By Christopher Shea | Reporter
Hiya and happy Thursday,
Shoutout to the Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education for the surprisingly comfortable chairs in its meeting room. I could hardly tell I’d been sitting in the same spot for more than three hours during Tuesday’s meeting.
Now if only the State House’s hearing rooms were outfitted the same way.
***
High tide in Warwick is at 6:48 a.m. and 7:10 p.m. Low tide is at 11:39 a.m. Sunset is at 8:10 p.m.
***
Gov. Dan McKee is scheduled to visit a Volvo dealership in Pawtucket at 10:30 a.m., where he will join the officials Rhode Island Department of Transportation and other local leaders to highlight the state’s municipal road repair program.
The Cannabis Control Commission meets at 1 p.m.
Gov. Dan McKee’s campaign released its first TV ad Wednesday, comparing the governor’s healthcare track record to his Democratic competitor, Helena Buonanno Foulkes. (Screenshot)
By Nancy Lavin
Gov. Dan McKee's campaign launched its first TV ads of the election season Wednesday. The 30-second spot will air 174 times combined across local broadcast stations through June 7, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission.
Breeze Airways pilots briefly march in front of Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport on May 27, 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
Breeze Airways pilots picketed outside Rhode Island T.F. Green Airport on the airline’s fifth anniversary Wednesday afternoon, highlighting contract negotiations that have stalled since 2023.
Butler Hospital workers staged a 30 hour sit-in in front of the Care New England headquarters at 4 Richmond Square in Providence in June 2025. The health care system is now cutting 30 leadership positions. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
By Nancy Lavin
Care New England is cutting more than 30 leadership and nonclinical positions to help close an estimated $20 million budget gap for fiscal 2026.
The U.S. Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to take up a case casting the Republican National Committee against a host of Democratic and voting rights groups over voting restrictions in Arizona. (Photo by Jim Small/Arizona Mirror)
By Jonathan Shorman | D.C. Bureau
The Trump administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to allow states to review their voter rolls for noncitizens just days before elections, a change that voting rights advocates say would risk disenfranchising Americans.
A Utah farmer harvests crops on his family’s farm in Weber County in September 2025. Vermont became the first state to ban the use of a toxic herbicide used on crops across the country. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Kevin Hardy | Stateline
Vermont became the first state to ban the use of the highly toxic herbicide paraquat after Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed Democratic-sponsored legislation this week. Widely used to control weeds in major crops across the country, that chemical is linked to Parkinson’s disease.
Seth Kroeck points out new spring growth in his wild blueberry fields at Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick, Maine. (Photo by Sydney Cromwell/Inside Climate News)
By Sydney Cromwell | Inside Climate News
Wild blueberries are iconic in Maine but heat and drought have many small farmers struggling with reduced yields and increased costs for mulch and irrigation
ICYMI
Rhode Island Senate appoints five to CRMC | Janine L. Weisman
McKee elevates RI’s top cannabis administrator as his nominee to chair regulatory commission | Christopher Shea
Thanks for reading Swell. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.