Rich Southwell, lead plaintiff, along with his over three-dozen co-plaintiffs in the school mask mandate lawsuit against Governor McKee and the RI Department of Health, are calling for the support of parents and concerned citizens at a court-ordered public hearing to be conducted by RIDOH on Friday morning, March 15.

Court-ordered March 15 Public Forum May Expose Pseudo-Science of RIDOH’s School Mask Mandate Blunder

Rich Southwell, lead plaintiff, along with his over three-dozen co-plaintiffs in the school mask mandate lawsuit against Governor McKee and the RI Department of Health, are calling for the support of parents and concerned citizens at a court-ordered public hearing to be conducted by RIDOH on Friday morning, March 15.

Southwell is looking to fill the room, many of whom he hopes will testify, and to have others submit testimony via email, calling on the public do its part in fighting off future frivolous school mask mandates.

As part of the settlement agreement reached between the plaintiffs and the State of RI, RIDOH must hold an open forum, where testimony about the efficacy of community masking can be presented on the record … a required act of transparency that was ignored during the pandemic when McKee and the DOH first imposed the state’s school mask mandates.

As part of their negotiated victory in the case, Southwell and all plaintiffs, led by attorney Gregory Piccirilli, won a major concession from RIDOH … that the pros and cons of school mask mandates would finally be debated in a public forum.

In what may be the only instance in the nation where a state department of health has been forced to consider a specific masking regulation and forced to conduct a public hearing, Rhode Islanders and citizens across America should take heart that a significant victory has been achieved against the authoritarian mismanagement and scientific negligence by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Dr. Andrew Bostom, the plaintiff’s top medical and data research advisor throughout the entire legal process, the upcoming public forum will expose the pseudo-science conducted by RI Department of Health.

The official issue to be addressed at the 9:00 AM hearing, is whether a proposed new school masking regulation should be permanently adopted, which would govern RIDOH procedures when it comes to potential future airborne pandemics.

However, the actual issue that will be the focus of the hearing is whether the efficacy of school masking mandates have any scientific or data-driven basis … and whether such polices might cause real harm to children and staff who are forced to breathe unclean air for long periods of time, from under their masks. In fact, the Superior Court judge ruled previously in the case that children indeed suffered “irreparable harm” from the DOH’s mask mandates.

“Based on what we now know, we never want to see any child harmed again by such cavalier and callous actions by our own department of health,” said Southwell. “If there is to be a school masking regulation, it must ensure that any future consideration of school mask mandates will be required to be based upon the actual science and the findings of gold-star random control studies. This regulation provides no such assurance.”

To date, 78 such relevant studies, summarized by the prestigious Cochrane report, “did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks.”[i]

The language of the proposed regulation was agreed upon as part of the lawsuit settlement, however the plaintiffs could not move the DOH far enough … and are therefore encouraging the public to testify – in person or via email – against adoption of the regulation.

Per attorney Piccirilli, he and the plaintiffs attempted to negotiate language that set a much higher scientific standard, however the State wanted as much arbitrary wiggle-room as possible by demanding vague language that would allow the DOH to balance scientific evidence with “the exercise of judgment” by DOH officials. [ii] The language that was agreed upon was the best the plaintiffs could negotiate with RIDOH, which clearly is seeking to maintain the regulatory authority to impose future mandates, if its staff so desires, regardless of the science.

While there is no existing specific school masking regulation, Southwell and Piccirilli believe that the proposed language will not provide adequate protections for the safety of children and will infringe upon parental rights. In fact, they believe adoption of this regulation would give RIDOH the power to capriciously impose mask mandates upon children for any infectious disease, such as RSV, the flu, or chicken pox.

Southwell believes that a large response by the public, combined with the scientific evidence to be presented by local and national experts against school mask mandates, may be sufficient to dissuade RIDOH from adopting the rule. Alternatively, they will likely seek to greatly strengthen the proposed language through recommended amendments or edits to it.

“There should be no regulation requiring masking in schools for the alleged prevention of respiratory viral infections until evidence of BOTH their effectiveness, and lack of harm, has been demonstrated convincingly by multiple, rigorous, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in school age children published in peer reviewed journals,” advised Andrew Bostom.

Southwell calls upon parents, family, friends, and neighbors to participate and flood the RIDOH with compelling testimony. In February of 2022 over four-hundred Rhode Islanders testified against mandates and he feels this same level of support is once again needed.

