This is the homestretch to Charlestown’s December 2 Town Council special election

On Tuesday, please support Democrat Jill Fonneman for Charlestown Town Council

By Will Collette

Well, another day and another huge postcard from former Council member and Charlestown Citizens Alliance spokes-troll Bonnita Van Slyke. Maybe before Election Day on Tuesday, she’ll send us a real poster-sized card featuring her and her dog Sam.

I know that Sam is a very good boy. I also know Bonnie was crap as a former town council member. She bailed from the Council in 2022 just before the CCA got ousted by Charlestown voters for messing up the town’s money but now she wants back onto the Council.

Bonnie was a central figure in creating and then covering up the CCA’s “$3 million oopsie,” padded surplus fund accounts and shady land deals by her boss, CCA founder and de facto leader Ruth Platner.

Charlestown’s money problems during the decade of CCA rule, which included Van Slyke’s entire term on the Town Council, were documented by 2022 reports by the Rhode Island Auditor General and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. These reports were never acknowledged by the CCA. Click HERE and HERE for more details.

I have been calling for Van Slyke to own up to her mistakes and then apologize. Instead, she produces these expensive postcards filled with platitudes and vague promises about environmental issues where there is no fundamental difference between her and her opponents.

Vote for Jill Fonnemann (D). She also has a dog
plus far better ideas than her competitors 

I don’t expect her to dump ashes on her head and prostrate herself in front of Town Hall. But I do expect her to stop telling fairy tales about the way the CCA mismanaged Charlestown’s tax dollars and then tried to cover it up.

My choice for Council is Democrat Jill Fonneman who has been forthright about taking on Charlestown’s issues and pledges to work hard for fair taxation and trying to revitalize our blighted small business landscape. I blame the CCA’s business-hostile approach for our Boulevard of Broken Dreams (thank you, Green Day), better known as Route One where there are more shuttered businesses than growing concerns.

Boarded up derelict businesses are not compatible with Route One’s status as a Scenic Highway. Jill wants to see Charlestown make a concerted effort to turn this around.

Jill brings youth and solid business experience in boosting the Rathskeller’s success as well as fund-raising events to boost local charities and to assist the workers after the devastating fire at the Matunuck Oyster Bar. See video below.

Van Slyke brings nothing to the table but her awful past performance on the Council where she was the puppet of Charlestown Planning Commissar Ruth Platner. Van Slyke simply recites the tired old Platner-tudes about open space Über alles. If you think about it, a vote for Van Slyke is really a vote for her master Ruth Platner.

There’s no point in talking about mail-in or early voting since Monday and Tuesday are the last days to cast ballots. Now is the time to make your decision about whether you want to move forward with Jill Fonneman or take a big step backwards with Van Slyke.

Voting on December 2 (Tuesday) will take place ONLY at Town Hall from 7 AM to 8 PM.

White House redesign plans

Holiday greens and help send kids to camp

Rhody grown: Real trees support local farmers

Tips and trends when picking out this year’s Christmas tree

Kristen Curry 

Local choices can have a big impact: Real trees support local farmers.

It’s that time: One of the particular joys of the season is heading outdoors to pick out a Christmas tree.

Some good news for tree shoppers this season: If you are buying from a big-box store or pop-up lot where the trees are likely shipped from Canada—live trees imported from our northern neighbor are exempt from tariffs.

However, a better option might be to buy local, advises URI forestry extension specialist Christopher Riely. He will be heading to a local tree farm to make his selection, keeping his decorative dollars in the local economy. Plus, it’s a magical experience.

“It can be a fun expedition to pick out a Rhody-grown tree,” says Riely.

Riely likes to vary the type of tree he puts up from year to year. He enjoys buying fresh-cut trees from local farms, and in recent years has been drawn to “character” trees that are far from the perfect conical shape but unique in appearance (and also offer a good value). Last year, he brought home a white fir.

Supporting Christmas tree farmers helps ensure the continued economic viability of local agriculture and reduces the likelihood that productive open space will be developed or converted for another use.

