Early Voting Starts Wednesday In RI

Want to vote? Time to act

By Beth Comery

Early voting in the Rhode Island General Election begins Wednesday, October 16. 

Go to the RI Secretary of State website for info on the schedule and links to various documents and portals. 

The deadline for submitting a mail ballot application IS TODAY!

October 15, 2024 — Deadline to submit a mail ballot application.

October 16 to November 4 — Early voting and emergency mail ballot period.

November 5 — General Election (gulp).

Find your polling place and view sample ballot go here.

One reason to vote early: You could wake up sick on election day.

********************

(Also, go get your Covid vaccination. It’s not over. People are still being hospitalized. People are still dying.)

CRU Candidates’ helpfulness earns them her vote

They listen and help

By Anne Mulhall

As we approach this year’s election, I want to share my thoughts on why I’ll be voting for the following candidates running for Town Council: Deb Carney, Stephen Stokes, Craig Marr, Rippy Serra and Peter Slom.

When I first got involved in Charlestown’s local politics, I didn’t know much about the workings of the town. What I did know is that I cared about our community and wanted to be more informed. Over time, not only did I learn more about Charlestown’s issues, but I also found myself with a supportive group of people who are always available to address any questions or concerns I have, both personally and for my neighbors.

It’s a refreshing change to know that there are candidates who are genuinely invested in the needs of the residents. They’re not just asking for our vote; they’re actively engaging with people, listening, and explaining the complexities of town matters in a way that makes sense to everyday citizens like me. I appreciate their ability to break down issues, helping me understand the how, why, and what of each decision, even though I’m not particularly political by nature.

Now, when my neighbors come to me with questions about town issues or who to turn to, I confidently direct them to these candidates, because I trust their commitment to doing what’s right for the people of Charlestown. Their willingness to listen and explain things at any time, with full transparency, is why I’m supporting them.

I encourage you to join me in voting for these candidates this election season. Let’s continue to support leaders who are open, responsive, and dedicated to the well-being of our community like Deb Carney, Stephen Stokes, Craig Marr, Rippy Serra and Peter Slom.

A version of this article appeared as a Letter To the Editor 

Make up your mind

According to news reports, fueled by Donald Trump lies, MAGAnuts have been sending death threats to meteorologists and, in North Carolina, disrupted FEMA aid to hurricane victims. FEMA evacuated its workers from Rutherford County NC after threats that "armed militia" planned to attack FEMA workers.

By Matt Davies

Town Council meeting is TOMORROW

 

Fellow Charlestown Residents,   The Charlestown Town Council will have their first regular meeting of the month on Tuesday, October 15th at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers. The agenda can be read here. Some important topics for the meeting are: Resolution of Respect in honor of former Town Councilor J. Michael Downey Public hearing on a proposed change to the Ordinance establishing the Wastewater Management Commission, to allow the Commission to function with as few as three members. Public hearing on the Ordinance relating to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), as required to conform with State law. Please join us at the following places and times to meet our endorsed candidates. Friday - October 11 - Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace - 4 PM to 6 PM Friday - October 18 - Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace - 4 PM to 6 PM Saturday - October 19 - Octoberfest Luncheon - hosted by the Charlestown Republican Town Committee 11:00 AM at Downey Weaver American Legion - $35 per person - More info at CharlestownRIgop.com Sunday - October 20 - Charlestown Mini-Super 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Friday - October 25 - Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace - 4 PM to 6 PM Rippy's Liquor and Marketplace is at 4158 South County Trail, Charlestown Downey Weaver American Legion is at 22 Whipple Drive, Charlestown Charlestown Mini-Super is at 4071 Old Post Road, Charlestown For more information about the candidates visit: www.charlestownresidentsunited.org #MeetTheCandidates #CRUCandidates #Charlestown" With thanks, Tim Quillen, Chair Charlestown Residents United Paid for by Charlestown Residents United P.O. Box 412 Charlestown, RI 02813 Visit our Website

R.I. Sea Grant leading tours to help Rhode Islanders understand shoreline matters

Tours offer better understanding of community issues around shoreline access, sea-level rise, and stormwater impact

Kristen Curry 

Rhode Island Sea Grant is leading tours to help Rhode Islanders understand shoreline matters, bringing community experts to discuss issues affecting local beaches.

