URI Farmland to Be Transformed Into Hybrid of Forest and Pasture

The word for today is "Silvopasture"

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Driving past Peckham Farm on Route 148, you’ll see a 20-acre parcel that looks like any other agricultural parcel.

The farm, just outside the University of Rhode Island’s main campus, is owned and operated by the university for research, teaching, and extension programs. It is actively farmed. Eighteen acres of the property are used for pasturing cattle, sheep, and other animals.

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But if a new project planned for 54 acres that were recently made available to farm goes well, Peckham Farm may look more like a forest than it does bare fields in the next decade.

In recent years, URI natural resources professor Laura Meyerson and Peckham Farm manager Coleman Replogle have been teaming up to bring a new kind of pasture to the farm, one that combines forestland with pasture into a hybrid called silvopasture.

“It’s a bit like the savanna,” explained Meyerson to ecoRI News on a recent Zoom call. “You are integrating trees into a grazing pasture, but also creating a forested edge, just this continuum of forest.”

Silvopasture is an agroforestry practice that integrates trees, forage, and other vegetation with livestock into a single farming and habitat system. Traditional pasture, such as the 18 acres already extant on Peckham Farm, usually just consists of grasses and other herbage for farm animals like cattle to feed on.

The practice is rooted in traditional ecological knowledge from the Indigenous tribes of the Americas, according to Myerson. It’s still used in the southeastern United States and South America. 

Farms such as Wild Harmony Farm in Exeter practice silvopasturing, but Meyerson said the Peckham Farm project is the first to study the practice as a method of ecological restoration.

Under silvopasture, grassland is peppered with trees and other foliage to provide ecological benefits and new, traditional habitats for species such as birds and bats, while still providing a nutritious, varied grazing diet for cattle.

Who do you think would win in a physical fight between you and Donald Trump?

A pollster asked Americans that question after Trump asked an 8-year-old if he could take him in a fight.

Terri Rupar, Editorial Director

This story was originally reported by Terri Rupar of The 19th. Meet Terri and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Who do you think would win in a physical fight between you and Donald Trump?

The question, asked by YouGov, was sparked by a Tuesday event in the Oval Office, when the president revived the Presidential Physical Fitness Award. “Are you a strong person?” Trump, 79, asked a child in attendance. “You think you could take me in a fight?”

Overall, 55 percent of Americans said they could take Trump in a fight; 19 percent said Trump would win. 

Medical experts declare Trump is too unstable to remain in office

Can't be trusted with unchecked authority to launch nuclear weapons

Bandy X. Lee

The following press release has just been issued:

Washington, DC—On April 30, 2026, a group of 36 leading physicians and other doctors with expertise in mental health issued a statement calling for President Donald J. Trump’s immediate, lawful removal from office for medical reasons. His mental instability, coupled with his sole, unchecked authority to launch nuclear weapons, makes him a clear and present danger to the safety of all Americans, they declared. 

The U.S. Senate offices of Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) entered their statement into the Congressional Record, Vol. 172, No. 76.

While they did not offer diagnoses, the experts were informed by voluminous evidence from the historical record of the president’s bizarre and impulsive behavior, rambling digressions, factual confusions, unexplained sudden changes of course in strategic matters, both national and international, and his deeply impaired judgment. 

Since we circulated our concerns among medical colleagues, Mr. Trump has exhibited more signs of grandiosity, e.g., posting images of himself on social media shaking hands with God, acting like Jesus, and dressing as a Pope. And he has continued nocturnal bingeing on social media posts that are filled with accusations of multiple conspiracies against him, as often as 150 times a night. 

Most worrisome are his outbursts of extreme, seemingly uncontrollable rage, such as his threat to destroy Iran, saying, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

Current nuclear policy permits a president, and the president alone, to choose the time and target of a nuclear launch, without his orders being subject to review. The U.S. has a policy that permits a first use of nuclear weapons. These policies, combined with an emotionally unstable leader is a formula for unspeakable tragedy waiting to happen. For this reason above all others, the group of medical experts urged that lawful steps be taken to remove the president from office.

Donald versus Leo, point and counter-point

Definitely. Arrest Bezos

How much should politics influence science, and vice versa?

National Science Board’s ousting resurrects an existential debate

Caroline Wagner, The Ohio State University and James Olds, George Mason University

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump,” read 22 emails sent from the White House Presidential Personnel Office on Friday afternoon, April 24, 2026, “I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated, effective immediately.”

