I've got a cover story in today's Phoenix about the suddenly white hot debate over Internet piracy - a debate that has fired up the netroots and split Rhode Island's Congressional delegation.

The opposition to a pair of anti-piracy bills in Congress, aimed at blocking the illegal distribution of music, film, and pharmaceuticals, was already bubbling.

Representative David Cicilline has announced his opposition to the anti-Internet piracy bills, too, leaving Senator Sheldon Whitehouse as the lone supporter in the Rhode Island delegation. Cicilline's statement:

“After careful review of the proposed legislation and reflecting on the concerns expressed to me by Rhode Islanders, I have decided to oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act as it is currently drafted.

Hanging over the Congressional redistricting clash that has dominated the news in recent days is this political reality (and I'm not the first to note it): Rhode Island could very well lose one of its two House seats after the next census.

An analysis by state redistricting consultant Kimball Brace shows that Rhode Island barely avoided the fate this time around.

The parade of witnesses at the state redistricting commission's meetings grew predictable after awhile: a state representative complaining about gerrymandering here, a good-government type arguing for fairness there.

But on the night of December 7, an unusual break: four Latino citizens testified; one had her remarks translated by a Latina state representative on the panel.

Congressman James Langevin's office is sharply criticizing Congressman David Cicilline tonight after the release of a new redistricting map that would shift large swaths of the conservative Blackstone Valley into Langevin's district and push a sizable section of liberal south Providence into Cicilline's district.

If you haven't yet picked up today's Phoenix - blasphemy! - I've got a cover story on Congressman David Cicilline's steady, if little-noted comeback from the depths of late winter and early spring, when news broke of Providence's fiscal meltdown (the freshman Congressman, of course, had just come off a two-term stint as Providence mayor).

Congressman David Cicilline has named Brandon Naylor his new communications director.

Naylor, who worked in the same capacity for former Congressman Dennis Moore of Kansas, has been on the job for two days.

A Topeka native, Naylor says he arrived in Washington shortly after graduating from Kansas University. He landed a job as Moore's executive assistant and worked for the Democrat for four-and-a-half years, eventually rising to the post of communications director.

When Congressman David Cicilline arrived in Washington, his long-shot bid for a post on the powerful Appropriations Committee proved, well, a long shot. His second choice, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, didn't work out either.

Instead, the freshman wound up on the Small Business and Foreign Affairs committees, which are not exactly plum assignments.

UPDATE: Looks like the Dems are responding a bit better to the bi-partisan push than Republicans. Congressman Cicilline's office provided the following list of the 11 Congressmen who attended Common Ground's inaugural event: Democrats Cicilline, Jason Altmire, Kathy Hochul, Hank Johnson, William Keating, John Larson, David Loebsack, and Peter Welch and Republicans Nan Hayworth, Renee Elmers, and Kevin Yoder.

Congressmen James Langevin and David Cicilline will host a March 4 fundraiser in Rhode Island for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, though not confirmed, is expected to be in attendance.

Pelosi has appeared at Rhode Island fundraisers in the past, including Jamestown events in both 2009 and 2010.

Republican John J. Loughlin II's Congressional campaign formally trotted out the endorsement of House Minority Leader Brian Newberry today. No great surprise. Newberry has been on record supporting Loughlin, a former colleague in the General Assembly, for some time now.

But the statement Newberry offered up was telling.

Congressman David Cicilline, in a letter to President Obama ahead of his highly anticipated jobs speech next week, calls for an investment in manufacturing:

Nationally, the manufacturing sector has been a bright spot even during these trying economic times. If this vital economic engine is to be sustained, we must continue our investments in programs that help manufacturers compete in a global economy, retool to be more efficient and effective businesses, and retrain the workforce so that skill sets utilized in declining sectors can be transferred to those that are expanding.

I've got a cover story in this week's Phoenix on Colonel Brendan Doherty's nascent Congressional campaign. What struck me in reporting this piece - and I've touched on it some on the blog over the last couple of weeks - is the wildcard that is the GOP primary.

Doherty seems, on paper, to be the strongest candidate the Republican Party could nominate to take on Democratic Congressman David Cicilline.

As Washington lurches inexorably toward a lesser budget deal, Congressman David Cicilline must be thanking his lucky stars.

The broader deal that President Obama and Speaker of the House Boehner were discussing not long ago called for substantial cuts, including some in entitlement programs like Medicare, in exchange for a significant but far smaller growth in tax revenues.