New website developed by URI researchers illustrates impact of nor’easters and hurricanes over decades

More than 60 years of beach survey data reveal extent of shoreline erosion

Neil Nachbar

URI GSO students Emily Hall (left) and Dasan McElroy
get ready for another beach survey in December 2022. Hall and
McElroy earned their master’s degrees in oceanography in 2023
and 2024 respectively. Hall is now a coastal geologist for
the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.

The University of Rhode Island has made one of the world’s oldest and continuous beach survey efforts available online via Rhode Island Beach Dynamics Over Decades, a new public website.

Since 1962, about four dozen students and several scientists from the URI Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO), the URI Environmental Data Center, the URI Department of Geosciences, and Eastern Connecticut State University have monitored the shorelines of eight Rhode Island beaches, collecting measurements and images that reveal short- and long-term changes and the impact of severe storms.

This website took a year and a half to develop. The project was funded through a grant from the Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4).

“I’m thrilled to have this website published, not only because we put in a lot of hard work to make it—but also because students and staff have been braving the elements and other challenges for decades,” said J.P. Walsh, URI professor of oceanography, marine geology, and geophysics. “It’s great to have this information compiled for all to see and use.”

Walsh spearheaded the website with Mary Klimasewiski, a marine research associate in GSO.

“We’re excited to bring decades of beach survey data together in a publicly accessible resource, making it easier for managers, researchers, and the public to visualize and understand how our coastline is changing over time,” said Klimasewiski.

Study links soaring health care spending to higher insurance premiums

Stating the obvious

By Mike Cummings, Yale University

Edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

Growth in health care spending in the United States is driving increases in health insurance premiums, limiting people's access to care and contributing to wage reductions, job losses and rising inequality, according to a new study co-authored by Yale economist Zack Cooper.

The study—an analysis of state-level data on insurance premiums, health spending and insurer markups from 2011 to 2024—found that rising spending accounted for 91% of the growth in premiums during the period covered.

The finding suggests that measures to slow increases in health insurance premiums should focus on reining in the growth of health care spending, said Cooper, who directs the Health Care Affordability Lab at Yale.

"Insurance premiums are rising rapidly, putting an immense amount of pressure on people across the country," said Cooper, an associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health and of economics in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

"Our work shows that growth in premiums is being driven by growth in health care spending. This means that efforts to address the high cost of insurance premiums require thinking about how to make health care spending more affordable."

The study was published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Stuart V. Craig of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the study's co-author.

Trump finally releases federal disaster relief for farmers for weather losses in 2023 and 2024

Nearly $15M in Disaster Relief Available for RI Farmers

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) will make nearly $15M in disaster relief assistance available to eligible RI farmers and agricultural producers affected by weather events in 2023 and 2024. 

DEM’s Rhode Island Disaster Relief Program (RIDRP) will distribute $14,944,632.43 from the USDA Farm Service Agency under the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2025, to help cover agricultural losses that were not covered by other USDA disaster programs. That Act included $220 million specifically allocated to New England, Hawaii and Alaska for eligible losses including market loss, future economic loss, poultry loss, timber, farm infrastructure, and other agricultural damage.

Applications are expected to open the first week of October 2026. Technical assistance will be available to help producers understand program requirements and complete their applications. Check https://dem.ri.gov/ri-disaster-relief for updates and timely announcements. 

Where the Hell Is the Oil Money Trump Stole From the People of Venezuela?

Trump refuses to say. 

Thom Hartmann in Common Dreams

At any other time in American history, it would end the career of somebody like Scott Bessent, our limited-intelligence Treasury Secretary. It came out yesterday when Illinois Congressman Sean Casten was questioning him about the “billions of dollars” that Trump keeps claiming America is “getting” from selling Venezuelan oil.

Bessent agreed with Trump, saying the oil and oil money we’ve seized from that country is “one of the largest assets to ever go on the U.S. balance sheet.” Billions and billions of dollars.

