More proof that taxing Rhode Island rich would be a good thing

New data shows the number of millionaires and their wealth expands after higher state taxes on high-income earners

Steve Ahlquist

On the same day that the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) released a “policy brief” that recycled tired (and disproven) claims of the wealthy fleeing states with higher taxes, the Institute for Policy Studies and the State Revenue Alliance released a report using recent data out of Massachusetts and Washington state about the actual impact of increased taxes on the wealthy.

RIPEC may be non-partisan and pride itself on “objective research and analyses,” but that research and analyses are usually entrenched in outdated and largely discredited neoclassical economic theory. 

Under such a view, low taxes on the rich, a trickle-down economy, and a weak social safety net to discourage freeloaders become the order of the day. RIPEC has in the past cherry-picked data that support their beliefs, like the idea that raising the minimum wage drives inflation or that taxing the rich causes them to flee the state.

What happens when you look at the numbers and gauge the effects of tax increases recently enacted in Massachusetts and Washington is that not only are these states collecting revenue needed to fund education, health care, transportation, and more, but that revenue generated from taxes on millionaires helps fund essential programs that expand economic opportunity for all. This expanded opportunity helps low- and middle-income residents avoid extreme poverty and increases the wealth of top earners and the number of millionaires in the state, a virtuous cycle of potential prosperity.

Big Bird is a commie!

King Donald's Epstein photo album

Neronha co-leads AG coalition suit against RFK Jr., Trump administration

Rhode Island federal court prime venue for anti-Trump lawsuits

By Janine L. Weisman, Rhode Island Current

Neronha is also leading fight to protect
wind energy

Twenty attorneys general filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in Providence to stop U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the agency he leads from dismantling key public health programs.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha is one of three co-leaders challenging the Trump administration’s mass layoff of 10,000 HHS employees under its “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. The 101-page complaint claims the mass layoff has left HHS unable to perform its statutory functions of protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of Americans.

The other co-leaders are New York Attorney General Letitia James and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. They are joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

After termination notices went out to HHS employees on April 1, the complaint states employees were immediately expelled from their work email, laptops, and offices. Five of HHS’s 10 regional offices were closed, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle. 

New Pope is American, hope he can fill Francis' shoes

Chicago born Robert Prevost becomes Pope Leo XIV

Federal Cuts Gut Food Banks as They Face Record Demand

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank is among the victims of Musk-Trump cuts

Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez 

Empty shelves at the RI Community Food Bank

Food bank shortages caused by high demand and cuts to federal aid programs have some residents of a small community that straddles Idaho and Nevada growing their own food to get by.

For those living in Duck Valley, a reservation of about 1,000 people that is home to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, there’s just one grocery store where prices are too high for many to afford, said Brandy Bull Chief, local director of a federal food distribution program for tribes. The next-closest grocery stores are more than 100 miles away in Mountain Home, Idaho, and Elko, Nevada. And the local food bank’s troubles are mirrored by many nationwide, squeezed between growing need and shrinking aid.

Reggie Premo, a community outreach specialist at the University of Nevada-Reno Extension, grew up cattle ranching and farming alfalfa in Duck Valley. He runs workshops to teach residents to grow produce. Premo said he has seen increased interest from tribal leaders in the state worried about high costs while living in food deserts.

“We’re just trying to bring back how it used to be in the old days,” Premo said, “when families used to grow gardens.”

Food bank managers across the country say their supplies have been strained by rising demand since the covid pandemic-era emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits ended two years ago and steepening food prices. Now, they say, demand is compounded by recent cuts in federal funding to food distribution programs that supply staple food items to pantries nationwide.

In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut $500 million from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which buys food from domestic producers and sends it to pantries nationwide. The program has supplied more than 20% of the distributions by Feeding America, a nonprofit that serves a network of over 200 food banks and 60,000 meal programs.

Wildfire Maps Help Firefighters in Real Time

So, of course, Trump-Musk is eliminating the program

NASA

A NASA sensor recently brought a new approach to battling wildfire, providing real-time data that helped firefighters in the field contain a blaze in Alabama. Called AVIRIS-3 (Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer 3), the instrument detected a 120-acre fire on March 19 that had not yet been reported to officials.

As AVIRIS-3 flew aboard a King Air B200 research plane over the fire about 3 miles (5 kilometers) east of Castleberry, Alabama, a scientist on the plane analyzed the data in real time and identified where the blaze was burning most intensely. The information was then sent via satellite internet to fire officials and researchers on the ground, who distributed images showing the fire’s perimeter to firefighters’ phones in the field.

