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🗓️ Join us for Rhode Map Live on Dec. 16 where we'll discuss reforming the education funding formula. You can sign up here.
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse will be cracking wise at Washington D.C.’s elite this weekend.
Rhode Island’s junior senator will be the Democratic speaker at the prestigious Gridiron Club’s winter dinner on Saturday, where he’ll undoubtedly parody all the absurdities of American politics before finishing up with a message about the importance of journalism.
Former US representative Patrick McHenry, who served as speaker for 22 days following the removal of Kevin McCarthy in 2023, will be the Republican speaker.
It’s a big honor for Whitehouse, who worked through Thanksgiving to prepare his speech.
Founded in 1885, the Gridiron Club is considered the oldest and most exclusive journalistic social organization in Washington. It is best known for its annual spring dinner, an off-the-record gala that has featured numerous sitting presidents over the years. The winter dinner is also considered a must-attend event in DC political circles.
Whitehouse is the second Rhode Islander to speak at a Gridiron Club dinner in recent years. When she was President Biden’s commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo spoke at the spring dinner in 2022, and it became a COVID superspreader event.
Whitehouse does have at least some experience in political comedy.
He was the special mystery guest at the 1999 Providence Newspaper Guild Follies, held shortly after he became attorney general, where he donned a skirt to make fun of an attack line against him that he was "Nancy Mayer in pants.”
Last thought: It’s time to bring back the Follies here locally. Maybe the Rhode Island Press Association and Rhode Island Broadcasters Association could work together on a similar event?
Because the world needs to see Secretary of State Gregg Amore in a skirt.
🤔 So you think you're a Rhode Islander...
Theodore Francis Green's great grandfather also represented Rhode Island in the US Senate. What was his name?
(Answer at the bottom.)
Do you have the perfect question for Rhode Map readers? Don't forget to send the answer, too. Shoot me an email today.
The Globe in Rhode Island
⚓ In the last decade of Shahrzad “Sherry” Naso’s life, her pediatrician father wrote her 124 prescriptions for various medications. That’s more than Sherry Naso’s other doctors, including her oncology team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where she was being treated for aggressive breast cancer that eventually killed her at age 37 in April 2024.Read more.
⚓ Prompted by incidents in Smithfield and Newport, a state legislator on Tuesday announced he plans to file legislation to create a statewide anti-hazing policy for Rhode Island school sports. Read more.
⚓ The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Vermont, and Washington, asking a judge to force them to hand over voter records that include driver’s license numbers and partial social security numbers. Read more.
⚓ Refugee advocates in Rhode Island are condemning both the shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan national and the “drastic and erratic” immigration changes that the Trump administration is pursuing in response. Read more.
You can check out all of our coverage at Globe.com/RI
Also in the Globe
⚓ The Globe's editorial board writes that the headwinds against starting a new restaurant in Boston have become almost insurmountably high for many smaller, independent operators who lack the expertise and deep pockets to survive the drawn-out city approval process. Read more.
⚓ My colleague James Pindell writes that Representative Ayanna Pressley's decision to not challenge Senator Ed Markey is a sign she's taking the safe route. Read more.
⚓ Columnist Tara Sullivan writes that Mike Vrabel has a real case for Coach of the Year. Read more.
⚓ Rhode Map readers, if you want the birthday of a friend or family member to be recognized Friday, send me an email with their first and last name, and their age.
⚓ The special joint legislative commission to study the return of Central Falls schools to local governance meets at 4 p.m. Here's the agenda.
James Burrill Jr. served in the Senate from 1817 until his death on Christmas Day in 1820.
RHODE ISLAND REPORT PODCAST Christopher Gavin talks to Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads about about a newly released 1974 demo of "Psycho Killer" recorded while he was a student at RISD. Listen to all of our podcasts here.
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