The group of more than 40 people recently gathered on a narrow walkway at Barrington Town Beach drew quizzical looks from passersby. 

Perhaps it was the large poster board of aerial views of Barrington shoreline access points, or the sight of the town’s planning director talking into a karaoke microphone about green infrastructure projects along the coastline.

The evening walk was not a nighttime field trip, but an educational seminar putting a spotlight on shoreline issues of stormwater and water quality, sea-level rise and shoreline access. However, these presentations are not taking place in classrooms, they’re happening at the water’s edge.

Hosted by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, Rhode Island Sea Grant, and the University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute, these walking tours feature discussions of ongoing research and bring together experts in shoreline processes, resource economics, and the law. To date, walking tours have been held in Charlestown, Bristol, Barrington and Westerly. More walks are planned for 2025.

Voting deadlines coming fast

Tomorrow is the deadline to order a mail-in ballot. CLICK HERE if you want to vote by mail.

 

Like other regions in the U.S., Rhode Island faces a worsening crisis in the shortage of primary care physicians

It's getting really bad here

By G. Wayne Miller 

From MarketWatch

When Geri Tebo, a registered nurse, moved back to her home state of Rhode Island late last year after living for many years in Arizona, one of her priorities was finding a primary care practitioner for herself and her husband, Paul.

It proved to be a frustrating and troublesome task.

“In Arizona, it probably took about two weeks to get scheduled with a primary care doc when you looked for a new one,” Tebo told Ocean State Stories. “We were not prepared for it to be very difficult finding one here.”

During December and January, Tebo said she was “making calls trying to get a provider appointment and I was not only calling in Rhode Island but nearby Connecticut because we live on the border. I had one office tell me, and this was in late 2023, that they could get me in in January of 2025. We were dumbfounded.”

Another office, Tebo recalled, said “our doc isn’t taking any new patients, but if you go to Newport, you might be able to find one. And I actually called one in Newport but then I thought ‘do we really want to drive that far from home for a PCP?’ And the last thing we found was an appointment in Connecticut, but it was like an hour and 15 minute drive.”

Tebo’s experience is emblematic of a crisis in Rhode Island and the nation. According to a recent report by the Milbank Memorial Fund, the number of primary care physicians per 100,000 people in America continues to fall. The number is 2012 was 68.4 per 100,000 people in 2021, but had fallen to 67.2 per 100,00 people in 2021.

Heritage Foundation Floods Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests

Authors of Project 2025 drop FOIA bomb on government

by Sharon Lerner and Andy Kroll for ProPublica

Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. 

Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and messages sent by individual government workers that mention, among other things, “climate equity,” “voting” or “SOGIE,” an acronym for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

The Heritage team filed these requests even as the think tank’s Project 2025 was promoting a controversial plan to remove job protections for tens of thousands of career civil servants so they could be identified and fired if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.

All three men who filed the requests — Mike Howell, Colin Aamot and Roman Jankowski — did so on behalf of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, an arm of the conservative group that uses FOIA, lawsuits and undercover videos to investigate government activities. In recent months, the group has used information gleaned from the requests to call attention to efforts by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency to teach staff about gender diversity, which Fox News characterized as the “Biden administration’s ‘woke’ policies within the Department of Defense.” 

Heritage also used material gathered from a FOIA search to claim that a listening session the Justice Department held with voting rights activists constituted an attempt to “rig” the presidential election because no Republicans were present.

An analysis of more than 2,000 public-records requests submitted by Aamot, Howell and Jankowski to more than two dozen federal offices and agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Trade Commission, shows an intense focus on hot-button phrases used by individual government workers.