All told, the process from detection during the flyover to alert on handheld devices took a few minutes. In addition to pinpointing the location and extent of the fire, the data showed firefighters its perimeter, helping them gauge whether it was likely to spread and decide where to add personnel and equipment.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On the same day NASA released this story, NBC News that NASA budget cuts put wildfire fighting programs at risk. Staff firings, budget cuts and grant suspensions at all federal agencies that help state and local firefighters are being chain-sawed to death by Musk and Trump for reasons that beggar justification. States don't have their own satellites, but maybe the answer lies with the fact that Elon Musk does - and the hidden agenda is to force states to pay SpaceX to get data that NASA has been supplying.  - Will Collette

Charlestown residents may soon see a major property tax savings

Town Council asks legislators to seek General Assembly approval for a Homestead Exemption

By Will Collette

Thank you to our CRU Charlestown Town Council
members. Looking forward to quick action to enact a
town ordinance.

In many Rhode Island municipalities, lots of property is owned by non-residents. This is especially true in coastal communities like Charlestown where waterfront properties are often bought by wealthy non-residents for far more than the tax assessed value of those properties.

Charlestown’s summertime population jumps from around 8,000 to almost 30,000. The influx of non-residents requires the town to maintain an infrastructure that supports three times the number of full-time residents. We need roads, facilities, town staff and public safety investments to support all those extra people. The town even organizes volunteers to pick up trash from around their homes and along the roadways.

Our neighboring towns address these burdens by offering a Homestead tax break to permanent residents that, in many municipalities, takes the form of a reduction in the tax assessment. Most recently, South Kingstown got General Assembly approval for a new ordinance that would reduce the tax assessment of full-time residents by up to 10%.

On April 14, the Charlestown Town Council, comprised entirely of Charlestown Residents United (CRU) members, voted to seek General Assembly approval for similar homestead exemption similar to South Kingstown. It’s very likely the legislature will approve this request.

What does this mean to you?

In 2011, Charlestown Town Democrats proposed a flat $1000 homestead tax credit, an idea that was obviously ahead of its time, but were beaten down by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance. They organized what I dubbed “the riot of the rich,” mobilizing non -resident property owners to violently protest the concept.

The CCA and its absentee owner-benefactors argued a tax credit wasn’t fair (“class war” they said) that could motivate wealthy property owners to leave or to boycott local services and charities.

Those arguments were pretty lame back in 2011 and even more so today. Out-of-state owners are paying mega-bucks for Charlestown properties. If they decide they want to leave because their tax goes up by a few thousand, that’s fine since we seem to have a big pool of buyers ready to pay as much as a million or two more than assessed value.

And seriously, are these absentee homeowners going to mow their own lawns, fix their own plumbing, clean their own houses and swimming pools, or bring their groceries with them from Manhattan?

I'm sure non-residents grab a bite or two at local eateries, but I suspect their tastes run more to the cuisine at Ocean House, not Monahans.

As for donations, other than the CCA’s campaign fund, where else do donations from non-residents go? 

All told, the main contribution non-residents make to Charlestown’s economy is in the form of their property taxes. A Charlestown homestead exemption will simply increase their share to compensate the town for their out-sized impact on the town’s costs.

Depending on the final size of the exemption, i.e. what percentage, and the assessed value of your home, you will save on taxes and pass the cost of those savings onto to absentee landowners.

Only a tiny peep from the CCA

I was a bit surprised to see a relatively muted response from the Charlestown Citizens Alliance to the Town Council’s recent action compared to their 2011 freak-out.

Here’s how they describe the history of the fight over the homestead tax break:

Over the years, there have been proposals to enact a Homestead Exemption. These would have exempted a percentage of the assessed value of real property from taxation for certain taxpayers. One group of taxpayers would have received the exemption, but because the town would have needed to collect a given amount of revenue to provide services and support capital improvements, another group of taxpayers would have needed to pay the difference. None of these proposals has received support from the community in the past.

Notice no mention of the CCA’s leadership of the opposition to the homestead tax break since 2011. They are also cagey about saying the truth: the homestead tax break would benefit those of us who make Charlestown their home while non-resident property owners would, as the CCA puts it, “pay the difference.” Another important, but unmentioned, factor is how much the CCA counts on political donations from non-residents to fill their campaign coffers.

The CCA also claims there was no support for a homestead tax break from the community. Well, the CCA ensured there would be none by shutting down all discussion about this tax break for years after their political donors objected. Town voters rejected the CCA in the last two elections so the CCA’s claim is no longer valid.

