Anybody but him

New group, Citizens for a Corruption-Free RI, targets Speaker Mattiello

UpriseRI

Running against Mattiello is Republican Steven Frias. Since he first ran
against Mattiello, I have been trying to figure out where I had seen him
before. Finally, it came to me. He's actually John Hodgman, the comic who
played the smarmy rich guy in Daily Show skits when Jon Stewart was
the host.  What do you think? - Will Collette

Two of Rhode Island’s leading advocacy organizations, the Rhode Island National Organization for Women and the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV), are working together this election cycle to defeat House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello.

Their campaign is known as: Citizens for a Corruption-Free RI. 

The groups believe that Cranston voters are fed up with their current representation and his loyalty to big campaign donors and high paid lobbyists that results in the constant interference from passing legislation that would benefit the majority of Rhode Islanders.

“Rhode Islanders are tired of reading about corruption at the State House,” said Linda Finn, the CEO for the joint effort, and the President of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence.

Case Closed

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE.

Don't assume

Native Rhode Islander returns home to pursue ocean science

For Matthew Dunn, URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography is the place to be

Carol McCarthy

Matthew Dunn, who grew up in South Kingstown, returned to
Rhode Island to pursue his Ph.D. at URI’s Graduate
School of Oceanography. (URI photo/Ayla Fox)

Contrary to the popular aphorism, you can go home again, and it can be exactly where you want to be.

At least, that is the case for South Kingstown native Matthew Dunn, a doctoral student at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. 

Dunn grew up barely a mile from URI’s Kingston campus, and after graduating from South Kingstown High School, sought to broaden his perspective beyond his backyard, earning a bachelor’s degree in marine science at the University of Delaware.

For Dunn, 22, returning home is about pursuing a childhood dream to become a marine scientist and to do so in the place where he discovered his love for the ocean. The University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography is where he made that discovery.

NOAA predicts warmer winter, normal snow for New England

Wet southern states to contrast drought in West

Photo by Will Collette

A mild winter could be in store for much of the United States this winter according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. 

In the U.S. Winter Outlook for December through February, above-average temperatures are most likely across the northern and western U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.

Additionally, El Nino has a 70 to 75 percent chance of developing. 

“We expect El Nino to be in place in late fall to early winter,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. 

“Although a weak El Nino is expected, it may still influence the winter season by bringing wetter conditions across the southern United States, and warmer, drier conditions to parts of the North.”

Teresa Tanzi and a dozen others endorsed in 2018 election as climate change champions

Climate Action Rhode Island releases election endorsements

From UpriseRI 

Climate Action Rhode Island (CARI), the Rhode Island affiliate of 350.org, is proud to announce its enthusiastic endorsement of 13 candidates for State House seats in Rhode Island.

We base our endorsements on the candidate’s commitment to bold policies that support renewable energy, ratchet down fossil-fuel emissions, and move us towards a sustainable future, as well as on the dynamics of their particular district’s contest.

The candidates CARI has endorsed for the November 6, 2018 General Election are:

Trump Fiddles As The World Burns … And Drowns, Dries And Dies

White House Ignores a Dire Warning on Climate Change
By Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport New York Editor

We’re becoming inured to name-calling and bullying threats as a substitute for governing. 

We’ve seen that on immigration, tariffs, foreign affairs and other topics. 

Sloganeering for isolationist and protectionist approaches dominate, while on purely domestic problems, the White House/Republican-majority Congress response centers on handing the problem off to the states or to the private corporate marketplace.

So, now I’m interested to see what happens when planet-wide apocalypse looms a little closer? What happens when, say, some governing needs doing rather than just words?

Up until now, shouting America First slogans has allowed Trump to duck much of the reality of climate change. Indeed, his government basically has banned the mention of the problem, dismissing environmental scientists and others from preparing for its effects.

Shouting America First slogans has allowed Trump to duck much of the reality of climate change.

If the price is right

"Lock her up!"

VIDEO: Healing hurt critters

Volunteer Rehabilitators Help Injured Wildlife Heal

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI News staff
Video by JOANNA DETZ/ecoRI News

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JJIavXStyw

Chi Chan bought the foreclosed house — the owner died before moving in — for $400,000 little more than a year ago. While she has no plans to move in herself, squirrels, a chipmunk, a snake, and an owl now call the place home, at least temporarily.

Before buying the Tower Hill Road (Route 1) home, Chan had spent most of the past two decades working out of a two-car garage in Wickford. 

She’s not a mechanic. She’s a volunteer veterinarian for the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island. In fact, it could easily be argued that Chan, fellow veterinarian Meredith Bird, and executive director Kristin Fletcher — all licensed and trained wildlife rehabilitators — are the clinic. 

The trio has been working together since the early 2000s. They have never been paid, and they also take care of wild animals at their homes.

For 13 years, from 2000-2013, the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island, which began as a nonprofit in 1993, was housed in Bird’s garage. For about four years, the operation worked out of a barn on Shermantown Road, not far from Chan’s “home.”

Editor’s note: The clinic is celebrating its 25th-anniversary year with an Oct. 27 fundraiser at Jacky's Galaxie in Bristol.

Good for you, good for everyone else

Balanced plant-based diets improve our health and the health of the planet

Oxford University

Well-balanced and predominantly plant-based diets can lead to improved nutrient levels, reduce premature deaths from chronic diseases by more than 20%, and lower greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer application, and cropland and freshwater use, globally and in most regions, a new study reports.

The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, is the first to comprehensively assess the relationship between the health and nutritional impacts of different dietary-change strategies and their environmental impacts across all major world regions.

Trump endorses violent assaults against journalists

Trump Declares 'Open Season on All Journalists'

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams

With the international community's attention and horror still centered on the Saudi regime's alleged torture, murder, and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi just over two weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump took the stage at a rally in Montana Thursday night.

He unleashed a lengthy and "chilling" tirade in support of a GOP congressman who violently assaulted Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs last year for the crime of asking questions about healthcare policy.

Detailing his early and enthusiastic support for Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.)—who pleaded guilty to assault after he body-slammed Jacobs the day before last May's special election and went on to win anyway—Trump said he initially worried that the Republican's attack on a reporter would hurt his chances in the race.

"We endorsed Greg very early. But I heard that he body-slammed a reporter.... This was the day of the election or just before, and I thought 'Oh, this is terrible! He's going to lose the election,'" Trump said. "And then I said, 'Wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him.' And it did."

"Any guy who can do a body-slam... He's my guy," Trump declared, doing his best impression of a wrestling move to raucous applause and cheers from his Montana audience. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"In the aftermath of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it runs the risk of inviting other assaults on journalists both here and across the world where they often face far greater threats. We hope decent people will denounce these comments."

—John Mulholland, Guardian editor

VIDEO: Our most dangerous export

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fURtVISgYuI

Get lost, Lady

For more cartoons by Jen Sorenson, CLICK HERE.

Watch out, Medicare