NIH grant terminations disrupt hundreds of clinical trials, affecting more than 74,000 participants

Just as we are on the verge of cancer breakthroughs, Bobby Jr. does this

Laine Bergeson

An analysis published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that recent terminations of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants abruptly disrupted 383 active clinical trials affecting more than 74,000 enrolled participants—raising concerns about scientific waste, data integrity, and participant safety.

The cross-sectional study, led by researchers at Harvard Medical School, examined all NIH-funded interventional trials active between February 28, 2025, when the first wave of grant cancellations was reported, and August 15, 2025. Of 11,008 ongoing trials, 3.5% lost funding during this time. 

The affected studies spanned multiple stages: 36% had completed data collection, while more than one-third were actively recruiting. Notably, 43 trials were "active, not recruiting," meaning that participants may have been receiving interventions at the time funding was withdrawn.

Trials focused on infectious diseases saw the highest proportion of terminations (14.4%), followed by prevention-focused studies (8.4%) and those involving behavioral interventions (5%). International trials were also disproportionately affected.

Terminations unethical, may harm participants

Unanticipated funding disruptions can jeopardize follow-up, undermine data quality, and leave researchers unable to complete analyses, warn the authors.

In an accompanying commentary, Teva D. Brender, MD, of the University of California, and Cary P. Gross, MD, of Yale School of Medicine, who weren't involved in the study, argue that terminating funding for reasons unrelated to safety or efficacy is an ethical breach. The abrupt terminations violate principles of informed consent and pose real dangers. "Participants who have been exposed to an intervention in the context of a trial may be harmed by its premature withdrawal or inadequate follow-up and monitoring for adverse effects," they write. 

Participants who have been exposed to an intervention in the context of a trial may be harmed by its premature withdrawal or inadequate follow-up and monitoring for adverse effects.

The terminations may also rob participants of something harder to quantify but no less important: hope. "For some participants, enrolling in a trial was a source of hope, in situations when other treatment options were inadequate," they write. "For some, participating in the study was a part of their legacy, a way they hoped to contribute to humankind, which will now be denied."

Although some grants have since been reinstated, the commentators emphasize that reversals can mitigate, but not undo, the scientific and ethical harms. The widespread disruptions pose "unacceptable and unethical risks to patients," they conclude. 

The researchers of the study urge continued monitoring to understand how these terminations will affect future trials, study design, and data integrity.

Trump’s Anti-Green Agenda Could Lead to 1.3 Million More Climate Deaths.

To Trump, this could be a plus

By Sharon Lerner for ProPublica. Co-published with The Guardian

New advances in environmental science are providing a detailed understanding of the human costs of the Trump administration’s approach to climate change.

Increasing temperatures are already killing enormous numbers of people. A ProPublica and Guardian analysis that draws on sophisticated modeling by independent researchers found that President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda of expanding fossil fuels and decimating efforts to reduce emissions will add substantially to that toll, with the vast majority of deaths occurring outside the United States. 

Most of the people expected to die from soaring temperatures in the coming decades live in poor, hot countries in Africa and South Asia, according to recent research. Many of these countries emitted relatively little of the pollution that causes climate change — and are least prepared to cope with the increasing heat.

ProPublica and the Guardian’s analysis shows that extra greenhouse gases released in the next decade as a result of Trump’s policies are expected to lead to as many as 1.3 million more temperature-related deaths worldwide in the 80 years after 2035. The actual number of people who die from heat will be much higher, but a warming planet will also result in fewer deaths from cold.

Leaders from most of the world’s countries are now gathered at an international conference in Belém, Brazil, to address the escalating effects of climate change. The absence of the United States, which has 4% of the world’s population but has produced 20% of its greenhouse gases, has been pointedly noted by participants. Afghanistan, Myanmar and San Marino are the only other nations that did not send a delegation to the meeting, according to a provisional list of participants.

Our calculations use modeled estimates of the additional emissions that will be released as a result of Trump’s policies as well as a peer-reviewed metric for what is known as the mortality cost of carbon. That metric, which builds on Nobel Prize-winning science that has informed federal policy for more than a decade, predicts the number of temperature-related deaths from additional emissions. The estimate reflects deaths from heat-related causes, such as heat stroke and the exacerbation of existing illnesses, minus lives saved by reduced exposure to cold. It does not include the massive number of deaths expected from the broader effects of climate change, such as droughts, floods, wars, vector-borne diseases, hurricanes, wildfires and reduced crop yields. 

