Monday, September 7, 2026
New mRNA Flu Vaccine Makes This Flu Season ‘One to Watch’
The FDA’s approval of an mRNA flu shot presents a new, long-awaited option
On August 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna's mFlusiva, the first
influenza vaccine to use mRNA technology, for adults 50 and older.
The approval gives many older Americans a long-awaited new
option for protection. Tens of thousands of Americans typically die from the
flu every year, and the vast majority of them are 65 and older.
It’s long been a public health priority to evolve flu
vaccine technology—a process which currently takes more than six months to
produce a shot and is prone to mismatches with the circulating strains—so that
manufacturers can respond more quickly to the evolving virus, ultimately making
flu shots more effective.
“Most vaccinologists believe that mRNA vaccines are the
future,” says Durbin, who sits on the FDA panel that recommended the
vaccine. Regulators in the EU, Canada, and Australia are also reviewing the
vaccine, and the European Medicine Agency has separately authorized a
combined mRNA COVID-flu vaccine, also by Moderna.
For now, Durbin says, the FDA approval provides a welcome
new option for older Americans—but the price, demand, and availability of the
shot, and what it means for existing vaccines, remain open questions.
Forget Bobby Jr.
Here are the recommendations from REAL experts for vaccines
To fill the information void, the Vaccine Integrity Project
(VIP) at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research
and Policy (CIDRAP, publisher of CIDRAP News), and the American Medical
Association (AMA) published the results of their independent evidence review of
the influenza, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines today in JAMA.
Filling in gaps left by federal vaccine-process breakdown
During a press briefing yesterday on the evidence reviews,
four of the country’s major medical organizations—the American Academy of
Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the Infectious
Diseases Society of America (IDSA)— provided their vaccine recommendations for
the 2026-27 respiratory illness season.
“We cannot allow the breakdown of a federal process to
create a vacuum in evidence-based vaccine guidance,” Bruce Gellin, MD, MPH,
chair of the VIP Board of Advisors, said during the briefing.
‘Can’t Message That Away’: GOP Frets as Trump Administration Desperately Spins Record-High Diesel Prices
Home heating oil will be the next big shock - lowest current price in Charlestown is $5.18
Brad Reed for Common Dreams
According to a Saturday report from Axios, incumbent Republicans are
fretting about the impact that skyrocketing gasoline and diesel prices will
have on the 2026 midterm elections,
particularly since their own internal polling shows voters are placing blame
for the price hikes on Donald Trump’s illegal war with Iran.
“Diesel’s at an all-time high,” one GOP operative told Axios.
“Gas is about $4 a gallon. We can’t message that away.”
Another Republican source told Axios that GOP candidates
don’t even have the option of distancing themselves from the president and his
unpopular war given the iron grip he has on voters they will need to turn out
in crucial races.
“We have no choice,” said the source. “We’re stuck on the
boat with him whether we like it or not.”
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Dan McKee’s climate sabotage
The McKee Administration’s attempt to delay the targets in Rhode Island’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES) by decades in the most recent budget process was perhaps the clearest and most public demonstration of McKee’s willingness to sabotage climate action in the Ocean State.
As an activist and organizer who has worked in multiple sectors that intersect with the climate crisis in this state, I have had a front-row seat to just how bad Dan McKee has consistently been on this issue.
The following is a list of the four major areas and actions that are
particularly damning for McKee’s climate record. Please note that this is not a
comprehensive list, but rather the biggest-ticket items and areas that I
personally participated in.
URI biologist to lead $4 million NSF grant to advance wetland restoration in Rhode Island and Louisiana
Funding supports Ying Zhang’s project to advance wetland resilience across U.S. coastal systems
 |
| Students in Ying Zhang’s lab conduct field sampling at Succotash Marsh in South Kingstown this summer, part of the groundwork assessing biomarkers in marsh monitoring. (URI Photo / Y. Zhang) |
Ying Zhang, professor of cell and molecular biology at the University of Rhode Island, recently received a $4 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to co-lead a collaboration with Louisiana State University to improve coastal wetland management in both states.
A computational biologist, Zhang, of South Kingstown, brings to the project a background that includes computer science and expertise in microbial diversity and molecular ecology.
Now she’ll bring that interdisciplinary background to lead this new project at URI, with Hui Zhou in URI’s Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Erin Peck in URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography, and colleagues at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and Roger Williams University.
Zhang’s diverse training gives her a unique perspective on solving
problems across traditional disciplinary boundaries, she said.
The Ecological-Economic Collaboratory for Advancing coastal
wetland REstoration and REsilience (EcoCARE)
project addresses the need for expanded research on coastal wetland restoration
in both regions. A team of scientists, practitioners, policy experts, and
stakeholders from Rhode Island and Louisiana will develop innovative methods in
AI-enhanced modeling, wetland valuation, molecular biomonitoring, and
restoration financing.
Although Zhang has led previous NSF grant-funded
initiatives, including a CAREER award and an EPSCoR fellowship, she is now
leading the multi-institutional EPSCoR project for the first time under the
Focused Collaborations Program. She has been meeting with the team since last
fall and is looking forward to the work getting underway.
Almost All Plant-Based Meat Alternatives Contain Mycotoxins
Risks attached to meat substitutes
By Cranfield University
Researchers detected 19 different mycotoxins across
plant-based meat alternatives and beverages, with some products containing
several at once. The study, led by the University of Parma in Italy and
coauthored by Cranfield University, examined everything from vegan burgers,
sausages, and chicken-style pieces to oat, almond, and soy drinks.
