Saturday, June 6, 2026
Senate passes Sen. Gu bill to modernize identity theft protection laws
Victoria's bill to protect consumers advances and, hopefully will pass before General Assembly adjourns
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“In the wake of the RIBridges cyberattack, it’s important to
set clear expectations that state agencies, municipalities and companies should
be meeting current best practices of an industry-recognized cybersecurity
framework, such as NIST Cybersecurity Framework, to protect the personally
identifiable information of Rhode Islanders,” said Senator Gu (D-Dist. 38,
Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown) who chairs the Senate Committee on
Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies. “Our current laws governing
the protection of this information need updating to match the reality of our
increasingly digital world and its threats.”
The December 2024 breach of RIBridges, Rhode Island’s
online portal for social services, affected around 650,000 people in total,
releasing Social Security numbers, employment details, financial data and other
personal information to the dark web. Senator Gu and Representative Carson saw
this as a clear sign that Rhode Island needed to update its cybersecurity
standards.
The bill (2026-S 2638Aaa) now goes the House, where Lauren H. Carson
(D-Dist. 75, Newport) has introduced similar legislation (2026-H 7509).
URI researcher aids the fight against bird flu
Identifying data gaps in bird flu host dynamics to help conserve vulnerable species
Johanna Harvey,
an assistant professor of wildlife disease wildlife ecology at the University
of Rhode Island, has described bird flu in public presentations as a quiet
virus with loud consequences.
Now she’s published a new paper in Wildlife Monographs,
describing how circulating avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) show an expanded set
of susceptible hosts, including many migratory wild birds, and higher
transmission rates. In the paper, Harvey examines data gaps in avian influenza
host dynamics to prioritize wildlife conservation — and protect human health.
Johanna Harvey’s new paper in Wildlife Monographs describes
how circulating avian influenza viruses show an expanded set of susceptible
hosts and higher transmission rates.
South County air is unhealthy today
 |
| Air Quality Forecast | Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management |
Wildfires are reversing America’s progress on ozone pollution, the main ingredient in smog
Weizhi Deng, University of Iowa; Jun Wang, University of Iowa, and Meng Zhou, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
For decades, the United States made steady progress in reducing surface ozone pollution, the main ingredient in smog. But that progress – achieved as vehicles, industries and power sources became cleaner – is increasingly being overshadowed by a different and growing source of ozone pollution: wildfires.
Our team of atmospheric and wildfire scientists analyzed wildfires’ contribution to surface ozone levels from 2003 to 2024 across the United States.
We found that the gases in wildfire smoke have reversed the national ozone trend, forcing a shift from declining ozone levels prior to 2015 to increasing ozone levels after 2015. We also found that the number of ozone-related premature deaths due to wildfires has been increasing by about 300 deaths per year since then.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Trump Official Tells Millions Kicked Off Food Aid That They’re ‘Moving Into the American Dream’
This is how Republicans dealt with the Great Depression
Jake Johnson for Common Dreams
Speaking at an event in Arizona, USDA Secretary Brooke
Rollins—who has an estimated net worth of around $15 million—said that the
Trump administration has “moved about 4 million off of SNAP,” referring to the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Rollins suggested, without evidence,
that some of those who have lost SNAP benefits were receiving them
fraudulently.
But others, claimed Rollins, are “moving into the American
dream and off of welfare.”
Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities (CBPP), wrote in
response that “unless the Trump administration has redefined ‘the American
dream’ to mean ‘losing the help your family needs to afford groceries because
of federal cuts,’ I have some bad news for Secretary Rollins.”
Watch Rollins’ remarks: https://twitter.com/i/status/2060055304423756173
Trump administration officials, including Donald Trump himself,
have repeatedly used euphemistic language to describe the large-scale loss of
food aid following passage of the Republican budget reconciliation package last
summer. That measure contains $186 billion in SNAP cuts over the next
decade—the largest in the program’s history.
During his State of the Union address in February,
Trump boasted that his administration has “lifted” millions
of Americans off SNAP, falsely suggesting that the mass loss of benefits was
attributable to stronger economic conditions rather than deliberate policy
changes designed to boot people from the program.
Trump posts his plan to annex Iran.