Piccirilli further maintains that creating a public “record” of what he expects to be overwhelming evidence against child masking will be a critical legal deterrent against the DOH considering such a mandate again, even if the regulation is adopted largely as proposed.

According to a flyer put forth by Southwell to the plaintiff families, there are many ways to help stop this mask mandate regulation:

Citations:

[i] Do physical measures such as hand-washing or wearing masks stop or slow down the spread of respiratory viruses? | Cochrane

[ii] Masking in School – Rhode Island Department of State (ri.gov)

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today publicly backed previous calls for the resignation of Angelica Infante-Green, the RI Department of Education's failed commissioner, by promoting an online petition that all Ocean Staters are encouraged to sign.

Center Backs Call for Resignation of RI Education Commissioner

Petition to Save our Kids from RIDE

Calls for Infante-Green’s resignation and for repeal of 2019 law that empowered the corrupt agency

Cranston, Rhode Island – The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity today publicly backed previous calls for the resignation of Angelica Infante-Green, the RI Department of Education’s failed commissioner, by promoting an online petition that all Ocean Staters are encouraged to sign.

The petition, which allows concerned parents and citizens to also log their own comments, and which automatically sends an email to multiple lawmakers and state education officials, can be accessed at RIFreedom.org/resign .

Without any prior publicity the e-petition has already garnered over 70 signatures, many of which include highly damning statements about RIDE’s many failures by members of the public.

The initial public call for Infante-Green’s removal was made last October by former state Senate candidate, Niyoka Powell, during her special election campaign. Given the ongoing failures of RIDE as well as recently exposed stories about a major public corruption scandal and its promotion of a media literacy scam that seeks to censor conservative views in K-12 schools, the Center is now openly publicizing its e-petition.

“The ongoing assault on families by Infante-Green’s RIDE, by indoctrinating students into a radical-left ideology, must be brought to an end,” said Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “It’s time to save our kids from RIDE by seeking a new commissioner and to defrock RIDE of its curricula mandate authority.”

The online petition, entitled “Save Our Kids From RIDE,” also calls for repeal of the 2019 law that empowered RIDE to mandate curricula guidelines to all public school districts … and, therefore, to all elementary and secondary school students in government-run schools.

The petition web-page lists a number of indictments and links to support these two calls-to-action. The Center has reported extensively on RIDE’s radical agenda and its lack of success in improving student achievement.

“RIDE and Infante-Green have proven to be wholly ineffective, irresponsible, and unworthy of the powers granted to it the General Assembly,” concluded Stenhouse.

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity and a high-ranking member of the Rhode Island General Assembly call upon US and State Government agencies to cancel their affiliation with "Courageous RI."

PRESS RELEASE: Center & State Rep. Newberry Urge Government Agencies to Cancel Affiliation with URI’s Media Literacy Scam

URI’s Media Literacy Scam Raising Alarms in RI and DC
Potential First Amendment Violations by Government Agencies?

Cranston, RI– The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity and a high-ranking member of the Rhode Island General Assembly call upon US and State Government agencies to cancel their affiliation with “Courageous RI.”

In a recent series of alarming reports, the nationally renowned Media Research Center (MRC) exposed how multiple state agencies have colluded with the University of Rhode Island and the federal Department of Homeland Security to indoctrinate students in a media literacy scam that includes censorship of conservative media and Christian values.

“It is likely a 1st Amendment violation for any American governmental entity to support activities that limit or suppress free speech,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “This sinister Biden administration initiative actually trains K-12 teachers to utilize censorship tools that discourage students from viewing content that the leaders of Courageous RI disagree with.”

State Representative Brian C. Newberry, former House Minority Leader and attorney said, “I participated in the launch event one year ago upon being asked because I think the issue of media literacy and educating our children how to sift fact from fiction is important. But I issued several warnings about how this program, while appealing in concept, could go off the rails if not managed properly. Unfortunately, and to my disappointment, though not surprise … the partisanship, censorship, and bias that has been infused by the Courageous RI leadership proves that this program is not worthy of, nor legally defensible for, any government entity to support in any way.”

This national scheme, implemented in states and contrived by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, currently the subject of Congressional impeachment proceedings, is also raising alarm bells at the US Capitol.

“Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced legislation to cut the federal funding of the Department of Homeland Security’s dystopian censorship activities following the bombshell exposés by our organization,” said Tim Kilcullen, attorney for MRC and author of the reports. “Similarly, the House Homeland Security Committee has already passed legislation to do the same.” Kilcullen was special guest on a recent episode, Uncovering the Indoctrination Agenda, on the popular video podcast, In The Dugout with Mike Stenhouse, which can be viewed here.

