Candidates for Governor talk taxes and the economy

Gubernatorial candidates Foulkes, Gregerson, Guckian, and McKee speak out at EPI Tax Policy Summit

Steve Ahlquist

Front runners Foulkes and McKee

“What I’m hearing is visionary leadership,” said Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies, executive director of the Economic Progress Institute (EPI), to the audience gathered in the Hotel Providence. “The people in this room want our leaders to be moved, to dream, and to make things possible. We want leaders who can confront affordability and energy costs, but what does that mean when we’re making policy?

“I’m really inspired by the message that we don’t want a Rhode Island where we are surviving, we want a Rhode Island where we can thrive. That is my dream. I’m so competitive. Rhode Island has been my home state since I immigrated to the United States at 16. I want us to win so bad. I want that fire in our guts. We can make everyone jealous because they don’t live in Rhode Island.

“I’m also very grateful to the candidates running for governor who showed up to not just share with us what they think,” concluded Nelson-Davies, “but to listen to what the people they might be leading tomorrow think as well.”

The Economic Progress Institute held the People’s Tax Policy Summit and Gubernatorial Candidates Reception on Wednesday. The event brought together residents, advocates, and state leaders to discuss rising living costs, tax equity, and the state’s financial future. Here’s the video:

Four candidates for governor, including Helena Foulkes, Will Gregerson, Aaron Guckian, and incumbent Daniel McKee, were provided three minutes to address those in attendance. The candidates were introduced by Chelsea Speaks, from the RICJ (Rhode Island for Community and Justice), and Joseph Ortiz, a “Tax Justice Ambassador” with ARISE (Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians).

The following has been edited for clarity.

Helena Foulkes

“It’s been so fascinating to listen to all of this, and I especially love Weayonnah’s call to all of us to be bold. It’s important. It’s easy to think about the barriers, but her challenge to dream big puts us on the map.

“Four years ago, I walked into a room of about 75 carpenters, and I’ll be honest with you, I thought I knew what that conversation was going to be about: wages, job sites, material costs, etc. Then the first man stood up and started talking about childcare. He talked about what it was doing to his family. I looked around the room and watched them nod, one after another, like he was saying out loud what all of them had been experiencing for years. That moment has never left me because that man wasn’t asking for anything special. He was asking for a Rhode Island that works for families like his, and we have not given it to him.

“The cost of infant care in this state is now higher than in-state college tuition and the average rent. The people who have been running this state will tell you we have universal pre-K, but they are not the parents on the waitlist, the ones who, year after year, get a letter that says there’s no more space.

“It’s not universal if it doesn’t apply to everyone. Less than a third of low-income children are enrolled in Head Start or pre-K. That is not a gap. That is a choice the people in charge of our state government have made year after year, with a $15 billion budget at their disposal. That ends with me.

“Earlier today, I announced the Rhode Island Employer Match Childcare Fund, a $20 million pilot that brings the state and Rhode Island employers together to share the cost of childcare. Employers who invest in childcare retain their workers, grow their teams, and build stronger companies. When families win, Rhode Island wins. I’ll expand tax credits for childcare assistance, and by the end of my second term, every Rhode Island family will have access to universal pre-kindergarten, not universal in name, universal in practice. Childcare is only the beginning because the truth is the squeeze does not stop there: Rhode Island is ranked dead last in the country in new housing starts last year. There’s not a single community in this state where a family making $100,000 a year can afford to buy a home.

“I hear it everywhere I go. People who grew up here, want to stay here, and love this state are being told by the cost of living that there’s no room for them anymore. That’s wrong, and it has to stop. My Rhode Island housing program will build 20,000 new homes and apartments that Rhode Islanders can actually afford, and the wealthiest Rhode Islanders will pay for it.

“And we’re done cutting RIPTA one year and then funding it again in an election year. If people can’t afford to live here and can’t afford to get to work, it doesn’t matter how many good jobs we attract or grow. I will invest $15 million in job access transit routes connecting workers to Quonset, hospitals, and other work sites. No one should have to leave a place they love because they can’t afford to stay.

