Come for @antoniafarzan.bsky.social peeling the layers back on how big superstores have made it hard for new grocers to open up shop in RI. Stay for the Lt. Governor pausing mid-interview to roast me for spending all my free time picking through municipal land evidence records.

a lot of food price reporting irks me because you can always tell who does the grocery shopping for their household every week and who doesn't

Come for @antoniafarzan.bsky.social peeling the layers back on how big superstores have made it hard for new grocers to open up shop in RI. Stay for the Lt. Governor pausing mid-interview to roast me for spending all my free time picking through municipal land evidence records.

People will try to tell you that 32 years old is still young, but the enjoyment I just got from shoveling the drive for an hour just to see it all filled back in behind me tells me that middle age started for me today.

Yesterday, I presented Lt. Governor Sabina Matos's Fair Price Grocery Agenda at the 2026 Rhode Island Food Systems Summit. The engagement we got from some of the state's food policy leaders was incredible! Years of hard work in our office are starting to come together - watch this space.

Critics say antitrust enforcement has weakened under President Trump, resulting in higher costs for millions of Americans consumers. “People are just sick of large corporations using and abusing their market power to make life worse for them,” says former FTC chair @linamkhan.bsky.social. #Velshi

The Fair Price Grocery Agenda today getting love in the comments of a random r/rhodeisland post and on a 180k subscriber substack.

Every day is a good day to shop small and local...including today!

Pretty cool day at work today supporting the Centennial Tower Tenant Union. Video of @sabinamatos.bsky.social via @steveahlquist.bsky.social.

"We would have small businesses tell us that if they walked into a Walmart or a Costco the retail price at those stores is lower than the wholesale price that a small business is getting." @linamkhan.bsky.social on the need to enforce the Robinson-Patman Act to stop price discrimination👇

This is unfortunately a win for Stop and Shop. Whole Foods expanding here means that the nearest non-specialty grocery stores to the neighborhood remain the S&S locations in PVD and EP. The city should push aggressively to get a new grocery store into the former WF space on Pitman.

One year after a grocery mainstay in Providence closed its doors, the owner of the property has signed a 20-year lease with Whole Foods.

Updated: Over 900 R.I. retailers rely on SNAP, which includes nearly 200 locally-owned grocery stores. SNAP money can account for “as much as 60% of food sales in low-income areas,” @sabinamatos.bsky.social said. rhodeislandcurrent.com/2025/11/06/r...

One reason Trump isn't funding SNAP is that this is how he cooks the books on inflation. 1) Reduce consumer demand by limiting SNAP payments 2) Grocers cut prices to try to increase demand 3) Families starve 4) Declare victory over inflation in December when the November CPI rolls out at -2%

The USDA sent an email to grocery stores telling them they are prohibited from offering special discounts to customers affected by the SNAP funding lapse. I'm aware of at least 2 stores that had offered struggling customers a discount, then withdrew it after receiving this email

NEW: Federal food aid has lapsed for the first time in the program’s history. And it’s not just SNAP, other federal programs that help low-income families put food on the table are also running out of funds as the government shutdown drags on. With Grace Yarrow for @politico.com.

#RhodeIsland's Lt. Gov @sabinamatos.bsky.social & the Rhode Island Community Food Bank will be hosting a virtual information session on Thursday October 30th at 7pm. The event will be in both English and in Spanish and will be broadcast here: www.facebook.com/share/1CXsu3...

Mega retailers use their market power to extract illegal pricing, access, and promotions from suppliers, allowing them to undercut small and medium competitors on retail prices. Join us to see how local businesses can stand up to big corporate power. localreturn.org/event/virtua...

damn that's crazy. I wonder if any local politicians have a well-researched plan to address this

*desperately trying to capitalize on the town seconds we're going to be talking about antitrust* Okay so imagine that Nexstar was Stop and Shop, Sinclair was Walmart, and Jimmy Kimmel was being able to buy fresh groceries in Woonsocket

Becoming increasingly clear we’re gonna have to build a parallel infrastructure for all the media we really love. The reason all of this is happening under the color of law is hyperconsolidation, dissent being traded straight up for merger approval, or fear of harassment.

Today's URI poll asked respondents what media source they would get politics and elections news from. WPRI takes it locally and ties with Fox News for highest overall at 13%. WPRO and ProJo are both decimals, Globe at 1%.

Has anyone considered that it would be much, much funnier if this were all the leadup to a wrestling promo?

Commentary by @sabinamatos.bsky.social -- www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/12/m...

This is Auchincloss erasure

Losing my gd mind about this bit from the Capri Sun Wikipedia about Philip Morris pivoting to juice boxes because they got banned from selling cigarettes to children and needed something to get them through to vapes.

This is a blow to our neighborhood. Councilwoman Anthony has been deeply engaged with the Wayland Neighborhood Association since we rebooted it, and I relied on her advice to draft legislation at the state to take on big grocery. I really admire her and I hope she recovers swiftly.

