Watchaug Pond declared OK after harmful algae bloom

Low algae levels and no toxins detected

Missed opportunity: We could have sold
"Watchaug Green" samples as souvenirs

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) have lifted the recommendation to avoid recreational activities at Watchaug Pond in Charlestown. 

The harmful algae bloom (HAB) caused by blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) has cleared. Recent water testing laboratory results show algae levels are low and no toxins were detected at multiple locations, meeting safety guidelines. 

RIDOH and DEM are advising people to avoid contact with Cunliff Lake at Roger Williams Park in Providence due to harmful algae blooms (HABs). Water samples were collected by DEM and tested by RIDOH’s State Health Laboratories. 

All recreation, including swimming, fishing, boating and kayaking, is high risk to health and recommended to be avoided at this location. This HAB is caused by blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, which are naturally present in bodies of water. HABs can produce toxins which can be harmful to humans and animals. 

Americans' ability to afford health care falls to 5-year low

Losing ground

By West Health Institute

Edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

Share of U.S. adults who are "Cost Secure"
dips below half. Credit: West Health-Gallup
Center on Healthcare in America

New research released from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America finds that fewer than half of Americans (49%) are considered "Cost Secure," meaning they can consistently afford health care and prescription medications when and where they need them, the lowest level recorded since West Health and Gallup launched its Healthcare Affordability Index in 2021.

In the past year alone, 2.8 million Americans dropped out of the Cost Secure category, unable to keep up with rising health care costs. The new data largely extend last year's downward trends, with continued declines in affordability evident among traditionally vulnerable populations, including Black and Hispanic adults and lower-income households.

"The fact that fewer than half of Americans can reliably afford health care should alarm every person, policymaker and health care leader in the country," said Tim Lash, president of the West Health Policy Center.

"Millions of Americans are being priced out of health care because costs are rising faster than their ability to pay. Without meaningful reforms that better address health care delivery, high prescription drug prices and rising insurance premiums, Americans will continue to struggle and affordability will only continue to deteriorate."

Health care spending is on the rise in the U.S., reaching $5.3 trillion in 2024, a 7.2% increase from the prior year and growing more than twice the rate of overall inflation (2.9%). Hospital prices climbed 3.4% in 2024, the fastest increase since 2007, while prescription drug spending rose 7.9%.

More reasons why Bobby Kennedy Jr. must go

‘Unsettling’ Accounts of HHS Leadership Fuel Calls for RFK Jr. to Resign

Jessica Corbett for Common Dreams

While public health advocates have sounded the alarm about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. since senators confirmed President Donald Trump’s “profoundly unqualified” nominee to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services over a year ago, The New York Times’ reporting on his job performance at HHS sparked fresh calls for his resignation.

HHS “affects the health of 340 million Americans and provides healthcare to 40% of the population through Medicare and Medicaid,” explained the Times, which interviewed a dozen people who have had contact with Kennedy as secretary and other department employees. His nearly 16-month tenure has already featured a measles outbreak that killed two children in Texas last year, the recent hantavirus cases among cruise passengers, and the ongoing Ebola crisis in Africa.

As the newspaper detailed:

Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues. Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.

That'll teach him!

Priorities, a continuing series

NO, I am NOT running for state Rep. for House District 36

I checked the wrong box

By Will Collette

This is where I stand

Today, I learned that when I filed my declaration as a candidate for the Democratic House District 36 Committee, where I have served for years, I checked the WRONG BOX and am now listed as a competitor to incumbent Rep. Tina Spears in the September 9 Democratic Primary.

I heard about it from our Town Clerk Amy Weinreich (thank you, Amy). Then saw my name on the Secretary of State’s listing of declared candidates. I will take every step required to correct that mistake and make sure my name is NOT on the ballot.

I voted to endorse Tina Spears as a member of the District Committee and am wholeheartedly supporting her through the Primary and the General Election.

And I will not be replacing her yard sign (photo, above) with one of my own…although I might put one up that reads “DON’T VOTE FOR ME!”

Soaring US beef prices likely to rise further thanks to trade tensions and disease outbreaks

Trump blunders lead to more expensive burgers

Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee and Charles Martinez

It’s summer grilling season, but for many Americans, surging prices mean beef is no longer what’s for dinner.

The cost of beef, having spiked since early 2025, is coming under even more pressure. The most recent is the screwworm outbreak that hit cattle in Mexico and has now spread to the United States, where the cattle herd has already fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s, due in part to drought.

Meanwhile, potential trade disruptions loom. Just before U.S. and Mexican trade negotiators began meeting on June 16-17, 2026, to discuss the long-standing deal binding North America, Donald Trump warned that Washington may not renew the agreement, which was negotiated during his first term, and instead potentially withdraw from it altogether.

