Everyday ethics: Balancing the branches of government The best way to serve the public interest is to have a legislature and judiciary able to keep a president in check.

Like the federal government, local governments in Rhode Island have executive, legislative, and judicial branches with a mayor or town manager, a city or town council, and municipal courts.

Every student learns about the three branches of government in civics class. There's the legislative branch, the judicial branch and the executive branch. But in Tennessee, there's an unusual ...