What they stand for

URI Metcalf Institute’s Fall Lecture takes participants outside to experience the North Woods Field Guide with DWELL Lab

Immersive two-part walk and zine-making event on Oct. 14 

By Abbie Lahmers

The URI Metcalf Institute’s fall lecture takes
participants outside to experience the North Woods
this October. (URI Photo / Abbie Lahmers)

The University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute concludes its 2026 Annual Public Lecture Series on Wednesday, Oct. 14 with their Fall Lecture, straying from the lectern this year to bring participants on a walk through the North Woods, followed by a conversation and hands-on zine-making activity with DWELL Lab.

URI’s North Woods serves as a teaching forest and site for field research on the Kingston Campus as well as an important communal space. Ellie Lin, an illustration student at RISD who worked with DWELL Lab this summer through the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) program, will lead participants through the Narragansett Story Walk, exploring the rich ecology and human history of the North Woods.

RISD artist Ellie Lin has created a field guide
to the North Woods and will present it as part of
an immersive walk and zine-making
event at URI on Oct. 14.

Lin sees the event as an opportunity to “bring people together through storytelling, community, and local ecology.” Sketching, journaling, and reflecting is encouraged during the immersive walk and materials will be provided. 

The event will continue at Toray Commons with a conversation, reception, and zine-making workshop.

In a conversation moderated by Metcalf Institute Executive Director Fara Warner, Lin will be joined by URI’s Madison Jones and Stephanie West-Puckett, with Bonnie Phillips ’88 of ecoRI News, to discuss the creation of the first edition of the “North Woods Field Guide.” 

The guide, which is part of the bigger North Woods Project, is funded by a Rita Allen Civic Science Media Grant. Expected to be released in print and digital forms this fall, it will contain a collection of scientific, creative, and journalistic writing and imagery that covers animals, vegetation, flowers, minerals, and other elements of the woods.

“I’m excited to walk with folx in the North Woods and discuss how queer genres, specifically zines and community-authored field guides, can make civic science communication more accessible and inclusive,” said West-Puckett, associate professor of professional and public writing, who’s leading the creation of the first North Woods Field Guide. Jones, associate professor of science communication and director of the DWELL Lab, shared that he looks forward to talking about outdoor education. “Field notes are an exciting way to connect as writers with our local environments and communities,” he said.

Most older US adults would be interested in a dementia vaccine, survey finds

Why would anyone NOT want protection?

Sarah Boden

CDC

Nearly three in four older adults surveyed said they'd be interested in getting a hypothetical vaccine that significantly cuts their chances of developing dementia, according to the results of a survey published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. 

Dementia, characterized by progressive decline in cognitive function, is not infectious. Scientists have found no dementia-causing pathogen that spreads person to person. 

However, as the study notes, there's ongoing research into immunotherapies and even vaccine-based approaches to delay or reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia. Also, some vaccines, including the shingles vaccine, are associated with lower rates of dementia: One of the theories is that illness caused by infectious disease can result in long-term health complications that increase the risk of developing the condition.

To glean how willing people might be to get a dementia-preventing shot, researchers surveyed 1,529 US residents aged 50 or older. People were told to assume a hypothetical vaccine could reduce the risk of dementia by half for those who were at high risk of developing the condition. 

These 5 changes for Rhode Island Medicaid took effect Oct. 1

More cuts scheduled for after the midterm elections

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Changes to Medicaid started on Thursday, Oct. 1, will affect eligibility for some noncitizens as well as coverage of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for Rhode Islanders enrolled in the joint federal-state health insurance program for people with low incomes and older adults and people with disabilities.

Federal enrollment data from June show 250,294 Rhode Islanders were enrolled in Medicaid plus another 33,569 people covered through the related Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Here are five Medicaid changes taking effect, or beginning to take effect for Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year

New federal eligibility restrictions will affect fewer than 3,500 noncitizens

The sweeping federal tax and spending law H.R. 1 — signed by Donald Trump in July 2025 — is responsible for one big change coming to Rhode Island Medicaid this week.