“So here’s what I’m asking of you: Do not let them tell you this is the best we can do. Do not accept taglines that say ‘affordability for all’ when our state is not affordable. Talk to your neighbors, coworkers, and the parents on the wait list. Tell them things can be different.

“Sixteen years ago, I lost my mother to cancer. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, but before she died, she gathered my siblings and me together, and she said something I’ve always carried with me: ‘Take care of each other.’ That’s why I’m running for governor, because that is what Rhode Island has always been at its best: Neighbors looking out for neighbors and people who show up for each other even when it’s hard. That’s the Rhode Island I believe in, and that is the Rhode Island we’re going to build together.”

US researchers say how the Trump administration’s science policies have affected them

Self‑censorship, more stress, tougher recruiting

Eric Welch, Arizona State University and Timothy P. Johnson, University of Illinois Chicago

The American academic research engine has long been the envy of the world. Generally well-funded, labs in the United States have been able to attract the best minds who generate breakthroughs and train the next generation workforce that powers the U.S. economy. But since the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025, new federal policies have destabilized the American scientific enterprise.

The disruption generated by the Trump administration’s funding, DEI and visa policies has been well reported by the media. On an individual level, though, what do academic researchers think of all these changes and how have they been directly affected?

We are researchers affiliated with Arizona State University’s scientist opinion panel survey, known as SciOPS, a 5-year research program designed to monitor, understand and improve how scientists communicate with the public. We wanted to know more about the reality inside today’s universities as researchers grapple with Trump administration policies.

Along with our colleagues, we fielded a survey of randomly sampled members of the academic science community participating in the SciOPS panel. We obtained responses from 280 scientists from several fields, including biology, chemistry, civil and environmental engineering, computer and information science engineering, geography and public health from 131 universities.

Our results show dramatic, mostly negative, effects of federal policy changes on researchers, the research system and American competitiveness.

Trumpism slime, set to rhyme

May 27: Westerly protest on Wednesday

May 30 open house and free paddling

 

WPWA Open House & Free Paddle Event   WHO: Members and General Public Welcome! WHEN: Saturday May 30th 1pm to 5pm WHERE: 203 Arcadia Rd. Hope Valley, RI 02832 WHAT: FREE Food, Fun, and Paddling   If you know anyone interested in joining the WPWA membership..... this is THE event to invite them to! Please help promote WPWA membership!   Schedule of Activities: 1:30pm Intro to Paddling Lesson 4:00pm Guided Wildlife Paddle   Thank you for helping us grow!

Our Contact Information Wood Pawcatuck Watershed Association 203 Arcadia Rd. Hope Valley, RI 02832 401-539-9017 http://www.wpwa.org

Senate passes Sosnowski bill to create medical school at University of Rhode Island

One step closer

The Senate passed legislation introduced by Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski that would establish a medical school at the University of Rhode Island. It’s part of the Senate’s 17-bill package of healthcare legislation centered on supporting Rhode Islanders in crisis, protecting patients and providers, and strengthening the state’s health workforce.

Last year, a special legislative commission undertook an independent feasibility study that recommended the establishment of a public, M.D.-granting medical education program at URI, and outlined a proposed four-year, five-phase plan that would culminate in the launch of the program’s charter class in autumn 2029.

The act (2026-S 3604) would establish the framework to create the medical school and provide an initial appropriation of $5 million as the first phase of a multi-year investment for its development.

Foulkes Unveils Phase Two of “Believe in Rhode Island” Economic Plan

Focus on the basics

Helena Buonanno Foulkes shared the second component of her Believe in Rhode Island economic plan. This phase is centered around the belief that you cannot have an economic plan that ignores where people can afford to live, how they can get to work, and whether they have affordable childcare to rely on. 

“Rhode Islanders work hard. They deserve a state that works just as hard for them. With the high cost of childcare, transportation, and housing, even good-paying jobs aren’t enough to help lower costs for Rhode Islanders,” said Helena. “Today, I’m proud to announce the second part of my Believe in Rhode Island economic plan, which invests in the services that jobs depend on, like childcare and transportation, so Rhode Islanders can afford to go to work in the good-paying jobs we’re creating in the Ocean State.”

