//Rhode Island voters appear to approve changing part of state's name

Rhode Island voters appear to approve changing part of state's name

Rhode Island will now be officially known as … Rhode Island.The smallest state in the country will no longer have the distinction of also having the longest official name after voters approved a statewide referendum to strip the words “and Providence Plantations” from Rhode Island’s formal name — the culmination of a long running debate revived amid the nation’s reckoning with racial injustice.Officially, Rhode Island