- Ted, thank you so much for joining me for our first weekly "Insight" segment.

- Yes.

- I'm looking forward to working with you.

It's a new year, and of course, there are so many stories that we'll be following this year, ranging from healthcare to education.

Of course, top of mind for people is the fact that we have a race for president.

- Yeah, and Michelle, obviously, we're gonna wanna keep these conversations locally focused, but as you and I were thinking about the big stories for 2024, I just can't help but think that the presidential race is going to overshadow everything else at every level of the news ecosystem.

You have it looking very likely now that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee, an unprecedented situation.

He's facing indictments, there are efforts to get him kicked off the ballot.

There's still the fallout from January 6th, and so I think we don't really know what a presidential race with those dynamics looks like.

And I think it's going to, again, kind of overshadow everything else for the rest of the year.

- And here in Rhode Island, we have several races.

I think people will be surprised to learn that our junior congressman, Gabe Amo, is up for reelection in November.

- Yeah, people are always surprised when you say that, but of course, he's filling out David Cicilline's unexpired term, so he has to turn right around and start running again.

And Congressman Seth Magaziner, who only won in 2022, but it's been kind of overshadowed by the hubbub around Cicilline leaving.

He is up for reelection for the first time, as well.

So far, no competitors to either of them, which is kind of surprising since they always say that a first reelection race is when a member of Congress is most vulnerable.

Then US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island, as well as US Senator Elizabeth Warren, they're both up for reelection.

No major competitors to them yet.

The White House has some Republicans looking at running for the nomination.

And then locally, some big mayoral races I'm watching in Cranston.

Mayor Hopkins could face a challenge from Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, the state rep, who's of course the wife of the former Cranston Mayor, Alan Fung, and then Woonsocket with Mayor Lisa Baldelli Hunt resigning abruptly after that land deal scandal.

So I think there's gonna be a lot of interesting races to watch.

- And adding to those races at the State House, we have all the members of the General Assembly, that's 113 legislators, are all up for reelection.

Lawmakers are now back in session.

We really got a sense of what their priorities are going to be for this coming year.

We heard a lot about healthcare and the need to bring more primary care providers really to all parts of Rhode Island.

We heard, once again, calls to reform the Law Enforcement Officer's Bill of Rights.

We've been hearing that for several years.

- Perennial.

- So we'll see if there's any traction on that.

And then also, the need to build more affordable housing and seeing what municipalities can do at the local level with zoning.

- Well, and we know that is such a priority for House Speaker Joe Shekarchi, Michelle, housing expansion, more production.

He even called out local cities and towns, some of which are now trying to push back at the zoning changes he's pushed through saying, you know, "We've gotta stay strong, "we've gotta keep pushing for this, this is so important."

So we know Shekarchi's gonna keep talking about that.

He's also gonna keep pushing this expansion of, whether you call them granny flats, in-law apartments, ADUs, accessory dwelling units, but there's resistance to that in the Senate from Senate President Dominick Ruggerio.

So I think that's gonna be something where you see tension between the House and Senate in the coming months.

- But both Shekarchi and Ruggerio stressed, this year's budget will not look like previous years.

- No, I don't know if people realize just how much the state budget has grown since the pandemic, Michelle.

It's up over, or almost 50%- - Wow, wow.

- Since 2019 from just under $10 billion to over $14 billion.

That's mostly because huge amounts of federal money have come in, COVID relief money and all of that.

And so that made it easier for lawmakers to say yes to everybody.

Yes, that new project can go, yes, we'll invest in this, yes, we'll up education funding.

Clearly, they're trying to send a warning to rank and file lobbyists and advocates about this year.

- Manage your expectations - Exactly, this year, it's not gonna be the same this year, exactly.

- There are lots of big education stories that we're following.

As I reported, we have seen tremendous growth in the number of multilingual learners in Rhode Island.

Those are students who are learning English in Rhode Island schools.

Consider these numbers, by 2030, they're projecting that one in two students in Providence Public Schools will be a multilingual learner up from 36%, which is why the Education Commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, is asking the General Assembly for $20 million for these students.

But of course, that could be a really tall order considering the budget restraints.

- Well, and that's the question, Michelle.

I mean, as people could hear in your piece, there's widespread agreement that Rhode Island needs to see better outcomes for multilingual learners in the schools, but to actually get that $20 million that the commissioner wants, there are people seeking that kind of money for Medicaid rate increases, RIPTA is facing a funding cliff, there calls for more tax cuts in Rhode Island.

So I think the question for me is not whether they'll be buying into the idea of doing more for multilingual learners, but will the governor, as well as the Education Commissioner, prioritize that money in those final budget talks, when the rubber meets the road in May and June, over other priorities, even if means other things don't get funded.

That remains to be seen.

- Right, there are so many other competing interests.

- Yes, and it's gonna be a very different budget year.

- Thank you so much for joining me, Ted.

- Good to be here.

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