Those 2,000 requests are just the tip of the iceberg, Howell told ProPublica in an interview. Howell, the executive director of the Oversight Project, estimated that his group had submitted more than 50,000 information requests over the past two years. He described the project as “the most prestigious international investigative operation in the world.”

How 'bout them eggs?

Jobs working at the polls

Like in Westerly, experts Suggest Dam Removal, Townsfolk Disagree

Massachusetts Towns Grapple With High-Hazard Dams as Climate Risks Escalate

By Lila Hempel-Edgers

Westerly's dangerous Potter Hill Dam, mired in town politics like this story describes. Photo by Cynthia Drummond for ecoRI

Suburbanites across Massachusetts can’t imagine life without local dams that give their children a place to skate in the winter and fish in the summer, but environmentalists say certain dams might be putting the lives of their most fervent supporters at risk.

Of the state’s 3000+ original dams, most built to power small mills during the industrial revolution, around 300 are considered high-hazard. This classification, one intended to warn surrounding civilians that structural failure or misoperation is likely to result in the loss of human life, is becoming even more salient as climate change increases severe weather. And although experts say the best solution is dam removal, townsfolk don’t like change.

Companies keep selling harmful products – but history shows consumers can win in the end

But at what cost?

Jonathan D. Quick, Duke University and Eszter Rimanyi, Duke University

A “Cancer Country” sign on a taxi parodies a famous Marlboro ad
campaign. Viviane Moos/Corbis via Getty Images

In 2023, 42 state attorneys general sued Meta to remove Instagram features that Meta’s own studies had shown – and independent research had confirmed – are harmful to teenage girls.

The same year, a report from the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise found gun manufacturers were targeting the youth market with eye-catching ads and product placements in video games.

And in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, a leading international health journal urged the International Olympic Committee to end its relationship with Coca-Cola because of the increased obesity, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure associated with sugary drinks.

Social media, guns, sugar: These are all examples of what we call “market-driven epidemics.”

When people think of epidemics, they might think they’re caused only by viruses or other germs. But as public health experts, we know that’s just part of the story. Commerce can cause epidemics, too. That’s why our team coined the phrase in a recent study because you can’t solve a problem without naming it.

Market-driven epidemics follow a familiar script. First, companies start selling an appealing, often addictive product. As more and more people start using it, the health harms become clearer. Yet even as evidence of damage grows and deaths pile up, sales continue to rise as companies resist efforts by health authorities, consumer groups and others to control them.

We see this pattern with many products today, including social media platforms, firearms, sugar-sweetened beverages, ultra-processed foods, opioids, nicotine products, infant formula and alcohol. Collectively, their harm contributes to more than 1 million deaths in the U.S. each year.

The Medicare Advantage Influence Machine

Insurers have too much lobbying money and political power

Fred Schulte, KFF Health News and Holly K. Hacker 

Federal officials resolved more than a decade ago to crack down on whopping government overpayments to private Medicare Advantage health insurance plans, which were siphoning off billions of tax dollars every year.

But Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials have yet to demand any refunds — and over the years the private insurance plans have morphed into a politically potent juggernaut that has signed up more than 33 million seniors and is aggressively lobbying to stave off cuts.

Critics have watched with alarm as the industry has managed to deflate or deflect financial penalties and steadily gain clout in Washington through political contributions; television advertising, including a 2023 Super Bowl feature; and other activities, including mobilizing seniors. There’s also a revolving door, in which senior CMS personnel have cycled out of government to take jobs tied to the Medicare Advantage industry and then returned to the agency.

How ranked voting might work

 

MAGAs, how do you respond?

Mosquitos carrying disease are still out until first hard frost

More EEE Virus and West Nile Virus Mosquito Findings

Hard frost ends mosquito season

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) are announcing that the most recent mosquito samples tested by the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories (RISHL) has confirmed one positive finding of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus and one positive finding of West Nile Virus (WNV). 

