Who’s running for town office in Charlestown?

CCA gives up on trying to regain control of the Town Council

Will Ruth Platner survive?

By Will Collette

For more than a decade, Charlestown politics has been dominated by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) and those who oppose them, most recently Charlestown Residents United (CRU). Rituals like this year’s June 25 deadline for filing Declarations of Candidacy for election to municipal office became closely watched events.

For a decade, the CCA ruled Charlestown by creating boogeymen to sow fear while turning Charlestown into a virtual gated community for elderly rich people. That worked for a while until the CCA got caught screwing up the town’s finances, a scandal highlighted by the “$3 million Oopsie.”

That cost the CCA control of the Charlestown Town Council in 2022 and their total ouster in 2024. In short order, the CRU cleaned up the CCA’s money messes, according to the RI Auditor General.

In most recent election cycles, 10 people stepped up to compete for the five Town Council seats. The CCA would field five and their opposition would field five. This year, only eight people are running.

There are three declared Democrats: incumbent Council President Deb Carney, retired journalist Cynthia Drummond and the close-second finisher in last December’s Special Election Jill Fonneman. Democrat/CRU incumbent Peter Slom is not running for re-election.

There are three declared Republican candidates: incumbents Craig Marr and Steve Stokes as well as newcomer Matt Westover.

There are two “Unaffiliated” but CCA endorsed: Bonnita Van Slyke and Sasha Puchalski.

Last year, the CCA made a minor comeback with CCA leader Ruth Platner getting her puppet Bonnita Van Slyke back onto the Council by a thin margin in a 3-way special election to fill the late Rippy Serra’s vacant seat.

But this year, the CCA has quietly surrendered by only running Van Slyke as a bona fide CCA candidate. They have announced they are also endorsing “unaffiliated” candidate Sasha Puchalski (daughter of the well-known Sandy Puchalski), though her actual relationship to the CCA is unknown as this point.

They also endorsed two Council candidates who didn’t ask for their endorsement. One is incumbent Steve Stokes, a staunch CRU member running as a Republican. The other is Democrat Cynthia Drummond who expressly told South County Star editor Alex Nunes that the only endorsement she wanted was that of the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee.

According to Nunes, “Drummond said she will run as a Democrat endorsed by the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee… She said she will not seek an endorsement from either of the town’s rival political action committees, Charlestown Citizens Alliance and Charlestown Residents United, although she said both are supportive of her candidacy.”

So, the CCA election strategy is to endorse candidates opposed to the CCA while running their old warhorse Bonnita Van Slyke. The last time Bonnita Van Slyke ran for Council in a General Election (2024), she ran dead last. Given her dubious record, it’s unlikely she’ll do much better in November and will have to give up the seat she barely won in the Special Election.

If the CCA is too feeble to run a full slate of its own people, then stealing candidates from the opposition might be their way to claim control.

I predict that after the votes are counted, the CCA will issue a statement claiming “CCA-endorsed candidates win majorities on Charlestown Town Council, Planning Commission and Chariho School Committee.”

CCA 2026 campaign cry: Save Ruthie!

It now looks like the CCA’s focus will be to preserve founding member and de facto leader Ruth Platner’s control of the Planning Commission.

Platner has used the Planning Commission to push her radical agenda of blocking families with children by excluding affordable housing, favoring rich beachfront property owners and acquiring land through shady land deals. In recent elections, her vote tallies have denied her full 6-year terms, forcing her to run as an “alternate.”

Since she controls the CCA, she could then force the CCA Planning Commission majority into naming her as Chair despite her vote tally.

But in the 2026 election, Platner could lose her CCA majority on the Planning Commission. She herself is running for re-election as is her sidekick Frances Topping plus two CCA acolytes Coleen Yaroshenko and Gordon Willcox

Three non-CCA, CRU-leaning candidates are running against them: Laura Rom, Katherine Gingras and Cheryl Lill.

Three current Planning Commission members whose terms expire in 2028 and 2030 hold their seats. One is a Platner person (Sarah St. Laurent) and two are not (Glenn Babcock and Patricia Stamp). CCA alternative member Carol Ann Mossa is not seeking re-election and will leave the PC this year.

If Platner’s slate loses to the opposition, the new Planning Commission majority may end Platner’s to Charlestown’s Planning Commissar-For-Life position.

Indeed, there is a chance she could lose her seat. Including alternates, the Planning Commission has seven members. Three seats are held by incumbents. That leaves four seats up for grabs in November. There are seven people running, Ruth plus three CCA people and three anti-CCA people. Ruth has to finish in the top four of seven to hold onto her seat.

The last time there was a concerted effort to oust Platner, in 2018, she finished last in a field of four. 

