Medical marijuana proponents plan to seek General Assembly support this session to create an establishment, known as the Compassion Center, which, as the theory goes, would have state Department of Health backing to grow and distribute medical marijuana to approved patients.

While the outlook for such a measure remains uncertain -- at minimum, it would likely have to overcome a gubernatorial veto -- it would address the glaring shortcoming in Rhode Island's medical marijuana law.

Pat Crowley has a strong post up at RI's Future, pointing to a state report to indicate how Rhode Island taxpayers are paying more than $5 million (plus about $6M from the feds) to pay for health insurance for workers at some of the state's biggest and more profitable corporations:

As I was driving through Providence today, I heard Our Governor on the Helen Glover “Show” getting the facts wrong again about the State he has run for six years but apparently bears no responsibility for mismanaging (personal responsibility and all).

As Governor Carcieri prepares to give his latest State of the State address tonight, a coalition of health-care professionals plans a State House protest tomorrow, at 3:30 pm, to rap the governor's proposed cuts to RIte Care.

Nick Tsiongas, President of the RI Medical Society commented on the event: "Health care professionals are hosting this action to express our disbelief that this proposal has even seen the light of day.

Is putting 75 percent of RI's hospital system under the control of one entity a good idea?

Governor Carcieri plays it down the middle:

“While the creation of such a dominant health care network raises a number of important concerns, it also creates the potential for significant positive progress on a number of fronts,” Carcieri continued.