Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Repairs to Damaged Section of Charlestown Breachway Seawall Complete
Thanks to Rep. Tina Spears, we got a fix instead of a patch
By Bonnie Phillips / ecoRI News staff
The repaired section of the Charlestown Breachway. (Bonnie Phillips/ecoRI News)
When a 150-foot section of the Charlestown Breachway gave
way last winter after being battered by storms in late 2023 and early 2024, the
results were immediate: sand from the beach washed into the channel, making it
shallower and dangerous for boaters to navigate, and affecting the health of
Ninigret Pond.
The breachway channel connects the Atlantic Ocean and
Ninigret Pond, a vital ecosystem that acts as a nursery for a variety of fish
and shellfish and is home to commercial aquaculture farms. It’s surrounded by
the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, the Ninigret Conservation Area, homes,
and marinas. A variety of groups, including recreational boaters, recreational
anglers, shellfishers, and birders use the pond and fish from the breachway’s
jetties, considered one of the best saltwater fishing areas in the state.
The town had been worried about the state of the breachway
since Superstorm Sandy came through in 2012. Recognizing what could happen if
the most recent damage wasn’t repaired, the town began working with the Coastal
Resources Management Council to discuss ways to fix the seawall.
From Bad to Worse
Bayer’s new Roundup products appear more toxic than prior formulations, new report asserts
Friends of the Earth (FOE) reported Tuesday it found four
chemicals have recently been added to Roundup products that have been
scientifically shown to cause a variety of health problems, including
reproductive defects, kidney and liver damage, cancer, and neurotoxicity.
The analysis comes after the agrochemical company Bayer pledged that
it would remove glyphosate from its popular Roundup herbicide products sold for
residential lawn and garden use starting in 2023.
Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, made the change to
try to curtail the filing of future litigation as it battles thousands of
lawsuits filed against Monsanto by cancer patients who claim they developed
non-Hodgkin lymphoma from using Monsanto’s Roundup and other glyphosate-based
herbicides.
Notably, all four of the added chemicals pose greater risk
of long-term and/or reproductive health problems than does glyphosate, based on
the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) evaluation of safety studies, FOE
said.
Of the four chemicals found in the products – diquat
dibromide, fluazifop-P-butyl, triclopyr, and imazapic – the “worst offender”,
according to FOE, is diquat dibromide. It is 200 times more toxic than
glyphosate when exposure occurs over a long period of time, the group said, and
is banned in the European
Union. It is 27 times more toxic in acute exposures, the group said.
Inside the Company Helping America’s Biggest Health Insurers Deny Coverage for Care
“Not Medically Necessary”: screwing people for profit
By T. Christian Miller, ProPublica; Patrick Rucker, The Capitol Forum; and David Armstrong, ProPublica
- Dialing for Dollars: America’s largest insurers hire EviCore to make decisions on whether to pay for care for more than 100 million people.
- “The Dial”: EviCore uses an algorithm that allows it to adjust the chances that company doctors will screen prior authorization requests, increasing the possibility of denials.
- Lucrative Deals: Some EviCore contracts are based on how deeply the company can reduce spending on medical procedures. It tells insurers that it can provide a 3-to-1 return on investment.
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
Every day, patients across America crack open envelopes with bad news. Yet another health insurer has decided not to pay for a treatment that their doctor has recommended. Sometimes it’s a no for an MRI for a high school wrestler with a strained back. Sometimes for a cancer procedure that will help a grandmother with a throat tumor. Sometimes for a heart scan for a truck driver feeling short of breath.
But the insurance companies don’t always make these decisions. Instead, they often outsource medical reviews to a largely hidden industry that makes money by turning down doctors’ requests for payments, known as prior authorizations. Call it the denials for dollars business.
The biggest player is a company called EviCore by Evernorth, which is hired by major American insurance companies and provides coverage to 100 million consumers — about 1 in 3 insured people. It is owned by the insurance giant Cigna.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Some closing thoughts on Election Day Eve
Lives on the line from the top to the bottom of the ticket
By Will Collette
 |
| Norman Rockwell's 1944 depiction of the undecided voter |
If democracy still works and sanity still prevails, Donald Trump will be defeated, and Democrats will control both the House and the Senate.
If that’s the outcome, we have many years of healing to do, perhaps the biggest challenge since the end of the Civil War.
