By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief
Good Friday morning!
Labor Day weekend is upon us. It’s the last weekend for candidates to knock on your door before the Sept. 9 primary. The National Weather Service forecast says there’s a chance of showers Saturday afternoon but Sunday and Monday look sunny.
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High tide in Providence is at 2:22 p.m. Low tide is at 6:50 a.m. and 7:53 p.m. Sunrise is at 6:14 a.m. Sunset is at 7:14 p.m.
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It’s move-in day at the University of Rhode Island, which is welcoming more than 3,200 first-year students and their families to its Kingston campus for the 2026-27 academic year. Between today and Monday, approximately 5,400 students who will live in 25 campus residence halls arrive. Another 600 students move in to more than a dozen Greek Life houses, and about 100 more move in to the Grandin International Engineering, Texas Instruments, and Talent Development Achievement houses.
The 28th Annual Rhythm & Roots Festival begins at Ninigret Park in Charlestown. Festival hours are noon to 11 p.m.
Republican congressional candidate Vic Mellor poses with a military working dog in an undated photo taken during his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. Mellor released the photo on Thursday after his primary opponent Stephen Skoly attacked him about his military record. (Photo courtesy of the Vic Mellor campaign)
By Alexander Castro
Republican congressional candidate Vic Mellor released a small cache of military documents online Thursday to substantiate his service record — a day after his Republican primary rival for Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District seat accused him of embellishing his rank.
An Instagram ad by Keith Hoffmann, a Democrat running for Rhode Island attorney general, criticizes rival Kim Ahern’s tenure leading the state Cannabis Control Commission (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
Rhode Island’s Democratic primaries for attorney general and lieutenant governor turned increasingly combative over the past week as candidates trade attacks and undecided voters prepare to head to the polls on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Justen Fisher shows the former water line, blue line, from before the dam drawdown in his backyard at Old Killingly Pond on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Gordon/CT Mirror)
By John Moritz | Connecticut Mirror
Connecticut environmental officials have begun enforcement action against a dam owner that drained Old Killingly Pond, which straddles the Rhode Island border. State officials had authorized Wright Investors’ Service Holdings to conduct an emergency drawdown of the pond last year but have now ordered the company to repair the dam and restore the pond to pre-drawdown levels.
Karen Kost took part in the North Dakota primary election early voting available June 3, 2026, at City Hall in Casselton, North Dakota. (Photo by Dan Koeck/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jennifer Shutt | D.C. Bureau
President Donald Trump has said he’d “do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections” this fall. So what can he actually do legally? He can’t send the National Guard or federal law enforcement officers to polling locations throughout the country, legal experts say.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
By Jacob Fischler | D.C. Bureau
The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn a lower court and allow it to enforce a U.S. Postal Service rule restricting mail-in voting. The trial judge, Indira Talwani of the U.S. District of Massachusetts, prejudged the rule before it was final when she issued a temporary restraining order last month and upheld it last week, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.
ICYMI
Rhode Island rabies cases reach 34 after two Warwick raccoons test positive | Christopher Shea
Trump’s newest order on birthright citizenship blocked in federal court |Ariana Figueroa, D.C. Bureau
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