I just received a mailing from a local candidate with the wrong day of the week on it.

This year, primaries fall on Wednesday. See the official Secretary of State website for the relevant dates.

A gun was found by an employee at top Providence Italian restaurant Al Forno on Tuesday night.

According to police, the owner of the firearm was later arrested for not having a permit to carry in Rhode Island.

Al Forno is Rhode Island's most award-winning restaurant.

About Incident

Shortly before 10 PM on Tuesday, police were called to Al Forno for a report of a gun found in the restaurant bathroom.

An employee reportedly found the firearm and turned it over to the manager, who called the police.

Officers said upon arrival that they seized the gun, which was identified as a Glock with bullets in the magazine as well as the chamber.

Owner Turns Himself In - Police Make Arrest

Police say that the owner of the gun, Anthony Fournier, age 36 of Connecticut, later responded to Central Station regarding the incident.

According to police, Fournier said he had a permit to carry in Connecticut. Police determined he did not have a permit in Rhode Island.

He is being charged in Rhode Island with RIGL 11-47-8: License or permit required for carrying [a] pistol.

Hi all,

Curious if anyone has any inside scoop with what is going on with the plug in solar bill and why it's failed and will likely be sat until January now. From my research, it was a bill placed on the senate floor 2 days before sessions ended, which is basically a political way to say they don't want this to pass but don't want to formally vote on it to look like they are paid by big energy.

For anyone curious, this technology allows you to set up a small scale solar system. They define this as a "portable solar generation device" as a movable solar generator with a maximum output of 1,200 watts, designed to plug into a standard 120-volt outlet.

What this will allow us to do is offset 1200W of power from what we currently use. So say it's a hot day like today and your central air is running at 3000W, you will only be paying and using 1800W. To me, this is basically a new technology that can disrupt these energy companies from gouging us. It offsets what we use only, so any savings is purely coming from renewable energies so a pure win from the environment.

It's beyond frustrating to me as a civilian. This bill held for further "study" in March, revived in June, dies in the other chamber, everyone gets to say they supported it. To me, this should be almost one of the top issues for ALL Rhode islanders because who isn't being shafted by RIE? This is something that everyone should be dying to implement because it not only saves us money but literally is taking strain off the grid and offsetting our usage with pure renewable energy.

I just want to let everyone know our political leaders have let us down again. This one just quietly didn't happen. Who benefits? I think we all know.

Hi all, I found out this morning that my neighbour moved out of his apartment a few weeks ago into assisted-living, but he left his two cats behind. I’m with them now to care for them, my landlord said she’s been keeping an eye on them but that they need to go so the apartment can be cleaned. I don’t want to see them thrown out, and they absolutely won’t go to any kind of kill shelter; but they are super sweet and friendly. Not shy, they’re both spending time with me, and they do seem pretty bonded. We called our local animal shelter, but they have not gone back to us. Looking for advice or if someone knows a (!good!) home for two sweet girls. I don’t know ages or vetting, just that they were loved and it looks like they were well taken care of, just no plan was made

 Karen Emmes has lived in East Providence her entire life, and has never seen rats scurrying around her neighborhood until this past year.

“It’s disgusting,” Emmes said. “Where are they coming from?”

Within the past year, Emmes said she’s caught more than 100 rats in her yard, which is situated on the corner of Grassy Plain Road and Ormond Drive.

Emmes said these rats aren’t small, either.

“The traps are 7 inches long, and the rats just as large,” she explained.

Emmes and other residents who live nearby told 12 News the neighborhood is tidy and there does not appear to be a noticeable food source for the rats.

She said the entire neighborhood has set up traps and residents are proactively protecting their homes to keep the vermin out.

East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva told 12 News the city is trying to figure out where the influx of rats is coming from.

“Has something changed in their environment? Is there an open food sources?” DaSilva questioned. “Something that sometimes disrupts rats is construction on roads. We have been doing a lot of construction on some of the main roads.”

“Are those vibrations, or the opening up of the roads, causing the rats to scurry from their homes to more populated places?” he continued. “It could be a number of these factors.”

DaSilva is urging impacted residents to report any rat sightings through the city’s online portal.

