Report Details How Trump Duped His MAHA Base by Appeasing Corporate Interests

Toxic Betrayal

Julia Conley for Common Dreams

It’s been seven months since more than 30 leaders of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement told the Trump administration that they were losing patience, and demanded to see evidence that the US Environmental Protection Agency took seriously millions of Americans’ concerns about toxic “forever chemicals” and microplastics.

“MAHA is a mandate, not a marketing campaign,” the advocates told EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, calling for an end to both corporate-friendly loopholes in regulations and the “revolving door” that saw chemical lobbyists hired by the agency tasked with regulating the industry.

But on Monday, the government watchdog Public Citizen revealed that 20 out of 21 environmental chemicals that the White House pledged to address in its May 2025 “MAHA Report” have been subject to less, not more, regulation under the Trump administration.

For nine of the chemicals, including the carcinogenic herbicide atrazine, mercury, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—often called forever chemicals—President Donald Trump and his top officials have loosened public health regulations.

For 10 of them, the administration has taken none of the action promised in the MAHA Report, and in the case of the cancer-causing herbicide glyphosate, Trump issued an executive order not only endorsing the use of the chemical but mandating its production—a year after Bayer, the parent company of the chemical firm that uses glyphosate in popular weedkiller Roundup, donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural campaign.

Public Citizen found just one substance, microplastics, for which the administration has “taken any step toward regulation, and at best it was a baby step”—announcing in April that microplastics may be considered for regulation in the future and that the government would study measuring and removing them from the human body.

The stress of uncertainty

Stress has become the backdrop of American life

American Psychological Association

APA’s latest Stress in America survey—conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of APA—suggests something beyond elevated stress alone: Many adults appear to be growing accustomed to it.

Against a backdrop of persistent uncertainty and ongoing societal challenges, many adults appear to view chronic stress as something to be managed rather than overcome. In response, many seem to be recalibrating their expectations, shifting from hopes of returning to stability toward learning how to live amid ongoing uncertainty. Stress is no longer being experienced as an interruption to everyday life. For many U.S. adults, it has become part of the baseline.

What’s stressing out U.S. adults most—and why it matters ahead of Election Day 2026

Financial pressures and concerns about the future of the nation continue to dominate the stress landscape, highlighting the extent to which questions about affordability, financial security, and the country’s direction are weighing on people’s minds. Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, these findings offer important context on the concerns U.S. adults are carrying with them into the broader political environment.

The economy in general remains a top-cited source of significant stress. After climbing sharply from 64% in 2023 to 73% in 2024, the economy has remained a significant source of stress among three-quarters of the population, reaching 75% in 2025 and 74% in 2026. More than seven in 10 adults (71%) reported that money is a significant source of stress, an increase from 63% saying the same in 2023.

Candidates for Governor differ on ways to curb energy costs

Foulkes has a plan; Block doesn't

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

No-False-Choices.pdf

If there’s one issue dominating this year’s gubernatorial election, it’s energy costs.

Utility bills this winter are reaching historic highs. According to an estimate published by the state Public Utilities Commission, a household using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will pay $180.15 on their electric bill this winter. It’s the highest electricity prices in over a decade, and the fifth straight winter of higher-than-average electric prices.

Gubernatorial candidates on the campaign trail — Democrat Helena Foulkes, Republican Aaron Guckian, and Independent Ken Block — have acknowledged voters’ concerns over high energy prices and pledged to do something about it if elected.

Move over, Martin Luther King. Trump has a dream

Guide to religious freedom

Commission studying water supply planning and housing development in rural communities meets Wednesday with Rep. Megan Cotter chairing

Rural water commission begins work

Rep. Megan Cotter chairs commission
created by her legislation

The Special Legislative Commission to Study and Provide Recommendations on the Water Supply Planning for New Housing Developments in Rural Communities meets Wednesday for presentations by experts from the University of Rhode Island as well as representatives of the state Water Resources Board and the Charlestown Climate Resiliency Commission.

The commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 3 p.m. in Room 101 on the first floor of the State House. No public testimony will be taken at this meeting.

The meeting will include presentations from Sarah Racine of Charlestown Climate Resiliency Commission; commission member and Water Resources Board Acting Staff Director Hector Barreras and URI geosciences professor Brian Savage; as well as commission member and URI professor of water resources and water quality Soni Pradhanang with URI Geoscience Department Chairman Thomas Boving.

The meeting will be televised by Capitol Television, which can be seen by Spectrum subscribers on channels 15 and 61 for high definition, on channel 15 by i3Broadband viewers, and channel 34 for Verizon subscribers. Livestreaming will be available at https://www.rilegislature.gov/CapTV/Pages/default.aspx.