The CCA is also claiming by endorsement three candidates for the Chariho School Committee: Holly Eaves, Linda Lyall and Craig Louzon. However, all three are on the ballot as Democrats. The CCA’s primary voice on the School Committee, Donna Chambers, died earlier this year.

Two guys are running for Town Moderator, an honorific post whose only function is to chair the annual Charlestown budget meeting. CCA’s Dave Wilkinson is running for re-election against Tony Jones who is running as a Republican.

The next step is that these declared candidates will need to gather 50 signatures of registered Charlestown voters to get their names on the ballot.

I’m not running

I repeat: I am not running against our terrific incumbent state Rep. Tina Spears in the September 9 Democratic Primary despite being listed as a candidate on the Secretary of State's website.

It’s a paperwork glitch – my fault. When I filed my declaration to remain a member of the Democratic House District 36 Committee, I checked the wrong box. I’ve already notified the Charlestown Board of Canvassers and will do whatever I need to do to withdraw. And since I’m not going to collect any signatures, I will not be on the ballot.

As Civil War hero Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman said in 1884, "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve."

Adventures of Dementia Donnie

Gotcha!

 

how aging changes the way we walk

We emphasize stability over speed

Ageing and Gait – credit Maarten Immink with ChatGPT

Reasons why our walking becomes slower and more tiring with age have been uncovered by new Australian research — with findings showing the body increasingly sacrifices efficiency to stay upright.

The study, led by Flinders University and the University of Canberra, reveals that as we age, the body adopts a “safety-first” walking style that prioritizes stability at the cost of speed and energy efficiency, which helps explain why older adults tire more easily and face a higher risk of falls.

Analyzing movement data from 107 healthy adults aged 26 to 86, researchers identified subtle but important changes in how the ankle and surrounding muscles control each step.

Lead author and expert in sport and exercise technology, Dr Cody Lindsay, says the ankle plays a critical role in both balance and forward motion.

“As we get older, the body starts to favor stability over efficiency,” says Dr Lindsay, from the Flinders Caring Futures Institute.

“That helps keep us upright, but it also makes walking more of an effort.”

Melatonin can be a safe and effective sleep aid for all ages – but product inconsistencies and improper dosing lead to real harms

Better Regulation would help

Sally Ibrahim, Case Western Reserve University

Melatonin – a go-to sleep aid for kids and adults alike in many households in America – continues to create media buzz, with conflicting messages that leave people uncertain about its safety.

Some headlines point to melatonin’s supposed immunity boosting power, while others point to unestablished links between melatonin and heart failure.

I’m a pediatrician and sleep medicine doctor specializing in children, adolescents and adults.

In my experience, many families go through difficulties with sleep for several months and even years before they seek out specialty care, and often they come across information online that isn’t tailored to the right age group or sleep condition. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved any insomnia medications for children, so pediatricians don’t have many options.

Melatonin is the most widely studied sleep aid in children. Still, I find that many parents feel uncertain about using melatonin, and some even experience guilt if they do, despite some clear benefits with appropriate use.

Adequate, regular and healthy sleep is essential for functioning our best throughout the day, and people deserve to get sleep information that is supported by evidence.

Why many older Americans are losing ground under 80‑year‑old Trump

Cuts to food programs, Meals on Wheels, Medicaid, plus inflation and looming Medicare benefit cuts endanger older Americans

Nina A. Kohn, Syracuse University and Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia

American political leadership skews decidedly older than the population as a whole. President Donald Trump turned 80 years old on June 14, 2026. The median age for senators is nearly 65, and the median age for House of Representatives members is almost 58.

But are those older people in office a sign that the U.S. government is turning into a “gerontocracy” that is giving younger generations short shrift?

No – many older Americans are becoming worse off.

We are experts in elder law who have been following the legal treatment of older Americans for decades. One of us writes a leading elder law casebook, and we are co-authors of a book on aging that will be published in January 2027. Through our research, we have observed a series of federal policy changes that will make life harder for many Americans of modest means as they age.

In our view, those policies show why, more than ever, it is wrong to assume that rich and powerful older people will protect all older adults, including those who aren’t wealthy.

Social Security cuts loom

Perhaps the most publicized of these policy failures is that the federal government hasn’t taken steps to stave off Social Security benefits cuts.

The program will have to cut the benefits it provides by roughly 22% starting in 2032 unless Congress steps up. That would affect a lot of people: Currently, Social Security pays benefits to more than 60 million retired workers, as well as survivor benefits for the spouses of workers who have died and their eligible children.

But instead of taking steps to shore up the program, Congress has sped up that expected moment of reckoning.

