By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief
Good Wednesday morning!
After I got my Ancestry.com results back, I called up my father right away.
“Dad, I have news for you,” I said. “You’re my father.”
“Yeah, I kind of already knew that.”
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High tide in Narragansett is at 11:31 a.m. and 11:43 p.m. Low tide is at 4:58 p.m. Sunset is at 7:48 p.m.
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CVS Health holds its first quarter earnings call at 8 a.m.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed visits Senseco Marine at Quonset Point at 11 a.m. to announce a new partnership to boost the manufacturing of state-of-the-art autonomous uncrewed surface vehicles (AUSVs) in Rhode Island.
A 3 p.m. ceremony to mark the Annual RI Day of Reason is at the State House Library. The nonprofit group Rhode Island Atheists uses the date to celebrate religious freedom and separation of church and state along with logic, science and critical thinking. Secretary of State Gregg Amore will have a citation for the occasion.
The Senate Committee on Labor & Gaming meets at 4 p.m. Among the bills to be heard is one that would increase the minimum wage for prisoners at the Adult Correctional Institutions from $3 to $5 a day.
An archival U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention photo shows a lab researcher reviewing the banding pattern from a DNA electrophoresis experiment. The Rhode Island House and Senate have both passed legislation that would regulate the direct-to-consumer genetic market and how companies collect, use, store and share consumers’ genetic data. (Photo by U.S. CDC)
By Alexander Castro
The Rhode Island Senate on Tuesday voted 37-0 to approve a bill by Sen. Samuel D. Zurier, a Providence Democrat, that would give Rhode Islanders more control over the spit to commercial genetic testing services like 23andMe and Ancestry. If the Genetic Information Privacy Act becomes law, Rhode Island would join at least 13 states that have enacted similar legislation and would be the only New England state on the list.
Newport Hospital’s operator says it must secure another $4.9 million per year to keep the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center from closing. State lawmakers may soon have to decide if taxpayers should pay a portion of that. (Photo courtesy of Newport Hospital)
By Nancy Lavin
Brown University Health made a hazy promise to keep Newport Hospital’s birthing center open if it can secure an extra $4.9 million in state and philanthropic aid. But lawmakers aren’t ready to deliver any taxpayer money without assurances. “We don’t just take what somebody puts on a piece of paper and say, ‘Let’s go figure it out from there,’’’ Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, said.
U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose on May 5, 2026 asked the full court to investigate federal immigration officials who instructed attorneys to withhold information about an 2023 arrest warrant for a detainee accused of homicide in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island)
By Christopher Shea
U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose, who released a man without being told by federal authorities he was wanted for a homicide in his native Dominican Republic, referred the matter Tuesday to the full court for review by a magistrate judge or special master. During an afternoon virtual hearing, DuBose ordered 27-year-old Bryan Rafael Gomez to be detained again pending a bond hearing before an immigration judge within the next seven days.
A banner showing President Donald Trump hangs from the U.S. Department of Justice on Feb. 20, 2026. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
By David Lightman | D.C. Bureau
The Trump reminders are all over Washington, D.C. Walk the tourist walk from the Capitol down and around Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House and on to the Lincoln Memorial and signs and banners make clear who’s in charge.
ICYMI
Route 10 ramp reopens after partial collapse onto tracks | Christopher Shea
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