Finally, the CCA blandly complains that “There seems to be a rush on the part of the Council to get this authority” but admit “it is late in this year’s legislative session.”

Even though it is late in the 2025 General Assembly session, Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero told the Council on April 14 that there were ways to get action on legislation this year.

Back in 2011, I supported a flat rate Homestead tax credit of $1000. I still like a flat rate because it would provide the greatest amount of tax relief to owners of lower priced homes. But I’m OK with a 10% exemption. 

Under the 10% plan, the higher your assessment, the bigger your assessment. That obviously favors high-end properties, unless the Council decides to cap the assessment subject to exemption, like $1 million just for the sake of argument. But everyone who makes Charlestown their home can benefit.

These are all questions to be addressed if the General Assembly authorizes Charlestown to proceed to craft an ordinance. That is a lengthier process and all the more reason to take this modest first step. That’s not rushing it – this tax break for Charlestown residents is 14 years overdue.

Recruitment

Why unions?

How to Help Wild Birds During Their Spring and Fall Migrations

Human-related causes leave birds susceptible to injury and death.

Jairus James

During their spring migration, billions of birds fly from their southern wintering habitats. 

After the spring breeding season ends and as fall and winter approach in the northern latitudes, they begin the journey to warmer areas—unless they’re hardy, resident birds like cardinals or blue jays. 

With migration occurring twice a year, birds in urban and suburban regions consistently face multiple threats, including being attacked by cats, collisions with windows, and habitat loss. A deeper understanding of the dangers birds face at various stages of their development can help us protect them.

356,000 heart attack deaths every year

Common plastic chemicals linked to 356,000 annual heart disease deaths worldwide

Brian Bienkowski  

Green Science Policy Institute

Chemicals used to make plastics more flexible are linked to more than 356,000 deaths annually across the globe, creating what researchers called a “substantial global health burden,” according to a new peer-reviewed study. 

The study, published Tuesday in the journal eBiomedicine, is the first to estimate heart disease deaths from exposure to di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), a class of phthalate chemicals that are used in raincoats, food packaging, shower curtains, PVC flooring and pipes, IV bags and other items. The chemicals make plastics softer and more pliable but are associated with multiple health problems, including hormone disruption, obesity, diabetes, infertility, cancer and heart problems.

The study does not prove DEHP causes heart-related deaths, however, it adds to evidence that exposure to the widespread chemicals — and the plastics that carry them — could raise people’s risk of heart disease. 

The new study comes as US regulators are undertaking a risk evaluation of DEHP to see if it requires further regulation and are accepting public comments on the review until May 6. The study also adds to a global debate over how to limit plastics and other chemicals linked to human and environmental health problems.   

R.I. environmental police are finally staffing up

No surprise: better pay and benefits improve recruitment

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Rhode Island’s state environmental police force has been troubled by vacancies for at least 20 years.

But not for much longer. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Division of Law Enforcement is poised to reach its full 32-person staff for the first time since Deputy Chief Mike Schipritt began working there in 2005.

Schipritt, who was promoted to deputy chief in 2024, will get a break from the endless hiring paperwork. More importantly, he won't have to struggle so much over how to deploy critical environmental guardians across the sprawling landscape of state-owned land and waters. 

Rhode Island Republicans red-bait new Senate President

RIGOP deploys MAGA-style McCarthy tactics to smear Senate President Valerie Lawson

By Will Collette

Let's deal with some key facts about the Rhode Island General Assembly. If you get elected, you'd better not quit your day job. The annual salary for Rhode Island legislators is $19,817. 

Unless you are retired or independently wealthy, everyone elected to the General Assembly has a real paying day job. Many are lawyers. Some are real estate agents, insurance brokers, teachers and cops. Some are health care providers. Some work in non-profits. Some are small business owners. Some make enough at their day jobs that they symbolically decline to take their salary.

A small number of legislators work for labor unions and, to hear it from the Republicans,  only they should be disqualified from serving. Because "socialist." Yeah, if you work for a union, you must be a commie.

As you can see from their statement above, the RIGOP is really upset that the Senate elected Valerie Lawson as new President of the Senate, replacing the recently deceased Dominick Ruggerio who was also a lifelong trade unionist. 

Lawson's crime in the eyes of the RIGOP is that she is also President of the National Education Association RI and doesn't plan to give up her day job. 

Rhode Island is a deep-blue state with a long and proud history of trade unionism with union membership rates among the highest in the nation. So why shouldn't trade unionists serve in the General Assembly alongside all those lawyers, bankers, small business owners, etc.?

