pawtucket and Providence.  “I have no one in my corner, so I was like, […]

The Rhode Island Ethics Commission will appeal a recent Superior Court ruling that cleared the way for former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi to seek a vacancy on the state’s Supreme Court. Following an hour behind closed doors Tuesday, commissioners voted 4-1 to authorize its executive director and attorneys to seek a declaratory judgment from […]

More than half of the Judicial Nominating Commission members who voted to advance former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi’s bid to fill an opening on the Rhode Island Supreme Court have donated to his political campaigns in recent years, state finance records show. Four of the panel’s nine members collectively contributed over $30,000 to the […]

One day before the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission is scheduled to interview former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and other candidates to fill a vacancy on the state’s high court, a Superior Court judge declared there’s no constitutional reason preventing a sitting lawmaker from taking the job. Judge Richard Licht on Monday ruled that Shekarchi’s […]

The Rhode Island Board of Elections rejected an attempt by a Rhode Island independent gubernatorial candidate to oust one of his competitors from the November ballot. Yet the question of whether voters have to write their own names and addresses on candidate nomination papers remains unresolved. The elections panel denied Ken Block’s challenge to fellow […]