This is why we supported S991/H5552 which would've allowed for local enforcement of Robinson-Patman Act violations and H5902/S970 to prohibit the use of restrictive covenants related to grocery stores, introduced with backing of @sabinamatos.bsky.social.

NEW: USDA employees who run the nation's largest nutrition programs are working in roach-infested conditions and air quality so bad that they’ve been forced to leave the office. The problems have also prompted an OSHA complaint. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

• Cutting grants and technical support to rural farms • Bizarre tariffs on key agricultural suppliers like Brazil • Slashing SNAP benefits for years to come They want you to go hungry.

"...At the same time, lawmakers in Rhode Island have proposed a package of antitrust laws specifically targeting the grocery industry, including a local version of the Robinson-Patman Act."

Something frequently on my mind these days is the long-term effects of the RIGOP embracing ChatGPT to do their communications. Adopting the ChatGPT voice is a significant step towards both standardizing and normalizing their messaging, which addresses some of their biggest weaknesses.

Shoppers have fewer options for groceries after waves of supermarket mergers, and, writes Ron Knox, they get nickled and dimed at the stores that remain. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

[Lt. Governor Sabina] Matos says states are fundamentally important in the fight against corporate power, regardless of what the feds are or aren’t doing. “Consolidation of corporate power starts on your block,” Matos told me in an e-mail. “National dominance is built at the local level."

...proof positive that that the median Democrats voter is laser-focused on strong government intervention to create a competitive grocery market.

Taking this weekend to celebrate scoring a HUGE budget win. (I found one of them $80 Nitro Bar sweatshirts at Savers.)

I phonebanked for Zohran tonight. My takeaways: • Easy to forget if you do a lot of RI political action that RIers are uniquely mean to canvassers. • God, I love phonebanking. • Vibes-based anaylsis: Mamdani in like the 5th round after "don't rank Cuomo" overperforms current polling.

There's only a few weeks left in the legislative session and only four bills introduced that address the rising cost of groceries! If we want RI to take action on affordable groceries, we need to pass the Fair Price Grocery Agenda. Want to know more? Call or text me any time at (401) 479-4628!

Something that folded my brain, as a lifelong RIer, about what we call rural here: My first cohort conversation was with someone from U of Illinois. We both felt out of place in class b/c we had urban territories; he works in the City of Cairo. Cairo, IL has the population density of Burrillville.

Real estate is the main way to build wealth in US, & revitalization is done best when it’s led by people who know their neighborhoods. But not everyone has the chance to develop the knowledge necessary. That's why we're thrilled to bring the Jumpstart program to RI!

This is a map of all the graduates of the Rural Grocery Initiative's Specialist programs. And that little dot way over in Providence - that's me! Why did I take a class on the challenges facing rural groceries in the Midwest when I'm working to fight urban food deserts?

I can't believe I get to live where I get home by biking along a silent harbor. I can't believe I get to sleep with the windows open and wake to the sound of people on Blackstone Blvd. I can't believe winter is ever so charismatic it could convince you Rhode Island springtime isn't worth the wait.

Americans are struggling to pay for groceries — and they’re increasingly turning to buy now, pay later options to feed their families. From 2020 to 2024, food prices rose 24%, per USDA. www.cnbc.com/2025/04/26/a...

"We have to make sure that everybody has access to due process," Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos said, calling for empathy toward those affected by federal immigration enforcement. "This could happen to us — how are they going to know who’s documented and who’s undocumented?"

Commissioner Slaughter and I wrote for the @financialtimes.com about the downstream effects of the president’s attempt to fire us. www.ft.com/content/7607...

Last night at a Q&A in PVD, poet Hanif Abdurraqib said something about displacement that sat heavy with me: When a city embraces a meaninglessly broad identity like "tech" or "food city," it starts catering to the imagined residents of that city over the people who already live there.

👇 This behavior crushes small businesses and has been illegal for nearly 100 years, but the federal government refuses to enforce the Robinson-Patman Act. That's why Lt. Governor Sabina Matos wants to empower states to step up - starting with Rhode Island through the PRICETAGS Act.

The red areas on the map highlight the future site of a new grocery store and the planned renovation of Walnut Hill Bowl into a family amusement center at Walnut Hill Plaza in Woonsocket. l.valleybreeze.com/e4BUa0

Rhode Island Lt. Gov. @sabinamatos.bsky.social is taking on Big Grocery with bold antitrust reforms—ending price gouging, banning restrictive covenants, and making food affordable again. She’s using policy power to fight food deserts and put people first!

When I took on the utility companies in Rhode Island by introducing a cap on their profits, I knew it was the right thing for Rhode Islanders—and now, it’s catching on nationwide. www.politico.com/news/2025/04... #PeopleOverProfits #RhodeIslandLeads #KeepFighting