Let's play "What Will He Screw Up Today?"

White House doesn't want you to see this photo of Trump's Press Secretary.

Long-Term Repair to Charlestown Breachway Completed

Just in time for Breachway campground opening on Saturday

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), and the Town of Charlestown, along with project partners and supporters including members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the Rhode Island Salt Ponds Coalition, Save The Bay, and the University of Rhode Island/Rhode Island Sea Grant today celebrated the completion of the long-term repair project of the Charlestown Breachway.

The $8.4M project included breachway restoration, channel dredging, beach re-nourishment with the creation of two sand dunes and plantings planned for fall. $5M was contributed through a DEM request and allocated by the State through CRMC, $2M from CRMC for dredging, and $1.4M provided by the Town of Charlestown.

Contractors reconstructed the west breachway wall in two tiers of stone. Dredged material was reused to restore the town beach, repair erosion along the wall’s west side, and construct two storm-resilient dunes on the same side. The work has restored the breachway’s structural integrity, improved navigation, stabilized the coastline against climate impacts, and preserved water flow in and out of Ninigret Pond to maintain ecological balance and water quality. Work began last November and was completed in late March 2026. These long-term repairs will help safeguard coastal infrastructure, the environment, and the community.

Nearly half of US family physicians report burnout

We need to keep our doctors healthy

Laine Bergeson

Burnout among US family physicians is around 44% and is associated with a significantly higher likelihood of switching jobs or leaving practice altogether. 

That trend could lead to lower care satisfaction and increased spending for patients, as well as have substantial financial consequences for health care organizations, according to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

For the cross-sectional analysis, researchers led by a team from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City examined survey responses from 19,929 family physicians collected from 2016 to 2020 American Board of Family Medicine surveys and used Medicare data to track whether physicians later switched practices or left medicine. 

When physicians reported “I feel burned out from my work” or “I have become more callous toward people” at least once a week, the researchers defined them as experiencing burnout. 

Starting April 17, Amazon will add a 3.5% delivery charge to pay for increased fuel costs due to Trump’s Iran War.

Along with big price increases for gas, diesel and heating oil, Trump’s War Tax continues to grow

Brad Reed for Common Dreams

Americans having been paying more for gasoline since the start of Donald Trump’s illegal war with Iran, and now it seems the war’s costs are spreading to other areas of the economy.

Amazon announced on Thursday that, beginning April 17, it would add a “3.5% fuel and logistics-related surcharge” to vendors that use its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service in the US and Canada.

The company said that it needed to add the surcharge due to “elevated costs in fulfillment and logistics” that “have increased the cost of operating across the industry.”

“We have absorbed these increased costs so far,” Amazon said. “However, similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, we implement temporary surcharges on our fulfillment fees to recover a portion of the actual cost increases we are experiencing.”

Who's the Biggest Money Behind the Throne?

Naming names

Robert Reich

Friends,

It’s important that we demonstrated against Trump’s assertion of royal powers.

It’s at least as important to follow the money — and learn the identities of America’s billionaire royalty who crowned Trump in the first place. They’re now spending another regal fortune to keep Congress under his control.

Today I’m going to name names.

As of March 1, according to a new report from Americans for Tax Fairness, the 50 biggest-spending billionaires in American politics had already contributed over $433 million to the upcoming midterm political campaigns.

Not surprisingly, 80 percent of this haul is in support of Republican candidates or conservative issue groups.

Given how early we are in the process, and how contributions tend to accelerate closer to Election Day, 2026 will almost surely set a new record for billionaire money in midterm elections. (Because of our current pathetically weak campaign finance laws, courtesy of the Supreme Court, fat-cat contributors are funneling huge sums through super PACs. While such spending is supposed to be independent of the campaign being supported, rules against coordination are now going largely unenforced.)

WHO THEY ARE

 

Chariho budget - 1741 YES, 1,324 NO. Charlestown's support made the difference.

Sundowning our way into World War III

WWJD?

South County Rising Community Meeting: April 10

Charlestown Breachway, two other DEM campgrounds opening this weekend

In-Tents Fun: Three State Campgrounds Open April 10

Editor's Note: That's not my pun ☝. It's DEM's - Will Collette

South County Tourism

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announces that three state campgrounds will open for the season on Friday, April 10. The annual opening of Charlestown Breachway, Fishermen’s Memorial, and George Washington Memorial State Campgrounds aligns with spring school vacation and trout fishing season, offering families a chance to enjoy Rhode Island’s outdoors. East Beach State Campground will open Friday, May 22. Book your stay at a RI State Campground at riparks.ri.gov/campgrounds.  

