New Rhode Island House budget is out: A millionaires tax to be phased in over 3 years A new office of inspector general and an audit of RIDOT Child tax credit Extra $5M for RIPTA No gas tax cut, line item veto or delay in renewable energy target www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

Walking down Thayer in an old City Sports t-shirt is the closest I’ll ever get to experiencing time travel

good read from @antoniafarzan.bsky.social www.providencejournal.com/story/news/n...

“The Experience of Place,” Tony Hiss

On one hand I’m sad that sumo orange season is over, on another hand this will save me from going bankrupt

Starting my day by reading @antoniafarzan.bsky.social's reporting on the ever-more-grifty business ventures of Alex and Ani's founder.

I'm a big fan of rote memorization of poems in schools We shouldn't let that tradition die out among young people It's a wonderful way to learn a language, including your native tongue

Front license plates: good or bad? High-end car makers like Tesla are no longer leaving a spot for a plate on the front bumper. RI among states that may let drivers keep the front plate inside the car, tho some say that makes no sense www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

Political Scene: From Fireball to fur, we found RI's lobbyists earned some $17M in 2025 @antoniafarzan.bsky.social dove deep into the lobbying report abyss to bring this to the surface www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

"In 2025, [lobbyists] were paid nearly $17 million for those efforts, according to data provided by the secretary of state’s office and analyzed by The Providence Journal." An eye-opening look at how the legislative sausage gets made, from @antoniafarzan.bsky.social.

In other news: Remember Rhode Island's ban on plastic straws? 21 senators who voted to pass it five year ago just voted to gut it www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

I had a great time taking @ecorinews.bsky.social through the Hanton City woods. Frank wrote about it and I submitted a companion OpEd about the under appreciated value of folk history.

Rhode Island’s U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday formally apologized to a federal judge for failing to disclose the criminal history — including a murder charge — of a Dominican national released from detention earlier in the week. rhodeislandcurrent.com/2026/05/01/a...

Thanks to @antoniafarzan.bsky.social for covering the restrictive covenant bill that was voted out of Senate Commerce Committee yesterday.

@antoniafarzan.bsky.social has a banger everyone should read. It's an interesting niche for the Lt. Governor and, if successful, a win she could point to in an election year, possibly making her more competitive than one would think at first glance.

Severing Gentiles Rhode Island, State Census, 1935

"The students allege that Brown’s security failed to heed warnings from custodian Derek Lisi about Neves Valente 'casing' the building in the days and weeks leading up to the shooting that left students Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov dead and nine others injured." Via ProJo's Katie Mulvaney.

Did you know this is the longest bridge in the world

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is proposing a 4.2% increase to the city's budget for the next fiscal year, but is promising not to increase property taxes www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

"[K]ids seem to like the mini fish burgers."

Requested the new Ben Lerner book as soon as I learned that it is partially set at the Apple Store in the Providence Place Mall

Political Scene: Are the 90s back? An election-year RI Supreme Court opening has turned attention back to the old State House to courthouse pipeline. "It’s politics, baby. Trader’s choice" www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

New England paintings by Douglas H. Caves, Sr.

I have won TF Green airport bingo (visiting both Dunkin Donuts and spotting Jack Reed)

Just want her back

I interviewed for a customer service position at their factory early in my career. Interview with the floor manager went well! Then KJP himself popped in to grill me on having worked for the RI Coalition for Reproductive Freedom - why I was doing it, who was paying me, etc. I didn't get the job.

Who is the man buying up all your favorite restaurants in Rhode Island? I spent the past year trying to figure out why. My latest via @RIMonthly 👇 www.rimonthly.com/nick-schorsc...

This is an interesting article. I own a couple of KJP items. I've never seen their social media. However, after watching, I'm pretty sure I can see why it was co-opted by white nationalists. The ads are a year old, why didn't they changed their ads once they saw the Nazis sharing it?

A DNA test ruled him out. He was convicted of murder in Providence anyway. Great first story in a series by the @bostonglobe.com on "Twisted Science" and the mistakes the justice system makes in using forensic science www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/23/o...

"How did a seemingly innocuous video promoting a store that sells socks embroidered with puffins and lobsters become a far-right meme?" A wild story from @antoniafarzan.bsky.social.

ICYMI: Yesterday, I wrote in Público about my own experiences navigating Portugal’s self-determination law to update my legal name and gender, and why the Parliament's current move to repeal it is so significant. www.publico.pt/2026/03/17/p...

Nooooooooo

I'm generally pro-return to office, but I acknowledge that one of the stronger arguments against this view is the fact that the typical American office space is one of the most soul-destroying spaces in the developed world.

Have a feeling that the new Deer Tick album is going to become my whole personality

A gigantic snow teddy bear was stopping traffic in Woonsocket. A massive snow sculpture carved by David Gladu outside his Poplar Street home has become a local attraction, with drivers, city workers, and school buses stopping so families can snap photos. https://bit.ly/3PgbKRc

a rhode island drag queen named divine providence

Nervously bouncing over potholes while three buckets of maple sap slosh around in the back….that spring in New England feeling

Gov. McKee fired his director of administration today with the state unable to fix monthslong payroll problems that may still be getting worse www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

Quahog Museum: Ephemera: Advertising card: Club Embassy, Woonsocket, undated. Contributed by F. Mikkelsen.

@antoniafarzan.bsky.social graciously interviewed me for this piece and I'm grateful. We don't value these types of labor jobs and we don't notice until a storm like the one we had, how hard it is. Our society needs to be more grateful for those amongst us who step up during an emergency

The great @antoniafarzan.bsky.social tells the story of Pixie, the East Providence kitty who spent two days during the blizzard stuck in a tree. Thankfully, she survived. 😭😭😭

This is a lede, folks. 🐈🌳🌨️ Full story: www.providencejournal.com/story/news/g... Via @antoniafarzan.bsky.social

This is extremely Providence (complimentary) www.providencejournal.com/story/news/g...

Another winner from @antoniafarzan.bsky.social: "rather than complaining about the slow pace of snow removal, they've been making the best of the situation" www.providencejournal.com/story/news/g...

This is an excellent piece from the Journal's Alex Kuffner explaining how climate change contributed to this week's mega-blizzard. Kuffner notes that Rhode Island is the "the fastest-warming state in the country," which I didn't know. 😳

Genuinely glad that these young people are having a nice time www.providencejournal.com/story/news/g...

Literally a force of nature, everybody is effected and has an opinion on what is and isn’t working, a lot of the problems are determined by decisions made well ahead of the event (e.g., poor infrastructure), and much of the political impact will come down to a post-facto narrative.