- Ted, welcome back.

I wanted to start with the news of the death of the late Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, who died on April 21st at the age of 76.

We had discussed here several times on "Weekly Insight" that his health was on the decline and how that was affecting the Senate.

And still there were many people who were caught by surprise regarding the news of his passing.

- I was one of them, Michelle.

You know, obviously, as you say, we knew he was frail, we knew he'd been battling cancer.

We've talked about that repeatedly on this segment.

But in recent weeks, several people I trust who'd talked to him, who'd seen him, had been with him, felt he really was rallying and strengthening and doing better.

I was getting those reports so when he was put back in the hospital I didn't think it was necessarily his final hospitalization.

I don't think many people did.

And then the news of his death came early that Monday morning, yes.

- Ruggerio was a fixture in Rhode Island politics for almost 50 years, which is quite incredible.

He even played on the same high school football team as US Senator Jack Reed.

- Right, La Salle Academy.

- Which is like an only-in-Rhode-Island thing.

- [Ted] Very much.

- And as you know, the tributes have been pouring in from so many people.

I wanna take a moment and take a listen to some of those.

- [Interviewer] You actually went to high school with him?

- I did go to high school with him at La Salle.

I played football with him and he was a remarkable gentleman even then.

His kindness and his willingness to reach out to the young kids on the team and buck 'em up, and that's not common.

- He taught me a lot.

I remember one of his famous saying was, "Speaker never say it's no, just say it's not now."

So when he would want something, I would say to him, "Donny, it's not no, it's just not now."

And he would laugh.

He said, "Boy, I taught you too well."

- I got to know Dominick very personally as a great leader, a kind person, and someone who has worked, you know, worked a lifetime for the working families in the state of Rhode Island.

- And as you know, Ruggerio has also been described as an old school Democrat compared with younger generations.

- Yes, you know, he was socially conservative, he was opposed to abortion rights, in favor of gun rights.

He had deep ties to organized labor, especially the Laborers Union which he worked for for many years.

And he was just sort of a traditional type of guy.

I always saw him in a suit and tie at the State House.

He very much believed your word is your bond in politics, when you make a deal, you stick to it.

You settle your differences behind closed doors.

That was how he approached the job.

- Attention is now turning to who will replace him.

It was a position that he held as Senate president since 2017, and already a few names have been floating around.

- Yes, and I want to be candid with the viewers.

This is a very fluid situation so this could change from the time we are recording this until the final vote comes.

But the three people I'm watching most closely, the first two are current Majority Leader Val Lawson and former Majority Leader Ryan Pearson.

Lawson replaced Pearson when Ruggerio got angry with Pearson for approaching him privately about his health last year.

And so it's thinking that Lawson could inherit Ruggerio's supporters, but she's the president of the NEA Teachers Union, she's never chaired a committee so there are some questions there.

Pearson's been working to build up his allies behind the scenes, arguing he was being honest about what was going on with Ruggerio and it shouldn't be held against him.

Then the other is Labor Committee Chairman Frank Ciccone is very much in the Ruggerio mold, socially conservative, ties to the laborers, but he's in his late seventies, he's opposed to the Assault Weapons Ban Act.

So interested to see if it's one of those three or a dark horse.

- Yeah, and of course we'll continue following that.

Let's turn now to the city of Providence where Mayor Brett Smiley recently unveiled his budget proposal.

Fair to say, a lot of people are unhappy with this.

It includes tax increases, fees and fines going up and spending cuts.

And the mayor says all of this is to cover $15 million in an education funding increase that was demanded by the state.

Now the mayor is waiting to seek approval from the General Assembly to breach the state's 4% tax cap.

Here's how the mayor describes the situation.

- I remain confident that the General Assembly will pass our request for a one-time exception to the cap.

Were that not to pass we'd be back to the drawing board and we're gonna have to make very serious cuts but I don't think anyone wants to do that.

- And Ted, the mayor is facing some real pushback.

You're seeing video here of protestors who confronted him at the State House after a committee hearing on the tax increase, pressing him not to go through with it.

But the mayor says there are no alternatives.

- Michelle, this, I think, fundamentally goes to the the financial problem that Providence has at a basic level.

More than 40% of its annual revenue goes to retirement benefits for pensions and healthcare, another 20% or so goes to debt service.

So that means less than half the city's annual revenue is available to cover current services for current residents.

So when you suddenly need to put $15 million into the school, somewhat unexpectedly, there's nowhere easy to go when you're already struggling to pay for parks and libraries and education.

So the question I think is gonna be with the budget that tight, did the mayor allocate the pain appropriately?

I think that's what the city council's gonna be focusing on in the coming weeks as they vet his plan.

- That's a good way to frame it.

Always good to see you.

Thank you Ted.

- Good to be here.