“URI is ground-zero for this national scheme. What DHS is doing with Courageous RI in Ocean State schools is exactly why the US Congress is looking to defund this un-American effort and ensure that the money is used for its original intent to prevent actual violence and terrorism,” added Kilcullen.

The DHS-URI-Courageous RI collusion was first reported in the Ocean State by Parents United RI, a parental-rights advocacy group, led by its founder, Laurie Gaddis Barrett. The group continues to investigate other aspects of this national censorship scandal.

Among the government and related agencies that are listed as Courageous RI partners, and who should immediately renounce their affiliations, are:

  • RI Secretary of State
  • US Attorney’s Office
  • RI Department of Education
  • RI School Superintendents Association
  • RI Department of Public Health
  • RI State Police
  • RI National Guard

Private entities that are also known as partners or supporters, include:

  • Former Congressman David Cicilline
  • The RI Foundation
  • RI Public Broadcasting

The full list of partners and team members can be viewed at About Us | Courageous RI (courageousri.com/about).

Kilcullen’s and Newberry’s full statements can be viewed here.

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity today officially petitioned Governor McKee to issue a proclamation declaring February 6th as "Ronald Reagan Day"

PRESS RELEASE: Center Petitions Governor McKee to Issue to Ronald Reagan Day Proclamation

RI Should Recognize February 6 as “Ronald Reagan Day”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 4, 2024

Cranston, Rhode Island – The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity today officially petitioned Governor McKee to issue a proclamation declaring February 6th as “Ronald Reagan Day”.

As state sponsor for the The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse, said “In recent years, 36 Governors, in red and blues states alike, have proclaimed Ronald Reagan Day in their state; unfortunately Governors McKee and Raimondo have not joined with the rest of America in honoring the 20th century’s greatest President.”

The last Ocean State governor to issue such a proclamation, was Lincoln Chafee (I) in 2011. That same year, the RI Senate passed a related resolution, which in part read:

“WHEREAS, During Mr. Reagan’s presidency, he worked in a bipartisan manner to enact his bold agenda of restoring accountability and common sense to government, which led to an unprecedented economic expansion and opportunity for millions of Americans.”

Included in its Contact the Governor online submission, the Center wrote:

“The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project is committed to preserving the legacy of one of America’s greatest presidents throughout the nation and abroad. One of the ways we work to further the legacy of Reagan is by asking the governor of every state in the nation to make a proclamation declaring February 6th, “Ronald Reagan Day.” An average of 30 governors a year over the last few years have made such a proclamation, choosing to honor character over partisanship.”

“A proclamation in our state can help thousands learn the legacy of our nation’s 40th president and ensure his impact – including America’s victory over communism in the Cold War – is not forgotten,” concluded Stenhouse.

A special initiative of Americans for Tax Reform, the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project sends requests to governors from all 50 states to issue a proclamation declaring February 6 “Ronald Reagan Day,” This year, the proclamations would help celebrate Reagan’s 113th birthday.

As of the time of this media release, the Center has not received a response from the Governor’s office.

Under the deficient leadership of its commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, the Rhode Island Department of Education deserves an “F” for failing to implement successful educational reforms while student achievement continues to plummet across the state, as evidenced by the October release of RI’s dismal RICAS scores.

WHY MAJOR CHANGES ARE NEEDED AT THE RI DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Top-10 Failures of Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green & RIDE

Under the deficient leadership of its commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, the Rhode Island Department of Education deserves an “F” for failing to implement successful educational reforms while student achievement continues to plummet across the state as evidenced by the October release of RI’s dismal RICAS scores. Infante-Green’s tenure, which began in 2019, coincides with passage and enactment of a controversial bill (S0863) that took away local school district control and granted RIDE with the authority to develop and mandate curricula standards and guidelines in critical core subjects for all school districts in the Ocean State. 

Infante-Green and RIDE are wholly ineffective, irresponsible, and unworthy of this unabridged power to influence the education of our state’s children. As a result, student achievement and public confidence in our state’s educational system have further deteriorated. Rhode Island’s education system has been systematically designed to confuse and demoralize students about their country, God, their core values, their fellow students, themselves, and their families. As a result, mental health problems are on the rise.