A tax break included in the big tax and spending package Trump signed into law in summer 2025 that benefits some older people will actually weaken Social Security for everyone by reducing the tax revenue that funds the program.

Social Security’s revenue is further compromised by the declining number of immigrants in the workforce who contribute to the program through the payroll tax, even though many of them will never be eligible to receive its benefits. More immigrants departed the U.S. than arrived in 2025 due to the Trump administration’s policies, which are supported by funding for immigration enforcement approved by the Republican majority in Congress.

These changes will hit some older adults harder than others. Social Security keeps millions more women than men out of poverty, as well as more Blacks and Latinos than whites.

AFL-CIO sets ambitious goal of organizing 2 million more workers and two labor experts discuss how this could be done

Big goals call for commitment, planning and organizing

By Don McIntosh

Liz Shuler and Fred Redmond were re-elected to lead the AFL-CIO.
| Photo courtesy AFL-CIO

The AFL-CIO held its 30th national convention June 7-10 in Minneapolis. Among the highlights, delegates re-elected incumbent leadership and passed a resolution pledging to bring 2 million more workers into unions by 2032.

The AFL-CIO is a federation of 65 unions that total 9.8 million members in all. 

In its latest annual disclosure to the Department of Labor, the AFL-CIO reported 14.8 million members, but that figure includes just under 5 million who signed up to be members of Working America, the AFL-CIO’s 22-year-old community and political organizing affiliate; those individuals aren’t represented by a collective bargaining agreement, aren’t required to pay dues, and don’t consider themselves union members.....

In the last four years, the AFL-CIO has grown by 2.4 million members thanks mostly to the re-affiliation of 2-million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the addition of seven smaller unions, most notably of professional athletes. The union share of the U.S. workforce overall has stayed about the same, dropping from 10.1% in 2022 to 10.0% in 2025. It’s estimated there are about 14.7 million union members in the United States in total, and two-thirds of those are in unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO doesn’t organize workers directly but tries to support organizing by affiliated unions. 

Besides the officer elections on Day 1, much of the convention consisted of speeches and panel discussions, but delegates also ratified without debate a series of resolutions that set official AFL-CIO policy. Those included:

• Resolution 2, pledging to initiate a mass training program to provide basic organizing skills, tactics and strategy to working people who want to organize; and to grow unions by at least 2 million workers by 2032
• Resolution 3, committing to dismantle systemic racial- and gender-based barriers to employment, prioritize the fight for pay equity especially for women of color, support access to gender-affirming health care, and center the voices of Black, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Latino, LGBTQIA+, indigenous, immigrant and women workers
• Resolution 4, demanding a pathway to citizenship for immigrant workers regardless of legal status; and calling on Congress to rescind funding for mass deportations
• Resolution 25, calling on state and federal regulators to address anti-competitive mega-mergers between major employers
• Resolution 26, opposing electronic shelf labels and so-called “surveillance pricing” by grocery retailers

How the US Labor Movement Can Revive Itself and Help Save Democracy

Stephen Lerner and Joseph A. Mccartin from These Times

The US labor movement, like the nation at large, stands at a crossroads. The next few years might well determine whether the United States fully descends into an era of electoral autocracy, where democracy has withered and authoritarianism becomes the political norm. This period is also likely to set the future trajectory of the union movement’s power and influence, as the state of democracy and organized labor have long been deeply intertwined.

For decades, the right-wing forces set on steadily eroding our democracy have worked in tandem with a pro-corporate movement that has increasingly marginalized organized labor, creating a ballooning crisis for the working class. Yet this politically hazardous moment also represents an opportunity to overcome deep-seated institutional inertia, drawing elements of a cautious labor movement out of their defensive crouch, and helping unions devise forms of struggle that might both revive the labor movement and renew American democracy.

Donald Trump’s second term has, in a way, broken a spell. For years, the pre-Trump status quo kept labor locked in a pattern of slow decline even as democracy was increasingly stifled and abridged by voter suppression, gerrymandering, filibusters, and the overweening power of organized money. But the decades-old dysfunctional status quo that gave rise to Trumpism is now crumbling under the weight of the most lawless, antidemocratic, rights-trampling administration this country has seen since the 19th century.

History suggests that fighting to defend and revive democracy in its moment of maximum peril can create a window of opportunity for labor. Past experience—in the United States and other nations—teaches us that, when unions fight to defend democracy and win, they position themselves for periods of explosive growth and increased worker power. It is imperative that the US labor movement grasp this lesson and seize the window of opportunity before it’s too late.

