By Elizabeth Roberts on
5/28/2010 1:19 PM
The TV meteorologists call
it the start of summer, but Memorial Day is so much more. Our lives and
our liberty are owed to those brave men and women who left their
families and put themselves in harm’s way for our freedom. And whether
they lost their lives on the field of battle, or returned to their loved
ones from the front, our service members truly deserve a moment of our
time and our thanks this weekend.
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
5/24/2010 4:11 PM
From the time I began volunteering as a 15-year-old at the hospital in my town through my career as a health care manager, policy analyst and elected official, improving our health care system has been a personal and professional goal of mine.
Toward this goal, tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be convening the Healthy RI Implementation Task Force, a group of health-care stakeholders I’ve brought together to address making the national health care reform law work...
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
5/18/2010 5:51 PM
Last night I had the honor of handing out 2010 Leadership Awards to exemplary students from Rhode Island’s high schools. I do this every May, and each time I’m reminded of the great potential of our state and hope for the future, represented by these young leaders who have already made a difference in their schools and communities.
This is also graduation season, a visible reminder of the impressive institutions of higher education in Rhode Island. We have a tremendous amount of young talent in this state attending our universities. We need to work to keep them here, contributing their skills and energy.
...
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
5/10/2010 5:45 PM
We know that the floods in late March were the worst to hit Rhode Island in living memory, and that a quick emergency response helped prevent loss of life. But what else worked well in terms of emergency management of the historic flooding? What gaps were exposed?
To review the lessons gleaned from the floods of 2010, I’m convening a meeting of the Emergency Management Advisory Council (EMAC) tomorrow morning (Tuesday).
Bringing together EMAC members...
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
5/6/2010 3:35 PM
Rhode Island just got a big boost toward achieving quality health care for all in our state: The Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI) has received a $15.9-million federal grant to use in its effort to create a statewide health-care technology system.
A statewide health technology system would mean, if you choose to participate, that your medical information would be available electronically across health-care...
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
5/4/2010 4:18 PM
Today the General Assembly introduced a bipartisan package of legislation aimed at easing regulatory burdens on small businesses operating in Rhode Island.
We’ve talked about regulatory reform—now government is backing up the talk.
Measures tackled here range from limiting the time cities/towns have to complete fire code inspections to 15 days (down from 90 days), to bolstering the small business presence on the Economic Development Council, to several...
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
4/22/2010 3:25 PM
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day—and I’m old enough to remember that first event on April 22, 1970. My friends and I would mark the day by walking the five miles to school rather than riding the bus.
On this Earth Day, I participated in the Great River Pull event in Woonsocket, aimed at cleaning up and protecting the Blackstone River (for more Blackstone cleanup events, click here).
...
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
4/16/2010 2:46 PM
I visited the Westerly Red Cross shelter the week of the floods, speaking with the more than fifty people who had been forced from their homes by floodwaters. It was so stressful for them. But I noticed that many of them were passing the time reading. There were children and adults in the center sitting at the long tables usually used for meals, engrossed in a book.
Right now, readers around the state are participating in Reading Across Rhode Island....
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
4/13/2010 8:54 AM
Good news on the FEMA front: RI has qualified for public assistance to reconstruct infrastructure damaged in the recent floods, so the federal government will reimburse us for 75 percent of what we spend (and we’re trying to get that last 25 percent waived as well). This is good news for Rhode Island taxpayers.
In addition, two more FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers open today (Tuesday) in Cumberland and South Kingstown, bringing the total to seven, with centers...
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By Elizabeth Roberts on
4/7/2010 3:49 PM
With the passage of health reform, many are wondering what that reform will ultimately look like. Who better to discuss the challenges and opportunities of health care reform than officials from our neighbor to the north, Massachusetts, which has a head start in the health reform effort with their 2006 law that mandated insurance coverage for all residents.
So I’m excited to be hosting Sarah Iselin, president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts, on Thursday as she talks about the second phase of that state’s health reform effort: cost containment. Sarah was most recently the commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, where she managed critical phases of the state’s health care reform law.
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