As flu season develops, members of The Pharmacy Guild/IAM working at CVS
Pharmacies in Rhode Island protested on October 23 outside the Wakefield
CVS over unsafe working conditions. The action comes as CVS has repeatedly
ignored frontline pharmacy professionals and refused to bargain in good faith
over a first union contract.
“We’re here because we’re sick of CVS executives putting
profits over people,” said Chris Eggeman, a Pharmacist at the Wakefield
CVS. “We’re sick of our professional concerns being ignored while pharmacy
professionals are expected to keep up with overwhelming workloads and too few
resources. We’re sick of CVS executives trying to bust the union by failing to
bargain in good faith and illegally withholding raises we’re entitled to.
“We have a message for CEO David Joyner and other CVS
executives: bargain in good faith, and promptly settle a first contract that
gives pharmacy professionals the resources we need.”
“I am a member of the bargaining committee. We’re here
because we’re sick of CVS executives putting profits over people,” said Chris
Desrochers, Pharmacy technician at the Wakefield CVS and a member of the Pharmacy
Guild. “We’re sick of our professional concerns being ignored while
pharmacy professionals are expected to keep up with overwhelming workloads with
too few resources. Pharmacy professionals take our responsibilities seriously
and work hard to support our patients and our pharmacies. But staffing is
stretched, and workloads keep growing. Pharmacy professionals need the time,
staffing, and resources to do their jobs well and meet the high standards they
set for themselves.
“That’s why we’ve been speaking up about working conditions.
CVS executives need to listen to the people who do this work every day and
address our concerns.
The CCA’s Toxic Twins need to be retired from Charlestown
politics
By Will Collette
Like I said, conjoined twins
The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) paints itself as
Charlestown’s savior and cites Town Council member Bonnita Van Slyke and
Planning Commission commissar Ruth Platner as the real heroes.
These conjoined
toxic twins have been almost inseparable for the past ten years, though Platner
is the dominant partner while Van Slyke’s served as Platner’s puppet.
Both are up for re-election on November 3 and hopefully both
will lose their seats.
The CCA’s decade-long rule over Charlestown, ended in 2022
when they were trounced by the slate of candidates under the Charlestown
Residents United (CRU), was marked by corrupt land deals, financial
mismanagement, seemingly endless fake threats to the town’s existence, town
government secrecy and cover-ups, and constant rancor.
Platner and her dog’s body Van Slyke were at the heart of
just about all of Charlestown’s CCA-inflicted wounds.
This duo has been the driving force behind the CCA policies
that voters finally repudiated in 2022. The list will be familiar to regular
Progressive Charlestown readers and are listed below near the end with key
articles that cover each issue in depth.
I'm voting YES on Charlestown Question 7
But today, as many of you ponder early voting or mail-in
ballot decisions or as you pore over contradictory mailers, here’s another
reason to reject the CCA and its leaders Platner and Van Slyke.
That’s the
CCA’s urgent plea to voters to reject Charlestown Question 7 which would
change the staggered term of office for members of the Planning Commission from
6 years to 4. You might ask, “Who cares?”
Here’s why. Ever since Ruth Platner was named to the
Planning Commission in 1997, she has campaigned to block virtually all home
building in Charlestown. When she elbowed the respected late Bob Rohm out of
the Planning Commission chair, she turned the Planning Commission into the
place where projects go to die.
She did it by using the clock to kill projects. Now she desperately
wants to maintain the six-year terms, explaining that “Long, staggered
terms let the same commissioners review a large development through from start
to finish” urging voters to vote NO to Charlestown Question 7. Naturally, I'm voting YES.
Platner expects commissioners to ponder development projects
for as long as six years. No wonder so many projects go nowhere when the
funding or investment disappears as Platner talks projects to death.
As one Planning Commission observer once told me, it’s
remarkable that Platner and her sidekick Frances Topping can talk for three
hours straight at Commission meetings and say nothing.