Moving Beyond Magical Thinking

It’s clear that the crisis facing US democracy is deepening. Over the past year, immigrants and the neighbors and coworkers who stood in solidarity with them endured murderous paramilitary occupations in Minneapolis, Chicago, and other cities across the country. The nation has been plunged into war in Iran without prior input from Congress. The president has even suggested the federal government should seize control of the upcoming midterm elections from the states.

He's going to need more Sharpies

Guide to the Evangelical mind

I love the smell of death in the morning...

“Morticia’s” bloom draws a crowd to URI

Kristen Curry

Thousands of visitors from across southern New England made their way to URI's Horridge Conservatory in June for a glimpse of Morticia, the University's resident corpse flower.

After watching and waiting for months, the University of Rhode Island’s Horridge Conservatory was the busiest site on campus in June, with lines twisting and turning full of visitors eager to catch a sight–and whiff—of URI’s resident corpse flower (Titan Arum). More than 4,000 guests from across southern New England were able to witness the rare and unusual occurrence.

The plant began blooming the night of June 16 with the conservatory extending its hours to the public on Wednesday, June 17. With assistance from URI Master Gardeners and some night-owl helpers from the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, Greenhouse Manager Ben Robbins and student assistant Daniel Meservey fielded visitors and inquiries far into the evening, to allow as many people as possible to experience the unique horticultural happening. The conservatory stayed open until 2 a.m. with help from Niels-Viggo Hobbs, Linda Forrester, Rachel Dahl, Amy Santiago M ’26, Kathryn Pagano and Anne Ita Sykes.

Rhode Island man contracts rare tick-borne illness

RIDOH Confirms a Case of Rare Tick-Borne Viral Infection (Powassan)

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) is reporting a confirmed case of the tick-borne Powassan virus disease (Powassan) detected in a Rhode Island resident. This resident is a male in his 60s who lives in Providence County. He began experiencing symptoms of Powassan in May. He was hospitalized but is now recovering at home.  

“With summer now here, 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 first case of Powassan since 2024 and the ninth 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 U.S. and in eastern Canada. Over 397 cases of Powassan have been reported in the United States in the past 10 years (2016-2025). 

Trump is fighting the green energy revolution. He'll lose.

Market forces are stronger than MAGA.

Paul Waldman

Something historic happened in May: For the first time in American history, more electricity was generated in the United States with solar power than with coal.

While natural gas remains our largest electricity source, the crossing of the lines between solar and coal — one representing the future and one the past — is something we may look back on as one of the key moments in the planet’s transition to green energy.

We don’t know whether someone told Donald Trump about this milestone, but if they did, he wouldn’t have been happy. Since taking office, he has waged an all-out war against renewable energy, not just making it more difficult to create and use clean power, but pouring taxpayer money into fossil fuels.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that though Trump has done significant damage to America’s green energy industry — and given us more pollution, higher costs, and more insecurity in the bargain — that industry continues to grow.

There is a global energy revolution underway, and Trump’s efforts to slow it down are destined to fall short.

What’s the likely next move after the executive order on childhood vaccines?

Trump and Bobby's continued war on vaccines

Jess Steier, DrPh

If you follow vaccine policy closely, you've probably learned to brace yourself on Friday afternoons. Just as the weekend rolls in, my team has a standing bet on the night's bombshell: guessing what gets pulled, which committee gets gutted, and which stack of evidence gets quietly waved away while the reporters log off. It started as a dark joke but stopped being funny a while ago. 

The pediatric childhood schedule fight has largely gone quiet since March, when a court froze the administration's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) overhaul, even as the Friday personnel churn rolled on. Now all the chips seem to be back on the table. 

That habit of bracing—of trying to guess what’s coming next—is one my father would have understood. He was a gambler who also taught me chess, and two of his lessons have stuck with me. From the card table: Play the player, not the cards. What someone is holding matters less than who they are and what they want you to believe. From the chessboard: Think a few moves ahead, because the move that decides a game is rarely the one that looks like it’s doing something.

Lipstick on a weak argument

Both have been on my mind since the White House published an executive order on Friday, May 29, titled “Realigning United States Core Childhood Vaccine Recommendations with Best Practices from Peer, Developed Countries.”

“Executive order" has come to signal something swift and unilateral, already in force before you can respond. This one plays on fear without earning it. Read only the cards, and there's not much here. The order tells the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its ACIP to review a federal “scientific assessment” (a December-ordered report comparing the US childhood schedule with those of peer nations) and consider updates to the childhood schedule. 

On its own, the order does not change any recommendations, not to mention there’s no functioning ACIP to act on it right now. It also makes a point of stating that vaccines across all categories should remain covered without cost-sharing by private insurance, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Vaccines for Children Program. For now, the schedule recommended by the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics as of 2025 remains in effect. 

Whodunnit?

How to "deal" with Iran