The numbers, while large, are just a fraction of the estimated 83 million temperature-related deaths that could result from all human-caused emissions over the same period if climate-warming pollution is not curtailed. But they speak to the human cost of prioritizing U.S. corporate interests over the lives of people around the globe. 

“The sheer numbers are horrifying,” said Ife Kilimanjaro, executive director of the nonprofit U.S. Climate Action Network, which works with groups around the world to combat climate change.

Neronha co-leads suit over HUD policy that would put more people into homelessness

Once again, Rhode Island is the center of resistance to oppressive Trump policies

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Nineteen attorneys general and two governors filed suit in Rhode Island on Tuesday to stop the Trump administration from shifting nearly $4 billion in housing grants they say could place as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back out on the streets.

The group co-led by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha is accusing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of violating “congressional intent” in its plan to dramatically reduce the amount of grant funds that can be spent on permanent housing, along with other conditions placed in its latest Notice of Funding Opportunity for Continuum of Care grants.

Enacted Nov. 13, HUD’s new policy instead shifts Continuum of Care funding toward transitional housing and other short-term interventions to the nation’s ongoing homelessness crisis. Only 30% of funds from the $3.9 billion grant program would be allowed to be used for permanent supportive housing — units that provide a subsidized, stable residence for formerly homeless people, often those who have experienced mental illness or spent years on the streets.  

HUD has previously directed approximately 90% of Continuum of Care funding to support permanent supportive units as part of its “Housing First” philosophy, according to the 55-page lawsuit.

King Donald reminisces about the good old days

How can we trust them with the economy when they don't understand basic arithmetic?

Suit filed against Trump decree linking aid to crime victims to whether a state meets Trump standard for immigration enforcement

"This administration is hanging Americans out to dry"

Steve Ahlquist

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha is co-leading a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over the imposition of illegal conditions on more than $1 billion in Congressionally-authorized funds for Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant recipients. The lawsuit is filed in Rhode Island. 

According to the lawsuit, the Trump Administration, disregarding the law and the intent of Congress, has declared that states will be unable to access these funds – used to support victims and survivors of crimes – unless they agree to support the Trump Administration’s extreme immigration enforcement efforts.

“When the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is actively preventing Americans from receiving justice, we have a problem,” said Attorney General Neronha. 

Fluoridated water linked to better adolescent school achievement

Fluoride and fear 

By Justin Jackson, Medical Xpress

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

Don't need no stinking fluoride!

Children exposed to recommended levels of fluoride in drinking water show modest cognitive advantages in secondary school, with no clear evidence of harm to cognitive functioning around age 60, according to researchers at the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation at the University of Minnesota and multiple collaborating institutions.

Water fluoridation in the United States began after decades of research linked naturally high levels of fluoride in water sources to lower community tooth decay. The evidence was convincing enough for the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to become the first in the world to supplement its municipal water with fluoride in 1945.

While scientific consensus and public policy have considered fluoridation a fundamentally positive public health intervention, discussion, doubt, and conspiratorial fears have persisted in some public circles.

Some of the concerns revolve around safety for developing children, specifically regarding whether fluoride exposure reduces childhood IQ, with some selective scientific backing.

70% of Americans do not want to go to war with Venezuela

70% of US Public Opposes Military Attack on Venezuela

Jake Johnson for Common Dreams

New survey results show that Americans strongly oppose US military action against Venezuela as the Trump administration privately weighs options for land strikes against the South American country—as well as possible covert action targeting the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

The CBS News/YouGov survey, published on Sunday, found that 70% of Americans—including 91% of Democrats and 42% of Republicans—are against the “US taking military action in Venezuela,” and a majority don’t believe a direct attack on Venezuela would even achieve the Trump administration’s stated goal of reducing the flow of drugs to the United States.

Van Slyke’s “commitment” to apple pie and motherhood is not enough to make up for fiscal mismanagement.