The Rhode Island Ethics Commission routinely rules on legislators' compliance with state law, either by reviewing complaints or issuing advance advisory opinions. Whether you are a banker or a union organizer, the same rules apply.

If we want a legislature where members are unencumbered by their day jobs, make the General Assembly a full-time job with salary and benefits befitting, and rules barring outside employment of any kind.

I am sick of Republicans and MAGAnuts treating organized labor as if it was organized crime. That's no more logical or fair than considering all businesspeople to be bloodsuckers.

Definitely slap a warning label on his forehead

Sick man

Female bonobos keep males in check -- not with strength, but with solidarity

Waiting to see if Trump issues an executive order banning "woke" bonobos

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

Two female bonobos are engaged in grooming.
© Martin Surbeck, Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project

Biologically speaking, female and male bonobos have a weird relationship. First, there's the sex. It's the females who decide when and with whom they mate. They easily parry unwanted sexual advances -- and the males know better than to force the issue. 

Second, there's the food. It's the females who usually control high-value, sharable resources -- a fresh kill, say. They feed while sitting on the ground, unthreatened, while males hover in tree branches waiting for their turn.

This freedom enjoyed by females might sound normal by our standards, but according to Martin Surbeck from Harvard University, it's "totally bizarre for an animal like a bonobo." 

Bonobo males are larger and stronger than females, which gives them the physical upper hand to attack, force matings, and monopolize food. Like almost all other social mammals with larger males, bonobo societies should be dominated by males. And yet, bonobo females famously maintain a high social status compared to their larger male counterparts. Until now, though, nobody knew how this paradoxical dynamic was possible at all.

$1.5M in Green Bond Grants Available

This is state money, unaffected by Trump funding cuts for environmental projects 

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced the launch of a supplemental round of its Local Open Space Grant Program making up to $1.5 million available, depending on demand, in matching grants to help communities and local organizations protect the state’s valuable green spaces.

Funded through the 2018 and 2022 Green Bonds, this 2025 grant round supports land conservation efforts across Rhode Island. Grant awards of up to $500,000 are available and may cover up to half of total project costs. 

Eligible projects include the purchase of land or conservation easements that protect properties of natural, ecological, or agricultural significance. Priority will be given to projects that connect with or expand existing protected lands, and proposals that address or mitigate climate change impacts will receive additional consideration.  

Legislators unite across party lines to protect 340B discount prescription program

Under-the-radar drug discount program helps make medicine more affordable 

Rep. Jon D. Brien, Rep. Megan L. Cotter and Rep. Marie Hopkins —an independent, a Democrat and Republican from three very different areas of the state — are joining forces to call for the passage of legislation to prevent practices that subvert a critical prescription drug discount program.

The legislation (2025-H 5634), sponsored by Representative Brien and cosponsored by Representatives Cotter and Hopkins, prohibits insurers, pharmacy benefits managers and other payors from engaging in discriminatory practices against community hospitals, clinic and other health care provider agencies that purchase prescriptions through the federal 340B discount program.

The 340B program is a lifeline for community health centers, safety-net hospitals and rural clinics. It allows them to purchase medications at reduced prices and reinvest those savings into direct patient care — providing things like primary care, behavioral health, dental services, and addiction treatment to tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders, regardless of income or insurance status. 

Under 340B, prescription drug manufacturers must enter a pharmaceutical pricing agreement that discounts the drug for qualified entities that serve vulnerable populations, in order to have the drug qualify for coverage by Medicaid and Medicare Part B.

The 340B discount doesn’t rely on taxpayer dollars. It’s a self-sustaining program that makes health care more accessible and more affordable.

But over the past few years, some pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have undermined the intent of the program. They’ve limited which pharmacies providers can work with, imposed unfair restrictions, and reimbursed 340B providers less—sometimes solely because they’re using a discount program designed to help patients.

CCA favorite, former Charlestown Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz leaves the second job he’s held since leaving Charlestown in 2023

After only two years, Stankiewicz leaves Pawtucket Finance Director position

By Will Collette

He manned the ramparts at Town Hall,
fending off all non-CCA interlopers

Remember Stanky? For 10 years, Mark Stankiewicz did the ruling Charlestown Citizens Alliance's bidding. He insured a place for himself in the CCA Hall of Fame by being a Town Administrator who actually told me that he “works for the CCA” and not the citizens of Charlestown.

Ex Town Administrator Stankiewicz served the CCA by covering up shady land deals, denying access to public records and rationalizing financial screw-ups such as the CCA’s infamous “$3 million Oopsie” where $3 million in Charlestown funds were, to use Stanky’s term “misallocated” for two years. The CCA is STILL talking about what a great job he did.