If Trump and his fascist hordes win, well that’s another matter
altogether. Then, it will be about survival strategies.
I don’t know whether there are many more “undecided” voters
out there or people who haven’t yet voted, but if you’re one of those still
trying to decide, let’s cover the bases.
I have already proudly cast my ballot for Kamala Harris and
Tim Walz. I think she’ll be a great president and hopefully, she will have a
successful term in office. Trump should be in prison, not the White House.
I am also proud of our Congressional delegation and have cast
my votes for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and District 2 US Rep. Seth Magaziner
who work hard for us in the bruising arena of a bitterly divided Congress.
Statewide, we have several excellent state ballot questions
that would fund important job-creating infrastructure to benefit education, environment
and the arts.
We have a clunker in Question 1, whether to convene a state Constitutional Convention.
Do we need it? No. Is it worth the money? No. Is it
simply an opportunity for far-right wingnuts to cause chaos and mischief with
our rights? Yes, and if you want proof of that, just look at the cast of
characters supporting it.
Local General Assembly races offer some clear-cut choices
except in House District 36 where Rep. Tina Spears (D) is unopposed as our state Representative making her
the automatic winner. If she had had an opponent, I would have backed her unreservedly.
Victoria has done an outstanding job in every aspect of the job while Place has littered Route One with big signs paid for by the Republican
Party.
In neighboring House District 39, there’s a rematch
between hard-working incumbent Rep. Megan Cotter (D) and January 6
insurrectionist Justin Price (R-MAGA). Price doesn’t belong on the ballot
under the anti-insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment of the
Constitution, but Sec. of State Greg Amore has chosen not to pursue that
sanction.
In Charlestown, Democratic or Republican party labels don’t
really tell you much about what kind of town government you will get. As a
devoted life-long Democrat it pains me to suggest you ignore party labels when
marking your ballots.
In Senate District 34 which includes the northern half of
Charlestown, Sen. Elaine Morgan (R-MAGA) seeks re-election. Morgan is a
gun nut, anti-immigrant
racist and adjudicated
thief who was caught stealing money from her campaign fund to pay for
personal items.
Morgan has held herself out as a champion of morality and
children’s welfare, but somehow couldn’t instill those beliefs at home. On
September 25, her 22-year-old son Ian took a plea deal to plead no contest to third-degree
sexual assault of a child. According
to WJAR, “Prosecutors said he had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old
girl he had met online. Morgan was 18 at the time.”
Elaine Morgan has been an
embarrassment since first elected in 2014. It’s time for her to go and for
voters to send Hopkinton
Democrat Steve Moffitt to the State House.
Megan narrowly beat Price in 2022 and has since done an exemplary job on behalf of her district. In two years, she’s far more to help her district and the state than Price did in the 8 years he held the office.
She promises more of the same, while
it’s still an open question whether Price will face charges for breeching
security lines at the US Capitol on January 6. Pretty clear choice.
Our town election is a complex matter that confronts the
Election Day voter with some complicated choices.
Actual power in Charlestown comes down to a contest between
two political action committees (PACs) who present you with an almost equal number
of candidates more or less split roughly the same between labelled Democrats
and Republicans, mixed together on the ballot.
Half of them are endorsed by Charlestown Residents United
(CRU) that won the majority in the 2022 election on a platform of honest, sound
financial management and reform.
The other half represents the discredited Charlestown
Citizens Alliance (CCA) that seized control of Charlestown politics in 2008 and
held power until beaten in 2022.
I have already voted for the CRU slate and have posted a
series of articles here on Progressive Charlestown to make the case that the
CRU has done a great job compared to the dark decade of total CCA dominion.
Even when the CCA promotes good things like conservation,
dark skies and tourism, they do so in such twisted, radical ways that they
usually turn consensus into controversy.
If you need to see the arguments and supporting evidence for
the reasons to support the CRU and reject the CCA, please read:
CCA
tries to distract Charlestown voters with shiny things
The
politics of Charlestown open space
Should
Charlestown voters amend the town’s “constitution?”
Early
voting, mail-in ballots start this week amid confusing ballots for Charlestown
voters
Fear
and loathing in Charlestown politics
RI
Auditor General finds new CRU leadership in Charlestown improved town finances
The last article on the RI Auditor General’s report
establishes how the CRU majority has largely cleaned up the financial mess the
CCA left behind when they slunk off in defeat in 2022.
