Thursday, April 9, 2026
Rhode Island fishing season starts Saturday
60,000 Fish Stocked in Over 100 Waterbodies
“Opening Day is a spring tradition for thousands of Rhode
Islanders who head out on the second Saturday of April to a favorite fishing
spot to reel in their first trout of the season,” said DEM Director
Terry Gray. “The work and logistics involved in raising and stocking
thousands of fish every year are intense, and this year our hatchery staff
overcame a particularly challenging winter to provide fishing opportunities for
the public. I’m proud to recognize all members of DEM’s Freshwater Fisheries
Team who pull off this feat every year – and keep freshwaters stocked
throughout most of the year.”
Scientists Uncover Hidden Chemical Risks in Crops
Are Your Vegetables Safe?
By McGill University
A sweeping international analysis is raising new concerns about what may be quietly entering our food supply. Scientists report that crops can absorb “contaminants of emerging concern” (CECs), a broad group of modern pollutants that includes pharmaceuticals, microplastics, engineered nanomaterials, and PFAS (commonly known as “forever chemicals”).
Even in trace amounts, these substances can interfere with
plant growth, reshape soil ecosystems, and potentially move into the human
diet.
Unlike traditional pollutants, many CECs are not routinely
monitored or regulated in agriculture. Yet the study shows they can enter
farmland through unexpected routes, including recycled wastewater, treated
sewage sludge, manure, and plastic-based farming materials. Some of these
practices are widely promoted as sustainable solutions, which raises a
difficult question about hidden trade-offs in modern agriculture.
Rhode Island House approves Rep. McEntee’s clergy sex abuse bills
Expanding accountability for clerical sex predators
“This report is a long time coming and it should be clear to anyone reading it
that the systematic coverup of this pervasive and appalling behavior is just as
bad as the actual assaults of countless helpless children. Like the
Epstein files, this report shows the lengths to which vile predators were
shielded and protected from accountability by powerful institutions, and it
should make us all angry and disgusted. Revealing the truth about this
immoral corruption is the first step to delivering real justice for so many
victims, and I will continue to support our victims’ rights and quest for
justice through this legislation that will hold both the abusers and the
institutions that protected these predators accountable in the courts,” said
House Judiciary Chairwoman McEntee (D-Dist. 33, South Kingstown, Narragansett).
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
TACO Don loses again
It's consistent with how other countries, organizations, and people have defeated him
So we’re back to the status quo before Trump
began his war. Only now, Iran can credibly threaten to close the strait if it
doesn’t get what it wants from Trump — thereby causing havoc to the U.S. (and
world) economies. Trump’s only remaining bargaining leverage is the threat of
committing war crimes.
In other words, last night’s showdown was a clear victory
for Iran and a clear defeat for Trump (although he’ll frame it as a victory).
The Iran fiasco is only the latest in a host of examples
revealing how to defeat Trump.
In addition to Iran, similar strategies have been used by
China, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and Greenland. Inside the United States, the
people of Minneapolis have used them, as have Harvard University, comedian
Jimmy Kimmel, writer E. Jean Carroll, and the law firms Perkins Coie, Jenner
& Block, Susman Godfrey, and WilmerHale.
All
refused to cave to Trump, despite his superior military or economic power.
Instead, they’ve engaged in a kind of jujitsu in which they use Trump’s power
against him, while allowing Trump to save face by claiming he’s won. Consider:
Iran knew it was no match for the superior might
of the U.S. (and Israel). So it used cheap drones and missiles to close the
Strait of Hormuz and incapacitate other Gulf oil installations, thereby driving
up the prices of oil and gas at the pump in the U.S., which has put growing
political pressure on Trump, months before a midterm election. Hence, Trump has
been forced stop his war.
China knew what to do when Trump imposed a giant
tariff on Chinese exports to the U.S.: It put restrictions on seven types of
heavy rare earth metals and magnets, crucial to U.S. defense and tech
industries. Beijing continues to use these rare earth restrictions as tactical
levers in ongoing negotiations over trade, rather than demand complete
surrender by Trump on his trade policies.