Helena’s Plan for Working Families includes:

• Childcare and Pre-K that’s accessible and affordable: A Rhode Island employer-matched childcare fund, starting with a $20 million pilot, designed to reduce the cost of care for working parents.
• Greater housing supply and lower housing costs: Helena previously announced her Rhode Home Program, a comprehensive proposal to tackle our state’s housing crisis head on by creating a billion-dollar revolving loan fund—paid for by a marginal tax increase on Rhode Islanders making over a million dollars—to spur the construction of 20,000 new homes and apartments statewide. 
• Job-access transit routes: A $15 million first-year appropriation for job-access routes connecting workers to Quonset, ProvPort, hospital campuses, and the warehouse corridor. This will include expanded transportation routes and access to jobs in the ocean economy, allowing workers throughout Rhode Island to benefit from state investments in a growing industry that depends on skilled workers to fill good-paying jobs.

 Read Helena’s Childcare & Transportation for Working Families plan here.

Trump and Bobby Jr.'s vaccine cover-up

Why the FDA tried to bury studies showing vaccines are safe

Jake Scott, MD

In October, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists were directed to withdraw two COVID-19 vaccine safety studies that had already been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. In February, top officials refused to sign off on submitting two abstracts on the Shingrix vaccine, used to prevent shingles, to a major drug safety conference. Christina Jewett at the New York Times reported the scope of these decisions.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed the withdrawals on the record, saying the studies were withdrawn because "the authors drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data" and that "the F.D.A. acted to protect the integrity of its scientific process and ensure that any work associated with the agency meets its high standards." 

The studies are public. Anyone can read them. The FDA's own scientists, working with the active surveillance system Congress mandated after the withdrawal of Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory pain reliever, in 2004 after it was tied to increased heart attacks and strokes, produced findings consistent with every major post-market analysis of these vaccines published worldwide since 2023. 

The work was buried for reasons that have nothing to do with the underlying data.

What the studies actually found

One of the COVID vaccine studies, involving US adults 65 and older, was withdrawn from the journal Drug Safety after acceptance. It analyzed more than 7 million Medicare beneficiaries who received the 2023-24 vaccine. The investigators evaluated 14 specific health outcomes, ranging from heart attacks and strokes to Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune condition that has been linked to certain vaccines. 

They identified one statistically meaningful signal: a small elevation in anaphylaxis (a severe allergic reaction) following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. After they adjusted for the possibility that some "anaphylaxis" billing codes did not represent true cases, the signal disappeared. The attributable risk, before that adjustment, was less than one excess case of anaphylaxis per million doses administered. The investigators concluded that no new safety signals had been identified.

Returning to the flock

Let's try having a king again

credit: Jesse Duquette

Scientists may have uncovered a hidden brain difference that helps explain the thrill-seeking behavior of psychopaths

Not like the rest of us

Nanyang Technological University

Neuroscientists have identified a measurable brain difference between people with psychopathic traits and those with few or none. 

In a study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), the University of Pennsylvania, and California State University found that a brain region involved in reward and motivation was larger in individuals with psychopathic traits.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the team found that the striatum was about 10 percent larger on average in psychopathic individuals compared with a control group. 

The striatum sits deep in the forebrain and plays a role in movement planning, decision-making, motivation, reinforcement, and how the brain responds to rewards.

Psychopathy is generally associated with an egocentric and antisocial personality pattern. People with strong psychopathic traits often show reduced empathy, little remorse for harmful actions, and, in some cases, a greater likelihood of criminal behavior. 

Not everyone with psychopathic traits commits crimes, and not every person who commits a crime is a psychopath, but research has consistently linked psychopathy with a higher risk of violent behavior.

Memorial Day Cookouts Will Be 13% More Expensive This Year on Average Thanks to Trump’s Tariffs, Iran War

A MAGA Memorial Day

Julia Conley for Common Dreams

With the US-Israeli war on Iran pushing gas prices up past $4.50 per gallon and American households already having spent nearly $300 that they wouldn’t have otherwise on fuel, some families may opt to stay home this coming Memorial Day weekend.

