By Christopher Shea | Reporter
Hiya,
Effective Friday, U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner barred his staff from participating in prediction markets or wagering on political, legislative, regulatory, geopolitical or other outcomes tied to information obtained through their official duties.
The 2nd Congressional District representative is cosponsor of legislation that would ban all federal officials and congressional staff from betting on government outcomes.
“Washington will never work for working people if members of Congress and government officials can profit off their positions,” Magaziner said in a statement.
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U.S. Sen. Jack Reed has a busy Saturday ahead of him. His day begins with a stop at the Rhode Island Firefighters Memorial in Exeter at 11 a.m., where he will join Gov. Dan McKee and other officials to honor firefighters who died in the line of duty.
At 1 p.m., Reed will join volunteers for the second shift of the Dominick J. Ruggerio Solidarity Day of Action hosted by United Way of Rhode Island and Climate Jobs Rhode Island.
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Here’s your look at the very eventful week that was:
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi departs chamber’s rostrum for the final time on May 7, 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
As K. Joseph Shekarchi formally stepped down Thursday as House speaker to pursue a seat on the Rhode Island Supreme Court, a law professor filed a complaint arguing his candidacy violates the state’s ethics rule barring sitting legislators from seeking or accepting employment with another government agency until they’re out of office for a year.
Rep. Christopher Blazejewski, with his wife, Ami Gada, and their son, Liam, at his side, is sworn in as the new Rhode Island House speaker by Secretary of State Gregg Amore on Thursday, May 7, 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Nancy Lavin
Providence Democratic Rep. Christopher Blazejewski was elected as speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives by his colleagues Thursday, with East Providence Democratic Rep. Katherine Kazarian chosen as majority leader. The mid-session leadership elections came the same day House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi resigned from the rostrum to seek the open seat on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Katelyn Medeiros, the Rhode Island Child Advocate in May 2024. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
By Alexander Castro
Rhode Island’s Office of Child Advocate on Monday asked a federal judge to block a Trump administration subpoena seeking medical records of minors treated for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital. The U.S. Department of Justice served a subpoena on the hospital in July 2025 asking for “the identities and complete medical histories of every minor patient who received medical care for gender dysphoria at RI Hospital over more than five years,” according to the court filing. A federal judge in Texas last week ordered the hospital to comply.
A tarp partially surrounds the broken sewage pipe along the East Bay Bike path near Watchemoket Cove in East Providence. (Photo courtesy of Save The Bay and Chris Dodge)
By Nancy Lavin
Rhode Island’s most popular and densely populated shellfishing area is temporarily closed after 800,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into Narragansett Bay from a ruptured sewage pipe near Watchemoket Cove along the East Bay Bike Path in East Providence Monday. Quahoggers will have to wait until at least May 18 to return to the 1,900-acre area between Bullocks Point in East Providence and Gaspee Point in Warwick.
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.
A federal court filing on May 7 states U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was unable to locate a Dominican national ordered to report to federal custody by 5 p.m. Tuesday. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday was unable to locate a man wanted for an alleged homicide in the Dominican Republic despite a Rhode Island federal judge's order to re-detain him, according to a new court filing.
ICYMI
Route 10 ramp reopens after partial collapse onto tracks | Christopher Shea
COMMENTARY: Attention must be paid to supply chain shifts. Rhode Island should know. | Dylan Woodruff
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