By Christopher Shea | Reporter
Hiya,
If there’s one video to watch this week, it’s footage released by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation showing a controlled explosion used to remove bedrock near Route 4 as crews build a new highway connection to Interstate 95 South.
There’s something mesmerizing about seeing such a large blast of earth so precisely contained.
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Have any unused medication you need to dispose of? From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can drop them off at one of more than 50 sites open across the state was part National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
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U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse are hosting U.S. Service Academy Day from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Cranston Public Library, giving Rhode Island high school students interested in attending one of the nation’s five military service academies a chance to learn about the application process.
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Here’s your look at the week that was:
A laptop shows a video playing on the Deloitte website's homepage on Friday, April 24, 2026. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
By Alexander Castro
A $7 million handshake between the Rhode Island Department of Administration and global consultancy Deloitte over the latter’s role in the 2024 RIBridges data breach has brought the state’s total windfall to $12 million for the incident.
Wayne Salisbury, director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, is stepping down after three years overseeing the state's prison system. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
Rhode Island Department of Corrections Director Wayne T. Salisbury Jr. is stepping down after three years to take a new role with the court-appointed receiver overseeing Rikers Island in New York.
Clients at Good Neighbors Community Kitchen and Food Pantry in East Providence wait in line for food assistance on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
By Nancy Lavin
Looming federal mandates requiring states to improve accuracy in distributing food assistance benefits has forced Rhode Island officials to work fast to improve the problematic Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But advocates fear the state's error rate reduction plan could cut off vulnerable recipients.
Eileen Ryan of Watertown, Massachusetts, holds a sign proclaiming 'Citizens Bank has blood on its hands' outside the financial institution's Providence headquarters on April 23, 2026. A Providence Police officer behind her directs protesters away from the office entrance. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
More than 300 protesters gathered outside Citizens Bank’s Providence headquarters Thursday morning to urge the financial institution to cut ties with CoreCivic and GEO Group, two of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s largest contractors. The union representing working graduate and undergraduate students at Brown University plans to withdraw nearly half a million dollars from Rhode Island’s largest bank to intensify the pressure.
Providence mayoral candidate and Democratic state Rep. David Morales speaks outside City Hall on Monday, April 20, 2026, calling on the City Council to override Mayor Brett Smiley’s veto of the rent stabilization ordinance passed last week. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
By Alexander Castro
Providence mayoral candidate David Morales on Monday blasted Mayor Brett Smiley’s veto Friday of the rent stabilization ordinance passed Thursday night by the City Council. Morales urged the six City Council members who voted against the plan to switch their votes. If at least one of them does, the council can override Smiley's veto.
A construction worker retrieves plywood sheets lifted to the roof of the Ade Bethune House, a 54-unit affordable housing complex for seniors under construction on Bristol Ferry Road in Portsmouth on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
Rhode Island’s push to build new homes has gained traction over the last year, but the affordability of existing housing stock still remains a critical concern for the state. The latest integrated housing report released April 15 by the state’s Executive Office of Housing, which noted 3,778 building permits issued across each of Rhode Island’s municipalities in the last year — the highest level since the 1980s.
ICYMI
Roger Williams University announces retirement of its president | Rhode Island Current Staff
A deadly bacteria is creeping up the Atlantic Coast. How worried should you be? | Zoya Teirstein, Grist
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