The email was signed “Thank you for your service.”

The distinguished scientists and engineers who made up the National Science Board did not know the firings were coming. Several had been reappointed by Trump himself during his first term. The board was scheduled to meet the following week to finalize a report on the state of American science.

When asked why the entire board was removed, a White House spokesperson cited the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in United States v. Arthrex, Inc., stating that the case raised constitutional questions about the National Science Board, its independence and its role in the agency it oversees, the National Science Foundation. Specifically, whether non-Senate confirmed appointees can exercise the authorities that Congress gave the board when it authorized the NSF in 1950.

We have been studying and doing science policy. One of us (Wagner) has worked closely with the National Science Board several times and regularly uses their database on scientific and engineering progress. The other of us (Olds) led the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Biological Sciences from 2014 to 2018 and has previously called for reform of the board.

We argue that the dismissal is not just a political act dressed in constitutional language; it is the resurfacing of an argument almost as old as the National Science Foundation itself — one that nearly killed the agency in its cradle.

Brown researchers find bad traffic can make you crazy

No kidding

Brown University

While research has shown a link between traffic-related exposures such as air pollution and noise and adverse mental health outcomes, few studies have looked at the role of road infrastructure itself in isolating communities and breaking down their social fabric, and how that might affect the mental health of people who live there.

According to a new federally funded study focusing on New York City, researchers found that communities that were very isolated by roadways and traffic patterns tended to have more schizophrenia-related hospital visits, and this effect was independent from traffic-caused air pollution.

“Imagine an environment where cars are present, but do not dominate, and that also has robust pedestrian traffic and walkable routes to neighbors’ homes, and where you can see kids playing outside and neighbors congregating to talk,” said study author Jaime Benavides, an investigator in epidemiology in the Brown University School of Public Health. “We wanted to home in on the road infrastructure that prevents people from interacting and learn how that influences their mental health.”

In the study, which was published in Environmental Epidemiology, the research team conducted ZIP code-level analyses to investigate the association between mental health hospital visits and community isolation in New York, using annual New York State Department of Health counts of hospital visits related to mood, anxiety, adjustment and schizophrenia disorders.

Trump Tariffs Ruled Illegal—Again—as Data Shows Promised Manufacturing Boom Is Nonexistent

Trump treats court opinions as "advisory"

Jake Johnson for Common Dreams

A panel of federal judges ruled Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s sweeping 10% tariffs on most imports are unlawful, another major legal blow to the centerpiece of the Republican president’s economic agenda—which has failed to produce the manufacturing boom he repeatedly promised on the campaign trail.

The Court of International Trade (CIT) found in a 2-to-1 ruling that Trump violated the law when he unilaterally enacted the 10% import taxes following a February decision by the US Supreme Court, which struck down tariffs the president imposed using emergency powers. 

But the CIT’s ruling, which the Trump administration is expected to appeal, only barred collection of the tariffs from some of the plaintiffs in the case—including a pair of businesses and Washington state—limiting the ruling’s immediate impact.

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a member of the House Trade Subcommittee, applauded the new ruling in a statement, saying that “Trump must comply with the law by ending his illegal tax on the American people and getting families and small businesses the refunds they are owed.”

Triggered Trump is dangerous

His ego cannot accept two giant pending defeats

Robert Reich

Friends,

We are witnessing what happens to a person who is consumed with the need to dominate but cannot.

Iran is unlikely to give in. It can withstand the economic pressure of a blockade better than Trump can withstand the political pressure that comes with rising gas prices (now nearly $4.50 a gallon, on average), soon followed by rising food prices.

His looming failure in Iran is not just a serious geopolitical defeat for the United States; it’s a personal crisis for Trump.

Those rising prices coupled with an increasingly unpopular war have increased the likelihood that Democrats will take back control of the House and even possibly the Senate in the upcoming midterms.

Here again, not just a political defeat for the Republican Party but a personal crisis for Trump.

His ego cannot accept a humiliating loss, as we saw after the 2020 election. His need to bully, dominate, and gain submission is so hardwired inside his insecure head that the defeats he’s now facing — to Iran and to Democrats — are already setting off explosions.

He’s posting more wildly than ever — attacking, insulting, ridiculing, threatening.

On Sunday, Trump posted that Democrats had “RIGGED the 2020 Presidential Election. GET TOUGH REPUBLICANS—THEY’RE COMING, AND THEY’RE COMING FAST! They’re no good for our Country, they almost destroyed it, and we don’t want to let that happen again!” He demanded that Republicans “approve all of the necessary Safeguards we need for Elections to protect the American Public during the upcoming Midterms.”