CCA President Leo Mainelli wrote the CCA closer in a piece he entitled "Indisputable Truths. No spin." Unfortunately, Leo then proceeds to offer no facts and lotsa spin about how this race has been about Dark Skies and Open Space but should really be about whether the town government listens to the CCA.
He glosses over the issues that have been raised about the CCA's decade of financial mismanagement:
Today, we live in a world where any position can be validated as “the truth” by simply turning to the source of information that agrees with an individual’s relative “truth”. Polar opposite opinions can each be substantiated, depending on which source of information is deemed a trustworthy authority.
I agree: when it comes to the management of Charlestown's finances, there is the state Auditor General whose data show the marked improvement in Charlestown's finances under the CRU, while the CCA has Bonnie Van Slyke who claims the CCA handled Charlestown finances flawlessly.
Even before the Auditor General's report, we knew Charlestown was being mismanaged by the CCA when the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council found that Charlestown had the worst record in the state for excessive administrative costs, at $566 per capita, the highest in the state. By contrast, the CCA has Bonnie Van Slyke who says there are no problems.
Bonnie, who is trying to return to the Town Council after two years off, claims a BA in economics from Wellesley College, but there's no sign in her employment history she actually used that degree. Hey, if Leo wants to believe Bonnie over the RI Auditor General or the RI Public Expenditures Council, then so be it. As Harry S Truman famously said:
“Give me a one-handed economist. All my economists say 'on ONE hand...', then 'but on the other...”
Elections are a regular reminder that despite how divided we can get, we all have to live with each other. Hopefully, we’ll make it through this one with our fundamental principles and institutions intact.
 |
| Madame President, I hope with all my heart |
The fascinating lives of Rhode Island’s native turtles and snakes
What's crawling in your bushes?
By Cynthia Drummond, Rhode Island Current
 |
| The milk snake is primarily nocturnal and dines mostly on small rodents and sometimes birds, eggs and other snakes. (Photo by Christopher Raithel from ‘Reptiles of Rhode Island’) |
For a short-snouted dog, Mags proved to be a competent sidekick when it comes to stalking Rhode Island’s native turtles.
So says the pit bull’s owner, retired state biologist Christopher Raithel, who observed Mags sniff out the tiniest baby turtles during his field research trips to ponds andswamps around the Ocean State.
“I didn’t even train him,” said Raithel, who was the staff zoologist for the Rhode Island Heritage Program, and later, the nongame and endangered species biologist at the Department of Environmental Management before retiring in 2018.
“He just used to go with me, and he found a couple, and all you have to do is praise him and that’s pretty much it. He would find the ones that I could never see, because they were under the cover, so having him there was worth more than several other observers.”
Thanks to Mags’ dependable scent work, Raithel was successful in documenting every one of Rhode Island’s seven native turtles in his field guide “Reptiles of Rhode Island,” published last spring. But tracking all 13 of the state’s native snakes took more effort.
“Snakes, in particular, are very difficult to study,” Raithel said. “Turtles are a little bit easier to deal with, because you can put radios on them and glue stuff to them. But snakes are difficult to find and extremely difficult, impossible, to count.”
Election anxiety doesn’t need to win − here are 3 science-backed strategies from a clinical psychologist to rein in the stress
Not for MAGAs since it involves mindfulness
You are not alone. A recent survey found 69% of American adults are seriously stressed about the 2024 presidential election.
It’s difficult not to be worked up about politics in today’s polarized climate. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit on, you may find yourself glued to your browser or TV, gobbling up every tiny tidbit of news and feeling your stress levels skyrocket.
I’m a psychologist who develops and tests strategies for combating anxiety. As I constantly tell my stressed-out clients, when it comes to election news, there’s a fine line between being well informed and being oversaturated with information.
If you’re ready to short-circuit your stress spiral, here are three science-backed strategies for coping with anxiety in times of uncertainty.
Approach your emotions with mindfulness
Being mindful refers to the quality of awareness you bring to your experiences – specifically, nonjudgmental attention focused on what’s happening right now.