Countries and territories that Trump has said should be taken by the US:
Canada
Greenland
Cuba
Venezuela
Panama
Gaza
Greenland
Cuba
Venezuela
Panama
Gaza
And, speaking of Greenland, Trump also posted this:
Foulkes Unveils Third Component of “Believe in Rhode Island” Economic Plan: Creating & Growing Good-Paying Jobs
Proposes $150 Million Ocean Economy Investment Fund
“For too long, Rhode Island has been solving the wrong problem when it comes to our economic development strategy, and it’s driven away large employers and left our people behind. I’m excited to share the final part of my economic plan, centered around my belief in Rhode Island,” said Helena.
“It’s time to lean into what sets Rhode Island apart from other states: our people, our colleges and universities, our world-class food and arts scene, and our 400 miles of coastline and access to the ocean. As governor, I’m going to bet on our people and lean into our strengths, and I’m excited to grow our economy together.”
Part Three of Helena’s Believe in Rhode Island Plan includes:
Bottle Bill, Producer Responsibility Again Topics of Legislative Debate, with No Resolution in Sight
Looks like we're going to kick the can (and nips and water bottles) down the road again
By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff
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One year, for Christmas, he gave his 5-year-old grandson a toy truck. His grandson asked him for help opening the packaging on the truck, which had hard plastic, wire ties, buttons, and cardboard. It was difficult for his grandson to open, and, as Bennett tells the story, just as difficult for him as an adult to open.
“It took me penny cutters, write cutters, scissors, and
pliers just to open the packaging on the truck,” Bennett said during a
committee hearing May 27. “About 15 minutes later I’m done, and I turn around
and he’s got three more trucks.”
For years now, Bennett has told that story when introducing
his legislation (H7910) for extended producer responsibility (EPR) program
for packaging and paper. The program puts the onus on producers of plastic and
paper packaging to come up with a recycling program for the materials.
There’s no easy way to recycle the hard plastic that encases
toys, electronics, and other high-value products. The traditional catechism
from some producers of some packaging is it makes it harder to shoplift and
cuts down on theft — but it also all but guarantees packaging fills up Rhode
Island’s already limited landfill.
“It’s a theft, we’re throwing all that stuff in our
landfill,” Bennett said. “We have to pay for that.”
Stronger EPR legislation has struggled to make it out of the
General Assembly in recent years, due in part to local business opposition to
its close cousin, the bottle bill (H7911).
Bottle bills, or beverage container redemption systems,
attach a fixed fee — 10 cents per container, according to this year’s
legislation — that can be redeemed once returned to a recycling collection
center.
The redemption fee is aimed at incentivizing consumers to
recycle empty water bottles, soda bottles, and other plastic waste associated
with drinks. Similar programs exist in Rhode Island already for two categories
of products: mattresses and paint.
Bottle redemption programs, like EPR programs, are run by
producer responsibility organizations, entities made up of the producers of the
waste being recycled.
Feds jump in after battle over prediction market regulation hits Rhode Island
RI wants to regulate prediction betting. Trump regime says NO
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
Add the federal agency overseeing prediction markets to the list of antagonists seeking to supersede the state of Rhode Island’s authority to regulate online platforms that allow wagering on everything from politics to sports.
And here's why Trump wants to block Rhode Island
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday moved to intervene in the federal lawsuit Kalshi filed against Rhode Island last week. The five-member commission, appointed by the president to oversee futures trading and financial technology, argues the agency alone has the authority to regulate online betting on national and world events.
“This lawsuit is about whether Rhode Island state officials can usurp the CFTC’s jurisdiction and enforce state gaming laws against federally regulated exchanges in connection with the listing of federally regulated event contracts,” the commission’s filing states.
The motion came a week after Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha filed his own lawsuit in Providence County Superior Court asking the court to declare companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket as effectively sports betting businesses operating without state approval. Just hours before Neronha’s complaint was filed, Kalshi filed suit against the state in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, claiming its business activity does not fall under state gambling laws because its event-based contracts are assets traded between its users on a federally regulated exchange.
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Full-Frontal Neofascism
And What We Must Do
Then, when the deal is widely criticized, he posts:
“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced
Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case, including
the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of
Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others who were so
badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive,
at long last, JUSTICE! President DJT.”