Under Stankiewicz, Charlestown racked up the state’s highest per capita administrative costs - $566 per capita. Compare that to Cumberland, the lowest at $106 or to our neighbors in South Kingstown ($175), Richmond ($199), Hopkinton ($234) or Westerly ($270). But to the CCA, he was worth every penny.

He left Charlestown February 2023 after the 2022 election that saw voters overturn the CCA's decade of control over the Town Council.

CCA spokes-troll Bonnita Van Slyke claimed Charlestown Residents United (CRU), winners of the 2022 and 2024 town elections, ousted Stankiewicz and denied there were ever any problems. The CCA Steering Committee stridently asserted: “Do not be fooled! This is a FORCED, not a voluntary, resignation. Mark has served the town masterfully for ten years and has no desire to leave.”

But the fools turned out to be the CCA because Stankiewicz had already lined up a new job to become Town Administrator in Berkley Massachusetts even before the first vote in November 2022 was counted. Clearly, the CCA was clueless about his secret plan and looked pretty stupid.

Stankiewicz played the game out to its end, squeezing more money out of the citizens of Charlestown by timing his departure to coincide with his February 13, 2023 first day at his new job.

He only lasted six weeks in Berkley. In his resignation letter, Stanky told the town "It's because I got a fine job offer, and after careful consideration, I am taking it. I was approached with this job offer. Another municipal position. I wasn't searching for another job. I wasn't looking. If not for this job offer, I'd still be here."

That “fine job offer” was a gig as Pawtucket Finance Director.

Confidential sources in Pawtucket city government told me Stanky’s 2023 appointment was made by Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien over the objections of top city officials. Shortly after taking the job, Stankiewicz told subordinates that he "isn't a finance guy" clearly indicating that he didn’t think he was qualified for the job he was holding. His record in Charlestown certainly supports that admission.

Stankiewicz brought Irina Gorman, Charlestown’s ex-treasurer who was directly involved in the $3 million “oopsie,” with him and she became Pawtucket Treasurer.

Upped the Mayor’s salary by almost double

One of Stankiewicz’s first major projects was to engineer a huge pay increase for his patron, Mayor Grebien – raising the Mayor’s base salary from $80,000 to $150,000. No doubt Grabien appreciated the value of such an unquestioning soldier as Stanky.

Mistakes led to big money trouble for Pawtucket Schools

An on-going problem that was apparently due to Stankiewicz’s inattention was last year’s revelations that money had run out to continue construction of two new schools. Pawtucket voters had approved $570 million in borrowing.

Here’s how the Providence Journal described what happened:

The situation became obvious in mid-March when city Finance Director Mark Stankiewicz alerted public schools Superintendent Patricia Royal in a memo that money for key payments was running out. Stankiewicz warned in the memo that without additional funds for ongoing projects, come April 15, "we will no longer be able to make substantial contractor payments in order to reserve sufficient funds for normal operating expenses, including payroll."

Stankiewicz said records show that of the $220 million approved, just $30 million in bonds were issued last May. In the meantime, roughly $50 million has been spent on the school projects. From the state, $40 million has been paid out for the projects, and Stankiewicz said in his mid-March memo that there's no money left, and there were no requests for further funding from the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corporation, the "quasi-public" agency that helps health care and educational institutions access financing for construction and renovation projects.

This looks remarkably like how Stanky handled Charlestown’s $3 million “Oopsie.” 

While it’s a good thing that Stankiewicz brought this issue to the School Superintendent’s attention, the crucial mistakes that led to this financial crisis happened on his watch during the ten months after he became Finance Director.

Here’s how the Pawtucket City Council President described it:

[City Council President Terrence] Mercer said it was his sense the problem is "a whole host of things that don't seem to be getting done," including crucially important reimbursement requests that need to be sent to the state's education department if the city is to get more money for its projects.

Part of the issue, Mercer suspects, is some recent turnover in the finance department, which caused the city to lose institutional knowledge.

Council President Mercer is talking about Stankiewicz. As Finance Director, it was his job to not only make sure city bills got paid but also that city collected the reimbursements that it was due. He does not get any points for finally warning the School Superintendent that the money had run out when he should have attended to it from Day One.

It's deja vu all over again and a much bigger screw-up than the CCA's $3 million oopsie.

This will cost every Rhode Island household at least $302

Stankiewicz has also been a major player in the controversial minor league soccer stadium being built in Pawtucket. It’s first home game was just held ending in a zero-zero tie. 