Van Slyke must answer for CCA’s glaring financial blunders that she helped to create

By Will Collette

Loving animals and nature is not this election's key issue,
but money management is

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) retread candidate Bonnita B. Van Slyke in the December 2 town council special election just issued a piece in the CCA blog that reprises her promises to support a broad array of environmental issues, the same ones she covered at length in her big, fancy mailer.

Her two opponents, Democrat Jill Fonnemann and Republican Laura Rom, also believe in protecting our environment – clean water, healthy ponds and streams, dark skies, and all our critters and birds. Jill is especially strong on animal protection. The candidates differ on how to achieve our goals, but don’t differ on the goals themselves.

So let’s stipulate that all the candidates love our town and its beautiful environs. And dogs.

The real difference between Van Slyke and her rivals comes into sharp relief when you look at her record on how to manage the taxpayers’ money. Van Slyke makes two “promises” that are belied by her actions and omissions.

Van Slyke pledges “to provide open, honest, responsible leadership” and commits to “manage our town’s administration and budgets effectively” which she failed to do during her previous time on the Town Council.

Bonnie B. left the Town Council in 2022 at the height of Charlestown’s worst financial scandal in a generation, a crisis where she was one of the key architects and led the cover-up and misinformation campaign.

And in her own writings for this special election, she still is.

In 2022, Charlestown learned that under the total control of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, Charlestown had not only achieved the dubious distinction of having the highest administrative costs in the state but that this CCA-controlled administration had “lost” (they say “misallocated”) $3 million for two years. The “$3 million oopsie.”

Van Slyke was the CCA’s principal spokesperson leading the cover-up and disinformation campaign to deny there was a problem and, failing that, blame someone else while refusing reasonable requests for an outside, impartial review.

Van Slyke pushed – and still pushes – pumping up the town’s surplus (“Unassigned fund balance”) beyond any reasonable need. The $3 million oopsie grew out of the accumulated pockets of cash the CCA had squirreled away in the town budget often used to finance Planning Commissar Ruth Platner’s shady land deals.

Van Slyke praised and defended ex-Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz even though he failed at his #1 job which was to take care of the money. Instead, he presided over ending legal public access to records about the town’s finances and shady land deals and allowed the $3 million to get lost. Then Stanky and ex-Budget Commission Chair Dick Sartor did their own self-audit and of course found themselves blameless.

Van Slyke consistently obstructed every effort by then minority Council member Deb Carney to bring in an outside forensic auditor to find out what really happened and to fix it.

And did I mention that according to the RI Public Expenditure Council, Charlestown’s administrative costs peaked as the worst in the state per capita during the final year of CCA's reign? We're right there at the very bottom of the chart. Here's what RIPEC found (and note that the CCA NEVER even acknowledged this data, never mind acted on it):

Voters threw out the CCA in 2022, electing four of five Charlestown Residents United (CRU) candidates, leaving the CCA with only Susan Cooper to wave their flag. Cooper dropped out in 2024 and voters replaced her with another CRU candidate, giving CRU a 5-0 supermajority.

Stonewall Stanky, Charlestown's cover-up king

After the 2022 election, one of the first orders of business was what to do with erstwhile Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz, executor of the CCA’s clamp down on public records and failed money manager. Right up until Stanky’s exit, Van Slyke praised his feckless performance as masterful and condemned the CRU for driving out this superhero.

The facts showed that Stanky’s only talent was his loyalty to the CCA, but even that turned out to be phony. It turns out Stanky had already lined up a new job in Berkley, MA even before the 2022 election which the CCA was expected to win.

While clueless Van Slyke and the CCA were campaigning to save his job in 2023, Stanky was already out the door and was simply trying to get the biggest severance package he could. Incidentally, Stanky only lasted six weeks at the Berkley job before moving on to mess up Pawtucket’s finances.

Then in 2025, Van Slyke and the CCA repeated the process when the CRU decided not to confirm CCA-aligned Budget Commission chair Dick Sartor – a central figure in the CCA fiscal meltdown – to another term on the Commission. Sartor failed at his job to provide oversight over Charlestown’s finances and teamed with Stankiewicz to run the cover-up of the $3 million oopsie.