The commission is led by Rep. Megan L. Cotter (D-Dist. 39, Exeter, Richmond, Hopkinton), who sponsored the legislation (2026-H 8032Aaa) establishing it to ensure groundwater capacity is considered as part of the planning process as Rhode Island works to address its housing crisis.

Most Americans confused about RFK Jr’s stance on measles vaccine

 Views dim of his ability to rein in outbreaks

Mary Van Beusekom, MS

Most US adults either still mistakenly believe that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t recommend the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine or are unsure of his stance, prompting doubt about his ability to address ongoing measles outbreaks across the country, according to a poll released today by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania.

In addition, most adults dismiss the Trump administration’s claim that childhood vaccines cause autism, and while half of poll respondents still hold the same unfavorable opinion of Kennedy they did in August 2025, significantly more say they view him very unfavorably.

Americans’ uncertainty of where Kennedy stands on the MMR vaccine might in large part be traced back to Kennedy himself. He has rarely provided unflinching support for the highly effective vaccine.

More than 1,900 adults responded to the poll, conducted from August 4 to 17. Of all participants, 31% correctly stated that Kennedy recommends the MMR vaccine, up from 23% in August 2025. But most indicated that Kennedy either doesn’t recommend the vaccine (29%) or are unclear about his position (40%).

“Measles is highly contagious,” APPC research analyst Laura Gibson, PhD, said in the news release. “As we’ve seen this year, communities that don’t maintain 95% vaccination rates are at risk for outbreaks.”

Sen. DiMario honored for her work on behalf of early childhood education

DiMario has sponsored a number of laws improving early childhood education 

Sen. Alana M. DiMario attends a July 15, 2026
RIght from the Start event at Child Inc.

Sen. Alana M. DiMario was honored for her work supporting early childhood education by the Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children.

“Early educators build the foundation for everything Rhode Island will become. Investing in them is investing in our future,” said Senator DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham). “This award means so much coming from an organization like RIAEYC, which is made up of so many of the educators providing for the well-being of our young children. I am honored and energized to keep working with my colleagues in the General Assembly to support our early child educators and give our children the present and future they deserve.”

Senator DiMario received the Sue Connor Special Friend of Rhode Island’s Children - Early Childhood Advocate award, which recognizes “significant contributions to early childhood education in Rhode Island” at RIAEYC’s annual Early Childhood Conference Saturday, Oct. 10

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sen. DiMario was one of the several South County Democratic women targets by far-right coffee baron Dave Levesque who financed nine primary challengers on Sept. 9 through his collection of 40 political action committees. These PACs all bear the name "League of Rhode Island Businesses (LORIB)" DiMario and her colleagues beat all of these straw candidates.

However, there are still LORIB-backed candidates running in the November 3 general election running against Charlestown's state Senator Victoria Gu, and South Kingstown Reps. Carol McEntee and Kathy Fogarty. Sen. DiMario will return to the Senate since she is unopposed in the General Election.  - Will Collette

Who wants to visit an authoritarian America?

Trump tanks tourism.

Brynn Tannehill

One of the peculiarities of being an American is the widespread national conviction that America is the best at everything.

This is particularly true of Republicans and MAGA, self-identified “real Americans” who consider anyone criticizing the US to be a commie traitor.

Trump takes this a step further by declaring anything he touches to be the biggest, best thing ever. He is convinced he has made America great again, and that the whole world now respects and fears the United States accordingly.

This is, of course, complete nonsense.

Since Trump has returned to office, global approval of the United States has plummeted. This is seen as far back as polling data from early 2025, and it’s likely much worse now.

When Pew Research asked people across 36 countries this spring if they trusted various world leaders to do the right thing, Trump was trusted least — less than Putin, Xi Jinping, and Netanyahu. Gallup found that world opinion of the United States has fallen to its lowest point in 20 years.

Ouch. 

He says he's on the ballot. Ok, then...

Make sure your mail ballot counts

Or put it in the drop box at Town Hall

Yup

Joy Harjo, first Native American U.S. poet laureate, to deliver poetry reading at URI on Oct. 28

Trailblazer comes to South County

James Bessette

Joy Harjo, a trailblazing poet, artist, musician and member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, who in 2019 became the first Native American to be appointed U.S. poet laureate, will deliver a much-anticipated poetry reading at the University of Rhode Island on Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 5-7 p.m.

