Tuesday, September 22, 2026
South County man confirmed with case of life-threatening tick-borne Powassan disease
Tick bites can happen at almost any time of year
“We all need to be thinking about tick prevention measures
when outdoors,” said Director of Health Jerry Larkin, MD. “Repel and reduce
your exposure to ticks, check your body for ticks, and be sure to remove ticks
if you find one on yourself, a family member, or a pet. Ticks are tiny. You may
not be able to feel them or spot them right away. The sooner you find and
remove them, the better your chances are at preventing the serious health
issues caused by illnesses like Powassan and Lyme Disease.”
This is Rhode Island’s third case of Powassan in 2026 and
the eleventh case overall since it was first reported in Rhode Island in 2016.
Powassan is a tick-borne disease that is found mostly in the Northeast and the
Great Lakes region of the United States and in eastern Canada. Over 397 cases
of Powassan have been reported in the US in the past 10 years (2016-2025).
Powassan cases are rare, but the reported number of cases has increased in
recent years. In 2025, there were 76 cases reported nationwide, which
represented the most Powassan cases ever in a year. That year, there were 27
cases of Powassan reported in New England: 12 cases in Massachusetts, 6 cases
in Maine, 5 cases in Connecticut, and 4 cases in New Hampshire.
Initial symptoms of Powassan include fever, headache,
vomiting, and generalized weakness. The disease usually progresses to
meningoencephalitis, which may include meningeal signs, altered mental status,
seizures, aphasia (difficulty understanding or speaking), paresis (muscular
weakness or paralysis), movement disorders, or cranial nerve palsies. People
with severe Powassan disease often need to be hospitalized. There is no vaccine
or treatment for Powassan, so preventing exposure to ticks is the best strategy
to avoid this disease.
Love by the numbers
Scientists say love follows hidden mathematical rules
Taylor & Francis Group
Professor Laurent Pujo-Menjouet of the University of Lyon I
and other researchers around the world have been developing mathematical models
that treat romantic relationships as dynamical systems. In other words, they
study how feelings evolve, respond to outside pressures, and either recover or
decline over time.
In his book Love! Valour! Equations!, which brings together mathematics, psychology, literature, cinema and everyday life, Pujo-Menjouet writes: "There is no mysterious enchantment or magic potion. By now, that would be known. Is all hope lost then? Certainly not. That is precisely where everything becomes interesting."
Iran war pushes diesel – the economy’s lifeblood – to record high prices, with no relief on the horizon
Ditto on home heating oil
The inflation-adjusted price of diesel in late August was about as high as it was in 2022 and has likely risen further. There are still three factors that we, scholars of U.S. and global energy markets and supply chains, see that set the stage for prices to remain high and potentially climb even further.
Two of these elements – environmental protection regulations on oil refineries and Russia’s war with Ukraine – have been building tension for years. But the situation has been pushed into a crisis by the U.S. war against Iran, which has closed the Strait of Hormuz to a large percentage of oil and refined products shipments for more than six months.
Amid that crisis, U.S. oil refineries are making lots of money.
In mid-September 2026, diesel prices were up 67% over September 2025’s monthly national average of $3.75 a gallon, and they have risen sharply since. In January 2026, before the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran in late February, the average diesel price in the U.S. was lower, at $3.52 a gallon – meaning that diesel prices have jumped more than 78% since the war began.
In part, that’s because the country, and the world, have been losing diesel refining capacity for many years and can’t just ramp up production to fill the shortages.
Monday, September 21, 2026
How did progressives do in Rhode Island's Sept. 9 Primary?
Discussing the progressive election night wins with the Working Families Party’s Anusha Venkataraman
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| The WFP’s Anusha Venkataraman addresses the crowd at Riffraff |
The day after David Morales’ historic Democratic Primary win in the Providence Mayoral race, I sat down with Anusha Venkataraman, the Rhode Island State Director of the Working Families Party (RIWFP). The RIWFP is celebrating a wave of primary victories that “mark a generational shift in Rhode Island politics, as working-class champions won across the ballot.”