The CRU wanted him out but naturally, Van Slyke wanted him retained. Ever the champion of incompetence.

Since the CCA was booted out of office, the CRU-led Town Council has done a great job of cleaning up the mess the CCA left. And to see exactly what the CRU did, see what the state's chief auditor found. 

According to the Rhode Island Auditor General, in their first year in office, the CRU-led Council improved Charlestown’s financial management in the following ways:

Raised more revenue. 

Under the CCA, revenue was $28 million. Under the CRU, this increased to $30 million.

Lowered expenses. 

RIPEC flagged Charlestown’s highest in the state expenses which were $31.2 million, more than the revenue collected. Under the CRU, expenses dropped to $29.8 million.

Increased the town’s savings. 

This is the unassigned fund balance (UFB) that the CCA criticized the CRU for failing to increase. In fact, according to the Auditor General, the CRU raised the UFB by 17% from the CCA’s $5.3 million to $6.2 million.

Improved pension funding. 

Funding to cover future pension costs rose from the CCA’s $8.3 million level to $8.8 million under the CRU.

Reduced Charlestown’s debt by a LOT. 

Under the CCA, Charlestown’s debt was $7.9 million. Under the CRU, debt dropped to $6 million, almost 25% less.

Erased the deficit the CCA left behind. 

According to the Auditor General, the CCA left behind a DEFICIT of $3,266,029. The CRU erased that deficit and ended FY23 with a SURPLUS of $157,666.

This table on page 16 of the Auditor General’s report gives the detail:

Not once has the CCA acknowledged these hard facts, sticking instead to Bonnita Van Slyke's false narrative that the CCA was infallible. Oh, she also loves her dog.

Election started today (November 12)

Early, in-person voting has started at Town Hall. If you plan to vote by mail, ask our Town Clerk Amy Weinreich for a mail ballot application. If you've already applied, your ballot should be on the way.

Generally, special elections like this draw almost exclusively from those who pay attention to politics. Turn out is usually very low, maybe a thousand if we're lucky. A three-way race like this is especially hard to predict. 

The CCA will spend from its huge treasury built on non-resident cash to send you fancy mailers telling you Charlestown needs to go back to the good old days when they ran things. The financial facts shown above tell a very different story. 

Democrat Jill Fonnemann is pledged to support the CRU’s sound financial management for a better, more prosperous Charlestown. Let's move FORWARD, not backwards. 

Putin's puppet sells out Ukraine

Donald Trump's especially crazy Thanksgiving message posted just before midnight

This is the guy who has the nuclear launch codes.

This is another example of the need to invoke this section of Article 25 of the US Constitution:

URI Dec. 3 program: Building climate resilience ‘From the Ground Up’

Jainey Bavishi will explore how local leadership and civic collaboration are reshaping climate action

Peter J. Hanlon

Costly repairs to the Charlestown Breachway are
an example of the price of climate change.
Photo by Will Collette

Jainey Bavishi, former deputy administrator of NOAA and former director of New York City’s Office of Climate Resiliency, will discuss “From the Ground Up: Communities Leading the Next Chapter of Climate Resilience” for the Charles and Marie Fish Lecture hosted by the URI Graduate School of Oceanography. 

The event, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m., will be presented in-person at the URI Narragansett Bay Campus, Corless Auditorium, 215 South Ferry Road in Narragansett. The lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.

As climate impacts accelerate and uncertainty grows, communities across the country are redefining what it means to be resilient. In a fireside chat, Bavishi will explore how equity, local leadership and civic collaboration form the backbone of effective climate action, even as traditional systems face strain. 

Thank you, Bobby Jr., for reviving Whooping Cough

Waning Immunity and Falling Vaccination Rates Fuel Pertussis Outbreaks

Céline Gounder

Rates of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, are surging in Texas, Florida, California, Oregon, and other states and localities across the country.

The outbreaks are fueled by falling vaccination rates, fading immunity, and delays in public health tracking systems, according to interviews with state and federal health officials. Babies too young to be fully vaccinated are most at risk.