New leadership, with repealed curricula authority, is clearly required at RIDE.



The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today announced that Frank & Liz Mauran of Providence will be honored at its November 3 Freedom Banquet which resumes after a three-year hiatus.

Center Announces Middendorf Honorees for 2023 Freedom Banquet

Center Announces 2023 Middendorf “Pillar of Freedom” Honorees for its Nov. 3 Fundraising Luncheon

Frank & Liz Mauran are Living Models of Liberty

Cranston, RI – The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today announced that Frank & Liz Mauran of Providence will be honored at its November 3 Freedom Banquet which resumes after a three-year hiatus.

“Perhaps no other husband and wife duo in the Ocean State can present more notable family and civic ties to the very founding of Rhode Island – and of America – while their ongoing philanthropy and business ventures continue to benefit our state and the nation,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “The Mauran family ancestry reads like a history book.”

The J. William Middendorf Pillar of Freedom Award, to be presented by the Center’s Chairman, Dr. Stephen Skoly, is named in honor of Ambassador J. William Middendorf, Little Compton resident, former Secretary of the Navy, and current Heritage Foundation board member. He is, perhaps, Rhode Island’s greatest living defender of freedom.

The 2023 Daniel S Harrop Freedom Banquet, presented by Americans For Prosperity (AFP), is a fundraising luncheon that will be held on Friday November 3 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick. The event is named after the Center’s founding chairman, Dr. Daniel Harrop, who unexpectedly passed away last fall.

The keynote speaker for the event, Guy Benson, is Political Editor of Townhall.com, a Fox News Contributor, and host of the nationally syndicated “Guy Benson Show” on Fox News Radio.

Tickets are still available. Tables of eight can be sponsored with a tax-deductible donation of $1200, while individual seats can be reserved with a $175 gift. More information and registration can be accessed at RIFreedom.org/Banquet.

Information on past Middendorf Award honorees can be viewed by clicking here. A link to the Mauran’s full award biography will be posted here after the banquet.

The Center launches a public awareness campaign to educate conservative voters to cross over and vote in the upcoming Democrat primary.

Campaign Launch: Center Encourages Conservatives to Cross-Over & Vote in Democrat Primary

Why Conservatives Should Cross-Over & Vote in the September 5 Democrat Primary for RI CD-1
August 6 Deadline to Check or Change Your Eligibility

Cranston, RI – The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today announced that it has launched a public awareness campaign to educate and encourage independent and conservative voters, who normally wouldn’t do so, to cross over and vote in the upcoming Democrat primary. Voters have until August 6 to check or change their voter status in order to be eligible for the September 5 primary to replace RI’s former US Congressman, David Cicilline.

“It is your patriotic duty to vote,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “Why not be strategic about casting your ballot by crossing-over to help elect a more palatable and common-sense candidate, instead of sending yet another reality-challenged progressive to Congress?”

But registered voters in RI’s 1st Congressional District must take near-term action to ensure they are eligible to vote in the Democrat primary. Voter affiliation & eligibility instructions have been posted and can be accessed at RIFreedom.org/CrossOver.

In believing Ocean Staters deserve representation in Washington, DC that respects their pocketbooks, heritage, and deeply-held traditional values, the Center joins with dozens of coalition member groups in supporting this cross-over voting strategy.

“With 22 announced Democrat candidates splitting the vote, a few thousand cross-over ballots could be the difference in swinging the election away from one of the radically-woke front-runners. Liberals successfully deployed this strategy in voting through a left-leaning candidate in Rhode Island’s 2006 US Senate Republican primary. It’s time for conservatives, likewise, to fully maximize their legal voting power,” Stenhouse added.

The Center’s two-month campaign will include:

  • 18 half-page ads in the Providence Journal
  • Social media advertising and promotion
  • Dedicated informational webpage
  • Regular emails to its tens of thousands of subscribers
  • Stories and opinion pieces on the Center’s media arm, The Ocean State Current
  • Frequent discussion and guests on the In The Dugout with Mike Stenhouse video podcast.

The Center also encourages the press and voters of all stripes to demand that every candidate go on record with responses to the biggest hot-button issue of our time … the Marxist & cultural revolution that has infected our society and is being indoctrinated into young students.