The mosquito sample testing positive for EEE virus was collected in Westerly and the mosquito sample testing positive for WNV was collected in Exeter. 

These results are from 84 samples collected from 35 traps set statewide by DEM on September 19, 30, and October 2. All other samples tested negative for EEE virus, WNV, or Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV). RIDOH and DEM are reminding the public that it remains a particularly active mosquito season in Southern New England and that recent human cases of both EEE virus and WNV and mosquito testing indicate that a high risk level remains statewide. 

Celebrate Seafood Month by Using the RI Seafood Finder

Find Your Fresh 

October is Seafood Month in accordance with National Seafood Month, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), and the Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative are inviting the public to celebrate Rhode Island’s abundance of fresh and delicious local seafood by using the many tools and resources at Seafood.RI.gov to learn more about where you can buy it locally. 

The RI Seafood brand’s local seafood finder lists more than 118 restaurants, seafood markets, grocers, and direct sellers that offer local seafood, up-to-date landing data, an upcoming events calendar, easy and versatile recipes, and tips for how to cook and enjoy it. When choosing RI seafood, consumers are supporting RI’s seafood industry, local food system, and food economy. 

COVID-19 vaccination protects against serious cardiovascular disease

COVID vax and your heart

Stephanie Soucheray, MA

Full vaccination against COVID-19 protects recipients from serious cardiovascular disease linked to COVID-19, according to a new study in the European Heart Journal.

The findings come from a review of more than 8 million adults in Sweden who were followed up in national healthcare registers from the end of December 2020—when COVID-19 vaccination began—until the end of 2022.

Among the 8,070,674 adults included in the study, 88.5% received at least one dose of vaccine, 86.9% at least two, and 67.9% three or more. There were 1,668,508 new cases of COVID-19; 40.3% occurred before the first dose of vaccination, 3.7% between the first and second dose, 34.3% between the second and third dose, and 21.7% after the third dose.

Outcomes included inflammation of the cardiac muscle or the pericardium, cardiac arrhythmia, heart failure, transient ischemic attack (TIA), and stroke.

Houses are considered historic but not trees

Historically, Rhode Island Has No Clue

By Frank Carini / ecoRI News columnist

No solar for you

The state of Rhode Island can’t stop thousands of trees from being felled to make room for ground-mounted solar arrays, but the Warwick Historic District Commission can stop 23 solar panels from being installed on the roof of a private home.

The Ocean State’s priorities are out of whack. I know that’s hardly breaking news for anyone who has spent any time here.

When it comes to clear-cutting private land for solar, I have constantly been told that it is difficult to tell private property owners what they can and can’t do. I agree there needs to be a delicate balance between private property rights and the public good.

Yet, that only seems to apply disproportionately to a certain kind of project: against an individual requesting to have work done by someone who doesn’t know a guy.

We pussyfoot around illegal actions taken by those with power and/or wealth. Despite what the speaker of the House says, campaign donations buy favor.

A waterfront scrapyard on Allens Avenue in Providence has been flaunting its contempt for the state’s environmental regulations since it began operating in 2009. A West Greenwich quarry on New London Turnpike that abuts the Big River Management Area has been operating without a Rhode Island pollutant discharge elimination system permit for nearly two decades. Last year a North Kingstown country club illegally built a 550-foot-long seawall and the Coastal Resources Management Council is considering changing the rules to allow it to remain.

Smith Hill watches as municipalities, especially in rural towns with part-time planners and overworked volunteer boards, get bulldozed by developers looking to turn as much open space as possible into utility-scale solar.

The recent ruling in Warwick spotlighted this ongoing absurdity.

The Historic District Commission cited the city’s guidelines regarding solar installation for historic homes to deny the request by a 4-1 vote. Under current guidelines, solar panels on historic buildings are effectively banned so long as they are visible from a street, sidewalk, or other public right of way within the district.

