The Latest from PolitiFact Rhode Island Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

A scorecard separating fact from fiction

Historically, the Social Security tax has been assessed on about 90% of U.S. income. Now it captures 83% because there's been such a growth of income among the highest earners.

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is buried "not far" from President Kennedy’s grave.

"Two years ago Providence alone spent $50,000 a year notifying the school department" about residents in the state's sex offender registry.

In Cranston, it costs $5,000 to $6,000 to send out community notifications on just one Level 3 sex offender.

North Korea has a "substantial standing army, one of the largest, certainly the largest per capita, in the world."

Proposed gun control legislation "will outlaw practically every firearm, make you pay $100 per firearm, put you into a police database" and make it "nearly impossible" to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

"If you are a federally licensed gun dealer and your license is revoked because you've engaged in misconduct ... your entire inventory under prevailing law is deemed your personal collection. You then can sell it free from any background checks."

"Narragansett Bay waters are getting warmer -- 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in the winter since the 1960s."

Right now, if Rhode Island police come across a young person with a gun, "they really don't legally have the right to take it away from them."

If an individual is determined "to commit suicide, the availability of a gun is not a factor" because they will find a way.

"Women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men."

"In Rhode Island, 28 percent of adults released from state prisons are re-incarcerated within a year."

When the NECAP proficiency test is re-given to the kids the second and third time, harder questions are taken out.

"Harvard Study Finds States With Most Gun Laws Have Fewest Gun Deaths."

"No one knows who bought the [38 Studios] bonds. And there was some language put in the bond offer that they must remain anonymous."

Assertions that it makes no difference whether children are raised by heterosexual or homosexual parents have been "shattered by the latest and best social science and research."

"Any legislative action that is taken now could very well be rendered completely null and void by the decision of the Supreme Court expected this June."

When students leave our high schools and they go to the community college, 70-75 percent of them have to pay to take remedial math.

"Even Roger Williams National Memorial in my home state of Rhode Island attracted nearly 51,000 visitors in 2011, with non local visitors adding more than $3.2 million to the local economy."

"Do you know that, statistically, when you take the SAT a second time, one third of the people that take the SAT, even if they've been studying, will get a lower score than they did the first time around?"

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PolitiFact Rhode Island is a partnership of the Providence Journal and PolitiFact.com, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site of the Tampa Bay Times, to help you find the truth in politics.

Every day, reporters and researchers from the Journal examine statements by Rhode Island elected officials and candidates and anyone else who speaks up on matters of public importance. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter:

TRUE – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.

MOSTLY TRUE – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.

HALF TRUE – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.

MOSTLY FALSE – The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.

FALSE – The statement is not accurate.

PANTS ON FIRE – The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.

For more details, see the Principles of PolitiFact and the Truth-O-Meter.

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