The stadium is receiving a massive amount of corporate welfare from city and state funds. Rhode Island taxpayers are on the hook for $132 million in bond payments. When the bonds are paid off on this nice stadium, neither the state nor the city will have any ownership stake in the venue. According to GoLocal, that will cost the average Rhode Island household $302 each.

The project ended up 50% over budget and years late. The City of Pawtucket’s lead financial advisors resigned after concerns about the long-term financial future of the stadium were unheeded.

In a letter to the City, three executives of Hilltop Securities wrote:

“As you know we have detailed concerns about the proposed stadium transaction and bond offering. As a fiduciary to the City of Pawtucket and its development agency…we must do what we believe is in the City’s and PRA’s best interest…Therefore, please let this serve as Hilltop’s notice to the city and the PRA of our withdrawal as municipal advisor on this bond offering”

The letter was dated August 16, 2023, a couple of months after Stankiewicz took over as Pawtucket Finance Director. Despite this protest resignation, Stankiewicz soldiered on with this project while cancelling numerous other city projects – and neglecting to pay attention to the city schools finances.

So what? Why should Charlestown voters care?

The life and times of Mark Stankiewicz continue to be relevant to Charlestown residents and not just because every Rhode Island household is on the hook for $302 to pay for the Pawtucket soccer stadium.

The CCA’s determined deification of Stankiewicz speaks to the CCA’s lack of judgment on financial and governance matters, something voters need to remember. As recently as last July, the CCA is still defending Stankiewicz and denying that the thoroughly documented financial screw-ups ever happened.

You can bet that if the CCA somehow regains control over the Charlestown Town Council, they’ll be looking to replace our steady, drama-free Town Administrator Jeff Allen with some toady like Stanky. We don’t need to go backwards.

If you are interested in applying for Stankiewicz’s Pawtucket job, the city wants to hire ASAP.

Here is the job posting:

If you have tattoos, you should self-deport

Trump plans big military march to mark his birthday on June 14

Dennis Algiere returns to public life

Former state Senator Algiere represented the southern half of Charlestown for years

By Will Collette

Dennis Algiere is one of the few surviving members of a nearly extinct species: a moderate Republican. Actually, Algiere had hoped to launch his political career but was told by the then old-school Westerly Democratic machine that he had to wait in line.

On his own and as a Republican, Algiere went on to win Senate District 38 which he held for 30 years until declining to run for re-election in 2023. He was replaced by a smart young Democrat, Senator Victoria Gu.

During his long term, Algiere created an office that was a model of efficient constituent service. On the issues, he was usually center-left. These qualities meant he faced almost no challengers and usually won re-election unopposed.

I noticed a dramatic change in Algiere right after Donald Trump took the White House for his first term. He went silent. Algiere was never a self-promoter, unlike his local House colleague Blake "Flip" Filippi who would never pass up the chance to show off. Algiere pretty much stopped being the face and voice of state Republicans and that void was filled by such local radical MAGAnuts as Filippi, Sen. Elaine Morgan (who represented the northern half of Charlestown), and January 6 participant ex-state rep. Justin Price.

While others were surprised when Algiere made his 2022 announcement that he wasn't going to run, I wasn't. It had already seemed like Algiere had checked out of politics.

Accepting our hapless Gov. Dan McKee's invitation to serve on the Rhode Island Board of Education may be a one off. As usual, Algiere isn't saying whether this means he is coming back into the fray. All he said was:

“I am honored that the governor has asked me to return to public service. I am especially enthusiastic about supporting our students who deserve an innovative and accessible education system that can help them on the path to success.”

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More

Solving problems by wiping out the data on those problems 

By Alec MacGillis for ProPublica

More children ages 1 to 4 die of drowning than any other cause of death. Nearly a quarter of adults received mental health treatment in 2023, an increase of 3.4 million from the prior year. The number of migrants from Mexico and northern Central American countries stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol was surpassed in 2022 by the number of migrants from other nations.

We know these things because the federal government collects, organizes and shares the data behind them. Every year, year after year, workers in agencies that many of us have never heard of have been amassing the statistics that undergird decision-making at all levels of government and inform the judgments of business leaders, school administrators and medical providers nationwide.

The survival of that data is now in doubt, as a result of the Department of Government Efficiency’s comprehensive assault on the federal bureaucracy.

Reaction to those cuts has focused understandably on the hundreds of thousands of civil servants who have lost their jobs or are on the verge of doing so and the harm that millions of people could suffer as a result of the shuttering of aid programs. 

