By Alexander Castro | Reporter
It’s Monday. And here we are.
It’s the last week of the legislative session. One big vote already on the docket today when the House of Representatives holds session starting at 4 p.m.: its version, plus the Senate equivalent, of legislation that would create a two-year “revival window” and allow expired claims against institutions and supervisors accused of enabling or covering up sexual abuse.
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High tide in Westerly is at 4:11 p.m. Low tide is at 10:16 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.
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Gov. Dan McKee and Rhode Island’s congressional delegation are scheduled to attend a 10 a.m. groundbreaking ceremony for a new $100 million radar test range and recommissioning of a manufacturing building at Raytheon on West Main Road in Portsmouth. The project will create new 150 jobs.
The Rhode Island House of Representatives debates the fiscal year 2027 state budget at the Rhode Island State House in Providence on Friday, June 5, 2026. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
By Nancy Lavin
A record $15.2 billion fiscal 2027 budget breezed through the Rhode Island House of Representatives in near record time Friday, with the 65-10 vote finalized with an hour to spare before sunset.
SEIU 1199 NE union members hold a rally outside their workplace Women & Infants Hospital on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in support of legislation to create a hospital safe staffing study commission. appears. (Photo courtesy of SEIU 1199 NE)
By Alexander Castro
The Rhode Island General Assembly approved on June 4 the formation of a new special commission to investigate hospital staffing levels and their impact on patient safety. Union members and nurses have praised the move, but hospitals are concerned about its financial impacts.
U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speakers to Mainers on May 25, 2026, in Portland at a rally with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson. (By Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
By Emma Davis | Maine Morning Star
The latest controversies involving U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner present a test of how much Maine voters will weigh his personal life against the policies he’s advocating for. That’s a question not only for Democrats voting in the semi-open primary on Tuesday but also independents.
Kaelah Oberdorf, 24, had a medication abortion in 2023 when she discovered she was pregnant while still recovering from the debilitating postpartum depression she had after giving birth to her daughter. Oberdorf said she was in an emotionally abusive relationship and didn’t want her daughter or herself to be tied to that partner for life. (Courtesy of Kaelah Oberdorf)
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
Access to telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester or to treat miscarriages, is threatened by an ongoing lawsuit in Louisiana. That state government has sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, trying to strike down the agency’s 2023 rule allowing the medication to be dispensed without an in-person visit.
A masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent knocks on a car window in Minnesota on Jan. 12, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
COMMENTARY
By Ira Belkin
Rhode Island should require that all law enforcement officials, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) offices, conduct routine enforcement activities openly and unmasked. Legislation introduced this year in the Rhode Island General Assembly would do just that.
ICYMI
RI federal judge strikes down block on immigration benefits | Christopher Shea
RI Senate confirms final member to retooled CRMC | Nancy Lavin
Rat poison ban clears both chambers of RI General Assembly | Alexander Castro
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