Does he really believe he could have
settled his case for an absolute fortune — the case that he brought
against himself — the case a federal judge doubted was even a
“case” because he was on both sides of it?
Last week, a disclosure form showed that Trump’s investment portfolio executed more than 3,600 trades in the first three months of this year alone, many involving companies that he has favored with access or policies.
America is slouching toward the 250th anniversary of our revolution against arbitrary power with a president who shamelessly exercises it. Never before have we witnessed this degree of self-dealing, bribe taking, usurpation of congressional authority, and open defiance of federal courts.
It’s an unconstitutional slippery slope. If Trump can get
away with creating for himself a $1.8 billion slush fund that Congress never
approved and courts cannot oversee, and wantonly trade the shares of companies
his policies are favoring, what’s to stop him from creating a $10 billion or
$10 trillion self-dealing slush fund?
If he can get away with preemptive pardoning himself and his
family for any and all future financial wrongdoing, what’s to stop him from
pardoning himself and family for any future criminal acts?
These are only a part of the slippery slope we’re on. If he
can abduct a foreign president without Congress’s permission, what’s to stop
him from abducting anyone? If he can order the U.S. military to
kill a foreign head of state without even Congress declaring a war, what’s to
stop him from ordering the military to kill anyone?
If he can target political enemies for criminal prosecution,
what’s to stop him from jailing or murdering his opponents?
If he can unilaterally decide that someone on a boat in the
high seas is an “enemy combatant” and summarily kill them, what’s to stop him
from calling anyone he dislikes an enemy combatant and having them killed?
If he can put his name on buildings all over Washington and
take a wrecking ball to the East Wing of the White House, what’s to stop him
from taking a wrecking ball to the entire edifice and putting up a Trump tower?
He feels unstoppable because there’s no one around him to
tell him no. Instead, he’s surrounded by sycophants who tell
him yes. He gets blind loyalty from his lapdogs — his vice
president, his Cabinet, and most Republicans in Congress — who work for him
rather than for the American people.
He feels indomitable because his billionaire backers — Jeff
Bezos, Elon Musk, Larry and David Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, and Rupert Murdoch,
among others — have stuffed his PAC with their money and silenced criticism of
him on their media platforms, in order to garner his favors. Meanwhile, his
followers feast on his white Christian nationalism, and regard him as godlike.
He feels invincible because he was reelected president even
though he was impeached twice and has been found guilty of 34 felony counts,
and the Supreme Court has shielded him from further criminal prosecution for
“official” acts (which he takes to mean any actions while he’s president).
Congress is barely an obstacle because, as he demonstrated as recently as last
week, he has a chokehold over the Republican Party. He even says he “doesn’t
need Congress.”
He feels invulnerable because he’ll never directly face
voters again, and therefore will never lose — nor, he assumes, ever be held
accountable for anything.
My friends, this is full-frontal neofascism. I suggest we
respond in these ways:
On July 4, the 250th anniversary of the
nation’s independence, we wear black armbands to acknowledge the near death of
our democracy and the rule of law under Trump.
In the weeks and months leading up to the midterm
election on November 3, 2026, we commit to getting the largest
voter turnout in American history, to take back Congress and stop the
neofascist in the White House. Not just a blue wave but a blue tsunami.
On Election Day 2028, we elect a
president whose character and temperament are consistent with the founding
ideals of the United States — someone both humble and honorable, who’s
committed to strengthening democracy and the rule of law, who will revive the
self-governing institutions that Trump has shat on and refocus the nation on
our vast unfinished agenda of inclusion, rather than exclusion.
Beyond these, we will do whatever we can
to learn from this catastrophe and help America learn. We will teach our
children and grandchildren the truth of what has happened, and how close we’ve
come to losing our democracy. And we will educate future generations on what we
owe one another as citizens of this great land.
To accomplish all this, we mutually pledge to each other our
lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Robert Reich is the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. His book include: "Aftershock" (2011), "The Work of Nations" (1992), "Beyond Outrage" (2012) and, "Saving Capitalism" (2016). He is also a founding editor of The American Prospect magazine, former chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." Reich's newest book is "The Common Good" (2019). He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.
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