“Pertussis cases increase in a cyclical fashion driven by waning immunity, but the size of the outbreak and the potential for severe outcomes in children who cannot be vaccinated can be mitigated by high coverage and good communication to folks at risk,” said Demetre Daskalakis, a former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization program, who resigned in August.

Before the first pertussis vaccine became available in the early 1900s, whooping cough was one of the most common childhood diseases and a major cause of childhood death in the United States. Today, children get a series of DTaP shots (full-dose version) starting at 2 months old, and teens and adults receive a Tdap booster (lower-dose version) every 10 years. (Both vaccines target diphtheria and tetanus in addition to pertussis.)

Until recently, 8 in 10 toddlers had received four doses of the DTaP vaccine by age 2, and case rates were controlled. But vaccine coverage has declined since the covid pandemic and increases in state nonmedical exemptions have widened immunity gaps, which is when the proportion of individuals who are immune falls below the level needed to contain spread.

Texas logged 1,928 pertussis cases in 2024. By October 2025, the state had exceeded 3,500. National numbers are just as stark: In the first three months of 2025, the U.S. tallied 6,600 cases — four times last year’s pace and 25 times 2023’s. Several states are posting their highest case totals in a decade, and outbreaks from Louisiana to South Dakota to Idaho make clear this surge isn’t regional. It’s everywhere.

Who wins and who loses as the US retires the penny

It's a toss-up for consumers

Nancy Forster-Holt, University of Rhode Island

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance features
rusty pennies in its budget postings

By now, Americans know the strange math of minting: Each penny costs about 4 cents to make. Chances are you have some in a jar, or scattered among pockets, purses and car ashtrays.

As small as it is, the penny punches above its weight culturally. If it ever disappeared, so too might the simple kindness of “take a penny, leave a penny,” alongside timeless classics like penny loafers and the tradition of tossing a penny in a fountain.

But the penny’s days are indeed numbered. The U.S. Mint pressed the last 1-cent coin on Nov. 12, 2025, following a directive from the White House. While pennies will remain legal tender, old ones will gradually be taken out of circulation.

The impact of this change will reach beyond coin jars. Its ripples will be felt as small, cash-reliant Main Street merchants face another test of adaptability in a system that increasingly favors scale, technology and plastic. It will also be felt by people who rely on cash – often people without bank accounts who have the least room to absorb even tiny shifts in price.

My interest comes from my former lives as the chief financial officer of a large credit union and as a small-business owner. Now, I bridge theory and practice as a professor – or “prac-ademic,” as I like to say – studying the challenges facing Main Street businesses.

When the penny goes away, some will win, some will lose – and for some, it’ll be a coin toss.

New UNH poll shows McKee has only 11% support for his re-election bid

McKee's only hope seems to be the 42% of Democratic voters who remain undecided

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Nearly half of likely Democratic voters still aren’t sure who they’d choose in Rhode Island’s 2026 gubernatorial primary, according to the latest Ocean State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. 

A sizable 42% of Democratic primary voters considered themselves “undecided” in the survey released Monday. But former CVS executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes holds a slight, early lead in a hypothetical Democratic primary with Rhode Island House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and incumbent Gov. Dan McKee. 

Of the 359 respondents who are likely to hit the polls in the Democratic primary slated for September 2026, 29% said they would back Foulkes.

Shekarchi, who has not publicly committed to a run but has expressed interest in media interviews, secured 13% of support from the surveyed respondents.

Limping along with slightly lower polling numbers is McKee with support from only 11% of primary voters — his latest dismal showing in a string of polls, especially in concert with the poll’s other numbers for McKee, which demonstrate a broad and more diffuse dissatisfaction with his leadership both within and across party lines.

Sure beats maximum security

Dear Leader's Thanksgiving

Holiday greeting from Rhode Island Energy: PAY us more

Rhode Island Energy proposes increases in customer electric and gas service charges

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

More bad news for Rhode Islanders struggling to pay their energy bills: Hikes are coming.

Rhode Island Energy unveiled its long-anticipated request to increase service charges for gas and electric customers in a press release the day before the Thanksgiving holiday. An application spanning thousands of pages across 21 separate documents was simultaneously submitted to the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission for review.

