Rhode Island Current

07/15/2025

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council will meet July 22 to review latest development in saga of Quidnessett Country Club's illegal wall: a missed deadline to submit na required shoreline restoration plan. By Nancy Lavin

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council will revisit an illegal seawall built along Quidnessett Country Club's shoreline at its July 22 meeting, after the club failed to turn in the required removal and restoration plan by the July 10 deadline.

07/15/2025

COMMENTARY: Lawmakers gutted legislation intended to protect casino workers from secondhand smoke. And it won’t even take effect for another 18 months. "The goal of this legislation was to ensure no casino worker inhaled toxic air at work, but this loophole allows casinos to keep doing just that," writes Vanessa Baker, a casino worker in Rhode Island and a leader of Rhode Island’s Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE).

Rhode Island lawmakers gutted legislation intended to protect casino workers from secondhand smoke right before the end of the 2025 legislative session. The measure they passed won’t even take effect for another 18 months.

07/15/2025

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision temporarily suspends lower court orders that: forced the agency to reinstate more than 1,300 employees; blocked the U.S. Department of Eduction from carrying out Trump’s executive order to dismantle the department; and barred the agency from transferring some services to other federal agencies.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration, for now, to proceed with mass layoffs and a plan to dramatically downsize the Education Department ordered earlier this year. The decision from the nation’s highest court marks a major victory for President Donald Tr...

07/15/2025

Expensive commercials calling on the Rhode Island General Assembly to oppose legislation preserving the federal 340B program filled local airwaves in June. Reporter Christopher Shea looked at where the trail of money led.

https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/2025/07/14/behind-ad-blitz-to-get-r-i-lawmakers-to-reject-bills-protecting-patient-access-to-discount-meds/

07/14/2025

The Mount Hope Bridge will be closed to all traffic beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, and will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18, to allow for repaving.

The Mount Hope Bridge will be closed to traffic in both directions for four days next month for a $1 million repaving operation, the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority has announced.

07/14/2025

Over 11% of Rhode Island’s Senate District 4 voters cast ballots in the four-way Democratic primary on July 8 to fill the open state legislative seat, according to final results the state Board of Elections certified Tuesday.

Over 11% of voters cast ballots in the Rhode Island Senate District 4 Democratic primary on July 8, according to results certified by the state elections board Tuesday.

07/12/2025

ICYMI: La Salle Academy rising senior Lilah Jarvis spent some time in the field with Senior Reporter Nancy Lavin on Tuesday, talking to voters and campaign volunteers during the special Democratic primary for the Senate District 4 seat. Here's the short video she produced.

Voters trickled to polling sites Tuesday to choose one of four candidates running in the special Democratic primary for Rhode Island Senate District 4, which spans North Providence and the northern end of Providence.

07/11/2025

The amount of f***l matter in the water surpassed federal safety recommendations at least one test day in 2024 at nearly six in 10 of the 66 Rhode Island beaches tested, new data shows.

Unsafe levels of f***l matter were detected at nearly six in 10 of the 66 Rhode Island beaches tested in 2024, according to a new report by Environment America.

07/11/2025

Beachgoers can get free skin cancer screenings at Rhode Island beaches and parks, starting Saturday in Newport.

The Rhode Island Department of Health is teaming up with Brown Dermatology to provide free skin cancer screenings at state parks and beaches this summer.

07/11/2025

Slowdown in electric vehicle and electric heat pump adoption rates means the drop in electricity consumption is less dramatic than anticipated, according to new study released by New England's power grid operator. Via CommonWealth Beacon

A long expected shift in New England electricity consumption – from using less power each year to consuming more as residents embrace electric vehicles and heat pumps – is beginning to happen, but the shift isn’t expected to be quite as dramatic as forecasters were predicting just a year ago.

07/10/2025

For the first time in half a dozen years, the number of unhoused people in Rhode Island is on the decline, according to the results of the 2025 Point in Time count released Thursday. But more people were without shelter when Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness volunteers conducted the annual census across the state one night in January.

https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/2025/07/10/r-i-homelessness-is-down-but-more-people-are-out-in-the-cold-new-data-says-its-true/

The number of unhoused Rhode Islanders has dropped nearly 3%, according to the latest Point in Time census released Thursday by the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness. But more people are without shelter and unhoused for more than a year.

07/10/2025

After Thursday's announcement, the Rhode Island Office of Attorney General has now recovered $315 million in funds from national settlements with drug manufacturers and pharmacies connected to the opioid epidemic

The state of Rhode Island will receive a total of $3 million from eight pharmaceutical companies accused of proliferating the nation’s opioid crisis as part of a nationwide settlement announced by Attorney General Peter F. Neronha Thursday.