So Casten asked him a simple question: Can you tell us who controls that money and where it is? Can you confirm “whether or not those [funds] are flowing to U.S. persons?”

Bessent’s answer was a shocking single word: “No.” He ain’t talkin…

Did Trump take the oil and the money from the oil? Bessent refuses to say. Trump refuses to say. Nobody, in fact, in the Trump regime will tell us where that money is or who controls it or even who’s making the money accrued on its interest.

Here’s what we do know:

Three days after Trump kidnapped President Maduro and his wife, he went on his Nazi-infested social media site and wrote that Venezuela’s oil revenues would be controlled by him personally “as President of the United States.”

Three days after that, he signed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” involving that oil so no court or creditor could touch the money, screwing the bondholders and oil companies to which Venezuela owed roughly $150 billion.

Then Trump started selling the oil we’d seized from Venezuela. The first load, according to Reuters and Semafor, went to commodity trading companies Vitol and Trafigura for about $500 million, groups that the Washington Post said both carry histories of bribery schemes tied to oil sales.

And that money didn’t go to the Treasury account that was described in Trump’s own executive order. Instead, it went to a bank account in Qatar, right after that country’s leaders gave him a $400 million jet. A senior official explained to Semafor that Qatar was chosen as a “neutral location” where money “can flow freely” without risk of seizure.

Senator Elizabeth Warren was outraged, and told the world what most of us were thinking at the time:

“There is no basis in law for a president to set up an offshore account that he controls so that he can sell assets seized by the American military. That is precisely a move that a corrupt politician would be attracted to.”

In January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified to the Senate that $300 million had been sent to Venezuela to cover government payroll needs and another $200 million was “still sitting” in Doha. He referred to the entire operation as “novel” and “a short-term mechanism.”

But a month later, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on CNBC that the account had been closed and no more money would be flowing to or through Qatar…and nobody has identified where it went, or where it is, since then.

Where’s the money?

Bobby Jr. triumphant

Onion.com

Oct. 3, celebrate Cranberry Thanksgiving

This year, the sassiminneash, Narragansett for cranberry, takes center stage in cooking demonstrations featuring Narragansett chef Charles Hankinson, a Johnson & Wales graduate. 

An Indigenous Artist Market will offer visitors the opportunity to meet artists, see demonstrations, and explore contemporary expressions of Indigenous culture. Experience the cranberry through your senses with food vendors by Indigenous chefs Willy Johnson of Fry Bread and Pearl Brown from Of the Earth.

The free public event will be held Saturday, October 3rd, 2026, from noon to 4 p.m. at St. Jame’s Parish in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Presented by Rhode Island’s only Indigenous-led museum, it offers an opportunity to experience the importance of the cranberry harvest through archival memories, traditional ecological knowledge, storytelling, social dances, food and art vendors, children’s activities and more. For more information, visit www.tomaquagmuseum.org/events.

St. James Parish, 2079 Matunuck School House Road, Charlestown, Rhode Island 02813

Westerly Town Council meeting features argument over "riff raff"

At least they didn't say "people from Providence"

Adriana Vossari (an AI-created avatar)

No decisions were made on Westerly's proposed short-term rental zoning amendments at Monday's workshop. Any change would still require a solicitor-drafted ordinance, a vote to advertise, at least three weeks of advertising and public hearings, which the council was told likely leaves action to the next council. Council members sent questions to the solicitor, including on caps and a pause on new applications.

A Westerly Town Council workshop on short-term rentals turned tense Monday night when a council member challenged a resident's remark about "riff raff" earning $30,000 a year, then left the discussion after being told the session would not allow back-and-forth. 

Another council member then apologized to the audience for what they called disrespectful and condescending remarks, according to the Westerly Town Council's published meeting recording.

The workshop was called to review short-term rentals and hear from the public. No votes were taken on the proposal. In opening remarks, the council was told the session would follow Robert's Rules, with people speaking one at a time, and that there would be no dialogue back and forth between individual council members and the public.