As international trade and livestock economists, we have studied how North American trade has deeply integrated cattle and beef markets, influencing production, prices and the movement of animals and meat products across Canada, Mexico and the United States. 

And because beef is both a top agricultural import and export for the U.S., the industry is especially vulnerable to any disruptions to the existing trade deal. As one example, the cost of ground beef is up by more than 20% just since January 2025.

Current trade uncertainty, reflecting Trump’s more fragmented, bilateral approach to negotiations, couldn’t come at a worse moment for inflation-weary consumers. The growing turmoil in the North American beef market risks further tightening supplies and raising prices.

RI Dems convention split leaves no endorsements for governor, LG and AG

Bad news for McKee and Matos

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Neither Gov. Dan McKee nor challenger Helena Foulkes will get the top spot and asterisk signaling the party endorsement on the September primary ballot after the Rhode Island Democratic Party declined to endorse either at its state committee convention Saturday.

The outcome marks yet another setback for McKee, who will be the first sitting governor in at least recent history not to win the backing of his party, said Joe Fleming, a WPRI 12 political analyst.

“I don’t recall an incumbent governor ever not winning the endorsement, and I’ve been around a long time,” Fleming said in an interview Monday. “This is not a good sign for the governor.”

McKee received 81 votes to Foulkes’ 75, while 11 voting committee members opted not to endorse, according to vote totals shared by the Rhode Island Democratic Party. To secure party backing, candidates need to get 50% of all votes cast plus one — or 84 of the 167 committee members who cast ballots at the Teamsters Local 251 union hall in East Providence Saturday.

They don't want you to know the REAL reason Social Security is in trouble

But I'm going to tell you anyway

Robert Reich

The trustees of the Social Security fund said Tuesday that the fund will be depleted by late 2032, a year earlier than the trustees’ projection last year of 2033. If nothing is done, benefits will automatically be cut six years from now.

The common understanding is that Social Security’s shortfall is due to the huge postwar baby boom, now retiring, and to America’s increasing life expectancy. The usual recommended fix is to reduce Social Security benefits or raise the age of eligibility. As Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, warned Monday, “entitlement programs” like Social Security “have to be adjusted and fixed.” He said Republicans will introduce a plan to do that. Brace yourselves.

I used to be a Social Security trustee, and I call bullsh*t.

The baby boom can’t be blamed for Social Security’s shortfall. The Greenspan Commission, which in 1983 recommended the reforms that Congress then made — raising Social Security payroll taxes and also raising the eligibility age for collecting Social Security benefits — knew all about the baby boom and figured it into its calculations. (Early boomers like me can now start collecting full benefits at age 66; late boomers born after 1960 have to wait until they’re 67 to collect full benefits.)

Americans’ increasing life expectancy isn’t at fault, either. While wealthier Americans are living longer, that’s not the case for lower-income Americans. The Urban Institute estimates that life expectancy in the top 20 percent of income-earners is 91 years for people born in the 1990s, four years more than people born in the 1950s. Yet the life expectancy in the lowest 20 percent of income-earners is fewer than 80 years.

So what’s the real cause of the Social Security shortfall? What did Greenspan’s commission fail to predict? Widening inequality.

Remember, the Social Security payroll tax applies only to earnings up to a certain cap. This year, that cap is $184,500. Earnings at or below this amount are taxed at 12.4 percent. The cap rises every year according to a formula roughly matching inflation.

He could also try balloon animals

Trump refuses to sign bipartisan affordable housing bill

Paddle by the light of the silvery moon, June 28

 

Full Moon Paddle   Sunday, June 28th, 6:30pm - 9:00pm Catch a summer treat - dusk on the Wood River! What wildlife will you encounter? Beavers, Eagles and Great Blue Herons?! Wildlife are very active just before dark. Turn your eyes to the skies for the birds, or down to the water for the dragonflies. Sunset is always a treat. If there is little cloud cover, then the moon rise will reflect beautifully over the water.   Wood River up to Frying Pan Pond is wide and forgiving, the Pond provides great birding opportunities. The Eagle's nest is evident from two viewing locations. The meandering section upriver has some tight corners, but is mostly wide.   Event takes place on Sunday, June 28th. There is no rain date reserved for this event due to moon rise times. Kassi@wpwa.org will send an email Friday or Saturday morning if the weather forecast does not permit a safe paddle trip. Assume the paddle will take place! Presently weather looks great. Event is 6:30-9:00pm, the group will launch at about 6:50 pm and paddle for over an hour and a half. Headlamps are encouraged for on-land activities.   Cost is $30 for WPWA members. Kayaks and gear are included. If you are a WPWA Otter, Osprey, or Eagle Member, the program is free and you will not be asked for payment when you register online. 4 tandem kayaks are also available, great for an adult to share with a child under 11. The registration link will indicate the number available, if any.   You may renew your WPWA Membership here: https://wpwa.org/   For More Information Contact: Kassi Donnelly: kassi@wpwa.org PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Click Here to Register Our Contact Information Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association 203 Arcadia Road Hope Valley, RI 02832 401-539-9017 http://www.wpwa.org

Is this how Donald Trump's ear miraculously healed so quickly and thoroughly?