H.R. 1 strikes several kinds of immigration statuses from the list of who can qualify for Medicaid. Asylees, refugees, parolees, or victims of human trafficking will no longer be eligible, unless they also have another immigration status which would make them eligible.

Undocumented immigrants were already ineligible for federally-funded Medicaid, barring emergency services.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the national cuts to Medicaid and CHIP coverage of noncitizens will lower federal spending by $6.2 billion and leave about 100,000 more people uninsured by 2034.

Those who will be able to remain on the Medicaid rolls include lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, who will remain eligible after the applicable five-year waiting period. Cuban and Haitian Entrants, a special kind of immigration category, and others from countries covered by the Compact of Free Association will also remain eligible.

Rhode Island coverage will additionally continue for lawfully residing children under 19 and pregnant and postpartum women.

The real reason Americans are paying more under Trump Republicans

The Rot at the Top

Robert Reich

Democratic candidates should be talking about ONLY two things in these last five weeks before the midterms, and show how they’re connected: higher prices and Trump-Republican corruption.

Consider:

1. The Trump-Republican war on Iran has been a huge windfall for Big Tech supplying the military — such as Palantir, a core artificial intelligence and data-integration partner for the U.S. Department of Defense, founded by Trump and JD Vance buddy Peter Thiel. But it’s costing Americans dearly.

At the same time, investment companies backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have accumulated at least $3.2 billion to $6.3 billion in direct Pentagon contracts, current funding, and future contract options since January 2025.

But Trump’s Iran war is causing Americans to spend some $1.50 a gallon more on gas (gas was $2.98 per gallon before the war; it’s now $4.42 to $4.47 per gallon). Since the war began, Americans have spent $65 billion more on gas.

The price of diesel fuel has soared to an average of $7.00 a gallon — and because trucks that transport everything to retail stores now pay so much more to get it there, this price increase is also being passed on to consumers.

2. Trump has given out tariff waivers and carve-outs to industries and companies making kickbacks to him, while the tariffs have jacked up prices overall.

For example, when polyethylene terephthalate, the thermoplastic used to make plastic bottles, got a tariff exemption, it was a win for Reyes Holdings, a Coca-Cola bottler that ranks among the largest privately held companies in the U.S. and is owned by a pair of brothers who have donated millions of dollars to Republican causes.

Just after Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, dumped $1 million into Trump’s inauguration, Apple got tariff exemptions for its products.

After Elon Musk sank a quarter of a billion dollars into Trump’s 2024 campaign, Tesla got a tariff exemption for electronics.

And so on.

But the worldwide tariffs that made these corrupt exemptions possible have increased annual household costs by an estimated $1,100, according to The Budget Lab at Yale.

我爱中国

More suggestions for redesign of Arch d'Trump

 Ever since Donald Trump posted a message saying his proposed gigantic arch to be built at the entrance to Arlington Cemetery was actually going to be a "military installation" with snipers, drones and an ammo dump, lots of folks posted suggestions for ways to implement this new mission for the Arch d'Trump. I posted some of the first suggestions HERE. The following are some of my favorites recently posted.   - Will Collette

The Story of How Wolves Became Dogs Is Stranger Than We Thought

How we learned to live together

By Taylor & Francis Group

Dogs have long been known as “man’s best friend,” and archaeology suggests that bond reaches deep into prehistory. Dogs have been discovered buried beside humans in graves dating back 14,000 years. They also appear in ancient artwork from every continent and feature prominently in the mythology, religion, and folklore of cultures around the world.

Archaeological evidence shows that dogs have served people in many ways throughout recorded history. They helped humans hunt, guarded homes, carried loads, herded livestock, and provided companionship.

Today, more dogs live alongside humans than ever before. Over time, people have bred them into hundreds of specialized forms, ranging from chihuahuas small enough to fit in a handbag to Great Danes that can stand waist-high.