Mindfulness practices originated in Eastern spiritual traditions, including Buddhism. Over the past several decades, mindfulness has gained popularity as a powerful tool for managing anxiety. For instance, meditation apps such as Headspace and Calm incorporate it. Even if meditation isn’t your thing, though, you can still apply nonjudgmental awareness, focused on the present, to election-related anxiety.
Be present. Anxiety can draw you into an uncomfortable spiral of “what-ifs” about the future. When you make a point to be present, you remind yourself what is actually happening right now, rather than letting hypothetical fears take over.
Although you may have serious concerns about the fate of the nation, those outcomes have not yet come to bear. As I tell my patients, “We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. For now, focus on the step right in front of you.”
If you notice yourself getting carried away by thoughts of the future, you can pull yourself back to the present by bringing awareness to simple sensations – the feel of your feet on the floor, the rhythm of your breath, or the sounds around you – and remind yourself that you are safe in the current moment.
Pay nonjudgmental attention. Many people are hard on themselves for feeling strong emotions. This critical mindset might look like telling yourself that you’re overreacting, or that it’s weak to let others see that you’re upset. You might even view that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of your stomach as evidence that negative outcomes are right around the corner.
Making judgments about your emotions only serves to make you feel worse. In fact, researchers find that pushing away emotions or beating yourself up for having them leads to more frequent and stronger anxiety.
Instead, try giving yourself a break. Tell yourself, “This election is high stakes, so it makes sense I’m anxious.” Then, notice if your anxiety is driven by a fear about the future, and bring yourself back to the present.
What to expect on Election Day, according to Brown's faculty experts
Their opinions, FWIW, on what will happen
Brown University
With Election Day approaching in early November, the race is
shaping up to be incredibly close as voters consider a range of major issues,
from reproductive health care and America’s role in quelling global conflict to
the economy and other topics at the forefront of election-related
discourse.
As voters ready to head to the polls — or engage in early
voting in many states — a selection of Brown University experts in political
science, environmental sciences, economics, artificial intelligence, and health
and medicine shared a variety of opinions on what Americans might expect on
this Election Day and beyond.
The panel of faculty experts
Mark Blyth, Director, Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, Professor of International Economics and International and Public Affairs
Kim Cobb, Director, Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Professor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental and Planetary
Sciences
Christopher Rea, Assistant Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs
Wendy Schiller, Interim Director, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Professor of Political Science
Katherine Tate, Professor of Political Science
Liz Tobin-Tyler, Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, and of Family
Medicine
Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Interim Director, Data Science Institute, Professor of Data Science and Computer Science, and of Humanities
Marques Zarate, Assistant Professor of Political Science
On who will win the presidential election
Schiller: The election is a toss-up, but an uncertain election usually tends towards the “out” party. Even though Donald Trump has been elected president before, Kamala Harris is part of the incumbent administration, and so for that reason, I give a slight edge to Trump.
Tate: The election is too close to call. The country is really divided. Some feel that they still don’t know Vice President Harris that well. Trump is well known to voters, in contrast.
Blyth: I think it’s too close to say. By some
estimates, it’s going to be settled by the preferences of 150,000 very
different people in five states, or about 0.1% of the voting population, and no
one really knows what they want. Add to that the other unknown variable of
turnout, and we simply cannot know until it’s over. And once it’s over it will
not be over, as it will be contested until the last possible moment either
way.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
15 Big Corporations Used Trump Tax Cuts to Pump $839 Billion Into Buybacks, Dividends
Tens of thousands of jobs were killed in the process
Jake Johnson for Common Dreams
The new analysis, which cites figures from the Institute on
Taxation and Economic Policy, was published amid an ongoing congressional debate over
whether to extend elements of the 2017 law that are set to expire at the end of
next year. It also comes as Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is
campaigning on a fresh round of tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations.
Republican lawmakers, bolstered by an army of corporate lobbyists,
have signaled that they are prepared to quickly ram through new
tax breaks if Trump wins the presidency and the GOP secures control of the
House and Senate in next month's election.
Vice President Kamala
Harris, the Democratic nominee, has proposed raising the corporate
tax rate from 21% to 28%.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
We analyzed 9 years of Trump political speeches, and his violent rhetoric has increased dramatically
He's always been bad but has gotten a lot worse
Nikita Savin, University of California, Los Angeles and Daniel Treisman, University of California, Los Angeles
 |
| By Mike Luckovich |
Donald Trump’s political career has been marked by a unique and often controversial rhetorical style. Since 2015, his rhetoric has evolved significantly, attracting attention for its direct, often violent tone.
