2019 -- H 6246

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXTENDING PROFOUND SYMPATHY ON THE PASSING OF JIM TARICANI

     Introduced By: Representatives Mattiello, Shekarchi, Filippi, Blazejewski, and Ucci

     Date Introduced: June 24, 2019

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, It is with great sadness that this House has learned of the passing of Jim

Taricani, a legendary Rhode Island investigative reporter, and a devoted husband to the love of

his life, Laurie White-Taricani; and

     WHEREAS, Born in Newington, Connecticut, Mr. Taricani served in the United States

Air Force after graduating high school. He had dreams of becoming a musician but developed an

interest in journalism while attending Central Connecticut State College, and in 1968, received a

Presidential letter of commendation for helping secure the transfer of Martin Luther King Jr.'s

assassin; and

     WHEREAS, In 1974, Mr. Taricani joined the staff at radio station WKRI in West

Warwick, where his listeners knew him as Jim Roberts because his boss had told him that the

name Taricani sounded too ethnic. In 1978, he moved to television with station WPRI 12 and

reclaimed his name; and

     WHEREAS, The following year, Mr. Taricani moved to WJAR, where he co-founded the

station's I-Team, and with the exception of a brief one and a half year respite as Press Secretary to

then-Governor Lincoln Almond, he worked at WJAR until his retirement from news in 2014; and

     WHEREAS, While he frequently made headlines, Mr. Taricani's journalistic integrity

became legendary when in 2004, a federal judge convicted him of criminal contempt for refusing

to reveal the source who had given him an FBI surveillance tape showing a top lieutenant to then-

Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, Jr. accepting an envelope containing a cash bribe; and

     WHEREAS, Revered by his peers as well as his readers, Mr. Taricani was honored with

five regional Emmy awards as well as an Edward R. Murrow award for investigative journalism.

He was also the recipient of an honorary degree from the University of Rhode Island in 2018, and

to honor his memory, a lecture series on First Amendment Rights is being established at the

University of Rhode Island; and

     WHEREAS, From a small West Warwick radio newsman to becoming one of Rhode

Island’s most prominent and respected journalists, Jim Taricani's journalistic and investigative

career is indelibly imprinted in the hearts and minds of generations of Rhode Islanders and he will

be dearly missed; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby extends deepest condolences on the passing of Jim Taricani; and

be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Laurie White-Taricani.

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