Burlingame State Campground is expected to open later in May due to ongoing work to complete a modernization project for its showers and restrooms. As a result, the release of reservations for the 2026 camping season at Burlingame will be delayed. DEM appreciates campers’ patience as we enhance Burlingame with modern, sustainable, and accessible amenities. Please stay tuned for updates by visiting the project webpage at: https://riparks.ri.gov/campgrounds/burlingame-campground-new-shower-and-restroom-facilities-project.

Why flu and COVID hit older adults so hard

Aging lungs may spark runaway inflammation that makes infections far more dangerous.

University of California - San Francisco

Older adults are far more likely to develop severe illness from flu or COVID, and new research from UC San Francisco offers an explanation. The study shows that aging lung cells can trigger an overly aggressive immune response, which can turn even mild infections into serious conditions.

These findings provide new insight into age-related inflammation and help explain why something as simple as a cough can sometimes lead to hospitalization in older individuals.

Aging Lung Cells and Inflammation

To explore what changes in older lungs, researchers focused on fibroblasts, the structural cells that help maintain lung tissue. In experiments with young mice, they activated a stress signal typically linked to aging. This caused the lungs to develop clusters of inflamed cells, including some marked by the GZMK gene, which was first identified in severe COVID-19 cases. Scientists believe future treatments could target these cells to interrupt the harmful cycle known as inflammaging.

"We were surprised to see lung fibroblasts working hand-in-hand with immune cells to drive inflammaging," said Tien Peng, MD, a professor of Medicine and a member of the Cardiovascular Research Institute and Bakar Aging Research Institute at UCSF. "It suggests new ways to intervene before patients progress to severe inflammation that can require intubation."

Peng is the senior author of the study, published in Immunity on March 27. Nancy Allen MD, PhD, a clinical fellow in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division in the UCSF Department of Medicine, is the first author.

Foulkes Releases Plan to Lower Utility Bills and Advance Clean Energy

No False Choices

News release from the Foulkes campaign

As energy bills in Rhode Island soar and Rhode Islanders see the effects of climate change every day, Governor McKee has walked back the climate goal that he celebrated just four years ago. Lacking a plan, the governor is creating a false choice between affordable energy and taking action to meet our climate goals. Helena Buonanno Foulkes has outlined her plan to lower energy costs for Rhode Islanders while addressing climate change and advancing renewable energy in the Ocean State. 

“Choosing between lower energy costs and addressing climate change is a false choice that Rhode Island cannot afford to make,” said Helena. “As governor, I’ll focus on cost-effective sources of renewable energy to meet our climate goals while working to lower costs for Rhode Islanders. Today, I’m outlining my plan to do exactly that.”

Last year, 89% of Rhode Island’s electricity came from natural gas, and our state ranks 44th in energy affordability. Meanwhile, renewable energy sources are consistently the cheapest energy options available to meet rising demand. Helena’s plan focuses on increasing clean energy generation in Rhode Island and taking basic steps to hold our for-profit utility accountable to lower costs for Rhode Islanders.

Ensuring lower rates for Rhode Islanders starts with holding the utility accountable for proposed rate increases. The McKee Administration has allowed Rhode Island Energy and its parent company Pennsylvania Power & Light broad latitude to pass more and more costs on to Rhode Island ratepayers. Thankfully, our AG has fought to hold them accountable to the tune of tens of millions of saved ratepayer dollars. 

Helena’s plan, titled No False Choices, rejects the premise that clean energy and lower costs are at odds. As governor, Helena will: 

Something deeper than greed drives Trump’s compulsion to destroy

Will the planet survive this meddlesome moron?

Sabrina Haake

As the price of oil explodes, Trump is doing everything he can to kill cheap energy alternatives. The administration just announced that the U.S. is paying one billion dollars to a French company, TotalEnergies, to cancel wind farm projects already underway, in exchange for new investments in oil and gas. Darwin posted a cryptic ‘SMH’ in response to the news.

Doug Burgum announced the deal, claiming, “the era of affordable, reliable and secure energy is here to stay.” Someone might want to tell Burgum that we’re in the middle of a war proving just the opposite. With crude oil prices skyrocketing, and WWIII looming over the Strait of Hormuz, there’s nothing reliable or secure about fossil fuels except for campaign donations to Trump.

Trump’s war on alternative energy has led to an extraordinary transfer of public money to prop up fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change, which Trump still calls a “hoax.” Trump’s fight to overrule science and abandon all climate protections seems like a compulsion to destroy more than anything; Trump likely assumes he’ll be pushing up daisies before Big Oil is forced to compensate victims.

Who cleans up the mess?