Analyzing his speeches offers a revealing look at how his language has shaped both his political persona and the broader landscape of American politics.
We are political scientists who analyzed Trump’s campaign and presidential speeches from 2015 through 2024. We found that one of the most striking trends in Trump’s rhetoric is the sharp rise in his use of violent vocabulary. The share of words associated with violence rose from almost 0.6% in 2016 to 1.6% in 2024 in Trump’s speeches. As a comparison, the proportion of violent words in 40 randomly chosen weekly radio addresses by Barack Obama was 0.79%.
From Trump’s first campaign in 2015 through the next nine years, his speeches have increasingly included words and phrases related to crime and military conflict. In March 2024, for example, Trump said that “it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country” if he wasn’t reelected in November.
By 2024, Trump’s use of violent language had surpassed that of nearly all other democratic politicians we considered, approximating that of authoritarian figures such as Kim Jong Un and Fidel Castro.
This surge in violent rhetoric is not linked to significant external events such as wars. Trump has focused his messaging on violent crime, particularly in American cities, even as crime rates were declining. His repeated references to “murderers, rapists and thugs” paint a picture of a nation under siege, heightening anxiety among his supporters.
At the same time, he casts himself as a strong leader capable of confronting these perceived threats.
Who Would Likely Pay For Trump’s Social Security Plan?
Most likely, YOU
But why do seniors pay taxes on Social Security? The answer uncovers the secret behind both political parties’ promises to protect seniors and their benefits: Protection has a price, and somebody will have to pay it.
Everybody can understand the basics of the federal
government’s income statement.
The costs of Social Security and Medicare Part A (hospital insurance)
benefits increasingly exceed the revenues deposited into their trust funds.
Both programs’ benefits are set to grow substantially over time, so more
revenue must be found, the growth rate of spending cut, or both.
Congress can let the rest of the budget absorb the trust
funds’ hemorrhaging, primarily by adding those deficits to the ones in the
non-trust fund part of the budget, financed out of general revenues like the
income tax. But that does nothing to protect future taxpayers from paying ever
more for growing federal debt and interest payments.
Beating the System to Eat Better on a Budget
Heart Health Hacks
By Gabriela Ghisi, University of Toronto and Camila Kümmel Duarte, UFMG
For people with heart conditions, adhering to dietary
guidelines is essential, not optional. Eating a diet that promotes heart health
can help manage critical risk factors such as high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, and obesity, all of which are key
contributors to heart disease.
The Challenges of Dietary Compliance in Cardiac Care
A healthy diet will help you prevent new heart problems,
which is called secondary prevention, and it will help improve functional
capacity and quality of life, giving you more independence for daily
activities. However, for many patients, adhering to these dietary guidelines
can be a significant challenge even while they are in a cardiac rehabilitation
program. This is especially challenging for those who live in low-resourced
settings (areas or communities with few resources and little
support for health and wellness).
Cardiac rehab is an interdisciplinary approach focused on
interventions for secondary prevention and improving cardiovascular prognosis,
to reduce the global impact of cardiovascular disease. We
recently conducted a study aimed at understanding the barriers
and facilitators that low-resourced patients face when trying to follow
nutritional recommendations in cardiac rehab.
The findings underscore how critical, yet complex, it is for
patients to maintain a heart-healthy diet. The results of this study are not
just informative — they are a call to action for healthcare providers,
policymakers, and communities alike.
Secret money funding Morgan's campaign against Sheldon Whitehouse
More on the Super PAC funding Patricia Morgan attack ads
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier this week, I posted an article on Morgan's backer HERE. This article provides more detail. - Will Collette
Sen. Whitehouse has long been a right-wing target,
especially for his positions on climate change
and corruption on the Supreme Court
A New York-based economic think tank has asked a super PAC with multiple addresses to remove its website from an ad campaign supporting the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Patricia Morgan against Democratic incumbent Sheldon Whitehouse.
The request from the progressive Roosevelt Institute comes after the group Roosevelt Society Action aired a 30-second TV spot attacking Whitehouse as he seeks a fourth-term on Capitol Hill.