The resident's remark

The phrase came from a resident who owns a short-term rental and spoke during the first round of public comment. The resident urged the council to grandfather existing registered rentals and questioned the town's housing goals.

Arguing that other affluent towns have affordable housing, the resident said the median income in Westerly is $100,000 a year. "So you're not bringing in riff raff that only makes $30,000 a year," the resident said, adding that there are qualifications for people to get in.

Scientists Identify a Smartphone Habit That May Be Worse Than Screen Time

Save yourself

By Semmelweis University

Research from Semmelweis University suggests that problematic smartphone use is shaped less by personality alone than by weak self-control and a strong fear of missing out (FOMO). The findings also reveal a divide between mental and physical effects: how people use their phones appears closely tied to attention and memory, while total screen time is more strongly associated with bodily consequences.

Published in Acta Psychologica, the study examined smartphone habits, mental health, physical well-being, and cognitive performance among students ages 18 to 35. Participants reported how long they actively used their phones each day, what they did on them, whether phone use had disrupted planned tasks, and whether they thought about their devices even when not using them.

Researchers also evaluated neuroticism, self-control, and FOMO. Neuroticism describes a tendency to experience emotions such as anxiety, sadness, fear, and anger. The results suggest that these personality traits may create vulnerability but do not necessarily lead to problematic phone use without difficulty controlling impulses or anxiety about missing social experiences.

The Real Fix for Social Security

We may be on the brink of a bipartisan solution that’s fair

Robert Reich

Today I want to talk to you about Social Security.

The trustees of Social Security — of which yours truly was once a member — say the program will be able to pay full benefits only until 2033. After that, Social Security will be able to dole out only roughly 77 percent of benefits due.

This summer, Ohio’s Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren in proposing to raise the payroll tax cap so people with higher incomes pay more into the program.

Fairly suddenly, the idea is emerging as an acceptable fix among other GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Tom Cole (Oklahoma), the influential chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Cole thinks the political blowback from Social Security benefit cuts would be far worse than a comprehensive solution that includes raising taxes.

It’s another example of Republicans deserting Trump, who thinks the “fix” for Social Security is to repeal taxes on Social Security benefits. Trump’s fix will not save Social Security. In fact, quite the opposite. Without the revenue from Social Security taxes, the Social Security trust fund will run out of money even sooner.

I’m encouraged by what looks like the start of a Republican turnaround on this. Not only are Republicans deserting Trump, but they’re beginning — just beginning — to become sensitive to what average voters need and want.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the reason Social Security is running out of money is not because so many boomers are retiring.

The Social Security trustees anticipated the boom in boomer retirements. This is why Social Security was amended back in 1983, to gradually increase the age for collecting full retirement benefits from 65 to 67. That change is helping finance the boomers’ retirement.

The real reason Social Security is running out of money is something the trustees never anticipated: how much of the nation’s total income is going to the top.

The United States’ human rights practices are taking a nosedive

Rights violations have become widespread and systematic, and not just against immigrants

K. Chad Clay, University of Georgia

In the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections, how is the U.S. government performing in terms of human rights? Listening to politicians, it can be difficult to know.

On one hand, some have pointed to a number of potential human rights abuses committed by the U.S. government inside and outside its borders in the past two years.

On the other hand, while marking the United States’ 250th anniversary this year, Donald Trump called the country “the home of freedom,” “the land of liberty” and “the most extraordinary, most exceptional, most incredible nation ever to exist on the face of the earth.”

“We’re doing better now than we’ve ever done before,” he said.

So which is it?

According to many of the human rights data sources available, the U.S. lags behind most other high-income democracies – countries that are both members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and classified as high income by the World Bank. The U.S.’s poor performance spans civil and political rights, such as the right to be free from torture and the right to political participation, as well as economic and social rights, including the rights to health and food.

In fact, the U.S. has been a relatively poor performer across many of these rights for quite some time, regardless of the political party in power.

Even accounting for the U.S.’s prior poor practices, however, new data from the Human Rights Measurement Initiative shows that in 2025 the country’s civil and political rights performance deteriorated even further.