If approved, the increases would take effect in September 2026.

For the first year, the average residential electric customer would see their monthly bills rise $7.78, or 4.83%, while a typical residential gas customer would pay $343.53 more, a 20.6% increase, according to Rhode Island Energy’s proposal. Charges would rise again in the second year, with another $1.56 added to monthly electric bills, on average, and $89.43 more tacked on to annual gas bills.

Anticipating the fury coming its way, Rhode Island Energy President Greg Cornett had already attempted to justify the proposal by highlighting the benefits for customers. 

Everyday microplastics could be fueling heart disease especially in men

Microplastics may be silently fueling heart disease by damaging the very cells that keep arteries healthy.

University of California - Riverside

Microplastics dramatically intensified plaque buildup in male mice and interfered with the cells lining their arteries. The study points to direct cardiovascular harm from widespread environmental exposure. Credit: Shutterstock

A research team at the University of California, Riverside has found that routine exposure to microplastics -- tiny pieces released from packaging, fabrics, and common consumer plastics -- may speed up the formation of atherosclerosis, the artery-narrowing condition associated with heart attacks and strokes. The effect appeared only in male mice, offering new insight into how microplastics may influence cardiovascular health in people.

"Our findings fit into a broader pattern seen in cardiovascular research, where males and females often respond differently," said lead researcher Changcheng Zhou, a professor of biomedical sciences in the UCR School of Medicine. "Although the precise mechanism isn't yet known, factors like sex chromosomes and hormones, particularly the protective effects of estrogen, may play a role."

How farmers screwed themselves by supporting Trump

Farmers – long Trump backers – bear the costs of new tariffs, restricted immigration and slashed renewable energy subsidies

Kee Hyun Park, Nanyang Technological University; Institute for Humane Studies and Shannon P. Carcelli, University of Maryland

Few political alliances in recent American history have seemed as solid as the one between Donald Trump and the country’s farmers. Through three elections, farmers stood by Trump even as tariffs, trade wars and labor shortages squeezed profits.

But Trump’s second term may be different.

A new round of administration policies now cuts deeper into farmers’ livelihoods – not just squeezing profits but reshaping how farms survive – through renewed tariffs on agricultural products, visa restrictions on farm workers, reduced farm subsidies and open favoritism toward South American agricultural competitors.

In the past, farmers’ loyalty to Trump has overridden economics. In our study of the 2018–19 trade war between the U.S. and China, we found that farmers in Trump-voting counties kept planting soybeans even though the trade war’s effects were clear: Their costs would rise and their profits would fall. Farmers in Democratic-leaning counties, by contrast, shifted acreage toward alternatives such as corn or wheat that were likely to be more profitable. For many pro-Trump farmers, political belief outweighed market logic – at least in the short term.

Today, the economic effects of policies affecting farmers are broader and deeper – and the resolve that carried farmers’ support for Trump through the first trade war may no longer be enough.

Tariffs: The familiar pain returns

The revived U.S.-China trade conflict has again placed soybeans at its center. In March 2025, Beijing suspended import licenses for several major U.S. soybean exporters following new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump countered with a new round of reciprocal tariffs, broadening the list of Chinese imports hit and raising rates on already targeted goods.

An October 2025 deal promised China would buy 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans a year, but relief has proved mostly symbolic.

Before the 2018-19 trade war, China regularly imported 30 million to 36 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually — more than one-third of all American soybean exports. Now, Beijing has signed long-term contracts with Brazil and Argentina, leaving U.S. producers with shrinking overseas demand for their crops.

Is the DOJ Serious About Investigating Beef Price-Fixing?

Or will they just blame immigrants and Democrats?

By Philip Mattera, director of the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First, for the Dirt Diggers Digest

This administration must be on drugs

Apparently shaken by the Democratic gains in this month’s elections, Donald Trump has changed his tune on the economy. He still tries to get us to believe everything is marvelous, but at the same time he has rolled out a series of proposals designed to give the impression he is addressing the affordability crisis.