Russia has leveraged its vast deposits of oil
and natural gas with U.S. allies. It has also demonstrated its power to intrude
into U.S. elections (the Mueller
Report detailed a “sweeping and systematic” campaign by Russia to
interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, primarily favoring Trump).
Canada and Mexico have won every tariff showdown
with Trump by leveraging America’s substantial economic dependence on them for
components and raw materials, but without crowing about their victories.
Greenland has leveraged public opinion globally
and in the United States — overwhelmingly against an American invasion or
occupation — to curb Trump’s ambitions there.
The citizens of Minneapolis and St. Paul have
leveraged their asymmetric power against Trump’s ICE and Border Patrol agents
by carefully organizing themselves into a force of nonviolent resistance to
protect immigrants there. Their strategy showed itself to be especially
effective, tragically, after Trump’s agents murdered Renee Good and Alex
Pretti, and the public outcry forced the agents to leave the Twin Cities.
Long-Term Repair to Charlestown Breachway Completed
Just in time for Breachway campground opening on Saturday
The $8.4M project included breachway restoration, channel
dredging, beach re-nourishment with the creation of two sand dunes and
plantings planned for fall. $5M was contributed through a DEM request and
allocated by the State through CRMC, $2M from CRMC for dredging, and $1.4M
provided by the Town of Charlestown.
Contractors reconstructed the west breachway wall in two
tiers of stone. Dredged material was reused to restore the town beach, repair
erosion along the wall’s west side, and construct two storm-resilient dunes on
the same side. The work has restored the breachway’s structural integrity,
improved navigation, stabilized the coastline against climate impacts, and
preserved water flow in and out of Ninigret Pond to maintain ecological balance
and water quality. Work
began last November and was completed in late March 2026. These
long-term repairs will help safeguard coastal infrastructure, the environment,
and the community.
Nearly half of US family physicians report burnout
We need to keep our doctors healthy
That trend could lead to lower care satisfaction and
increased spending for patients, as well as have substantial financial
consequences for health care organizations, according to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
For the cross-sectional analysis, researchers led by a team
from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City examined survey responses
from 19,929 family physicians collected from 2016 to 2020 American Board of
Family Medicine surveys and used Medicare data to track whether physicians
later switched practices or left medicine.
When physicians reported “I feel burned out from my work” or
“I have become more callous toward people” at least once a week, the
researchers defined them as experiencing burnout.
Starting April 17, Amazon will add a 3.5% delivery charge to pay for increased fuel costs due to Trump’s Iran War.
Along with big price increases for gas, diesel and heating oil, Trump’s War Tax continues to grow
Brad
Reed for Common Dreams
Amazon announced on Thursday that, beginning April 17, it
would add a “3.5% fuel and logistics-related surcharge” to vendors that use its
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service in the US and Canada.
The company said that it needed to add the surcharge due to
“elevated costs in fulfillment and logistics” that “have increased the cost of
operating across the industry.”
“We have absorbed these increased costs so far,” Amazon
said. “However, similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, we
implement temporary surcharges on our fulfillment fees to recover a portion of
the actual cost increases we are experiencing.”
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Who's the Biggest Money Behind the Throne?
Naming names
Friends,
It’s important that we demonstrated against Trump’s
assertion of royal powers.
It’s at least as important to follow the money — and learn
the identities of America’s billionaire royalty who crowned Trump in the first
place. They’re now spending another regal fortune to keep Congress under his
control.
Today I’m going to name names.
As of March 1, according to a new
report from Americans for Tax Fairness, the 50 biggest-spending
billionaires in American politics had already contributed over $433 million to
the upcoming midterm political campaigns.
Not surprisingly, 80 percent of this haul is in support of
Republican candidates or conservative issue groups.
Given how early we are in the process, and how contributions
tend to accelerate closer to Election Day, 2026 will almost surely set a new
record for billionaire money in midterm elections. (Because of our current
pathetically weak campaign
finance laws, courtesy of the Supreme Court, fat-cat contributors are
funneling huge sums through super PACs. While such spending is supposed to be
independent of the campaign being supported, rules against coordination are
now going
largely unenforced.)
WHO THEY ARE
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