Alongside Morales, the RIWFP helped House District 7
candidate Amy Santiago sail to victory, as well as Providence City
Council candidates Miguel Martinez Youngs (Ward 1), Yulyana Torres
(Ward 3), Jackie Goldman (Ward 5), AnnaJane Yolkien (Ward 13), Justin
Roias (Ward 4), and Miguel Sanchez (Ward 6). Every RIWFP-endorsed
candidate in Providence won their primary.
The following has been edited for clarity:
Anusha Venkataraman: We’re so excited to sweep our
Providence races, and some races we thought would be close didn’t end up close.
The closest ones were incumbents. Overall, incumbents didn’t do well statewide,
and the incumbents who did win had the Progressive Coalition’s backing. We saw
that in Providence, and we saw it with our other incumbents statewide who also
faced challenges from the business lobby.
Steve Ahlquist: The League
of RI Businesses didn’t win any races. That’s a lot of money they
flushed down the toilet. That makes me feel pretty good; you shouldn’t be able
to game the system and win races.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, Steve is right to point out how badly LORIB was beaten in their attempt to game the Democratic Primary, but they're not quite done. They have a number of candidates they are backing in the November 3 General Election, especially in South County. These include incumbent MAGA Senator Elaine Morgan, and MAGA challengers to state Reps. Carol McEntee, Kathy Fogarty and Megan Cotter. Sen. Victoria Gu, who represents the southern half of Charlestown, faces a LORIB-backed MAGA guy she's already beaten twice.
We need to help Sam Wilcox unseat Elaine Morgan and we must defeat the remaining LORIB acolytes. - Will Collette
Since Trump took office, public belief that government is corrupt jumped to 90%
Notice when the big spike happened:
Geology underfoot: Public invited to join field trips focused on Rhode Island landscape
URI hosting 117th annual New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, Oct. 2-4
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| The sole purpose of the yearly New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference is to present field trips in interesting geologic areas; this year it’s Rhode Island’s turn—the public is invited to join in. Shown: Beavertail State Park. (URI Photo / Brian Savage) |
University of Rhode Island geosciences students get to welcome an event that hasn’t happened at URI since before they were born—and the larger public is also welcome to join and be a student of geology for a day (or two).
Hosted by URI this year, the annual New England Intercollegiate Geological
Conference attracts students and faculty from the geologic disciplines
across New England, but anyone is welcome to attend. Conference “field trips”
are all free and open to the public.
This year’s conference will kick off with emeritus faculty Dan Murray co-hosting a virtual field trip on Thursday, Oct. 1 at noon to share updates on the ancient bedrock geology of Rhode Island. (Murray was also the organizer for URI’s last conference in 1998.)
According to URI geoscientist Dawn Cardace, one of
this year’s organizers, “This is a community-led initiative, loosely managed,
but much loved: Every year, the host organization shapes the event to fit the
host college, the site, and the local flavors.”
Trump declares victory over Greenland
But what really happened?
Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams
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| An image posted by Donald J. Trump on his Truth Social account on 20 January 2026 during the Greenland crisis, showing him planting a US flag on Greenlandic soil with JD Vance and Marco Rubio |
Trump—who has repeatedly threatened to gain control of the autonomous
Danish territory, including by military force—said on his Truth Social network: “I am pleased to announce
that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The
Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the
United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in
Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many US concerns. There will be NO
COST to the United States!”
“We look forward to working with the wonderful people of
Denmark and Greenland toward a magnificent future with respect to this large,
and highly strategic, parcel of land,” Trump added. “We will be very protective
of it! This is a dream come true for the United States of America, one that is
very important, historic, and special.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed
what he called a “historic deal” and “a huge win for the United States and the
American people.”
A joint statement released by the office of Danish Prime
Minister Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who chairs the
Naalakkersuisut—Greenland’s governing body—confirmed that “Greenland, Denmark,
and the United States are expected to sign an agreement on strengthened
security in the Arctic
and the North Atlantic area next week” at the United Nations
General Assembly in New York.
