Tuesday, May 19, 2026
McKee unveils 6 picks for revamped CRMC.
Critics are underwhelmed.
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
The six nominees, all men, are slated for initial confirmation hearings before the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture Wednesday — nearly three months after the March 1 deadline for new appointees to join the volunteer council.
McKee’s office did not respond to requests for comment Monday on the delay or on his choices of candidates. Copies of their resumes or applications were also not immediately available, nor was the total number of applications received.
McKee’s recommendation letters, submitted to the Rhode Island Senate on May 14, do not offer any details about the candidates besides their names, and, when applicable, their professional qualifications.
Requiring the volunteer panel members to have relevant work experience was a central part of the reform effort approved by state lawmakers on the final day of the 2025 legislative session. The law reduced the size of the council from 10 to seven people to fix the problem of recurring vacancies that force meetings to be canceled due to lack of quorum.
Foulkes rolls out first part of her economic plan with a $100 Million "Classroom-to-Career" proposal
Practical approach for jobs and the economy
Gubernatorial candidate Helena Buonanno Foulkes (Democrat) announced the first component of “Believe in Rhode Island,” her comprehensive economic plan to give “every Rhode Islander a real shot at a good-paying job, a career, and a better future.”
“Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be rolling out parts of Believe in Rhode Island, my comprehensive economic plan that I will implement as governor,” said Foulkes.
“My plan is grounded in the belief in our
people, our talent, and the incredible assets that Rhode Island has to offer.
For too long, our elected leaders have been trying to tax incentive or special
deal their way into economic success. Instead, we should invest in Rhode
Islanders and lean into what our incredible state has to offer. I’m proud... to
announce my Classroom-to-Career Initiative, the largest investment in career
and technical education in the history of Rhode Island.
“Every parent I meet wants the same thing for their kid: a good, stable job and a future where they don’t have to leave Rhode Island to find a job. For too long, we’ve told young people that the only path to a successful career runs through a four-year college, but talking to the men and women in our trades, the operating engineers, the electricians, the plumbers, the iron workers, and the carpenters, they’ll tell you they have stable careers, good pay, and pride in the work they do.
"It’s the same for our healthcare workers, our advanced manufacturers, and our marine technicians. All Rhode Island needs is more people in all of these careers, and that’s why, as governor, I’ll propose a $100 million bond to fund capital construction for career and technical education facilities at or near high schools throughout the state, so our young people can learn career track skills and start careers with Rhode Island companies straight after graduation.”
“My classroom to career plan has four key points,” said Foulkes.
Monday, May 18, 2026
Earth-Destroying Trump and the Threat of World War III
The nightmare that is Donald Trump
Tom Engelhardt in the TomDispatch
In that context, here’s my advice to you: Don’t get old. For years, I managed not to do so, but unfortunately that’s all over now and I’m increasingly an old man. In fact, I’m not quite two years older than Donald J. Trump.
I was born on July 20, 1944, while World War II was still ongoing, and
he was born on June 14, 1946, in the peacetime that followed but would all too
soon become the Cold
War with the Soviet Union.
And let me tell you something else: these days it’s hard enough to keep the website I still run, TomDispatch, in some kind of reasonable shape, while also keeping track of our ever-stranger, more confusing, all-too-Trumpian world.
But keeping track of things nationally and
globally as an 80-year-old president of the United States (with
another two-and-a-half years to go) in a world that seems to be coming apart at
the — whoops, sorry, I can’t help it! — seams? I simply can’t imagine that. Of
course, I couldn’t imagine it for Joe Biden either,
and yet he left the presidency when he was a staggering 82 years and 61 days old and will still have been
younger than Trump if he truly makes it to January 20, 2029. (And both of them
will have beaten the oldest Roman Emperor, Gordian
I, who at 81 only lasted a few weeks in power.)
But in case you hadn’t noticed, while he’s always had
his odd moments, they are indeed getting ever odder and more frequent. After
all, how many times has this country had a president who mistook himself for (or do I mean confused himself
with) Jesus Christ? Oh, wait, how could I be so confused? That
image wasn’t of Jesus but (as “our” president insisted) of a lookalike medical doctor. (“I thought it was me as a
doctor,” Trump said. “Only the fake news could come up with that.”)
And meanwhile, of course, in his own ever stranger fashion,
“our” president took out after Leo, the American pope, himself a veritable
youth at 70 years old, calling him of all things, “WEAK on crime” and, of
course, “catering to the Radical Left.” Oh, and while he was at it, Trump
also posted an image of himself being hugged by (yes, of
course!) Jesus. And Leo responded to the president’s abuse by all too
accurately deploring a world being “ravaged by a handful of
tyrants” (including, of course, You Know Exactly Whom).
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, as an imperial power (even,
historically speaking, the imperial power, the only one at its
height to control quite so much of the planet in one fashion or another), this
country, too, is growing ever older and (again) in its own strange fashion
going down (as, of course, all great imperial powers do sooner or later). Phew!
That was a long sentence for this old guy, but you can’t get too long and
complicated (or do I mean confused?) when it comes to the world of Donald J.
Trump. In electing him a second time in 2024, 49.8% of
American voters clearly opted to go down in style by giving imperial oldness a
startling new meaning.
News from the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee
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Neronha sues country club that refuses to obey CRMC order
RI AG sues Quidnessett over rock wall built without permission
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
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| A man fishes along the shoreline immediately north of the rock wall built without permission by the Quidnessett Country Club in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The attorney general’s office sued the country club over the wall on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Save the Bay) |
The state’s top prosecutor is stepping in to try to force Quidnessett Country Club to remove a rock wall built without permission along its shoreline more than three years ago.
The complaint filed Tuesday by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office comes after years of unsuccessful efforts by state coastal regulators to negotiate with the country club owners and later, pursue legal action against them for the rock wall built in defiance of state coastal regulations.
The 600-foot stone wall was built along the shoreline of the North Kingstown country club in early 2023 — though not flagged by regulators until that summer — to protect the 14th hole of its signature golf course from coastal erosion. But state coastal regulations restrict development along sensitive and species-rich waters like the section of waterfront in question, a violation the Rhode Island Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC) has sought to have corrected.
Yet the wall remains, each day worsening the delicate ecosystem that surrounds it and inhibiting the state’s constitutionally enshrined public access to the shore, the AG’s complaint states. The 28-page complaint filed in Providence County Superior Court asks a state judge to issue a preliminary injunction forcing the club owners to remove the seawall and restore the shoreline, including vegetation, to its natural state awaiting a jury trial.
Cotter proposes sales tax holiday weeks for restaurants
Gives customers and restaurants a welcome break
.webp)
“This is a bill to help boost small businesses,” said
Representative Cotter (D-Dist. 39, Exeter, Richmond, Hopkinton). “Mom-and-pop
businesses make up a substantial portion of the restaurant industry. A tax-free
week is a great way to encourage people to visit a restaurant they’ve never
tried, hopefully one they’ll want to visit more often. This will put more money
directly into the hands of servers and small business owners alike and
encourage Rhode Islanders to enjoy the many fantastic restaurants we are fortunate
to have all over the state.”
The legislation (2026-H 8512), which Representative Cotter introduced May 1,
would establish one sales tax-free week in the summer and one in the winter for
restaurants statewide. The specific dates would be determined by the General
Assembly.
The tax holiday weeks could essentially create statewide
“Restaurant Weeks” which several communities in Rhode Island currently
organize. Such weeks usually include special menus and deals to entice
customers who might not otherwise visit.
The legislation is supported by the Rhode Island Hospitality
Association.
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