The circle of lies

Say no to spending $5 million on a pointless ConCon

Brown study shows VA might be getting ripped off by Medicare Advantage plans

Federal government may be paying twice for care of veterans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans

Brown University — 

From 2011 to 2020, the Veterans Health Administration spent $78 billion to care for U.S. military veterans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, raising questions about federal overpayments to those plans. 

That’s according to an analysis by researchers from Brown University and the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Published in JAMA, the study notes that because Medicare Advantage plans receive fixed per-patient payments for health care services without having payments reduced when veterans receive care through the Veterans Health Administration, the dual enrollment of some veterans may result in more federal spending than is necessary. 

“When the federal government pays for care through the Veterans Health Administration and pays Medicare Advantage plans the full amount, it may mean the government is paying twice for the care of the same beneficiaries,” said study author David Meyers, an assistant professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown University’s School of Public Health. “These potential overpayments could correspond to substantial additional spending by the federal government.”

 The Medicare Advantage program is the privately run arm of the Medicare program, in which private insurance plans are paid by the federal government to deliver Medicare benefits, Meyers said. The Medicare Advantage program is growing rapidly, and the number of military veterans who used Veterans Health Administration services increased by 63% from 634,470 in 2011 to 1,033,643 in 2020.

We need better protection from pesticides

EPA not protecting public from neonic exposure

Shannon Kelleher  

Rodent studies given to US regulators by insecticide makers close to 20 years ago revealed the chemicals could be harmful to the animals’ brain development – data worrisome for humans exposed to the popular pesticides but not properly accounted for by regulators, according to a new research report published this week.

The analysis examined five studies that exposed pregnant rats’ to various types of insecticides known as neonicotinoids (commonly called neonics). The studies found that the offspring born to the exposed rats suffered shrunken brains and other problems.

Statistically significant shrinkage of brain tissue was seen in the offspring of rats exposed to high doses of five types of neonics – acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam, the paper states. The authors said the impacts on the brain appeared similar to the effects of nicotine, which they said is known to disrupt mammalian neurological development.

The animal studies also support the possibility of a link between neonic exposure and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the authors said.

In most cases, the companies submitting the studies did not submit data for all dosage levels, leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assume negative effects were only seen at the high dose, according to the study.

NOAA report sends mixed message on wind power and risk to whales

Some whales might be annoyed by construction noise but not likely harmed

 By Will Sennott 

This story was originally published in The New Bedford Light, a publication partner of Ocean State Stories.

Federal agencies have reauthorized a controversial permit for Vineyard Wind’s final phase of construction, allowing the wind farm developer to continue pile driving with some impact on endangered whale species.

The permit allows Vineyard Wind to finish pile-driving the foundations for its wind turbines in proximity to whales. It does not declare that the industry will not harm whales. It calls it “extremely unlikely” that it will hurt any North Atlantic right whales. But it says a small number of whales of other species may experience temporary to permanent hearing impairment as a result of the noise from pile-driving.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) wrote in a new biological opinion, published with the authorization, that while pile driving and other activity will “adversely affect” the marine mammals, it is “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence” of multiple endangered whales, including the North Atlantic right whale. 

Vineyard Wind had to seek reauthorization this year for the controversial permit — called an Incidental Harassment Authorization — that allows the offshore wind developer to circumvent the Marine Mammal Protection Act by “taking” endangered marine mammals as part of its construction process. 

You'll never see Patricia Morgan take a stand like this

US Wealth Gap Report Fuels Call to 'Unrig Our Tax Code'

Jessica Corbett for Common Dreams

As a Capitol Hill battle over the "GOP tax scam" looms, U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse on Wednesday pointed to a new nonpartisan government analysis about soaring wealth inequality as proof of the need for serious reforms.

Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sought the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, which details trends in the distribution of family wealth—including projected Social Security retirement and disability benefits—in the United States from 1989 to 2022.

The Astonishing MAGAverse

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE.