How Wolves and Humans Became Partners

But how did such extraordinary diversity emerge over roughly 15,000 years of co-evolution?

In his new book, “First Dogs: Hunter-Gatherers and their Canine Companions from Prehistory to the Present,” archaeologist Professor Peter Mitchell argues that dog domestication was far more complex than a simple story of humans taming wolves.

Instead, people and wolves may initially have participated in the process as relatively equal partners. Hunter-gatherer communities were central to that relationship long before humans began closely managing other animals or plants.

Over time, different patterns of interaction emerged. Dogs developed specialized traits that reflected the environments, lifestyles, and needs of the human societies they lived with.

As Professor Mitchell puts it: “The connections between dogs on the one paw and people dependent on wild plant and animal resources on the other are ancient, diverse, and profound.”

Public health advocates express concern about nominee to lead the FDA

Do we need another cultist running national health care policy?

Liz Szabo, MA

Heidi Overton (at right) during signing of the
executive order on childhood vaccines on August 10.
Credit: The White House

At an August press conference, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stood beside him when he described the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine as “quite lethal.” 

Heidi Overton, MD, a senior White House domestic policy adviser, had to defend her role in developing Trump’s executive order on vaccines—and her choice not to correct Trump’s false assertion—as she answered questions from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) yesterday.

Several senators said they were unhappy with her answers. In spite of persistent questioning, Overton declined to say whether she would defy Trump if he told her to take actions that would harm public health.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, has announced that she will vote no on Overton’s nomination.

Many public health advocates are sounding the alarm about Overton’s nomination for FDA commissioner.

“The only thing I learned from her appearance [before the Committee] is that she is even more adept at providing non-answers than I had expected,” said Peter Lurie, MD, MPH, president and executive director of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group. She is even more adept at providing non-answers than I had expected."

In a letter published the day before the committee hearing, Lurie urged senators not to confirm Overton to lead the FDA, criticized her for her involvement in Trump’s executive order, and accused her of spreading inaccurate information about mifepristone, the abortion pill.

“All of our concerns around vaccine policy, mifepristone, and relevant work experience remain,” Lurie told CIDRAP News.

RI federal judge strikes down Trump grant restrictions for domestic violence groups

Another win for us

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

A Rhode Island federal judge on Tuesday struck down the Trump administration’s attempts to restrict federal grants for organizations serving victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

U.S. District Court Judge Melissa R. DuBose ruled that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to adequately explain its decision to condition grants on restrictions involving immigration status and programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and gender identity.

The 10-page summary judgment order resolves a lawsuit brought by the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence and other organizations challenging the conditions imposed on grants administered through DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women and Office of Justice Programs.

“Defendants have failed to provide actual, substantive, and contemporaneous support for the idea that they considered the adverse impact of these conditions in a material manner,” DuBose, a Biden appointee, wrote.

Plaintiff organizations led by the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence challenged the legality of withholding grants in order to advance Trump’s policies last June, arguing the eligibility requirements for Violence Against Women Act funds were in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act since the changes were made without any clear reasoning.

The grants were created under the Violence Against Women Act, part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, to help organizations that support victims through legal services, housing assistance and crisis counseling.

According to the lawsuit, the DOJ is now demanding that grant recipients certify they are complying with the conditions and could be subject to penalties. including the potential withholding of funds, contract termination or termination of awards. The federal government separately warned of potential criminal prosecution under the federal False Claims Act if they made false or fraudulent statements concerning their awards. 

The DOJ argued that administration officials had devoted sufficient time and effort to the changes.

DuBose did not see it that way.

“Defendants’ attempt to impose these conditions on Plaintiffs served as a sweeping and chaotic overhaul of the prior way in which Defendants required grantees to comply with these programs,” she wrote.

