By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief
Good Thursday morning!
University of Rhode Island researchers want to learn more about what you consider local food, where you buy it and how often. It’s part of a project to create a food flow map showing how farmers’ production and distribution networks link to where consumers purchase food.
You can help the project by filling out this survey, which asks questions about local food purchasing habits and awareness of the “RI Grown” label. RI Grown launched in 2009 to distinguish and encourage consumers and wholesale buyers to purchase more products grown in the Ocean State. It took me 12 minutes to complete it.
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High tide in Little Compton is at 8:51 a.m. and 9:05 p.m. Low tide is at 2:30 p.m. Sunset is at 8:04 a.m.
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Gov. Dan McKee joins the leadership and members of the Rhode Island Building & Construction Trades Council at 5 p.m. at IBEW Local 99 Union Hall in Cranston for an announcement that is expected to be an endorsement.
The Providence City Council has a special meeting at 5 p.m. The council will consider a resolution to take the next step in a ballot initiative asking voters in the Nov. 3 general election if the city should adopt an ordinance to divest from foreign countries “conducting severe violations of human rights such as ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide.”
OpenDoors hosts a Justice & Policy Debate for Democratic candidates running for attorney general from 6-8 p.m. at the Southside Cultural Center on Broad Street in Providence.
Democrat Kim Ahern highlights her priorities of protecting abortion rights, reducing gun violence, prosecuting hate crimes and holding the federal government accountable in her first TV ad for attorney general. (Screenshot/Kim Ahern for Rhode Island)
By Christopher Shea
The television campaign in Rhode Island's four-way Democratic race for attorney general is growing after Kim Ahern on Wednesday unveiled her first television commercial as part of a six-figure advertising campaign through the Sept. 9 primary. Another candidate, Rep. Jason Knight, has reserved airtime the same week early voting begins next month.
Former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, left, awaits the start of a meeting of the Judicial Nominating Commission on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. At right is retired Rhode Island Superior Court Presiding Justice Alice Gibney, who testified in support of Shekarchi’s application for an open seat on the high court. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Shekarchi makes the list of Rhode Island Supreme Court potential nominees. But will he make the cut?
By Christopher Shea
Two judges, a state prosecutor, an appellate litigator who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, and former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi made the list of potential nominees to fill an open seat on the state’s high court the Judicial Nominating Commission approved Tuesday. But only four of these applicants received unanimous support from the nine-member panel in a vote at the end of a three-and-a-half hour interview and public comment session.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee visits students in a summer program in 2024. (Office of the Governor)
By Nancy Lavin
Gov. Dan McKee now boasts endorsements from Rhode Island’s two major statewide teachers unions, having secured the recommendation of the National Education Association of Rhode Island on Wednesday. The endorsement made by a unanimous vote of the association’s political action committee comes as no surprise after McKee signed a teachers union-backed charter school moratorium into law in June.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2026. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
By Ashley Murray
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to permanently fill the nation’s top law enforcement role appeared in limbo Wednesday after two Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — remained dissatisfied with Blanche’s handling of the administration’s “anti-weaponization” fund and a tax immunity deal.
ICYMI
Federal judge voids Johnston’s land seizure under eminent domain | Nolan Page and Christopher Shea
DHS removes interview requirement for asylum seekers, possibly speeding removals | Ariana Figueroa, D.C. Bureau
Undocumented immigration population reached as high as 15.8M, report finds | Tim Henderson, Stateline
Fauci pleads the Fifth to COVID questions by US Sen. Rand Paul at intense hearing | Jennifer Shutt, D.C. Bureau
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