Woof!

Trivia Night with Sam Wilcox our next state Senator (hopefully)

From Charlestown State Rep. Tina Spears

NEWS FROM THE RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN FOR TINA SPEARS

MARCH 2026

Updates from the State House

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Meeting the Moment: What I am Introducing   My focus this 2026 legislative session reflects a strong and growing commitment to meeting the real needs of communities.   Each week, starting next week, I'll be highlighting bills introduced by myself and colleagues, that illustrate a coordinated effort to improve quality of life, expand equity, and protect vulnerable populations across the state.   Topics will include healthcare access, disability inclusion, environmental resilience, and child safety.   I'll also give you ways you can help, so stay tuned!   TINA ABOUT TOWN Below, Tina hard at work at the RI State House, meeting with folks from University of Rhode Island.

Our next Tea with Tina will be April 4, 2026. We'll be discussing HB 7485 with special guest Andrew Kettle, Chief, Charlestown Ambulance Rescue. This bill aims to improve ambulance services by requiring insurance to reimburse for care even when no transport to a hospital occurs. This legislation supports community paramedicine and “treatment in place” models, aiming to lower costs and improve care access, particularly in rural areas. Come out, ask questions, and be part of the discussion!   10-12 noon @ Caf Bar in The Venue, 5153 Old Post Road, Charlestown

Want to volunteer on Tina's re-election campaign? Contact us here. We have lots of fun and we'll keep Tina in the State House!

If you'd like to donate to Tina's re-eelction campaign, please make personal checks payable to: The Friends of Tina Spears 82 Hillside Drive Charlestown, RI 02813   Or click HERE to contribute online or scan the QR code

Another study documents the health benefits of coffee

Your daily coffee may be protecting your brain, 43-year study finds

Mass General Brigham

Moderate coffee or tea drinking may help protect your brain as you age, lowering dementia risk and slowing cognitive decline. Credit: Shutterstock

A large prospective cohort study conducted by researchers from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard examined data from 131,821 participants in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). 

The findings showed that moderate intake of caffeinated coffee (2-3 cups a day) or tea (1-2 cups a day) was associated with a reduced risk of dementia, slower cognitive decline, and better preservation of cognitive abilities. The study was published in JAMA.

People trust the pediatricians more than Bobby Jr.'s CDC on vaccines

Trust in federal government drops when it comes to childhood vaccines, poll suggests

Stephanie Soucheray, MA

A new Axios/Ipsos American Health Index poll shows Americans are losing confidence in the federal government to make recommendations about childhood vaccines. 

From June 2025 to March 2026, public trust in federal childhood vaccine recommendations dropped 11 points, from 71% to 60%, with only 8% of those polled saying they trust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). 

The poll was conducted in early March, before a federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked changes to the childhood vaccine schedule. 

One in three respondents (35%) have more confidence in guidelines from the AAP than in those from the CDC. About one-quarter (23%) express equal confidence in both sources, while 16% are not confident in either source.

Iraq war’s aftermath was a disaster for the US – the Iran war is headed in the same direction

We've all seen this movie before. Except Trump, maybe

Farah N. Jan, University of Pennsylvania

The United States military achieved every objective it set when it went to war in Iraq in 2003. Decapitation: Saddam Hussein was captured, tried and hanged. Air dominance: total, within days. Regime collapse: The Iraqi government fell in 21 days.

Now, consider Iraq more than 20 years after the U.S.-Iraq war. Iraq is still an authoritarian state governed by political parties with deep institutional ties to Tehran. Iranian-backed militias operate openly on Iraqi soil – some holding official positions within the Iraqi state.

The country the U.S. spent US$2 trillion and 4,488 American lives to remake is, by any reasonable measure, within the sphere of Iran’s influence.

As an international security scholar specializing in nuclear security and alliance politics in the Middle East, I have tracked the pattern of U.S. military success across multiple cases.

But the military outcome and the political outcome are almost never the same thing, and the gap between them is where wars fail.

Two and a half millennia ago, Thucydides recorded the Athenian empire at its most confident in his “History of the Peloponnesian War”: “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” Athens then destroyed Melos and launched the Sicily Expedition with overwhelming force and no coherent theory of governance for what came next.

The lesson, then and now, is not that empires cannot destroy. It’s that destruction and governance are entirely different enterprises. And confusing them is how empires exhaust themselves.

The U.S. military can destroy the Iranian regime. The question that the Iraq precedent answers – with brutal clarity – is what fills the power vacuum when it does?

Understand?

Get out and vote. Maybe

Microplastics found in 90% of prostate cancer tumors

While this doesn't prove cause-and-effect, it adds to growing concern about human plastic consumption

NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Researchers have detected microplastics in nearly all prostate cancer tumors examined in a new study. Tumor tissue contained about 2.5 times more plastic than nearby healthy prostate tissue. Scientists say this is the first Western study to directly measure plastic particles in prostate tumors. More research is needed, but the findings suggest microplastic exposure could play a role in cancer development.

A new study has found tiny plastic particles in nine out of 10 men diagnosed with prostate cancer. Researchers also discovered that these microplastics were present at higher concentrations in cancerous tumors than in nearby noncancerous prostate tissue.

The investigation was carried out at NYU Langone Health, including its Perlmutter Cancer Center and Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards. The research team set out to explore whether exposure to microplastics could contribute to the development of prostate cancer, which the American Cancer Society identifies as the most common cancer among men in the United States.