Most of these initiatives do not amount to much. The rollback of tariffs on some food products is easing an aspect of inflation Trump himself caused. The idea of getting banks to offer 50-year home mortgages would result in modest monthly savings for borrowers while causing them to pay much more in interest over the life of the loan and slow the rate at which they build equity in their homes. 

It is unclear whether the deals he has been making with pharmaceutical companies will result in significant cost reductions for consumers. The suggestion that Obamacare subsidies be replaced with payments to health savings accounts would result in the proliferation of junk insurance policies and financial ruin for those with serious health conditions.

What these initiatives also have in common is that they do not challenge corporate interests in any significant way. The one possible exception to this is Trump’s call for a probe of price fixing in the beef industry.

Happy Trumpsgiving

Thanks where it's actually due

Yet another lunatic post by King Donald

This comes from the President of the United States. 

Trump seeks rollback of protections for endangered species

Trump Administration Seeks ESA Regulatory Rollbacks, Risks Accelerating Extinction for America’s Most Vulnerable Wildlife

Defenders of Wildlife

In a move that could accelerate the extinction crisis we face today, the Trump administration proposed significant changes to the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act, which, for more than 50 years, has served as the backstop to America’s most imperiled wildlife. 

The administration’s proposed revisions to Sections 4, 4(d) and 7 regulations would weaken some of the protections that have helped prevent the extinction of iconic species.

“America’s imperiled wildlife remains at an uncertain crossroads, with one road pointing toward extinction and the other toward recovery. The Trump administration’s proposals announced today seek to undermine critical portions of the Endangered Species Act and will make recovery for many of those species that much more difficult,” said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO at Defenders of Wildlife. 

“These devasting proposals disregard proven science and risk reversing decades of bipartisan progress to protect our shared national heritage and the wildlife that make America so special.”

Trump action became inevitable after this happened

“The ESA is one of the world’s most powerful laws for conservation and is responsible for keeping 99% of listed species from extinction,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. “But the ESA is only as effective as the regulations that implement it. Rolling back these regulations risks reversing the ESA’s historic success and threatens the wellbeing of plant and animal species that pollinate our crops, generate medicine, keep our waterways clean and support local economies.”

These proposed rollbacks would make it easier for federal agencies to greenlight destructive projects, such as mining, drilling, logging and overdevelopment, without fully assessing their impact on threatened and endangered species or their habitats. The move would also allow economic interests to influence decisions about which species warrant protection and which critical habitat receives federal designation. In addition, automatic protections for some threatened species would be eliminated.

Mayo Clinic says you should stop believing these eight back pain myths

For example, surgery is not the only or best option in all cases

By Mayo Clinic

Back pain is one of the most prevalent health issues globally, affecting up to 80% of individuals at some point in their lives and ranking among the leading causes of disability across all age groups. 

The condition encompasses a broad spectrum of problems involving muscles, ligaments, intervertebral discs, nerves, and the vertebral column itself, making its origins multifactorial and often difficult to pinpoint.

Its impact reaches far beyond individual discomfort—chronic or recurrent back pain contributes to reduced mobility, lost workdays, and diminished quality of life, placing a significant burden on healthcare systems worldwide.

Despite its commonality, several misconceptions about it persist.

Meghan Murphy, M.D., a neurosurgeon with the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, outlines eight of the most frequent myths and explains what scientific evidence actually shows.

Myth: Lifting heavy objects is the main cause of back pain.

Fact: Lifting heavy objects with poor form can contribute to back pain, but the major culprits are a sedentary lifestyle, poor posture, obesity, and genetic factors.

Myth: Bed rest will make my back pain better.

Fact: Probably not, but it depends on the cause of your pain. If it’s muscle strain, taking it easy for a few days may help. However, bed rest can also make back pain last longer or even worsen. If your pain is from nerve compression, a disc issue, or joint degeneration, inactivity can cause muscles to tighten, pain to worsen, loss of physical condition, and more debility. In these cases, you should modify your activities, switch to low-impact exercises like walking and swimming, and avoid movements like bending, twisting, or lifting. Maintaining some degree of physical activity can help you heal faster.