Under Platner, any project applicant could look forward to
years of hell and an ultimate denial, unless they acceded to Platner’s demands
on matters as trivial as the color
of roof shingles or switch plates on electrical outlets. It helped if the
applicant made a substantial donation to one of Platner’s favored charities,
such as the Charlestown Land Trust.
By 2000, Platner’s policies succeeded in causing Charlestown
population to stagnate and, as she admits in the town Comprehensive
Plan, even to decline, a pattern that continues today. She
covered that up by cooking Census data to make the claim that growth in
Charlestown actually exceeded the rest of Rhode Island, making it unfair for
the state to insist the town build more affordable housing.
She cooked the data by choosing 1970 as the start date,
which allowed her to use the period of 1970 to 1999 where population grew
rapidly to offset the stagnant growth period of 2000 to the present brought about by
her policies.
We have no affordable housing for town employees, the
children of existing residents or the people who come into town to work to
clean our homes, mow the lawns, take out the trash, or change diapers. Those
folks are expected to be out of town by sundown. Charlestown has become in the
classic sense, a “Sundown Town.”
So, the Planning Commission needs six years to process an
application. By sharp contrast, when Platner and Van Slyke want a project,
whether its laying down tons of asphalt to build Faith LaBossiers’ ridiculous
bike path in Ninigret Park or buying a piece of overpriced land from a CCA
political donor or ally, they can operate at warp speed.
Charlestown residents have long seen the derelict motel
topping the moraine north of Route One just opposite the former Hitching Post, now
Monahan's clam shack. It’s an eyesore as well as a waste of space, a tribute to
the CCA’s anti-business attitudes.
Along comes the WARM Center, one of our area’s most
venerable charities with a plan that would have warmed the heart of WARM’s
founder, the late Rev. Jean Barry of Charlestown. (Jean and my wife Cathy served
together for years on Charlestown’s Affordable Housing Commission.)
WARM wants to convert the derelict motel into affordable
housing units by refurbishing the existing building, using the same footprint
and making no additional demands on groundwater. They would continue helping
residents with support services after they move in. By every measure, the
perfect Smart Growth plan for affordable housing that even Ruth Platner should
get behind.
Jean Barry’s successor Russ Partridge talked to Cathy and me
about this project a few years ago and we loved it, becoming one of the first
private major donors to the work.
All WARM asked for from Charlestown was a letter of support
that they could use in their efforts to secure necessary state funding to make
this important project happen.
Of course, Council President Deb Carney crafted such a
letter and asked her colleagues to approve sending it. Given that this project
really is a no-brainer on the facts and the merits, that letter should have
immediately received unanimous approval.
But that’s not what happened. Council member Bonnie Van
Slyke, clearly at the behest of her master Ruth Platner, raised issues with the
letter of support. Van Slyke made a little speech where TWICE she voiced her support
for the generic concept of affordable housing but questioned whether this
project could get proper CRMC approval, implicitly challenging the competence
of the WARM Center.
This is not WARM’s first rodeo – they’ve successfully
carried out several major construction projects – and they know the steps that
need to be done. Besides, the motion on the floor was a simple letter of
support that highlighted Charlestown’s dire need for affordable housing not the details of the project.
But Van Slyke’s tactic of fogging the issue was enough to
get Councilor Steve Stokes to decide to abstain even though he said he
generally liked the project.
Van Slyke, despite her phony praise for affordable housing,
voted NO. Deb and Craig Marr voted yes. Peter Slom recused himself and Stokes
abstained. The motion to send the letter failed.
Van Slyke tried to pile on by insisting Ruth Platner be given the podium to speak to the issue, no doubt to raise even more phony issues about the
project. Council President Carney slapped her down, noting that the motion had
already been voted on.
Under Robert’s Rules of Order, that meant that Platner
needed to go back to her seat and STFU without being allowed to pile on or take
a victory lap.
If you think I’m making this up, watch for yourself: here’s
the LINK
to the video of the meeting and the discussion starts about 90 minutes in.
But wait, there's more!
