By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief
Good Tuesday morning!
If you missed Senior Reporter Nancy Lavin on WPRI 12 Newsmakers last Friday talking all things state budget, don’t despair. You can watch it here.
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High tide on Block Island is at 3:03 p.m. Low tide is at 8:28 a.m. and 9:39 p.m. Sunset is at 8:18 p.m.
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The State Properties Committee meets at 10 a.m. and may vote to grant preliminary approval for the Department of Children, Youth and Families to solicit a lessee for a new state-owned psychiatric residential treatment facility at the former St. Mary’s Home for Children.
The Rhode Island Senate’s 4 p.m. floor session includes a vote on the fisal year 2027 budget. The chamber will also vote on the appointment of Kevin F. Crawley to the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Board of Directors for a term expiring April 1, 2029. He would fill the seat last held by Marcy Reyes.
The Senate Judiciary Committee meets at 5 p.m. to hear testimony on the appointment of Michelle Reddish to fill a vacancy on the Cannabis Control Commission plus the reappointment of commissioner Robert B. Jacquard. The terms of both would expirie May 17, 2032. The panel will also consider a bill to make traffic accident data public.
The Coastal Resources Management Council meets at 6 p.m. with a vote on a wetlands permit for an underwater cable for the SouthCoast Wind project. It’s the first meeting since six of its seven members were recently confirmed by the Rhode Island Senate.
Greg Cornett, president of Rhode Island Energy, testifies in support of a bill to let energy distribution companies own generation facilities during a Senate Committee on Commerce hearing on April 28, 2026. (Screenshot/Capitol TV)
By Nancy Lavin
A bill that would let Rhode Island Energy build and operate electric generation facilities like power plants and battery storage projects was scheduled for a Senate vote Tuesday. But after environmental advocates flooded lawmakers' inboxes with opposition letters, the bill's sponsor, Senate Majority Whip David Tikoian, agreed to pull the legislation from the calendar.
Historian Gordon S. Wood, pictured here at a 2010 event at Brown University, died on Sunday, June 7, at age 92. (Photo courtesy of Brown University)
By Christopher Shea
Tributes poured in Monday for Gordon Wood, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian of the American Revolution, who died Sunday after he was struck by a car in a parking lot in East Providence. He was 92. Wood retired from Brown University in 2008, but returned to campus frequently for speaking engagements and was scheduled to receive an award for his “unparalleled contributions to history and to education” later this month at a gala commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary.
A mural inside Segue Institute for Learning, an independent public charter school in Central Falls. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
By Alexander Castro
Rhode Island's proposed three-year moratorium on new charter schools advanced through the House Education Committee, setting the stage for a full House vote. Identical bills by Rep. Mary Messier, a Pawtucket Democrat, and Sen. Melissa Murray, a Woonsocket Democrat, would disallow new charter school approvals in the state for three years, as well as reduce the statewide cap on charters from 35 to 28. They can now go before the entire House for floor votes as early as Wednesday.
An official ballot drop box for Maryland voters, in Wheaton, Md., on June 7, 2026. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
By Jonathan Shorman, D.C. Bureau
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allow states to access federal citizenship data by June 30 and plans to monitor the flow of mail ballots for signs of voter fraud, according to a court document. Amid a series of lawsuits, President Donald Trump’s administration is now moving to carry out a March 31 executive order restricting voting by mail ahead of the November midterm elections.
Buds of marijuana on display inside Mother Earth Wellness in Pawtucket, one of nine retailers licensed to sell recreational cannabis in Rhode Island. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
After a federal judge’s ruling forced the state to halt the process of awarding of cannabis retail licenses, the Rhode Island General Assembly is moving to undo the requirement that all pot shop license holders be majority owned by Rhode Island residents. A bill by Sen. Jacob Bissaillon, a Providence Democrat, was approved 63-0 by the House on Monday after receiving its initial passage across the rotunda on Thursday, June 4. A companion bill by Rep. Scott Slater, also a Providence Democrat, Providence Democrat, cleared the House June 4 and is scheduled as the final bill on the Senate’s floor calendar for Tuesday.
President Donald Trump’s $100,000 visa fee for highly skilled workers was struck down Monday, June 8, 2026, by a federal judge. In this photo, Trump looks on during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on May 27, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
By Ariana Figueroa | D.C. Bureau
A Boston federal judge Monday struck down the Trump administration’s efforts to require a $100,000 visa fee for highly skilled immigrant workers, finding the policy is an unlawful tax. Judge Leo T. Sorokin found the hefty fee placed on the H-1B visa by President Donald Trump exceeded his authority by creating a tax, something that falls under Congress’ authority.
ICYMI
COMMENTARY: Rhode Island never needed an anti-masking law for law enforcement. Until now. | Newsroom or reporter name
States face more budget pressures amid rising costs, slow growth | Kevin Hardy, Stateline
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