More of his posts are bizarre AI-generated paeans to himself, his godlike powers, his wished-for physique, and his self-image of omnipotence. 

On Friday night, he posted an AI-image of himself, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and Doug Burgum, all shirtless and with young physiques, standing in the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial, along with an unidentifiable woman in a bikini. 👉

Minutes later he posted an image of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries holding a baseball bat, with a caption calling Jeffries “low IQ,” “a THUG,” and “a danger to our Country.” On Tuesday, he posted AI-images of Joe Biden on one knee with the caption “COWARDS KNEEL,” Barack Obama with the caption “TRAITORS BOW,” and himself with his fist raised and the caption “LEADERS LEAD.”

His mouth — never in control — is now in diarrheic mode. He’s even back to attacking the pope, accusing him of “endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people,” adding, “but I guess if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

His thin-skinned vindictiveness is beyond anything we’ve seen before, which is saying a lot. Last week, after German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the U.S. was “being humiliated by the Iranian leadership,” Trump repeatedly attacked and ridiculed Merz. The Defense Department then said it was pulling 5,000 troops out of Germany, and Trump said he was increasing tariffs on European cars and trucks to 25 percent (from 15 percent).

He’s becoming ever more obsessed with monuments to himself — his ballroom, his arch, his so-called “garden of heroes,” his Trump-embossed passports, his image on 24-karat gold commemorative coins, and his name plastered or etched all over Washington. His plans for self-monuments are becoming larger by the day, more grotesque, more grandiose, and more expensive. Senate Republicans just proposed $1 billion more for Trump’s ballroom, which, recall, was supposed to “cost taxpayers nothing.”

He has even directed the Treasury to announce that his own signature — yes, the same one that appears in a book of birthday greetings for Jeffrey Epstein — will replace the Treasurer’s on all new U.S. paper currency. This will be the first time in American history that a sitting president’s name will appear on circulating cash money.

His thirst for vengeance is exploding, too. Last week the Department of Justice launched another criminal case against former director of the FBI James Comey (whose earlier indictment was quashed by the courts) for posting a picture of seashells spelling out “86 47” on Instagram a year ago. Trump is also insisting that the Justice Department restart its criminal investigation of Jerome Powell and double-down against former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley and others he considers “enemies.”

Facing the two monumental failures of Iran and control over Congress, Trump is fanatically seeking other ways to assert dominance. On Tuesday, his Education Department announced a civil rights investigation into Smith College over enrolling transgender students. Expect more of this.

Regardless of what happens in Iran, he’ll claim victory. That will be difficult to do convincingly when gas prices remain over $4 a gallon, but he’ll undoubtedly try.

What if Democrats win control of one or both chambers of Congress in the midterms and he claims they lost or cheated? The nation barely survived the last time Trump’s fragile ego faced a major loss.

We’ll also have to cope with Trump as a lame-duck president who can no longer dominate and gain submission as he did before. Will he try to remain president beyond his second term to avoid this?

The man is unwell. Seriously unwell. Lame-duck presidents fade away, but injured dictators can be dangerous.

Dear Leader has an ingenious plan to end school shootings

Reminder to seniors from the RI Health Department

Rep. Megan Cotter sponsors bills to bolster regional school districts

Cotter fights for Chariho

Rep. Megan L. Cotter is sponsoring several bills to help school districts with finances, particularly the regional districts she represents.

Two of the bills address transportation costs and two address state aid for regional districts.

“Regionalization creates an economy of scale and allows schools to offer greater opportunities to students than they would have if their towns’ schools were separate and smaller. In theory, regionalization is encouraged by the state because it’s economical, but in practice, regionalization is complicated, and the funding mechanisms don’t address all its wrinkles. My bills are aimed at smoothing some wrinkles that are currently adversely affecting our regional districts,” said Representative Cotter (D-Dist. 39, Exeter, Richmond, Hopkinton), whose district spans parts of the Exeter-West Greenwich and Chariho regional school districts.

Evidence review finds HPV vaccines to be safe, extremely effective

And it prevents cancer! 

Liz Szabo, MA

Twenty years after the approval of vaccines that prevent infection with the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV), data continue to find that the shots are safe and extremely effective.

HPV vaccines reduce the risk of cervical cancer by 80% in women vaccinated by age 16 years and 66% in those vaccinated after 16, and aren’t associated with serious side effects, according to an evidence review published today by the Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP), an initiative of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), which publishes CIDRAP News.