The letter of support story does have a happy end. Deb brought the letter back to the Council on January 26 where it was approved on a 3-1 vote. Van Slyke, implicitly on Platner's instructions, again voted NO to sending the letter of support for what is arguably a model for affordable housing.
Van Slyke's claim of support for affordable housing is shown to be a lie. The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) remains unalterably opposed to affordable housing. Platner and the CCA paint this election as being about local control, but this incident shows what "local control" looks like under the CCA. More like Mississippi than Charlestown.
More reasons to oppose Platner, Van Slyke and the CCA slate
As promised, here’s that list of key reasons why you should
not support the CCA and its candidates in this year’s General Election.
The CCA claims they cut Charlestown's property tax rate. They lie. They controlled the Town Council from 2010 to 2022. See what happened in 2023 to the present after Charlestown Residents United (CRU) kicked them out of office. SOURCE: Charlestown Tax Assessor.
We’re still digging out from the CCA’s financial
mess. Also click HERE
to see how the new CRU Town Council started cleaning up this mess and HERE
for a summary of the CCA’s financial messes.
The put out a deeply flawed and very late Comprehensive
Plan: Platner submitted the plan to the state eight years late. It was full
of weird ideas (e.g. Seniors should use Uber to overcome Charlestown’s lack of
public transportation): Progressive
Charlestown: Slyke of hand, Part 3: The Plan from Hell
Stanky made Van Slyke, Platner and the CCA look like idiots.
They rose up to attack the Charlestown Residents United (CRU) newly elected
Council majority for driving out such a talented guy.
But, in fact, Stanky had
already lined up the new job months before the election and didn't tell the
CCA. He stuck around and milked the town for every last day of salary. Even
after the details of Stanky's exit came out, Van Slyke still stuck to her story
that he had been driven out.
In case you’re wondering where Stankiewicz is, he’s back in
his hometown of Stoughton where he’s doing weird YouTube appearances like
this:
That's Stanky on the left. See if you can last through this entire video. I tried a few times but just couldn't stand it.
Do your elected officials support reproductive rights and
LGBTQ+ rights?
The Womex Project
The Bodily Freedom Forever Index (BFFI) is a voting guide to
provide transparency on where Rhode Island's political candidates stand on
issues of bodily freedom. Specifically, candidates were asked:
Do you
support reproductive rights?
Do you
support LGBT+ rights?
Local Races:
Key
FOR: The candidate believes in Bodily Freedom
Forever, including reproductive rights, the right to gender affirming care, and
the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
N/A: Information was not provided despite every
effort made.
MIXED: TWP Research Collective found conflicting
information and the candidate has not responded to the BFFI Survey to clarify.
AGAINST: The candidate does not believe in supporting
policy that recognizes the dignity of LGBTQ+ people and reproductive rights.
Want to feel happier? That “treat yourself” self-care
strategy may not help as much as you think. Happiness may be more about
connecting with other people.
“What a lot of research is now showing is that when we
orient ourselves outwards to other people, that leads to greater increases in
happiness,” says Katherine
Nelson-Coffey, an associate professor of psychology in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences,
part of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State
University.
She says social connection is one of the strongest
predictors of happiness and well-being — in the moment and over time.
Activities that bring people together strengthen relationships and decrease
loneliness, which boosts well-being.
These findings come from a newer field called positive
psychology. Traditional psychology often focuses on overcoming problems such as
mental illness. But researchers like Nelson-Coffey and her husband, John Coffey, also an
associate professor of psychology at ASU, explore the other side of mental
health.
“There's a lot more to helping people than just getting them
back to a baseline, and that baseline does not constitute thriving,” Coffey
says.
Nelson-Coffey adds, “This is where positive psychology can
come in and offer insights for how we get people from that kind of zero point
(the absence of mental illness) to the thriving, flourishing good life.”
Coffey and Nelson-Coffey study people who are naturally very
happy and what they do. Then they assign groups of people to try those
activities and measure their emotions and well-being.
For this year's World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, try out
five simple activities backed by positive psychology research to build more
happiness into your life.