Stanford scientists regrow lost cartilage and reverse arthritis in major breakthrough

Stanford Medicine

Miraculous healing

Scientists have found a way to regenerate worn-out joint cartilage by blocking an aging-related protein called 15-PGDH. Credit: Shutterstock

A treatment that targets a protein linked to aging has restored lost knee cartilage in older mice and prevented arthritis from developing after serious joint injuries, according to a Stanford Medicine-led study.

Researchers also found encouraging results in human tissue. Samples collected during knee replacement surgeries began producing new, functional cartilage when exposed to the treatment.

The findings raise the possibility that damaged cartilage caused by aging or osteoarthritis could one day be repaired with either a local injection or an oral medication. If successful in people, the approach could reduce the need for knee and hip replacement surgeries.

An oral version of the treatment is already being tested in clinical trials for age-related muscle weakness.

Targeting the Root Cause of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and affects about one in five adults in the United States. The disease gradually breaks down cartilage in the joints, causing pain, stiffness, and swelling. It is estimated to generate roughly $65 billion in direct health care costs each year.

Current treatments focus mainly on pain relief and, in severe cases, joint replacement surgery. No approved medication can slow, stop, or reverse the underlying disease process.

The new treatment works by blocking a protein called 15-PGDH, which researchers describe as a "gerozyme." This class of proteins becomes more abundant with age and contributes to declining tissue function throughout the body.

The same research team first identified gerozymes in 2023. Previous studies showed that 15-PGDH plays a major role in age-related muscle decline in mice. When researchers block the protein, older animals gain muscle mass and endurance. When the protein is artificially increased in young mice, their muscles become weaker and smaller.

Scientists have also linked 15-PGDH to the regeneration of bone, nerve, and blood cells.

In addition to stopping shingles, shingles vaccine may protect against dementia

Shingles is nasty, but researchers find a side benefit to getting vaccinated

Meghan Holohan

Receiving the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV), which prevents herpes zoster (HZ), commonly known as shingles, within a year of entering or leaving a US nursing home dramatically lowers the risk of a dementia diagnosis for up to four years.

The study, published yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, reinforces past observational research suggesting the same.

While previous research found that the live attenuated HZ vaccine reduced the likelihood of a dementia diagnosis, the researchers in this study wondered if RZV provided the same benefit. The paper found that receiving a dose of RZV was associated with a 5.8-percentage-point lower risk of a dementia diagnosis for up to four years.

“[That] translates to about one in 17 dementia cases potentially being prevented through vaccination,” lead author Kaley Hayes, PharmD, PhD, associate director of pharmacoepidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, told CIDRAP News. “We were honestly taken aback by the results. However, they actually are consistent with other studies that have primarily included the older form of the vaccine.” 

Trump Planned to Spend $300 Million in Taxpayer Dollars on Ballroom While Claiming It Was Privately Funded

Surprise shocker (not): he lied from the beginning

Stephen Prager for Common Dreams

Internal documents show that President Donald Trump was lying when he said taxpayers would not be footing the bill for his massive White House ballroom.

Reiterating what he’d already said countless times, the president claimed in March that the project was “taxpayer-free” and entirely funded by private donors, who’d spend $400 million to build it in the now-demolished East Wing of the White House.

But at the time he made these comments, he knew that was untrue.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that a detailed project summary made three weeks earlier showed the total construction cost at $600 million, with more than half of the funds coming from taxpayers.

The Post continued:

By the time Trump made his comments in March, the federal government had already approved more than a dozen payments to the contractor overseeing the work, Clark Construction, totaling tens of millions of dollars in public funds, according to a log of the contractor’s invoices obtained by The Post...

Multiple project summaries provided to the White House by Clark Construction show that internal cost estimates have been significantly higher than administration officials have acknowledged in public comments or court filings. They also show that the work was projected to rely heavily on taxpayer dollars from the moment it was announced.

According to the March 5 estimate reviewed by the Post, $293 million worth of funding is coming from donors—many of whom have received new or extended federal contracts over the past six months.

The rest of the money comes from taxpayer-funded sources: $155 million would come from the Secret Service, $149 million from the White House Military Office, and $3 million from the Executive Residence.