Kids Exposed to “Forever Chemicals” May Grow Up With Weaker Bones

Yet another plastic surprise

By The Endocrine Society

New research published on March 17 in the Journal of the Endocrine Society suggests that exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) early in life could play a role in how children’s bones form during adolescence.

PFAS are man-made chemicals commonly found in water, food, and a wide range of consumer products. Often called “forever chemicals,” many of these substances linger in the environment and accumulate in the human body. Scientists are increasingly concerned that they may disrupt normal growth processes, including the development of strong bones.

“Adolescence is a key period for building strong bones, and achieving optimal bone mass during this time can reduce lifelong risks of fractures and osteoporosis,” said Jessie P. Buckley, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, N.C. “Our findings suggest reducing PFAS exposure during key developmental windows could support healthier bones throughout life.”

Who Is Trump’s Stupidest Cabinet Member

A hard call, but there’s a clear winner

Robert Reich

©Instagram/Pete Hegseth

At a press briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth complained about a CNN report that the Trump administration had underestimated Iran’s ability to disrupt global oil traffic by closing the Strait of Hormuz.

“Patently ridiculous,” Hegseth told reporters, adding — even as the strait’s blockage was proving to be Iran’s most powerful leverage in the war — we “don’t need to worry about it.” 

He also denied that the U.S. bombed the school where some 175 children were killed. Hegseth added that, as to CNN, “the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”

These remarks are remarkably stupid, on several levels.

First, CNN got it absolutely right in reporting that Trump’s national security team had underestimated Iran’s ability to disrupt global oil traffic. CNN cited “multiple sources familiar with the matter.”

The New York Times published a similar story, reporting that in the lead-up to the U.S.-Israeli attack, “Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets.”

Even The Wall Street Journal, hardly a New York Times or CNN clone, substantiated the story on Friday, reporting that Trump rejected warnings that Iran would likely retaliate by closing the strait because he believed Iran would capitulate before doing so, and he assumed that even if Iran tried to close it, the U.S. military could handle it.

Second, Hegseth’s comment that we “don’t need to worry about” the blockage of the strait is not only false but flippantly insulting to an American public that deserves to know what the Trump regime is planning to do about soaring prices at the gas pump, directly due to that blockage.

Third, even if Hegseth believes that David Ellison’s ownership of CNN will silence CNN’s critical coverage of Trump, it’s remarkably stupid of Hegseth to say it out loud. “The sooner David Ellison takes over CNN, the better” is an open admission that Trump backed Ellison’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent, to silence criticism.

Trump's whoppers about oil and gas prices

Big Oil wins. You lose.

Noah Berlatsky

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Donald Trump boasted on Truth Social.

Oil prices are, of course, going up because Trump launched an illegal war of aggression against Iran without considering the (incredibly obvious) possibility that Iran might retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices have spiked 60 cents this month as oil hit $100 a barrel, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright refused to rule out the possibility oil might even rise to $200 a barrel.

Trump’s blasé trumpeting of the virtues of rising prices is in part simple fecklessness — he’s a liar who insists everything he does is brilliant and awesome.

But Trump’s decision to attack Iran and put upward pressure on prices at home puts him a political pickle, since he excoriated Biden for the high cost of gas during the 2024 campaign. In fact, the day before he launched his war, Trump preened about how far prices had fallen. But suddenly high prices are good, because as long as Trump is shuffling gaseously from Mar-a-Lago to the White House, it’s always an orange utopia in America.

To some degree, though, Trump’s love of high prices is sincere. Our current fascist president is a crony capitalist and loves the idea of screwing consumers, who he sees as suckers and marks. He identifies with the wealthy and likes it when the rich get richer. His populist mouth noises have always been a put on — as an instinctual oligarch, he gets a little shiver of pleasure whenever he can harm the little guy.

Don't let it spread

 

ICE is on the job saving American airports

Rep. Megan Cotter introduces bill to boost tax break for seniors

Rep. Cotter, Sen. Ujifusa submit bill raising ‘circuit breaker’ tax credit to help seniors, those with disabilities

Sen. Linda L. Ujifusa and Rep. Megan Cotter are sponsoring a bill to provide relief to some of the state’s most vulnerable households by raising the eligibility limit and the maximum credit for the “circuit breaker” tax credit, which benefits low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities.

“Rhode Islanders with low incomes are bearing the heaviest burdens of our housing crisis, as well as paying a far greater share of their income under our regressive tax structure. For those with fixed incomes, such as seniors and people with disabilities, higher housing costs can mean they are going without other necessities to keep a roof over their heads. They need relief. Raising the limits on the circuit breaker credit is a very effective, targeted way to help many of the households who are facing the greatest housing cost burdens,” said Senator Ujifusa (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth Bristol).

The circuit breaker credit program provides an income tax credit to low-income Rhode Island homeowners and renters who are over 65 or disabled, equal to the amount that their property tax exceeds a certain percent of their income. That percent ranges from 3 to 6 percent, based on household income. In the case of renters, a figure representing 20 percent of their annual rent is used in the place of property tax in the calculation.

Currently, the program is limited to households with annual incomes of $40,730 or less, and the credit is limited to $700.

The legislation Representative Cotter and Senator Ujifusa have introduced (2026-H 7700, 2026-S 2031) would raise the income limit to $50,000 and raise the maximum credit to $850.