“After 18 years in Washington, Sheldon Whitehouse has left us waiting with wasteful spending and backroom deals,” a stern-voiced narrator says. “It’s time for real change — it’s time for Patricia Morgan.”
That message in support of Whitehouse’s GOP challenger played twice on Rhode Island TV sets during the Oct. 27 Sunday Night Football game that saw the San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys. The commercial is slated to air again, twice when the Indianapolis Colts play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Nov. 3 and once during FOX’s college football game Saturday, according to recent filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Roosevelt Society Action has addresses in Wisconsin and Alabama and one treasurer in Alabama who is listed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). It also has at least $200,000 to spend in the Ocean State, according to an FEC filing.
The group doesn’t have a phone number or any public profile that would indicate why it’s interested in a U.S. Senate race in solidly blue Rhode Island. A Rhode Island Current poll conducted in September showed Whitehouse led Morgan 52% to 37%.
“That is bizarre,” Matthew Ulricksen, an associate professor of political science for the Community College of Rhode Island, said in an interview Wednesday. “It never even crossed my mind that a super PAC would be spending for Pat Morgan — something’s going on here.”
Friday, November 1, 2024
Can you trust the CCA in Charlestown?
After you look at their record, no, you can't
Frank Glista, Charlestown
The candidates that are supported by Charlestown Residents United (CRU) have done just that. All nine of their candidates have had extensive experience in our local government.
In comparison, the candidates from Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) fall short of this basic achievement.
Three of their five candidates running for Town Council and one of their four running for the Planning Commission have never been involved with any volunteer or elected position that Charlestown offers.
So who do you trust to run our town government? Dedicated residents who have given decades of service, or citizens that have been asked to serve to fill up the CCA ballot card?
Speaking of trust, here are a couple of interesting tidbits
for you to review:
■ Did you know that the CCA Town Council attempted to giveaway YOUR town-owned property by giving a conservation easement to an outside agency? (You, the voters rejected this idea by a margin of 618 to 548 during
the all-day financial referendum on June 1, 2015.)
■ Did you know that the CCA knew about the Federal RailroadAdministration attempt to create the Old Saybrook /Kenyon bypass a year before
the CCA revealed it to the residents of Charlestown? (Town Council Minutes of
January 10, 2017, or watch the video at the 49:30 min. mark.)
■ Did you know that in 2019 the town of Charlestown had an excess surplus of $3.1 million? The CCA members of the Town Council tried to include that amount in the municipal budget that went before the voters, instead of making it a warrant question. They wanted the money to construct a building in Ninigret Park without a plan or cost estimates even though a majority of residents spoke against this plan. Only Town Council Vice President Deb Carney listened and agreed with the voters. (The CCA didn’t adhere to the will of the voters and the budget was soundly defeated by a vote of 739 to 265 at the all-day financial referendum on June 3, 2019.)
The CCA won’t tell you these things, but instead spin the truth to benefit their own agenda ... so much for transparency. Don’t fall for their propaganda. Do the research and find out for yourselves. After all, the only thing transparent about the CCA is their lack of transparency.
Please support the CRU candidates:
Deb Carney, Craig Marr, Rippy Serra, Peter Slom and Stephen Stokes for Town Council; Glenn Babcock and Laura Rom for the Planning Commission; and Ray Dreczko for town moderator and Laura Chapman for School Committee.
A version of this article appeared as a Letter To the Editor in The Westerly Sun on October 30, 2024.
Indigenous Museum in Exeter Eyes Move to Bigger Location
A "Yes" vote on Rhode Island Question 5 will make the difference
By Colleen Cronin / ecoRI News staff
 |
| Make the dream real. Vote YES to RI Ballor Question 5 |
As the Tomaquag Museum looks to move to a new location at the University of Rhode Island, the organization hopes funding from the state will help make it happen.
At a virtual meeting Wednesday, the museum’s executive
director, Loren Spears, reviewed preliminary plans for the new museum and
discussed how it will further the organization’s goals.
“Those that know me well know that I kind of grew up in
Tomaquag Museum, but I’m not quite as old as when it was founded,” she said,
smiling, at the start of the meeting.
The only Indigenous-run museum in the state focused on
Native history and culture, the Tomaquag Museum started as a small
enterprise in 1958.
