My opus on how deep-blue Rhode Island enacted a voter ID bill last year is out today. And one question I got while reporting the story was this: did ALEC play a role?

ALEC, for the unitiated, is the American Legislative Exchange Council, a business-backed advocacy group that pairs corporate types with state legislators to draft conservative model legislation for use in State Houses around the country.

Actually, there's nothing criminal about Matt Jerzyk. Not since he cut off that ponytail, anyway. I was just smooshing together our two main features in this week's Phoenix.

Jerzyk is a (formerly ponytailed) activist-turned-insider: a lefty bomb thrower and shrewd political organizer who now holds a key post in Providence Mayor Angel Taveras' administration.

After today's arguments before the Supreme Court, it's not looking good for the president's signature health care reform law. Here's Jeffrey Toobin, Supreme Court watcher par excellence:

In the face of new legislation that would make state-sanctioned medical marijuana dispensaries or "compassion centers" smaller than originally envisioned, Rhode Island US Attorney Peter Neronha - who warned of a crackdown on the planned dispensaires last year - says that his position has not changed His statement in full, issued this morning:

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin has joined 35 other Attorneys General across the country to send a letter to Google chief executive Larry Page expressing concern about an imminent shift in the Internet giant's privacy policy.

The company is looking to link together various buckets of data users leave behind - information on which YouTube videos they're watching, what they're searching for on google.

Three years after the death of Chinese immigrant Hiu Lui Ng at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, a bill is making its way through Congress that would require the reporting of prison deaths. From the Los Angeles Times:

Legislation that would make it more difficult to cover up the causes of deaths in jails, prisons and private detention centers appears poised to pass Congress after years of unreported abuse, particularly in facilities housing immigration detainees.

Lincoln Chafee's announcement yesterday that he would refuse to license three medical marijuana dispensaries hit pot activists hard. But it was not unexpected.

Some quick background, here. The General Assembly approved a dispensary law in 2009 and the state selected three would-be operators. But then US Attorney Peter Neronha, like several US Attorneys around the country, penned a letter warning that the feds would crack down on largescale distributors authorized by state government.

Golocalprov's piece on underage drinking at Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman's home has focused attention on the state's "social host" law, which imposes penalties on parents who knowingly allow underage drinking on their property.

Esserman, of course, maintains that he did not knowingly allow underage drinking - that he broke up the party when he discovered the booze.

Attorney General Eric Holder is in town today, hosted by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. And a brief press conference at the Institutue for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in Providence was, predictably, dominated by questions about medical marijuana.

U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha delivered a letter to Governor Chafee in late April threatening to prosecute operators of the three medical marijuana dispensaries, or "compassion centers," set to open in the coming months.

Amid concerns over recent shifts in Facebook's privacy settings, a class-action lawsuit out of Rhode Island that may be the first of its kind. Here's a press release from Providence lawyer Peter N. Wasylyk, who also serves as a state representative:

Providence, RI, May 22, 2010 – Derrick Rose of East Providence, Rhode Island has announced today that he has filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook in Federal Court in Rhode Island over privacy concerns relating to Facebook’s “Instant Personalization,” a social networking tool that allows certain third-party websites to access users’ personal information which they've uploaded to Facebook when users visit those third-party websites, such as Pandora, Yelp, or Microsoft's Docs.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has a piece in Politico today blasting the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case. That decision opened the door for unlimited corporate spending on campaigns and Whitehouse argues that it is part of a broader, pro-corporate agenda driving the court's "activist conservative bloc."

Providence City Solicitor Joseph M. Fernandez, who has been quite public about his interest in running for Attorney General, has stepped down from his post to pursue "other opportunities." This just in from Mayor David N. Cicilline's office:

Mayor David N. Cicilline today announced that City Solicitor Joseph M. Fernandez is stepping down after seven years of strong leadership as the City’s chief lawyer.

Cliff Montiero, president of the Providence chapter of the NAACP, says he may seek support from his national organization to bring legal action challenging the paucity of minorities in municipal public safety positions in some Rhode Island communities.

Montiero, who made the statement during a taping this morning of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers, would not identify specific communities.

-- In terms of so many schools canceling school today -- with nary an accumulation of snow yet on the ground -- is it that we hardy New Englanders have turned into a bunch of cringing weenies?

-- US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a fellow former US attorney with Eric Holder, and someone who has been supportive of Holder's nomination as AG, is due to speak on that during this afternoon's Senate Judiciary hearing.