Frederiksen stressed that the agreement “recognizes the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom [of Denmark] and the
Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination,” while Nielsen said the pact
“is to the benefit of us all.”
Trumpflation is here
He broke it, he bought it.
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump, his supporters,
and the national punditry invoked that term to indict President Biden’s
economic policies. Although Biden actually reduced covid-induced inflation in
the United States from
7.2 percent in 2022 to 2.4 percent by 2024, Trump won a second presidential
term by capitalizing on consumer angst about high prices.
Put me, a genius businessman, back into office and I will
solve America’s inflation woes, he promised.
Trump’s problem now is all three of his major second-term
policies are raising prices across a range of commodities, but especially
housing, food, and gas. Reducing the immigrant labor pool, imposing tariffs on
imports, and the Iran War are costing consumers billions in higher
out-of-pocket costs.
Americans are finally starting to realize the great business
“genius” is an economic imbecile.
Clueless
Nobody believes the United States should have open borders
and zero restrictions for immigrants seeking either full citizenship or
temporary work visas. But the ineluctable fact is that immigrant workers are
good for the economy because their labor lowers domestic production costs and
keeps inflation down.
That fact is especially true for the construction and food
industries. Almost no commercial or residential work site operates without
immigrant labor, and few agriculture products are harvested, picked, shipped,
processed, cooked, or served without immigrant labor.
Immigrants comprise roughly 30 percent of the construction trade workers who build America’s commercial and residential properties. The construction industry confirms that 92 percent of member firms report production delays as a result of labor shortages caused by the “chilling effect” of Trump’s brutal ICE policies. An untold number of workers not already removed from the country by the government are no-showing for work. Trump has worsened America’s housing affordability crisis.
As for groceries — a term Trump,
who has probably never food-shopped in his life, infamously marveled at —
almost every calorie of food Americans consume that is not harvested from
private gardens is cooked at home from fresh or processed foods purchased at
markets, or are restaurant meals prepared from similar food sources.
Sunday, September 20, 2026
The future of Social Security (and Medicare) will be determined by the midterm election.
2026 is THE Social Security Election
Martin Burns and Mary Liz Burns for Common Dreams
Social Security’s trust fund that pays retiree and survivor
benefits is expected to begin running low on money earlier than previously expected, leading to questions from
Americans who rely on the benefits for their living expenses. Without
congressional action, the fund is now expected to begin depleting by the fourth
quarter of 2032, according to a report issued
Tuesday by Social Security’s trustees, the body that manages the trust fund.
This does not mean that, as some who for their own political
purposes argue, Social Security is going “bankrupt.” Those who depend on Social
Security (roughly 68 million Americans) do not have to worry about their checks
stopping. Instead, they need to be concerned about a very significant cut to
their benefits.
But know this: The reduction can be avoided with courageous
political action. Congress and the president can make adjustments that will
close the gap and pay out promised benefits. Back in 1983, Congress and
President Ronald
Reagan hammered out a solution to do just that.
Right now, there are a number of steps that Congress can
take that will strengthen Social Security’s finances for today and for future
generations. One of the most talked about solutions is raising the cap on the
amount of income subject to the Social Security tax—otherwise called “busting
the cap.” The Economic Policy Institute points out that:
Earnings above a cap aren’t
subject to the payroll taxes that fund Social Security. As a result,
billionaires pay the same tax as someone earning $176,100 in 2025 (the cap is
indexed to the average wage, so it changes every year). “Scrapping the cap” is
a popular and effective way to address Social Security’s
funding gap. Nearly three-fourths of Social Security’s projected long-term
shortfall would be eliminated if the cap were scrapped without
increasing benefits.
Key dates for Charlestown voters
REMEMBER: There are NO changes to mail-in and early voting
You can request a mail ballot NOW: Welcome to Online Mail Ballot Application
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