Our federal Representative presents multi-point plan to address energy inflation

Representative Magaziner releases plan to lower energy costs for Rhode Islanders

Steve Ahlquist

From a Representative Magaziner press release and original reporting

“The number one thing I hear from Rhode Islanders is that life has become unaffordable,” said United States Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) during a press conference on Thursday. “While big oil companies are making record profits, working people can barely afford to fill their tanks and keep the lights on. When Democrats are in the majority, we must come out of the gate fast with real plans to lower costs, and that is exactly what this agenda is about.”

Rhode Island households are spending an average of $557 more on gasoline since the start of the war in Iran. Gas prices in Rhode Island now average $4.36 per gallon, and diesel has climbed to $6.32 per gallon. With winter approaching, many Rhode Islanders also worry about whether they can afford to heat their homes. Meanwhile, Exxon, Shell, and Chevron made $36.4 billion in profits in Quarter 2 of 2026 alone, including Chevron’s highest quarterly earnings ever.

During the press conference, Magaziner outlined his agenda to lower energy costs, including:

Catch-22

Would love to see Jim Mageau's explanation

In addition to the five-star general uniform, that's a Congressional Medal of Honor around his neck

Then there's this post from Trump's former Press Secretary:

Take a break from Trump coverage

Hairy-legged red-eyed sea spiders discovered in the Salish Sea

University of British Columbia

A photo of a new species of sea spider Tanystylum kiixin. Credit: Cormac Toler-Scott

If you’re swimming in the Salish Sea late at night and feel a skittering along your calves, tiny hairy feet tip-tapping their way higher and higher towards your face, don’t worry, it’s probably just the stuff of nightmares: hairy-legged, red-eyed sea spiders newly discovered by UBC researchers.

Two new sea spider species are the first described in the Salish Sea in almost a century. Their documentation and genetic analysis, published recently in Organisms Diversity & Evolution, helps fill a gap in a poorly understood group of animals.

Edible Rhode Island: Mother Nature Provides Wild Selection

Feasting on forage

By Frank Carini / ecoRI News columnist

Autumn olives, delicious, nutritious and invasive.
Ripening right about now. Photo by Will Collette

Not to be rude, but the free Saturday morning breakfast buffet didn’t look appetizing. The portions were meager, bugs were crawling over much of it, and some of it could be toxic if prepared the wrong way.

Our hostess, Keri Brulé, delivered a splendid 2-hour presentation. The affable University of Rhode Island student working on her master’s degree shared how to identify what we were about to put in our mouths, preparation tips, and valuable information to keep us from having a seizure or pooping our pants.

Bottom of Form

We learned a lot about foraging. Most of the 15 of us walking through the woods and meadows of Ryan Park seemed comfortable with the idea of feeding ourselves in the wild. I was not among the confident. Without Brulé, a botanist and plant ecologist, planning the menu, I’m fairly certain I would eat the wrong plant or the wrong part. I would not survive the apocalypse.

The Sept. 12 breakfast club gathered in a parking lot outside a gym on Ten Rod Road. The edible walk was sponsored by the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society.

Besides sampling the wild menu, Keri Brulé,
here holding an edible tuber from a young Indian
cucumber root, encouraged participants to
also touch … (Frank Carini/ecoRI News)

“Roughly 15,000 years ago, where you are standing right now, was covered under a massive sheet of ice,” Brulé told us. “That ice melted and retreated from the landscape. Slowly, vegetation moved from south to north to occupy that space. About 10,000 years ago, indigenous people followed that vegetation, and therefore animals, in the form of food and medicine.

“European colonizers arrived in the 1600s and they brought their forms of food and medicine that they were familiar with to this landscape. Not longer after, enslaved people were brought here against their wills and they brought their food and medicine with them as well, when they could. The landscape you are in, is the story of the geography, of time, humans, and, therefore, you.”

She noted we all have, whether we are aware of it or not, an innate relationship with plants. She encouraged us to look at, touch, smell, and get to know the plants around us. Mind the poison ivy.

“You were meant to interact with them in the form of food,” Brulé said.