Russian stooge Trump helped save his pal Vladimir Putin's life at the expense of American lives

ATTENTION: CSI fans, Friday October 18

FBI’s chief explosives scientist to share insight into explosives investigations at URI

Kristen Curry 

Kirk Yeager, chief explosives scientist at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who analyzed the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, will discuss explosives investigations during the University of Rhode Island’s Forensic Science Seminar Series on Friday, Oct. 18. URI students may attend the series for credit, but lectures are free and open to the public.

During his presentation, “Explosive Investigations,” Yeager will discuss a career that has taken him to crime scenes on Boylston Street and beyond. His lecture is scheduled for URI’s Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences (Room 100), 140 Flagg Road, on the Kingston Campus, from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Before arriving at the FBI in 2000, Yeager worked as a research scientist and associate director of research and development at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center in New Mexico. For 10 years, he served as a physical scientist/forensic examiner for the FBI Laboratory’s Explosives Unit where he deployed as a bomb crime scene investigator to dozens of countries. 

Weight Loss Secrets

Scientists Identify Two Key Habits Linked to a Lower BMI

By Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

To manage weight effectively, it’s important to focus not just on what we eat, but also on when we eat. A study in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity highlights two key habits linked to a lower long-term body mass index (BMI): extending the overnight fasting period and having an early breakfast.

This research was led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation.

The study involved more than 7,000 volunteers aged 40-65 from the GCAT | Genomes for Life cohort, a project led by the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP).

In 2018, participants answered questionnaires about their weight and height, eating habits including meal times, other lifestyle habits, and socioeconomic status. In 2023, after five years, more than 3,000 participants made a follow-up visit to the research team, where their measures were registered again and new questionnaires were completed.

Interpretation of results

“Our results, in line with other recent studies, suggest that extending the overnight fast could help maintain a healthy weight if accompanied by an early dinner and an early breakfast. We think this may be because eating earlier in the day is more in line with circadian rhythms and allows for better calorie burning and appetite regulation, which can help maintain a healthy weight. However, it is too soon to draw definitive conclusions, so recommendations will have to wait for more robust evidence,” explains Luciana Pons-Muzzo, a researcher at ISGlobal at the time of the study and currently at IESE Business School.

Gender differences

Analysis of the data by gender showed that, compared to men, women generally showed lower BMI, higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet, lower propensity to consume alcohol, poorer mental health, and were more likely to be responsible for household or family supervision.

The team used a statistical technique called ‘cluster analysis’ to group individuals with similar characteristics. From the results of this analysis, the authors were struck by a small group of men whose first meal of the day was after 14:00 and who, on average, fasted for 17 hours. Compared to the rest, this group of men tended to have less healthy lifestyles (more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, less physical activity, less adherence to the Mediterranean diet), and had lower levels of educational attainment, and were more likely to be unemployed. These patterns were not observed in any group of women.

On intermittent fasting

“There are different ways of practicing what is known as ‘intermittent fasting’ and our study relates to one of them, which is overnight fasting. What we observed in a subgroup of men who do intermittent fasting by skipping breakfast is that this practice has no effect on body weight. Other intervention studies in participants with obesity have shown that this tactic is no more effective than reducing calorie intake in reducing body weight in the long term,” says Camille Lassale, ISGlobal researcher and senior co-author of the study.

“Our research is part of an emerging field of research known as ‘chrononutrition’, which focuses not only on analyzing what we eat, but also the times of day and the number of times we eat,” says Anna Palomar-Cros, a researcher at ISGlobal at the time of the study and currently at IDIAP Jordi Gol.

“At the basis of this research is the knowledge that unusual food intake patterns can conflict with the circadian system, the set of internal clocks that regulate the cycles of night and day and the physiological processes that must accompany them,” she adds.