1. Perform at least three small acts of kindness in one
day
Nelson-Coffey conducted a study that randomly assigned
people to do acts of kindness for others, the world or themselves, or do a
neutral control activity. She found that people who performed acts of kindness
for others or the world had a greater increase in positive emotions than those
who did acts for themselves or the neutral activity.
It’s been seven months since more than 30 leaders of the
“Make America Healthy Again” movement told the Trump
administration that they were losing patience, and demanded to see evidence
that the US Environmental
Protection Agency took seriously millions of Americans’ concerns about
toxic “forever
chemicals” and microplastics.
“MAHA is a mandate, not a marketing campaign,” the advocates
told EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, calling for an end to
both corporate-friendly loopholes in regulations and the “revolving door” that
saw chemical lobbyists hired by the agency tasked with regulating the industry.
But on Monday, the government watchdog Public Citizenrevealed
that 20 out of 21 environmental chemicals that the White House pledged to
address in its May 2025 “MAHA Report” have been subject to less, not more,
regulation under the Trump administration.
For nine of the chemicals, including the carcinogenic
herbicide atrazine,
mercury,
and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—often
called forever chemicals—President Donald Trump and his
top officials have loosened public health
regulations.
For 10 of them, the administration has taken none of the
action promised in the MAHA Report, and in the case of the cancer-causing
herbicide glyphosate,
Trump issued an executive order not only endorsing the use of the chemical but mandating
its production—a year after Bayer,
the parent company of the chemical firm that uses glyphosate in popular
weedkiller Roundup,
donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural campaign.
Public Citizen found just one substance, microplastics, for
which the administration has “taken any step toward regulation, and at best it
was a baby step”—announcing in April that microplastics may be considered for
regulation in the future and that the government would study measuring and
removing them from the human body.
APA’s latest Stress in America survey—conducted online by
The Harris Poll on behalf of APA—suggests something beyond elevated stress
alone: Many adults appear to be growing accustomed to it.
Against a backdrop of persistent uncertainty and ongoing
societal challenges, many adults appear to view chronic stress as something to
be managed rather than overcome. In response, many seem to be recalibrating
their expectations, shifting from hopes of returning to stability toward
learning how to live amid ongoing uncertainty. Stress is no longer being
experienced as an interruption to everyday life. For many U.S. adults, it has
become part of the baseline.
What’s stressing out U.S. adults most—and why it matters
ahead of Election Day 2026
Financial pressures and concerns about the future of the
nation continue to dominate the stress landscape, highlighting the extent to
which questions about affordability, financial security, and the country’s
direction are weighing on people’s minds. Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections,
these findings offer important context on the concerns U.S. adults are carrying
with them into the broader political environment.
The economy in general remains a top-cited source of
significant stress. After climbing sharply from 64% in 2023 to 73% in 2024, the
economy has remained a significant source of stress among three-quarters of the
population, reaching 75% in 2025 and 74% in 2026. More than seven in 10 adults
(71%) reported that money is a significant source of stress, an increase from
63% saying the same in 2023.
If there’s one issue dominating this year’s
gubernatorial election, it’s energy costs.
Utility bills this winter are reaching historic highs.
According to an estimate published by the state Public Utilities Commission, a
household using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will pay $180.15 on
their electric bill this winter. It’s the highest electricity prices in over a
decade, and the fifth straight winter of higher-than-average electric prices.
Gubernatorial candidates on the campaign trail — Democrat
Helena Foulkes, Republican Aaron Guckian, and Independent Ken Block — have
acknowledged voters’ concerns over high energy prices and pledged to do
something about it if elected.
Rep. Megan Cotter chairs commission created by her legislation
The Special Legislative Commission to Study
and Provide Recommendations on the Water Supply Planning for New Housing
Developments in Rural Communities meets Wednesday for presentations by experts
from the University of Rhode Island as well as representatives of the state
Water Resources Board and the Charlestown Climate Resiliency Commission.
The commission is scheduled
to meetWednesday, Oct. 28, at 3 p.m. in Room 101 on the first floor of the
State House. No public testimony will be taken at this meeting.
