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By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief

Good Tuesday morning!

Voter turnout for the Sept. 9 primary hit 1% on Monday afternoon as the Secretary of State’s RI Voter Turnout Tracker continued to tally early in-person voting and submitted mail ballots. More than 8,000 ballots had been cast.

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High tide in Newport is at 6:37 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Low tide is at 12:05 p.m. Sunrise is at 6:04 a.m. Sunset is at 7:30 p.m.

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School starts in Lincoln, Providence, Scituate and Smithfield today.

The Coastal Resources Management Council meets at 6 p.m.

Scott Conley, 53, a McKee supporter and regional vice president for the National Education Association of Rhode Island, has been a special education teacher at Davies Career and Technical High School in Lincoln for 21 years. (Photo by Laura Paton/Rhode Island Current)

How the ‘Rule of 90’ became a campaign calculation for RI’s embattled incumbent governor

By Nancy Lavin

On the first day of early voting in the September primary, Gov. Dan McKee pledged to include the "Rule of 90" in next year's budget. The long sought after union proposal would ease the 2011 pension reforms for state workers and teachers, letting them retire with full benefits five years earlier.

A unanimous vote Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, by the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation Board of Directors for a pair of state incentives totaling $9.5 million breathes new life into the 26-story skyscraper at 111 Westminster St., Providence. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)

Providence’s Superman building takes flight with $10M more in public incentives

By Nancy Lavin

The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation's governing board on Monday approved nearly $10 million in additional state incentives intended to help High Rock Development complete the $327 million transformation of the Superman building in downtown Providence into a 308-unit apartment complex. The extra state subsidies aim to support the project's application for a federal low-interest loan.

Will Fletcher, president of the Association of Inspectors Generals, says he expects the number of qualified applicants for Rhode Island’s first-ever inspector general to be in the single digits. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)

33 apply to be Rhode Island’s first inspector general. Few may qualify.

By Christopher Shea

The search for Rhode Island's first inspector general attracted 33 applicants by Friday's deadline, but not all may hold the certification required for the job. The five-member commission conducting the nationwide search is scheduled to next meet Wednesday as they begin narrowing the field to three finalists.

Absentee ballots are prepared to be mailed at the Wake County Board of Elections on September 17, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Postal Service moves ahead with mail ballot rule amid court battle

By Ashley Murray | D.C. Bureau

A Boston federal judge chastised the Trump administration for “creating” an emergency by releasing a rule requiring states to redesign ballot envelopes and provide a list of recipient names and addresses to the U.S. Postal Service. The rule is contrary to an Aug. 11 order barring the federal government from changing states’ mail-in voting rules prior to the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Democratic officials in 23 states, including Rhode Island, sued the Trump administration for changing mail-in voting rules

ICYMI

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