If you're a dad, it's probably among the few times you get in a suit and tie, outside of weddings — the annual father-daughter dance. Recently, the Cranston School Committee decided to stop the practice over concerns voiced by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a single mom whose daughter could not attend a recent event. District lawyers advised the school board to end the activities because state law is more restrictive than federal Title IX. Johnston School Committee Member Robert LaFazia (Dist. 1) explained during a phone interview this morning that about 12 years ago, he …

  Every election year, amid the charges and counter-charges by candidates, voters also receive a veritable onslaught of mailers and commercials about union support for particular hopefuls. In Johnston, RI Council Local 94 has endorsed incumbent Town Councilwoman Eileen Fuoco (D) in today's primary against two opponents, as well as 19-year-old candidate Nicole Acciardo in the Democratic primary race against Sen. Frank Lombardo III for the District 25 seat. The AFSCME/AFL-CIO organization also supported the three incumbent members of the Rhode Island Congressional delegation who are up for …

  In the now-traditional flurry of activity to end the 2011-12 General Assembly session, a bill was passed by both chambers of the legislature that allows auto body shops to sue insurance companies over the cost of repairs. The bill, sponsored in the House by Rep. Stephen R. Ucci (D-Johnston), now goes to Gov. Lincoln Chafee for his signature. According to the Providence Journal, the parents of Johnston Rep. Peter Petrarca spoke in favor of the legislation at a House hearing a few days previous to its approval. Ucci told the House on June 11 that the bill would "level the playing field" in …

  Last week, Mayor Joseph Polisena hosted a press conference at the Johnston Senior Center that drew local officials from communities as far afield as Westerly, Pawtucket, and East Providence. Their message? State legislators in the General Assembly should pass Gov. Lincoln Chafee's Municipal Reform and Relief Act bills to potentially keep any other cities and towns from falling into the fiscal crises now faced by Central Falls and other communties. Chafee has recently been on a statewide campaign to get local officials behind his proposals — Johnston Town Councilors approved a measure …

Presidents and governors get four-year terms — why not the Mayor of Johnston? That's essentially the question that will go before local voters this November, after the Johnston Town Council approved a resolution asking the Rhode Island Secretary of State to include a referedum question on the 2012 ballot. Mayor Joseph Polisena — who has served three two-year terms under the current Town Charter language — originally proposed the shift to longer terms, with a limit of two terms in office, for mayors elected beginning in 2014. [Polisena would be eligible to run for the four-year term, if …

Among the local elections on this year's ballot is the matchup between incumbent U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Republican challenger Barry Hinckley of Newport, who recently stopped in Johnston for a meet-and-greet at the home of the town's Republican Committee Chairman, George Resnick. Falling in the same year as a Presidential election (where former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney seems to be the presumptive Republican nominee to run against President Obama), Hinckley's run is clearly built on the potential for lots of votes cast, as well as recent gains made by the GOP in usually …

In the midst of the state's ongoing economic struggles — and the continued drumbeat of bad fiscal news from places like Woonsocket and Providence — state Rep. John Carnevale (D-Providence, Johnston) has again proposed a bill in the General Assembly that would allow cities and town to tax hospitals and schools that are currently exempt from taxation, the Johnston Sun Rise reported this week. The so-called "meds and eds" bill (H7450) would allow communities to collect up to 25 percent of the amount of taxes that would be assessed if the properties were owned by entities other than nonprofit …

In a stark contrast to other Rhode Island communities — namely, Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Providence — Johnston is in relatively good financial shape. That's not to say that the town's fiscal state has happened by accident — last year's tax increase was 94 cents per $1,000 (about a 4 percent hike in the residential tax rate), and the town has kept its contribution to the school district level for four years. And this year, Mayor Joseph Polisena has announced that he's aiming to level fund all town departments — including the schools. Following three sparsely-attended budget workshops, …

In the weeks since the main field at the town's soccer complex was vandalized — as it turns out, by two Johnston residents who reportedly admitted to driving over the wet turf — we've heard lots of talk about how the incident was handled. Most times, people start their evaluation with the phrase: "If I had done that when I was 18," and continue with descriptions of what can diplomatically be called their parents' likely stern response to such behavior. These folks usually conclude that the two 18-year-olds in the case, Raymond Zinno and Costanzo Caparrelli, "deserve everything they get" and "…