The meeting will include presentations from Sarah Racine of
Charlestown Climate Resiliency Commission; commission member and Water
Resources Board Acting Staff Director Hector Barreras and URI geosciences
professor Brian Savage; as well as commission member and URI professor of
water resources and water quality Soni Pradhanang with URI Geoscience
Department Chairman Thomas Boving.
The meeting will be televised by Capitol Television, which
can be seen by Spectrum subscribers on channels 15 and 61 for high definition,
on channel 15 by i3Broadband viewers, and channel 34 for Verizon subscribers.
Livestreaming will be available at https://www.rilegislature.gov/CapTV/Pages/default.aspx.
The commission is led by Rep. Megan L. Cotter (D-Dist. 39,
Exeter, Richmond, Hopkinton), who sponsored the legislation (2026-H
8032Aaa) establishing it to ensure groundwater capacity is considered as
part of the planning process as Rhode Island works to address its housing
crisis.
Most US adults either still mistakenly believe that Health
and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t recommend the
measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine or are unsure of his stance,
prompting doubt about his ability to address ongoing measles outbreaks across
the country, according to a poll released today
by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania.
In addition, most adults dismiss the Trump administration’s
claim that childhood vaccines cause autism, and while half of poll respondents
still hold the same unfavorable opinion of Kennedy they did in August 2025,
significantly more say they view him very unfavorably.
Americans’ uncertainty of where Kennedy stands on the MMR
vaccine might in large part be traced back to Kennedy himself. He has rarely provided
unflinching support for the highly effective vaccine.
More than 1,900 adults responded to the poll, conducted from
August 4 to 17. Of all participants, 31% correctly stated that Kennedy
recommends the MMR vaccine, up from 23% in August 2025. But most indicated that
Kennedy either doesn’t recommend the vaccine (29%) or are unclear about his
position (40%).
“Measles is highly contagious,” APPC research analyst Laura
Gibson, PhD, said in the news release. “As we’ve seen this year, communities
that don’t maintain 95% vaccination rates are at risk for outbreaks.”
DiMario has sponsored a number of laws improving early childhood education
Sen. Alana M. DiMario attends a July 15, 2026 RIght from the Start event at Child Inc.
Sen. Alana M. DiMario was honored for her work
supporting early childhood education by the Rhode Island Association for the
Education of Young Children.
“Early educators build the foundation for everything Rhode
Island will become. Investing in them is investing in our future,” said Senator
DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham). “This award
means so much coming from an organization like RIAEYC, which is made up of so
many of the educators providing for the well-being of our young children. I am
honored and energized to keep working with my colleagues in the General
Assembly to support our early child educators and give our children the present
and future they deserve.”
Senator DiMario received the Sue Connor Special Friend of
Rhode Island’s Children - Early Childhood Advocate award, which recognizes
“significant contributions to early childhood education in Rhode Island” at
RIAEYC’s annual Early Childhood Conference Saturday, Oct. 10
However, there are still LORIB-backed candidates running in the November 3 general election running against Charlestown's state Senator Victoria Gu, and South Kingstown Reps. Carol McEntee and Kathy Fogarty. Sen. DiMario will return to the Senate since she is unopposed in the General Election. - Will Collette
One of the peculiarities of being an American is the
widespread national conviction that America is the best at everything.
This is particularly true of Republicans and MAGA,
self-identified “real Americans” who consider anyone criticizing the US to be a
commie traitor.
Trump takes this a step further by declaring anything he
touches to be the biggest, best thing ever. He is convinced he has made America
great again, and that the whole world now respects and fears the United States
accordingly.
This is, of course, complete nonsense.
Since Trump has returned to office, global approval of the
United States has plummeted. This is seen as far back as polling data from
early 2025, and it’s likely much worse now.
When Pew Research asked people across 36 countries this
spring if they trusted various world leaders to do the right thing, Trump was
trusted least — less than Putin, Xi Jinping, and Netanyahu. Gallup found that
world opinion of the United States has fallen to its lowest point in 20 years.