Founded by Princess Red Wing, a member of the Narragansett
and Wampanoag tribes, and Eva Butler, an archaeologist, the museum was a way to
preserve and share the story of local Indigenous people.
US Election Sabotage Fears Grow After Ballot Boxes Set Aflame
New MAGA strategy: Burn ballot drop-off boxes
Law enforcement officials in the Pacific Northwest are investigating a pair of Monday morning fires at ballot drop boxes that have heightened concerns about illegal efforts to interfere with the November 5 elections.
One fire occurred around 3:30 am Pacific time on Southeast
Morrison Street in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Police Bureau explained that "by the time officers arrived, the
fire had already been extinguished by security personnel who work in the area.
Officers determined an incendiary device was placed inside the ballot box and
used to ignite the fire."
Multnomah County noted in a separate statement that "fire
suppressant inside the ballot box protected virtually all the ballots,"
and the three voters whose ballots were damaged will be contacted by officials
so they can receive replacements.
"Make no mistake, an attack on a ballot box is an
attack on our democracy and completely unacceptable," declared Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne
Griffin-Valade. "Whatever the motivation behind this incident, there is no
justification for any attempt to disenfranchise voters."
RED FLAG WARNING for fires issued for Charlestown and our region NOW until 7 PM
...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM TO 7 PM EDT FRIDAY FOR
RHODE ISLAND...
The National Weather Service in Boston/Norton has issued a Red
Flag Warning which is in effect from 8 AM to 7 PM EDT Friday.
* AFFECTED AREA...In Rhode Island, Northwest Providence,
Southeast Providence, Western Kent, Eastern Kent, Bristol,
Washington, Newport and Block Island.
* TIMING...From 8 AM to 7 PM EDT Friday.
* WINDS...West 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.
* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 44 percent.
* TEMPERATURES...Up to 77.
* IMPACTS...Any fire that develops will catch and spread
quickly. Outdoor burning is not recommended.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now, .or will shortly. Any fires that start
may spread rapidly and become difficult to extinguish.
How the Election Could Affect Toxic Chemical Regulation
Under Trump, there won't be any
By Teresa Carr
On a chilly morning in early December 2017, attorney Anthony Spaniola awakened at his cabin on Van Etten Lake in Oscoda, Michigan, to the sight of billowy white froth bobbing along the shore. He recalled his wife peering out the window and remarking, “Hey, it snowed last night.”
Photo: The White House
“And I said, ‘I don’t think that’s snow,” said Spaniola. “It was contaminated PFAS foam.”
Thanks to their stain-, water-, and grease-resistant properties, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have been a mainstay of commercial and consumer products for decades. Sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because most don’t break down naturally, PFAS (pronounced PEE-fass) accumulate in the environment and have been linked to harmful health effects, including increased cholesterol, lowered immunity, liver damage, diabetes, kidney and testicular cancer, and lower birth weight.
The foam on the Spaniolas’ beloved lake contains high levels of PFAS, remnants of the chemicals once used in firefighter training at nearby Wurtsmith Air Force Base, shuttered since 1993.
In the past decade, activists like Spaniola have successfully pushed for tighter restrictions on PFAS, culminating in regulations that set the first national limits on the chemicals in drinking water and require polluters pay for cleanup. Now, advocates are lobbying federal regulators to do more to limit PFAS at the source, including by banning the chemicals in certain products and helping municipalities pay for technology to filter them out of waste and drinking water.
What the upcoming presidential election, though, could mean for those policies remains unclear. The executive branch wields broad power over PFAS regulation, but neither Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump have made PFAS contamination part of the platforms published on their campaign websites. Still, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s track record during their respective administrations yields important clues about how the outcome of the presidential election could shape policy.
In advance of the upcoming presidential election, some former officials at the EPA are raising the alarm that a second Trump administration could undo progress in reducing PFAS production and cleaning up contaminated areas such as Oscoda.
“The biggest concern I would have is a rollback,” said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who was an environmental scientist and administrator at the EPA for four decades. Political appointees could overrule scientists to pull back and redo regulations they didn’t like, she said. “You could end up going backwards in environmental protection.”
Orme-Zavaleta and others point to Project 2025, an initiative spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and featuring input from many former members of the Trump administration, which calls for efforts to “revisit” and “revise” key PFAS policies finalized during the Biden administration.