Previous studies

This study provides continuity to a line of ISGlobal research on chrononutrition, which in recent years has published two other studies with results in the same direction. In these studies, it was observed that eating dinner and breakfast early was associated, respectively, with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Reference: “Sex-specific chrono-nutritional patterns and association with body weight in a general population in Spain (GCAT study)” by Luciana Pons-Muzzo, Rafael de Cid, Mireia Obón-Santacana, Kurt Straif, Kyriaki Papantoniou, Isabel Santonja, Manolis Kogevinas, Anna Palomar-Cros and Camille Lassale, 12 September 2024, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
DOI: 10.1186/s12966-024-01639-x

Red and blue R.I. voters take different views on green energy in polling on offshore wind

Republicans follow Trump anti-wind line. The rest of us don't

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Political affiliation sways Rhode Islanders opinions on offshore wind far more than how close they live to the coastline, according to a new Rhode Island Current poll.

The poll, conducted by MassINC Polling Group with funding from the Knight Election Hub, surveyed 800 likely voters from Sept. 12 to 18.

Nearly six in 10 survey participants supported plans to bring more offshore wind to Rhode Island, compared with 34% who disapproved. 

The perception gap widened significantly once politics came into play. Democrats overwhelmingly backed growing the Ocean State’s offshore wind portfolio by a 68-percentage-point margin. Republicans leaned heavily in the opposite direction, with 60% expressing disapproval compared with 26% approval.

How the Charlestown Citizens Alliance used fake enemies and bogus emergencies to gain and keep power

Fear and loathing in Charlestown politics

By Will Collette

Just substitute "CCA" for "GOP" and
you get the gist

One of the most despicable things a politician can do is to use lies to create fear and panic among the people to win their votes. 

Donald Trump has used that technique for years, but this year, has brought it to new heights, as the residents of Springfield, OH can testify. 

Trump’s running mate JD Vance admitted he spread phony stories about legal Haitian immigrants eating pets because "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention..., then that’s what I’m going to do,”

Long before Trump, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) has used that technique, starting in 2008 by portraying Charlestown’s resident curmudgeon Jim Mageau as the devil incarnate. 

While Jim was a terrible Town Council President, his wacky behavior made him an ineffective threat to anyone other than himself. But as a "threat," Mageau helped catapult the CCA into power.

Since that initial success at seizing power through fear and loathing, the CCA has come up with some enemy – real or imagined – to stay in power. They create one or more villains and then claim that only they can defend the town. The CCA is as phony as Trump and Vance claiming Haitians are coming to eat your pets.

The CCA's list of threats and enemies is long

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance threat list includes:

The Narragansett Indian Tribe for their long-abandoned plan for an Indian casino. The CCA hired attorney Joe Larisa, called a "racist by tribal leaders" specifically to harass the Tribe and block any effort the tribe makes to improve the lives of its people.

“People from Providence” who will swarm in with all their kids if we build any family housing and overrun the Chariho schools. Another example of the CCA's use of racist code words.

Developers and Democrats – the CCA has worked hard to create the myth that they are one and the same even though it's demonstrably false.

Wind power, spurred by Larry LeBlanc’s proposed Whalerock wind power project, became one of the CCA’s most successful phony campaigns. Ironically, in 2011, the CCA leader Tom Gentz was a staunch supporter of wind power, even making a presentation to the Council about how good wind energy is. Of course, that was before anti-wind NIMBYs started to contribute heavily to the CCA. Charlestown now has an effective town ban on ANY wind-to-energy device, even small residential units.

AMTRAK made another good boogeyman when a half-baked, improbable idea surfaced to run new track through northern Charlestown, scaring the shit out of half the town. CCA leader and Charlestown’s Planning Commissar Ruth Platner has been trying to revive the Charlestown Choo-choo hoax since the furor died down. Her 2021 headline for a story that attempted to revive the Amtrak boogeyman read They’re Back: Northeast Corridor Commission Sets Out Plan To Implement NEC Future.

