 now President of the City Council, John Ward says “We’ve tried to be as lean as possible while serving our citizens and students.”
Then the recession hit. In 2009, then-Governor Donald Carcieri phased out general revenue sharing, which put Woonsocket in a serious financial bind. Since then, the City has raised taxes 29 percent.
Also in 2009, Rhode Island became the last state in the nation to get a funding formula, a law designed to govern the equitable distribution of the state’s allocation of aid to education. On paper Woonsocket was a “winner” district, meaning they are now owed a significantly larger share of state education aid. But to ease the pain of the “loser” districts, the formula will be phased in for 7 years. We all could be dead by then.
Ward feels that it was then, in 2009, that the School Committee made an understandable, but fatal mistake. Using a head-hunter, they hired a new business manager on the cheap. She had the right credentials, but was totally green, with no experience of running a business office of her own before.
Simultaneously – penny wise; pound foolish – they cut the accounting manager who entered the data for the manager. The newbie could do both jobs, no?
Well, no.
Ward says, “They chose to cut expenses to the point of slicing their own artery.”
The hapless, soon-to-be-ousted business manager was definitely not up to the job. But her biggest mistake was not realizing that the job could not be done. She’d accepted a set-up for failure.
Which eventually produced the seemingly-sudden $10 million deficit.
Woonsocket’s officials have turned to the State for help, of course. They just push back. And the City is asking concessions from the public-employee retirees, reminding them that negotiated concessions would probably be a lot less painful than what they’d get from a bankruptcy Receiver.
In any case, the City has all of a few weeks to figure out how to keep from drowning. Ward feels as though they being punished for being lean.
However the story plays out in Woonsocket, surely they’ll be getting more cash-strapped company. This will be hard to watch. Good luck to them]
Follow us on Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read ItThe only decks that have room for that much tech are reno decks. 


The "problem" with a face deck in meta means any deck you play has to tech against it.


"Oh, isn't that good? Promotes deckbuilding and diversity."


No, because my jade rogue is no longer jade rogue if I start including oozes/heals/taunts. Same goes for my hunter/paladin/tempo mage and the whole ton of decks out there.


Ironically, it limits what decks you play because most decks are built around a coherent strategy and you can't start tearing out parts and expect it to still function properly.Alright. So here goes one of the hardest posts I have done but to those struggling… maybe it will help.
I said I would tell a little about my life over the last year and why I’m always so happy now. Sorry for the very long post. I know I haven’t posted a whole lot during the last year. I’m going to be honest I was in a dark place mentally. We lost someone very dear to the boys and myself. Losing this person also resulted in me losing my job and it was just a complete snowball effect. I lost my cabin in Rockford, my Xterra blew its motor… I just didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. I had a lot of friends step up and offer their home which I was very appreciative of… but it still wasn’t ours. Then we moved to Sevierville into a 5 bedroom house. Boy we thought we were something. To be honest, I started making up excuses as to why I couldn’t go to church… stopped thanking God for all he’s done for me. Just living the life. You know that saying always stay humble… well I learned the hard way. Back in May literally one day after Mother’s Day I was told the house was being sold out from under us and we had 7 days to move. This rocked our world. We stayed in between a few houses and to be honest even in a tent for a week. Then I remembered this program that was talked about at Rio called Family Promise. Let me tell you something about these folks… they have changed my life completely. I am now in a nice apartment and thanks to their support, the support of my amazing job, and my family & friends, and most importantly God, we have been able to finally come out on top. Another Family Promise program called Wheels 2 Work* put me in a nice Toyota Hybrid that saves me tons on gas.
And now we are in process of working with Habitat for Humanity for a house. We actually have our home visit this weekend so its coming along quickly. I can tell you I thank God every day, every night, and sometimes just randomly through the day for what he’s done for my family.
Always remember sometimes the hardest storms birth the greatest change. Even when I was technically homeless I was happier than I had been in years. I learned to look at things in a different light. If you need any info on any of the programs I have mentioned let me know. I can give references a mile long about how amazing these people are. And remember always stay humble… you never know what tomorrow brings.
*Wheels 2 Work is funded by the United Way of Blount County, cars are donated by private community donors.
Post edited slightly for clarification – we wouldn’t be able to support our families without ALL of the partner agencies, partner churches, and volunteers.
Blount County is amazing and we are all creating a community where every child has a home!While you are correct about the language Alito uses, there are a few problems with trusting his assurances:

1. He may be lying or he can simply change his mind later if these other issues come before the court
2. When these other issues are litigated, another SC judge like Kavanaugh might write the majority opinion striking down their protections. Even if Alito is in the group of dissenting judges, it would still be a 5 to 4 majority.
3. Alito fails to mention Lawrence v. Texas or Obergefell v. Hodges in his list of safe precedents.
4. Alito notes that "the Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,'" and that abortion was "entirely unknown in American law...until the latter part of the 20th century," and the right to abortion does not fall in the category of those rights "deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition" and "implicitly in the concept of ordered liberty." The same could be said about homosexuality, gay marriage, contraceptives, and interracial marriage.
5. The above unenumerated rights were upheld only recently and after years of public debate. Also, they are rooted in the same unenumerated "right to privacy" on which Roe vs. Wade is founded. This means the same logic could and probably will be applied to repeal all those rights mentioned above in #4.So you’ve taken the plunge and have decided to have a baby. Congratulations! Hopefully you’ve already taken a look at your maternity insurance options (link to previous maternity article), and are aware of some of the major issues involved in such protection (like waiting periods) and some of the benefits of obtaining a maternity insurance policy.
But one of the rising concerns in relation to maternity and pregnancy is that of infertility and artificial insemination – namely, what are the insurance options available in Hong Kong regarding such a scenario?
The good news is that there are at least two companies which provide IVF and Infertility coverage under their policies, although you may have to purchase additional forms of protection, such as an optional out-patient package, in order to receive protection against IVF.
However, having said that we’re going to delve straight in and take a look at two of the best products on the market in relation to IVF and Infertility Insurance coverage.
DKV Globality is a leading international insurance company offering a range of comprehensive product options. Of the options provided by the insurer the Plus and Top products include coverage for Maternity Care, Child Birth, Complications of Pregnancy, and Infertility Treatment.
The infertility benefit is provided under the two plans’ outpatient coverage, and will cover a portion of the costs involved with Infertility Treatment.
As you will have noticed, the above table notes that the limit for Infertility Treatment coverage is per insured couple per lifetime. While DKV offers maternity coverage to a single woman under their health insurance offerings, both partners (the husband and wife) must purchase the plan in order to receive coverage for infertility treatments. Additionally, another major limitation with the infertility benefit from DKV can be found in the 2 year waiting period placed on the coverage.
Furthermore, there are a number of significant caveats in relation to the provision of infertility coverage under a DKV health insurance policy. Firstly, the woman must be aged under 40 and the man must be aged under 50 at the time of treatment; defined as the first stimulation day in each treatment cycle or the first cycle day where insemination is being performed without hormone stimulation. Secondly the insured’s condition must be due to organic causes which can only be overcome with the aid of