Overlooked amid the turmoil is the fact that many of DOGE’s cuts have been targeted at a very specific aspect of the federal government: its collection and sharing of data. In agency after agency, the government is losing its capacity to measure how American society is functioning, making it much harder for elected officials or others to gauge the nature and scale of the problems we are facing and the effectiveness of solutions being deployed against them.

The data collection efforts that have been shut down or are at risk of being curtailed are staggering in their breadth. In some cases, datasets from past years now sit orphaned, their caretakers banished and their future uncertain; in others, past data has vanished for the time being, and it’s unclear if and when it will reappear. Here are just a few examples:

The Department of Health and Human Services, now led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., laid off the 17-person team in charge of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which for more than five decades has tracked trends in substance abuse and mental health disorders. 

The department’s Administration for Children and Families is weeks behind on the annual update of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, the nationwide database of child welfare cases, after layoffs effectively wiped out the team that compiles that information. 

And the department has placed on leave the team that oversees the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, a collection of survey responses from women before and after giving birth that has become a crucial tool in trying to address the country’s disconcertingly high rate of maternal mortality.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has eviscerated divisions that oversee the WISQARS database on accidental deaths and injuries — everything from fatal shootings to poisonings to car accidents — and the team that maintains AtlasPlus, an interactive tool for tracking HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to stop requiring oil refineries, power plants and other industrial facilities to measure and report their greenhouse-gas emissions, as they have done since 2010, making it difficult to know whether any of the policies meant to slow climate change and reduce disaster are effective. The EPA has also taken down EJScreen, a mapping tool on its website that allowed people to see how much industrial pollution occurs in their community and how that compares with other places or previous years.

The Office of Homeland Security Statistics has yet to update its monthly tallies on deportations and other indices of immigration enforcement, making it difficult to judge Donald Trump’s triumphant claims of a crackdown; the last available numbers are from November 2024, in the final months of President Joe Biden’s tenure. (“While we have submitted reports and data files for clearance, the reporting and data file posting are delayed while they are under the new administration’s review,” Jim Scheye, director of operations and reporting in the statistics unit, told ProPublica.)

And, in a particularly concrete example of ceasing to measure, deep cutbacks at the National Weather Service are forcing it to reduce weather balloon launches, which gather a vast repository of second-by-second data on everything from temperature to humidity to atmospheric pressure in order to improve forecasting.

Skilled migrants are leaving the U.S. for Canada

Self-destructive immigration policies worsen health care worker shortage

Ashika Niraula, Toronto Metropolitan University and Iori Hamada

Think about how many immigrant doctors, nurses,
med techs and others treated YOU recently

Skilled migrants and international students are leaving the United States for Canada in growing numbers. A March 2025 report by Statistics Canada reveals a sharp rise in the numbers of American non-citizen residents moving to Canada. Reasons given are largely restrictive U.S. immigration policies, visa caps and long wait times for green cards.

This is a shift from earlier decades when American-born citizens dominated the trend. By 2019, nearly half of those making the move were U.S. non-citizen residents.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump’s election win and early days in office, Google searches by American residents on how to move to Canada, New Zealand and Australia have surged.

Several high-profile academics have relocated to Canadian universities amid growing concerns over threats to academic freedom.

British Columbia recently announced plans to launch landmark policies to streamline the credential recognition process for internationally trained health-care professionals, particular American doctors and nurses.

Skilled talent like health-care professionals, researchers and engineers are essential to building innovative, future-ready economies. But attracting them requires staying competitive in an increasingly global bid for talent.

Trump's MAGA Wants To Kill US Public Broadcasting Because It Symbolizes a Better World

We need to STRENGTHEN public broadcasting

Christian Christensen for Common Dreams

The Trump Administration has announced its intention to withdraw over $1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the organization that supports public broadcasting in the United States in the form of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).

Although federal funding makes up only a small portion of the overall budgets for these organizations—a combination of private donations, corporate sponsorship, state financing makes up a larger part—the funding is vital for public television and radio in smaller local markets where public or corporate support is difficult to obtain. The cuts would likely kill off those smaller stations and weaken those in larger markets.

In effect, the last traces of public media would disappear from large sections of the United States, leaving them entirely in the hands of corporate media.

This attack on U.S. public media is perhaps the least surprising news imaginable. When I was interviewed last month here in Sweden after Trump effectively shut down Voice of America (VOA), I was asked what could be next on the Republican media agenda. I didn’t hesitate in my response: next would be the de-funding of the nation's public broadcasting system. To me, it wasn’t a question of if…but when.

The threat to kill public broadcasting in the U.S. is not the same as the killing of Voice of America. Through stations such as Radio Free Europe, VOA had always been the mouthpiece of the U.S. state. It was part of global U.S. soft power, promoting the nation's foreign policy and economic interests. It was anything but objective, independent journalism.