  • Should men be allowed to compete in women’s sports?
  • Should students be secretly coerced by school officials to undergo permanently debilitating and controversial gender-transition procedures?
  • Should sexually explicit materials, anti-American teachings, and divisive critical race theories be part of any public school curricula?
  • Should parents have full-rights to direct the health and education of their minor children?
The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today announced it will hold its annual freedom banquet this November, resuming the event after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Center Resumes its Annual Fundraising Luncheon after Three-Year Hiatus

Keynote Speaker: National Pundit, Guy Benson

 

Cranston, RI – The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today announced it will hold its annual freedom banquet this November, resuming the event after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The 2023 Daniel S Harrop Freedom Banquet, presented by Americans For Prosperity (AFP), is a fundraising luncheon that will be held on Friday November 3 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick. The event is named after the Center’s founding chairman, Dr. Daniel Harrop, who unexpectedly passed away last fall.

The keynote speaker, Guy Benson, is Political Editor of Townhall.com, a Fox News Contributor, and host of the nationally syndicated “Guy Benson Show” on Fox News Radio. The event will be emceed by Mike Stenhouse, CEO of the Center, who will share anecdotes from his Boston Red Sox playing days.

“Our freedom luncheon is our state’s premiere event for Rhode Islanders who support limited government, enjoy free market capitalism, and revere the constitutional liberties guaranteed to all Americans,” commented Stenhouse.

Over 300 guests are expected. The Middendorf Pillar of Freedom Award will also be presented to this year’s honoree by Dr. Stephen Skoly, the Center’s Chairman.

“We are happy to partner with the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity to present this year’s annual banquet as an opportunity for like-minded individuals to gather on the principles that unite us,” said Americans For Prosperity Northeast Director, Ross Connolly. “We at AFP are dedicated to advancing our shared goals of economic freedom and individual prosperity for all Americans and to reignite the American Dream in Rhode Island.”

Tables of eight can be sponsored with a donation of $1200, while individual seats can be reserved with a $175 gift. More information, as well as online registration for all guests and table sponsors, can be accessed at RIFreedom.org/Banquet

Mike Stenhouse, CEO of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, today submitted testimony to the RI House Committee on Education in support of House bill H5498, which will be heard today in committee at 4:00PM in Room 101 at the State House.

Stenhouse submits testimony in support of (H5498) to repeal RIDE’s curricula mandate powers

Stenhouse Testimony Includes Remarks from Over 100 Citizens
H5498 Would Repeal RIDE’s Curricula Mandate Powers

Providence, RI – Mike Stenhouse, CEO of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, today submitted testimony to the RI House Committee on Education in support of House bill H5498, which will be heard today in committee at 4:00PM in Room 101 at the State House.

The legislation would repeal the 2019 law that empowered the RI Department of Education to mandate standardized curricula to every school district and public school student in the state.

“It is the view of many parents in our state, and mine, that RIDE and its Commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, have proven to be wholly ineffective, irresponsible, and unworthy of the authority granted to it by state lawmakers in 2019,” said Stenhouse. “RIDE continually infuses controversial political theories and age-inappropriate content into K-12 curricula … advancing political agendas instead of academic achievement … and to infringe on parental rights and on the authority of locally-elected school committee members. It’s clear that it’s time to reverse course.”

Stenhouse’s testimony, which can be accessed here, includes the personal remarks of over 100 citizens who submitted written testimony to the committee via email via an online tool provided by the Center. In just the past three days, over 125 Rhode Islanders utilized the tool to submit written testimony “for” H5498, while over 250 people had previously signed on online petition in support of the legislation.

As an example of RIDE’s politicized approach to education, the Center published a 54-page report in February, titled, “Taken for a RIDE; How Rhode Island’s Social Studies Standards Shortchange Students.” The report highlighted RIDE’s historically inaccurate and divisive social studies standards, which were rubber-stamped by the Board of Education. The report also made an argument for substantially modifying or entirely replacing the Standards with a more historically accurate and widely acceptable set of standards.

Bi-partisan companion legislation (S0187) has also been submitted in the RI Senate, although a hearing date has not yet been set.

RIDE

CEO Stenhouse Testimony In Support of H5498

Excerpt from CEO Mike Stenhouse’s testimony: “In my view, RIDE and its Commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, have proven to be wholly ineffective, irresponsible, and unworthy of the authority granted to it by state lawmakers. RIDE has continually sought to infuse agenda-driven and controversial political theories into K-12 curricula … and to infringe on parental rights and on the authority of locally-elected school committee members.

RIDE should develop and recommend curricula standards, but they should not be able to mandate, force, or coerce local school districts to adopt them.”