Mycotoxin exposure can lead to health concerns
Mycotoxins are especially common in foods made from plants
because their raw ingredients, including grains, legumes, and seeds, can be
exposed to mold during growing, harvesting, or storage.
The research team found that mycotoxin levels in the UK
products they tested were below recommended EU guideline levels, a sign of the
strong quality standards used by the UK food industry.
However, previous
studies have shown that frequent consumption of even low levels of
mycotoxins can increase overall exposure over time and may raise health
concerns. Eating these products individually is unlikely to cause problems, but
a diet based entirely on foods made from plants could lead to cumulative
mycotoxin exposure if not properly managed. In very serious cases, exposure to
mycotoxins can contribute to health problems such as liver and kidney damage,
immune system suppression, and cancer.
Trump screws Rhode Island again by denying FEMA funding to cover state costs for historic blizzard
McKee calls FEMA’s denial of Rhode Island’s blizzard relief request ‘a new low’
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
McKee’s office appealed FEMA’s initial denial of the state’s April request for funding relief under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act on July 15. The law allows governors to either request support for disasters caused by severe weather or if “the situation is beyond the capability of the state.”
In a letter to McKee on Wednesday, FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton wrote the agency reviewed Rhode Island’s initial request and appeal only to determine financial aid was not warranted for the hurricane-strength blizzard that buried the state in over 3 feet of snow.
Hamilton’s letter did not explain why Rhode Island failed to meet the criteria for federal aid. But in a post on X around 5 p.m. Wednesday, he elaborated on the denial, which also applied to similar requests from New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
“Winter weather is not new to the Northeast,” Hamilton wrote. “Federal disaster aid is not a backstop for routine state & local budgeting.”
Saturday, September 5, 2026
South County Democrats: Beware of DINOs on the Sept. 9 Primary ballot
The League of RI Businesses is a wolf in sheep’s clothing
An oped from Bill Ibelle
There’s a new, big-money player on the Rhode Island political stage that’s targeting many of our finest environmental legislators because they also support gun control.
The League
of RI Businesses is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, posing as a
moderate, bipartisan, pro-business organization, when in fact, it was created
last year specifically to knock off legislators who voted for a ban on assault
weapons.
So if you feel safer knowing the guy down the street has an
assault rifle hanging in his living room gun rack, then by all means, vote for
a League-endorsed candidate. (listed below).
So Levesque and his cohorts rarely mention assault weapons
when explaining why the League has targeted so many fine legislators. Instead, in
an interview with Ocean State Media, he said that the League is merely
targeting legislators who “fail to support the Constitution.” Only when pressed
repeatedly by an interviewer does he concede that he’s referring exclusively to
the Second Amendment—the right to bear arms.
Apparently, the League believes that James Madison had
assault weapons in mind when he introduced the amendment to Congress in 1789.
Never mind that an assault rifle, at that time, was a musket, a ramrod, a
powder pouch, and a lead ball that took nearly a minute to load and, because it
had no rifling, had the accuracy of a pea shooter.
He’s also against renewable energy because it’s
unprofitable, doesn’t work, and has driven up electric rates by 27 percent —
all untrue. What is true is that he revealed his true colors when he claimed
that if we eliminated all state wind and solar programs, “we could literally put
almost $30 million a month back in the hands of Rhode Island businesses.” Translation:
The heck with our children’s future, we want bigger profits now.
Levesque insists that his group wants “middle-of-the-road,
common-sense people” in office. This seems just a wee bit hard to believe,
given that Levesque is a vocal Trump supporter who, when asked by the Providence
Journal about our president’s second term, said, “I
think it’s going awesome.”
So if ICE raids make you feel safer; if you
think the war with Iran is the best use of $37 billion in taxpayer money; if
you believe the skyrocketing price of oil is the path to affordability; and if
you thrill at the grade-school insults our leader routinely hurls at our
foreign allies—then by all means, take the League’s advice on who to vote for.
If you’re still not convinced that this organization is
poison, consider the League’s subversion of the state’s campaign finance laws.
To get around the state’s $2,000 limit on individual donations, they formed 40
separate Political
Action Committees (PACs). In an interview
with Channel 12, Levesque boasted that “What we did is extraordinary.
It’s never been done before. We opened more PACs than anybody’s ever done [in
Rhode Island]. This will allow us to give $80,000 to an individual candidate.
There’s no other organization in the state of Rhode Island that can put that
kind of money into a candidate’s hands.”
Just to be clear, the state donation limit is $2,000 and the
League says its armada of 40 PACs makes it legal to give $80,000.
If you would like to reduce the influence of money in state
politics, you might want to vote against the candidates the League is
financing.
Here is a list of incumbents the League has targeted and the
candidates it is backing to unseat them:
The League also endorsed nine incumbents: John Brien, Elaine Morgan, Leonidas Raptiakis, Patrick Maloney, Gregory Constantino, Marie Hopkins, Paul Santucci, Stephano Famiglietti, and six candidates running for open seats:
COVID Infections Are Surging Again
Vaccines and prudent action still the best response
By Nick Landekic, contributing writer,
What’s been happening with COVID?
COVID has fallen into a now more-or-less predictable pattern
of surging twice a year, in the summer and winter.
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