The ProJo has produced a few solid pieces on the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, most notably Washington bureau chief John Mulligan's obituary. The paper has written precious little, though, on Patrick Kennedy in the wake of his father's death.

A New York Times story on Senator Kennedy's funeral that ran on the front page of the ProJo Sunday mentioned Patrick Kennedy's eulogy in passing.

Providence firefighter's union chief Paul Doughty is among the candidates who has filed to fill the late Tom Slater's House seat. Given all the hubbub over the firefighters' contract in recent months, an already interesting race just got more interesting.

The crowded field also includes Slater's son Scott and 10 others.

The death of Ted Kennedy has many lamenting the passing of Camelot. And many suggesting the next generation of Kennedys is not up to carrying the legacy forward.

But Jason Zengerle, a senior editor at the New Republic, suggests that Patrick Kennedy - if often awkward - could mature into the role. Indeed, his father Ted had an awkward beginning to his own career.

Governor Carcieri's plan to shutdown state government for 12 days and chop funding to cities and towns may be drawing the ire of unions and mayors, but he gets some backing from the reliably conservative Wall Street Journal with an editorial today:

Unions typically have the whip hand in Rhode Island, where 62% of public employees belong to unions compared with 37% nationwide.

I've got a cover story today on the ProJo's attempt to reinvent the local news in an era of diminished resources. Entire cities and towns are going uncovered, but the paper - no longer covering the municipal munitia to the same degree - is doing some more interesting, contextual journalism. Will it be enough to save the paper?

The new owner of liberal blog RI Future has revealed himself:

Hello everyone. I’m sure this didn’t come as a surprise to some of you. My name is Brian Hull and I am the new owner and editor of the RI Future blog.

I appreciate the advice and support that I received from Matt Jerzyk and Pat Crowley, and I thank them for all that they have done to create, maintain, and grow the blog to where it is today.

Washington, of course, is already contemplating the implications of Senator Ted Kennedy's death for his colleagues in the US Senate. The chatter includes a Politico piece which suggests that Kennedy's passing could vault Senator Jack Reed into the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee just as Congress considers key curbs on Wall Street excess:

I had a single brush with Ted Kennedy. I was 17 years old and my father, a long-time editor and columnist at the Boston Globe, was dying of cancer when the state's senior senator appeared at our door with his wife.

It was a brief visit. My father was weak and couldn't speak much. Senator Kennedy sat in an old rocking chair with a loose arm that promptly broke off.

As I'll note in my cover story for the Phoenix this week, the Providence Journal has been ratcheting up its web operation as part of a broader re-invention of local news delivery. The paper took an interesting step in that direction this afternoon, hosting an on-line chat with Senator Jack Reed on the health care debate.

This just in from the governor's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri will appear on several national television news programs today, including Fox Business News, Fox News Channel, CBS Evening News, as well as WJAR-TV 10. Below is a schedule of appearances and air times:

3:15 p.m. Fox Business News; Countdown to the Closing Bell with Liz Claman; Fox Business News can be seen locally on Cox Channel 122, Verizon FIOS Channel 117, and Direct TV Channel 359

Rhode Island continues its national public relations offensive with another bit of cheery news: the governor announced yesterday that he will shut down state government for 12 days.

The story, picked up with a brief in the New York Times and a longer Associated Press piece in USA Today, is another black mark on a state that somehow manages to make itself less and less attractive to industry with each passing day.

Tragedy has struck the General Assembly again. Just two weeks after State Rep. Thomas Slater died of cancer, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed's husband has died. From the Projo:

Mark Weed, the longtime husband of Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed died Saturday at the age of 50, after a battle with cancer.

The Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, California announced its reporting and editing team today for an intriguing experiment - a non-profit, investigative reporting organization focused on state affairs to be called California Watch.

CIR, which has focused on national and international projects until now, has been around for decades, pioneering a non-profit approach to journalism that has come into vogue in recent years with the decline of the traditional media.

It's a disturbing thought. But the rumor mill has Sarah Palin landing in lil' Rhody. And Tabassum Zakaria of Reuters imagines what she might gain by a move to the Ocean State. Among the pleasures: bloodying a few whitetail deer.

Talk about a political football.

The Anchorage Daily News in Alaska is reporting, and The Providence Journal is repeating, a tantalizing rumor that Sarah Palin is going to move to Rhode Island.