More than 100 Rhode Island residents, business owners, state officials, local planners and lawmakers gathered at the Statehouse on Thursday night to kick off RhodeMap RI, a year-long project to create statewide economic development and housing plans that link with strategies for future development, transportation, land use and the environment. more

Entrepreneur and Moderate Party founder Ken Block announced his intention to run for governor of Rhode Island on Tuesday. Block has been active in the state’s political circuit since placing fourth in the 2010 gubernatorial race. more

U.S. policymakers must address debt loads projected to rise later this decade to avoid a 2013 downgrade, even as the latest budget projections are “credit positive,” according to Moody’s Investors Service. more

PROVIDENCE – Rep. Mia A. Ackerman, D-Cumberland, has introduced a bill on behalf of Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts that would create a tax credit for small employers that implement a wellness program for employees. more

While many of Rhode Island’s 91 special districts perform valuable services, their lack of mandated financial controls leaves them open to charges of poor fiscal management, according to a report released by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council late Monday. more

The share of workers opting to take company medical coverage rather than more take-home pay rose in Massachusetts after the state overhauled its health system in 2006, a result the U.S. Affordable Care Act may replicate, a report suggests. more

R.I. Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher F. Koller says there’s enough unfinished business to keep him working right up until the last minute of his scheduled departure at the end of June. That’s when he’s set to begin his new job as president of the Milbank Memorial Fund in New York City. more

WaterFire plans to send its enchanting flames over the waterways of downtown Providence with 11 full lightings in 2013. At least that’s the schedule, the buildup to which was anything but typical this year due to added complexities of sequestration and public concern about security since the Boston Marathon bombing in April. more

Rhode Island has been selected as the 14th partner state in the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, a program that helps states assess the costs and benefits of fiscal policy options and make better decisions based on informed results, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee announced. more

More changes appear to be coming for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, whether Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee wants them or not. Competing House and Senate proposals suggest that whatever ultimately emerges from the General Assembly, the independent governor’s reshuffling of the agency over the past year will not be the final word. more