More evidence, in recent days, of a restive right in lil' Rhody.

Last week the RI Tea Party folks - you know, the gang behind the tax day protests against government spending - got supporters to nag the local ABC affiliate about the network's decision to air an hour-long town hall meeting featuring President Obama and his plans for health care reform.

Rhode Island is in the national eye this morning, with - count 'em - two stories deemed worthy of national exposure.

There is a New York Times story on the debate over shortening the state's official name from "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" to simply "Rhode Island."

The term "plantation" has been strongly associated with slavery for the last couple of centuries and black activists and politicians have worked for years, often in obscurity, to strip the word from the official name.

Plan on seeing a lot of Rhode Island's junior senator this week. Sheldon Whitehouse has launched a media blitz focused on health care.

You'll see Sheldon at "health care community dinners" in Cumberland and Newport, Sheldon in roundtable discussions with doctors in Wakefield, Sheldon talking about health care with small businessowners in East Greenwich.

Among the many bills that will apparently fizzle as the General Assembly stumbles to its chaotic conclusion: a push to legalize same-sex marriage.

Legislators had predicted, for months, that the bill would sputter. House Speaker William J. Murphy and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed are opposed, as is Governor Carcieri.

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting piece today on celebrity gossip web site TMZ's blockbuster scoop yesterday on Michael Jackson's untimely demise (moment of silence, here, at the Phoenix) and the mainstream media's hesitation around crediting TMZ for breaking the news. Here's Harvey Levin, managing editor of the site:

Rhody's Americana rockers Deer Tick and Low Anthem have both done nifty sessions, of late, with music site daytrotter.com. The Deer Tick sit-down includes a cover of the Boss' "Nebraska." Low Anthem plays four songs from its well-received Oh My God, Charlie Darwin.

Phoenix managing editor Lou Papineau, who may know more about music than anyone in lil' Rhody, says Deer Tick will also be performing live at 3 p.

I've got a cover piece in today's Phoenix on the state of the local television newscast. Layoffs, plummeting advertising revenue and an increasingly segmented audience have meant tough times for newsrooms here and around the country.

The blow to the local stations has not garnered as much attention as the decline of the ProJo.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch has just announced that he will not appeal a federal court ruling that delivered a partial ballot-access victory to the fledgling Moderate Party.

A second party in the case, Secretary of State Ralph Mollis, had already indicated that he would not appeal. And the third and final defendant, the state's Board of Elections, will not appeal either, it appears.

Providence City Councilman and probable mayoral candidate John J. Lombardi's web site is up and running this afternoon and looks awfully Obama-like - in colors, tone, even logo.

The prez's campaign signature, a red-white-&-blue sunrise image, has been superimposed on a star in Lombardi's hands. Pretty nifty.

Liberal legislators are pushing to eliminate the state's flat tax, which benefits Rhode Island's wealthiest residents, and to funnel the enhanced tax revenue to cities and towns. Municipalities, after all, are slated to lose some $55 million in state funding under the 2009-2010 budget plan now before legislators.

Providence City Councilman John J. Lombardi, in another sign of his probable mayoral candidacy, is launching a campaign web site, www.lombardiforprovidence.com, tomorrow at noon.

From a press release:

“With the launch of the new site, my ongoing dialogue with the people of Providence concerning the most pressing social, economic, cultural, and political issues of the day will be significantly enhanced,” said Councilman Lombardi.

Who says the Dems and Republicans can't play together?

Governor Carcieri, if locked in a partisan battle over the budget, has had an extraordinary run of Democratic love in the last week or so. First, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch sides with the guv on closing that pesky prostitution loophole. Then, the Democratic-dominated House Judiciary Committee approves his choice for Supreme Court chief justice with nary a peep o' dissent.

A key House committee has voted unanimously to approve the nomination of state Supreme Court Justice Paul A. Suttell to the post of chief justice.

The 13-0 vote is no great surprise. Gov. Carcieri's nomination of the well-liked judge has engendered little opposition from the Democratic legislature, in a welcome break from the partisanship that has roiled Smith Hill for the better part of the last six years.

Management at WPRI, the local CBS affiliate, has told newsroom staff that there will be no layoffs at the station in the short-term. But the station, in a recent staff meeting, did announce a voluntary furlough program and would not rule out job-cutting later in the year.

The station, owned by LIN TV in East Providence, has shed some news staff in the last year.