By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief
Good Monday morning!
I hope you had a good weekend. The price of diesel fuel in Rhode Island soared to $6.03 a gallon on Sunday, according to AAA.
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High tide in Wickford is at 10:40 a.m. and 11:01 p.m. Low tide is at 4:21 p.m. Sunrise is at 6:25 a.m. Sunset is at 6:57 p.m.
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The Permanent Advisory Council — Rhode Island House Veterans' Affairs meets at 10 a.m.
The Board of Elections meets at 10:30 a.m. to consider recount requests from the Sept. 9 primary.
The Public Utilities Commission meets at 6 p.m. for a public hearing on Rhode Island Energy’s proposed October electric price hikes and application of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative credits.
Cars parked on an unplowed street in Newport as 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
Rhode Island’s congressional delegation wants answers from the Trump administration over why the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) repeatedly denied the state’s request for disaster aid following the historic February 2026 blizzard. “To date, FEMA has not provided Rhode Island officials with a written, detailed explanation for why the state’s request was denied despite exceeding FEMA’s thresholds for assistance,” U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Reps. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to the Department of Homeland Security.
An analysis found more than 2 million voters cast mail ballots in Michigan in 2024. Nearly half came from Democrats, while Republicans sent 39%, a difference of about 200,000 votes in Democrats’ favor. In this photo, voters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, cast their ballots during the state’s August 2024 primary. (Photo by Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline)
By Jacob Fischler | D.C. Bureau
President Donald Trump has given explicitly partisan justifications for his campaign against mail-in voting, saying eliminating the practice would “guarantee the midterms” for Republicans. A new analysis from a Democratic-aligned group backs up his logic: Democrats in swing states vote by mail at greater rates than Republicans.
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
By Jennifer Shutt | D.C. Bureau
The U.S. House of Representatives has broad constitutional authority to investigate and decide contested elections. With mounting concern among GOP lawmakers that they may lose control of the chamber following November’s midterm elections, it is not a stretch to imagine state officials could, once again, receive calls from the White House or powerful Republicans in Congress.
Left to right, Andrew Garfield as Ploughman, Jamie Bell as John Ball and Thomasin McKenzie as Alyce in director Paul Greengrass’ ‘The Uprising,’ released Sept. 10, 2026. (Courtesy of Focus Features. ©2026. All Rights Reserved.)
COMMENTARY
By Joelle Rollo-Koster | The Conversation
The English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 — the subject of the new film "The Uprising" — wasn’t an isolated outburst, a professor emerita of medieval history at the University of Rhode Island writes. Across medieval Europe, ordinary people challenged the authority of rulers who failed to live up to their end of the bargain.
ICYMI
25 years later, coming together on 9/11 | Rhode Island Current staff
Divorce becomes next battleground as states debate family values | Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline
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