Lights. In 2012, the CCA went nuts when a town staffer explored funding for temporary lights to facilitate autumn kids' football practice. This innocent inquiry mushroomed into a full-blown crisis - The Battle for Ninigret Park. The CCA confabulated this lighting inquiry into a direct threat that the Interior Department would take back Ninigret Park because the lights during autumn twilight would disturb the birds and bunnies in the Wildlife Refuge. It was all bullshit - the Interior's regional director Elyse LaForest had to come in to debunk the CCA lies - but it cost then Town Administrator Bill Delibero his job.

The Narragansett Indian Tribe became a CCA target again when one official made an ill- advised and broadly rejected deal to sell water to a nonexistent power plant in Burrillville.

Frank Glista was trashed for selling open, undeveloped land to the state Water Resources Board to preserve water resources. The CCA normally worships permanently protected open space, but not when the land comes from Frank.

Tons of asphalt were laid for "Faith's Folly" despite the CCA's
hatred for asphalt. Faith sold this project, telling the
Town Council it would cost less than $7,000.
The final bill was at $266,927.

Asphalt is a hated substance except when used in a scandalous patronage deal for CCA founding member Faith LaBossiere to build “Faith’s Folly,” an over-priced, under-used bike track in Ninigret Park.

Progressive Charlestown and me in particular made the CCA enemies’ list early on for writing articles like this. I’m fine with that.

The CCA also hates Deb Carney despite her years of effective leadership on the Council and the Chariho School Committee.

You can add a lot of others to the list. For example, CCA Town Council President Tom “Uncle Fluffy” Gentz frequently mocked and belittled Janice Falcone when she would rise to support a measure the CCA didn’t like.

The CCA viciously attacked Janice when she attempted to get the town to buy the historic General Stanton Inn that Janice and her beloved late husband Sonny labored to keep in tiptop condition. The CCA fought hard to block a town referendum to buy the Inn as an anchor for the Cross Mills historic district even though the CCA was otherwise willing to pay any price to preserve the “historic village district.”

* NOTE the contradictions. The CCA wants to do whatever it takes for the Cross Mills Historic Village but killed the plan to buy and preserve the General Stanton Inn. The CCA is willing to pay any price to add more protected open space but attacked Frank Glista for trying to do just that with his land sale to the state Water Resources Board. The CCA hates asphalt but is willing to lay down tons of it for "Faith's Folly." Go figure.

They viciously attacked my colleague Steve Hoff, a retired CPA, for doing the research to expose the CCA’s fiscal irresponsibility, especially the “$3 million Oopsie.”

In their big 3-page flyer, the CCA sums up their position, stating “What is at risk in this election?” Note they use the negative instead of “what is our plan for improving people’s lives” or some other positive theme. At risk, according to the CCA are “low taxes,” “dark skies” and “clean water.”

First, the town tax rate has dropped since the CCA was booted from control in 2022. They left behind a tax rate of $8.17 per thousand. Under the CRU's first year, the tax rate dropped to $5.74. It’s currently $5.78. 

They claim there’s a $39.5 million plan for “commercial development” in Ninigret. There isn’t.

They claim this imaginary threat will thwart “the Ninigret Wildlife Refuge and our children’s ability to learn about the universe.” This is a total crock of horse manure, as stupid as the "Battle for Ninigret Park" described above.

The CCA flyer also raises the specter of the need for “a sewage treatment plant and miles of sewer lines that would cost at least $1 billion.” Yup, that’s the claim. They say this will happen unless there is a “delicate balance” between well-planned residential development and what the land can support.

Here’s the key question: WHO is proposing otherwise? Who? If the CCA is going to create a boogeyman, at least give it a name.

Early on in the CCA’s history, one of their resident geniuses, Mike Chambers, liked to brag about the CCA's effectiveness at. They used Hitler’s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ formula: “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”

Creating fear and hate through lies kept the CCA in office for over a decade. They have also gotten very good at covering up their lies by blocking access to public records that would unveil their deception. CLICK HERE for an example.

In 2022, Charlestown voters saw through the CCA’s blue smoke and mirrors and voted them out of office. The CCA wants to take back power using the same old Goebbels’ formula. Don’t let them.