By Nancy Lavin | Senior reporter
It’s Tuesday.
Gov. Dan McKee won the coin toss to determine which candidate went first in the WPRO debate recorded Monday morning. But his challenger, Helena Buonanno Foulkes, won the entrance, walking in as a band of enthusiastic teenagers stood in the parking lot in the pouring rain, clutching signs and chanting her name.
Foulkes’ campaign adviser, Jon Romano, held an umbrella over Foulkes while she high-fived her cheering squad. McKee carried his own umbrella. And I just wished I had an umbrella at all.
***
High tide on Block Island is at 12:16 p.m. Low tide is at 6:16 p.m. Sunset is at 8 p.m.
***
It’s another day of debating, with a twofer for Democratic Providence mayoral candidates Brett Smiley and David Morales. The pair will meet at WPRO at 9:30 a.m, for a pre-taped debate airing later today. The Community Libraries of Providence will host its third and final mayoral forum, featuring Smiley, Morales and Republican Dave Talan, at 6 p.m. at the South Providence Library. Our own Alexander Castro will have coverage of both.
**
The Rhode Island Ethics Commission meets at 9 a.m. in Providence. The agenda includes a closed-door discussion of the Superior Court decision clearing former House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi’s application to the Supreme Court. The ethics panel could appeal the ruling.
Democratic gubernatorial candidates Helena Foulkes (left) and Gov. Dan McKee participate in the first gubernatorial debate of the 2026 election season, hosted by Bill Bartholomew (right foreground) and aired on WPRO 630 AM Monday. (Courtesy of Doug MacGunnigle for Cumulus Providence)
By Nancy Lavin
After years of sparring over press releases, media interviews and TV commercials, Gov. Dan McKee and Helena Buonanno Foulkes finally confronted each other face-to-face in the first gubernatorial debate of the 2026 election cycle, hosted by WPRO on Monday.
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson, who announced Monday that she will step down at the end of the 2026-27 academic year. (Photo by Nick Dentamaro/Brown University)
By Alexander Castro
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson announced Monday she will step down at the end of the 2026-27 academic year — a full year before the end of her current contract, which was extended last year.
Janie Segui (left) and Zak Pereira are the two Warwick Democrats running for the open House District 22 seat. (Contributed photos)
By Nancy Lavin
Millennial Warwick Democrats Janie Segui and Zak Pereira have centered their campaigns for the open House District 22 seat on affordability and quality-of-life issues. But Segui, a charter school advocate, opposes the three-year moratorium signed into law in June, while Pereira, whose mother was a public school teacher, supported the ban.
The hallway to immigration court in the Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
Key legal resource for immigrant kids to expire with federal contract, advocates say
By Ariana Figueroa, D.C. Bureau
Thousands of immigrant children are set to lose their legal representation at midnight Saturday because the Trump administration didn't renew a federal contract that provides legal aid services.
Rep. David Morales speaks to reporters after receiving the endorsement of former Mayor Jorge Elorza, left, on Aug. 3, 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
When David Morales was elected to the State House in 2020, then-Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza called to congratulate him and invited the freshman lawmaker to meet the next day, offering advice about governing and public service. Six years later, Elorza formally endorsed Morales’ bid to unseat Providence Mayor Brett Smiley.
With the primary election fast approaching, second quarter campaign finance reports show wide gaps in the amount of cash on hand between challengers and incumbents in the race for governor and lieutenant governor. (Photo by Nolan Page/Rhode Island Current)
By Rhode Island Current staff
With less than a month before early voting begins for Rhode Island state and local primaries, candidates are pounding the pavement and packing in the public events in the hopes of gaining voters’ support — and potentially, donations.
ICYMI
Two Narragansett neighbors live separate lives on policy | Nancy Lavin
Trump looks to veterans to fill trucking jobs after booting immigrants from industry | Ariana Figueroa, D.C. Bureau
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.