As a human rights scholar who has been measuring human rights practices for 20 years – and as one of HRMI’s co-founders – I believe this data raises serious questions about the United States’ commitment to human rights.

Justice League reject

Donald Trump's big meeting with China's leader

The "airport" was actually the US Air Force Joint Base Andrews just outside DC. It wasn't like Trump met Xi at the gate at Dulles.

Before Xi JinPing deplaned, Trump had US military personnel on their hands and knees making sure the red carpet was absolutely clean:

Despite a warm fall day, Trump worn an overcoat and, oddly, one glove over the hand that is often heavily caked with makeup to hide discoloration. Then during an Air Force flyover, Trump seemed to wince in pain:

But all was good when Trump and Xi met in private: 

Satire (AI generated), though this could be real.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shares insights into Trump policies with Brown University audience

Says Trump’s ‘win-lose’ approach is hurting U.S.-Canada relations

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

The last time former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Rhode Island, he spoke to a gathering of U.S. governors to advocate for free trade amid tensions between the two North American neighbors.

Nearly a decade later, Trudeau returned to Providence where he said the relationship has moved beyond ordinary trade disputes to what he described as a threat to Canada’s sovereignty under the Trump administration

“Canadians are feeling rightly, deeply destabilized by this,” Trudeau told a crowd of more than 2,000 people inside Brown University’s Pizzitola Sports Center Tuesday. “And it seems to have no logical point.”

The former Canadian prime minister’s remarks came as part of Brown’s 106th Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs. Much of the hour-long discussion with University President Christina Paxson focused on differences between the two countries’ healthcare systems, the value of diversity and the increasingly strained relationship between the U.S. and its northern neighbor.

Trudeau, 54, served more than nine years as Canada’s 23rd prime minister after leading the Liberal Party to a historic majority government in 2015. Amid declining support and poor polling, he announced in January 2025 that he would resign as prime minister once a successor was chosen. He was succeeded by fellow Liberal Mark Carney that March.

His time in office was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic disruptions it caused, along with a domestic agenda that included a gender-balanced cabinet, a national $10-a-day childcare program, efforts toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and climate policies aimed at encouraging clean energy investment.

The Nor'easter IS coming: be prepared for high winds, power outages and lots of rain

 National Weather Service forecast: 

WPRI's forecast:

Potential rainfall totals:

Medicare Costs Are Rising in 2027

Here’s What Seniors Need to Know

By Terry H. Schwadron

Seniors face higher drug costs, shrinking Medicare Advantage benefits and growing pressure to pay more for their health care in 2027.

It seems all but definite that Medicare, federally paid medical insurance for seniors, will cost more next year.

While there still are some loose ends around the rules, there is no question that providers of Medicare Advantage plans are cutting back on current benefits, that general monthly premiums are going up and that prescription drug caps are being significantly changed or dropped altogether.

Like health care offered more widely through the Affordable Care Act and through Medicaid cuts to those eligible by income and disability, the government is about to execute its broadest and deepest cuts to health insurance for seniors as well. Obviously, seniors have more medical issues than younger Americans.

Donald Trump has said on multiple occasions that he wants to protect seniors from cuts hitting other parts of the overall health system, though he is happily having Vice President JD Vance looking for fraud in billing and service claims. But reports from providers, retirement advocates like AARP and political sources say otherwise.

And, if you go to Medicare.org to learn just how it will affect you, good luck. They are not addressing the issues. We are on the cusp of annual open medical enrollment starting Oct. 15 and the details of health care do not seem to be among the top agenda items for our elections.

Indeed, despite a series of self-serving statements about cutting the price of a select number of prescription drugs, Trump has variously insisted that states should fund Medicare and Medicaid or somehow privatize payments.

Trump said in April that it’s “not possible” for the federal government to fund Medicare, Medicaid and childcare costs, arguing that it should be up to the states to “take care” of those programs while the federal government focuses on military spending.