HPV, which spreads through intimate contact, causes 90% of tumors of the cervix, as well as most cancers of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus, and the middle part of the throat.

About 50,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer annually.

“The data show how important HPV vaccination is to prevent persistent HPV infections that lead to cancer,” said Angela Ulrich, PhD, MPH, CIDRAP’s director of research who led the evidence review. 

US government ramps up mass surveillance with help of AI tech, data brokers – and your apps and devices

The many ways Big Brother is watching

Anne Toomey McKenna, Penn State

On a Saturday morning, you head to the hardware store. Your neighbors’ Ring cameras film your walk to the car. Your car’s sensors, cameras and microphones record your speed, how you drive, where you’re going, who’s with you, what you say, and biological metrics such as facial expression, weight and heart rate. Your car may also collect text messages and contacts from your connected smartphone.

Meanwhile, your phone continuously senses and records your communications, info about your health, what apps you’re using, and tracks your location via cell towers, GPS satellites and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

As you enter the store, its surveillance cameras identify your face and track your movements through the aisles. If you then use Apple or Google Pay to make your purchase, your phone tracks what you bought and how much you paid.

All this data quickly becomes commercially available, bought and sold by data brokers. Aggregated and analyzed by artificial intelligence, the data reveals detailed, sensitive information about you that can be used to predict and manipulate your behavior, including what you buy, feel, think and do.

Companies unilaterally collect data from most of your activities. This “surveillance capitalism” is often unrelated to the services device manufacturers, apps and stores are providing you. For example, Tinder is planning to use AI to scan your entire camera roll. And despite their promises, “opting out” doesn’t actually stop companies’ data collection.

While companies can manipulate you, they cannot put you in jail. But the U.S. government can, and it now purchases massive quantities of your information from commercial data brokers. The government is able to purchase Americans’ sensitive data because the information it buys is not subject to the same restrictions as information it collects directly.

The federal government is also ramping up its abilities to directly collect data through partnerships with private tech companies. These surveillance tech partnerships are becoming entrenched, domestically and abroad, as advances in AI take surveillance to unprecedented levels.

What Trump’s post as a Jesus‑like figure tells us about political messianism

Trump the Messiah

Austin Sarat, Amherst College

Donald Trump sparked immediate outcry on April 12, 2026, when he posted an image of himself as a Jesus-like figure. The post, which Trump later said was supposed to depict him as a doctor, came shortly after he criticized Pope Leo XIV as “weak” and “terrible.”

Three days later, Trump posted an image depicting Jesus with his left hand on his shoulder. Referring to that post, Trump observed, “Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!”

These posts help illustrate the political messianism that Trump has brought to the Oval Office.

Political messianism is a style of leadership that places great faith in a single leader who is endowed with godlike attributes. It does not welcome dissent, and it portrays politics as a struggle between good and evil.

Eric Voegelin, a 20th-century political thinker, warned that political messianism often fuels authoritarian rule. It divides society, with a messianic leader’s supporters seeing him as a savior who will deliver their country into a golden age, while opponents foresee a coming apocalypse.

Democratic politics thrive when leaders and followers act with modesty and humility, when no one sees themselves as infallible or indispensable. As someone who teaches and writes about U.S. democracy, I don’t think it can thrive, or even survive, when its leaders see themselves as godlike and when the citizenry is divided into true believers and heretics.

Trump’s messianic vision

The image depicting Trump as a Jesus-like figure is the latest evidence of Trump's messiah complex.

At the Republican National Convention in 2016, he boasted that “I alone can fix it,” referring to a system that was responsible for what he would later call “American carnage.”

In a 2019 speech, Trump referred to himself as “the chosen one.”

In 2023, he described what he had done in his first term this way: “I think you would have a nuclear war if I weren’t elected.” As president, “I was very busy. I consider this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives.”

And in a Jan. 8, 2026, interview with The New York Times, Trump said, “I don’t need international law,” since his actions as commander in chief were guided only by “my own morality. My own mind.”

The president is not alone in believing in his messiah status, or in comparing himself to Christ. On April 2, 2026, at a White House Easter celebration, Paula White-Cain, one of his spiritual advisers, used Jesus’ death and resurrection to explain what had happened to Trump.

“Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial, and resurrection,” she said. “He showed us great leadership, great transformation requires great sacrifice. And Mr. President … you were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us.”