The event, sponsored by URI’s Department of English and Creative Writing and the College of Arts and Sciences, will take place in Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road, on the Kingston Campus. Harjo’s visit to URI coincides with the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and will take place on the eve of National Native American Heritage Month, celebrated every November.

Harjo will read and discuss a selection of her poetry from a career spanning over fifty years, including her most recent book,“Cloud Runner,” published this month. Harjo’s revelatory poems celebrate and bear witness to human resilience, and reckon with personal, communal, and national histories in a voice singularly warm and oracular. Her work expands our sense of language’s power to express what might seem inexpressible until transformed into story and song. 

This free public event will open with a ceremonial welcome to the traditional lands of the Narragansett Nation and to URI, and will include Harjo signing copies of her published work and a question-and-answer session.

How Trump’s disaster aid delays and FEMA cuts could galvanize the ‘movable middle’ in the 2026 elections

Dealing with disasters should not be politicized

Dana R. Fisher, American University

Rhode Island was one of the states Trump
 turned down

When Hurricane Isaias hit the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 9, 2026, it was just the latest weather disaster for Americans in a year that continues to break records.

The hottest U.S. summer on record left millions of Americans facing life-threatening heat waves. Extreme heat and drought set the stage for wildfires. Flooding from powerful storms and days of heavy rainfall inundated communities in several states. And now a “Super El Niño,” on top of already rising temperatures and sea levels, is expected to make extreme events worse, at least into spring 2027.

In the past, states relied heavily on federal aid and expertise to respond quickly to disasters. But in communities across the U.S., people recovering from floods, storms and wildfires in 2025 and 2026 have been left waiting much longer for federal aid – if it arrives at all.

Will there be political consequences in the midterm elections for the slow aid and lack of government assistance?

The answer to that question runs through the ways the Trump administration has changed disaster response and federal disaster aid. As a professor who has written for years about civic engagement and climate policy, I have reason to believe that voters’ frustration with slow disaster aid may show up at the polls.

Cuts to FEMA hobbled federal disaster help

Even though the United States is experiencing more disasters as the climate changes, the federal programs meant to help Americans recover are being diminished.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has faced significant cuts to funding and staff since the Trump administration took office in January 2025. The administration initially talked about abolishing the agency, arguing that states and communities could deal with disasters on their own. It created a plan to cut FEMA’s staffing by 50%, but in September 2026, a judge found that plan to be unlawful.

FEMA lost over 17% of its trained staff members in 2025 alone, including hundreds of people who were on call to respond to disasters. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin continues to defend the administration’s goal of a leaner workforce at the agency.

Hopkinton considers its cost share for construction of new unified elementary school in Charlestown

Hopkinton Council Hears School Bond Share Could Top 4% Tax Cap

Adriana Vossari, RI & Local Government, is NOT an actual person but rather is an AI-bot used by UpriseRI to review and summarize public records. Click here for their explanation for how this is done: How we report meeting stories →

If the November 3 bond passes with 65% state reimbursement, a median Hopkinton home at $515,500 would pay about $335.39 more a year, the town manager said. A speaker said the town's share of the debt payments could top the 4% levy cap, which the town can exceed only by asking the state.

A speaker told the Hopkinton Town Council at its Monday night meeting that if the town's increase comes to about $1 million, its share of debt payments on the proposed $116 million regional school bond would be over the town's 4% cap on tax levy growth, according to the Hopkinton Town Council's published meeting recording.

The tax levy is the total amount a town raises through property taxes. A speaker said the town can only increase its levy by 4% "or else we have to go to the state" and ask for permission to exceed the cap. A speaker added, "I believe our 4% cap is around 700,000."

The bond goes before voters in the November 3 election. The council did not vote on the bond; the agenda item was a discussion of the school bond financial breakdown.

The tax math

The town manager presented a one-page breakdown, also posted on the town website, that the regional school district requested from its three member towns for an impact statement on the bond. The manager said the managers and finance directors of Hopkinton, Charlestown and Richmond coordinated so the data would be consistent. The manager said they spoke with Jeff Allen of Charlestown and the Richmond town manager, among those involved.

The manager said the figures assume the state reimburses 65% of the $116 million bond. Under that assumption, the manager said, the total cost to the district after reimbursement would be $80,626,214. The district's financial advisor supplied the annual debt service figures, according to the manager.

Costs are split among the three towns by enrollment, and Hopkinton's share is 39.17%, the manager said. For a median Hopkinton home, valued at $515,500, the manager said the annual tax bill would rise $335.39 for the bond alone. Homes with higher assessed values would pay more, and lower-valued homes would pay less.