PBS and NPR, on the other hand, are something entirely different. They represent an alternative model for how media in the U.S. could be…or, at least, could have been. Created in 1967 under President Lyndon Johnson, and decades after private media giants ABC, NBC, and CBS had been allowed to take near-complete control over U.S. broadcasting, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was meant to provide U.S. citizens with a non-commercial media alternative.

Unlike their European counterparts, however, which began as well-financed monopolies in the 1920s and 1930s, U.S. public media were born weak. They were never meant to challenge the power of U.S. corporate media.

Another lunatic Trump post

Maybe he's trying to distract from his grotesque Pope posting by giving us something even more stupid. This is from the OFFICIAL White House X (a.k.a. Twitter) account. I am NOT making this up.

As much as I would hate to see JD Vance as President, even if only "Acting," how can we trust THIS guy with the nuclear launch codes?

Trump says he doesn't know if he is required to uphold and defend the US Constitution

Here is the Presidential Oath:

But here's his loophole. He didn't put his hand on the Bible:

From his swearing in last January. Note how he keeps his hand at his side. (Screen grab from ABC News)

Why we should love teachers

Forensics in Charlestown Forest

Clues left behind by glaciers

By Mike Freeman / ecoRI News contributor

Pitch pines in the Francis Carter Preserve in Charlestown, R.I.
 (Tom Mooney/TNC)

Surrounded by pitch pines, The Nature Conservancy’s Tim Mooney looked across the Pawcatuck River’s south bank in the Francis Carter Preserve. Pointing at the forest 10 feet closer to sea level than the pines, he noted the different tree composition across the river.

“That’s a floodplain forest,” he said. “Pin oaks mixed with red maple. When the glacier retreated, a meltwater river likely piled sand here before the moraine, which these pines tolerate, while the lower plain became swampy and friendlier to the forest community across from us.”

Later, Mooney pointed to shade-tolerant hemlocks growing along one of the Charlestown Moraine’s north-facing nooks. Along a 2-mile line he showed a series of vernal pools strung along the same side. Atop the moraine he noted ghostly oak trunks lingering from spongy moth outbreaks. The moraine, he said, provides much of southern Rhode Island’s meek incline along with the well-drained soils favorable to its prominent oak forests.

Though the Wisconsin ice sheet departed around 15,000 years ago, vestiges are especially visible in southern Rhode Island, not far from where the ice pushed up Long Island, Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket before retreating. When the glaciers left, returning plant communities sorted themselves according to the soils and landscape features they found.

Whooping cough is making a comeback, but the vaccine provides powerful protection

Kills over 160,000 kids under 5 every year - unnecessarily

Annette Regan, University of California, Los Angeles

Whooping cough, a bacterial infection that can be especially dangerous for babies and young children, is on the rise. Already in 2025 the U.S. has recorded 8,485 cases. That’s compared with 4,266 cases during the same period in 2024.

Like measles, which is also spreading at unprecedented levels, whooping cough, more formally known as pertussis, can be prevented by a safe and effective vaccine. But with anti-vaccine sentiment increasing and cuts to immunization services, vaccination rates for whooping cough over the past two years have declined in children.

The Conversation asked epidemiologist Annette Regan to explain why pertussis has become so prevalent and how families can protect themselves from the disease.

What is pertussis and why is it dangerous?

Pertussis is a vaccine-preventable disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Researchers in France first identified the B. pertussis bacterium in 1906. The first recorded epidemic of pertussis is thought to have occurred in Paris in 1578.

Infection can cause an acute respiratory illness characterized by severe and spasmodic coughing spells. The classic symptom of pertussis is a “whoop” sound caused by someone trying to breath during a bad cough. Severe complications of pertussis include slowed or stopped breathing, pneumonia and seizures. The disease is most severe in young babies, although severe cases and deaths can also occur in older children and adults.

Some doctors call pertussis “the 100-day cough” because symptoms can linger for weeks or even months.

The World Health Organization estimates that 24.1 million pertussis cases and 160,700 deaths occur worldwide in children under 5 each year. Pertussis is highly contagious. Upon exposure, 80% of people who have not been previously exposed to the bacterium or vaccinated against the disease will develop an infection.

Fortunately, the disease is largely preventable with a safe and effective vaccine, which was first licensed in the U.S. in 1914.

Which are the worst states with drug problems?

Red states, heal thy selves

Rhode Island comes in at 21st (whew) just missing making this list. Connecticut ranks 48th