A new analysis released Thursday shows that even without travel expenses, celebrations are likely to be more costly than they were last year thanks to Donald Trump’s policies.

Both Trump’s assault on Iran—and the predictable result of the Iranians closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade waterway, in retaliation—and his tariff and trade policies are likely to make the holiday more expensive, with prices for barbecue classics up 13% on average since last year, more than four times the inflation rate, according to two think tanks, Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation (TCF).

Ground beef for hamburgers is up 20%, while Johnsonville bratwursts are up 28%, Kraft hot dogs are up 12%, and Martin’s rolls are 19% more expensive than they were in 2025.

Those shopping for produce won’t fare much better, with the average price of a head of iceberg lettuce up 19% over last year, seedless watermelon costing 17% more, and six ears of yellow corn costing a whopping 98% more than it did in 2025.

URI-DEM partnership will reopen W. Alton Jones campus in September

Beautiful spot to be put back into use

By Ryan Arruda, Rhode Island Current

The view of the lake from the Great Room of the Sycamore Lodge at the Whispering Pines Conference Center on the W. Alton Jones campus. (Photo by Ryan Arruda for Rhode Island Current)

Six years after pandemic lockdowns forced state officials to shut down the University of Rhode Island’s 2,300-acre environmental camp, nature preserve and conference center in West Greenwich, the site is finally set to reopen on Labor Day.

The W. Alton Jones Campus is now undergoing a $2 million renovation to its Environmental Education Center’s lodge, surrounding cabins and farm buildings as well as improvements to signs and public access. Up until the campus was shut down in 2020, the property saw as many as 20,000 visitors each year. But economic concerns kept the campus closed after pandemic lockdowns were lifted.

In addition to the Environmental Education Center, which contains the largest lodge, the campus is home to the Whispering Pines Conference Center, which includes the Whispering Pines Lodge, the Sycamore Lodge, and two smaller, unnamed lodges, and the 9-acre Woodvale Farm, which has two barns, two houses, and a classroom building.

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Terry Gray, a West Greenwich resident, made reopening the campus a priority after he became the agency’s acting director in 2021. He took over the job permanently in 2022.

In an interview, Gray said DEM is focused on preserving the property while expanding public access and environmental education. The goal is to make Alton Jones a center for environmental education in the state.

The FBI Has Established a “Payback Squad” to Target Trump Foes — Report

Composed of agents who are deeply loyal to Trump

By Chris Walker

This article was originally published by Truthout

The FBI has reportedly established a team of agents, informally known as a “payback squad,” that is tasked with pursuing investigations (and eventually charges) against individuals perceived to be the political enemies of President Donald Trump. 

NOTUS reported on the details of the so-called payback squad, citing four individuals with knowledge of its existence, including two current government officials, a former official, and another person with an understanding of how it operates. 

According to the report, the agents who are part of the squad are deeply loyal, as they “know what they’re signing up for,” the publication stated. 

The payback squad was formed about a year ago. The squad was assembled to pursue Trump’s political foes, similar to the way the FBI has targeted former FBI Director James Comey, who was indicted last month over accusations that he had made a threat to the president’s life.

Comey — who was fired by Trump in 2017 in what was widely perceived as political retribution — faces criminal charges based on his posting a supposedly “threatening” picture of seashells on social media last year. The shells were arranged in the numbers “86” and “47.”

86 is a commonly used restaurant term that means to “throw out” or “get rid of,” while 47 refers to Trump, the 47th U.S. president. Trump has claimed the number is used to express a desire to see another person killed.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that Comey “knowingly and willfully made a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States,” even though Comey immediately removed the post when people made that inference, and issued a public apology, too.

A senior FBI official denied that the group uses the “payback squad” name, but confirmed that an advisory team for FBI Director Kash Patel was formed last year to target and discredit federal officials who took part in investigations against Trump.

The greatest ego of all time