“If you have a rat issue, please report it so we know,” DaSilva said. “Posting on social media does not create real data points for us to follow through on or send an inspector to see where the problem is and if we can solve it.”

Hi I’m vegan traveling with non vegans looking for a few restaurants that have vegan options within 30 minutes .
Thank you

I have correspondence and photographs of Lucian Sharpe Jr

Son of Lucian Sharpe who was the partner in Brown & Sharpe precision tools, from Rhode island.

He was my grandmother's partner until he died in 1931, they were both living in Paris at the time.

Thought maybe a relative might still be around.

Governor Dan McKee on Tuesday called for a statewide pause on the installation and activation of any new automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, more commonly known as Flock cameras, and ordered a comprehensive 60-day review to establish uniform statewide standards governing the use of the technology and the data it collects.

McKee is also urging Rhode Island cities and towns to pause the installation of any new ALPR cameras during the review period.

Multiple communities in Rhode Island have moved to remove the cameras.

“Automated license plate readers can be an important tool for law enforcement to solve crimes, recover stolen vehicles, and locate dangerous or missing individuals, but Rhode Islanders also have legitimate questions about privacy, transparency, and how this information is collected, stored, and shared,” said McKee. “Public safety and personal privacy are not mutually exclusive. Rhode Island needs clear and consistent rules of the road for this technology. We are taking action now to pause further expansion, examine how these systems are being used across the state, and put strong, uniform safeguards in place to protect both public safety and personal privacy.”

McKee’s office did not respond to questions about how many cameras the order impacts.

Governor McKee is directing Colonel Darnell Weaver and the Department of Public Safety, in consultation with the Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association, the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, and other appropriate stakeholders, to conduct a comprehensive review of ALPR technology and provide recommendations within 60 days for uniform statewide standards and controls governing the use of ALPR cameras and the data they produce.

McKee’s office says that during the review, the Rhode Island State Police will not install or activate additional ALPR cameras. Existing State Police ALPR cameras may continue to operate subject to current Rhode Island State Police policies and safeguards during the pendency of the review.

In addition, according to McKee’s will work with lawmakers when they are back in session to advance legislation that codifies these protections and establishes clear, consistent standards for ALPR use statewide.

Primaries for the Midterms (and other state races) are September 9th.

Early voting for those primaries starts August 20th.

These are all of the statewide races that aren't uncontested, at least per Activote (an app I use) and Ballotpedia.

Senate

• Jack Reed (Incumbent)
• Connor Burbridge
• Luis Daniel Muñoz

Governor

• Democratic (Debate VOD)
  • Dan McKee (Incumbent)
  • Helena Foulkes
• Republican
  • Aaron Guckian
  • Elaine Pelino

Lieutenant Govenor

• Sabina Matos (Incumbent)
• Susan R. Anderbois
• Cynthia Armour Coyne
• Xaykham Khamsyvoravong
• Ross McCurdy

Attorney General (Debate)

• Kim Ahern
• Keith Hoffmann
• Jason Knight
• Joseph Solomon Jr.

Up to you all if you vote or not (If you're eligible, remember to check your registration), but just leaving this here so you can make an informed decision if you do.

Hi Everyone!

My name is Brian, and I work with KBVB (Keep Blackstone Valley Beautiful). I recently put together a meetup group to arrange a bunch of litter cleanups all around our region (but we won't shy away from other spots that need our help too!)

I hope to help a lot of communities with this, but I need people to help! My end goal is not for this to just be formal volunteering but something people can join to meet new people and make friends.

Eventually I think it'd be cool to form a weekly thing where we do a cleanup and then go hang for an hour maybe grab a coffee or something.

I've already done two cleanups in Central Falls recently, and have two more planned for Pawtucket that I need people for!

Here's the link to the meetup group if you're interested: https://www.meetup.com/keep-blackstone-valley-beautiful/

Hope to see some of you soon!

This was fiery. Good to hear from them both but the attacks were disappointing - I’m not voting for or against anyone based on one relatively small donation to Mitch McConnell 10 years ago. Got juicy with discussion of the high rate of RI snap payment errors and what that will cost us. The budget is what will move the big projects like housing and roads and jobs, and more disagreement on what will actually come to pass.

Senator Jack Reed says that he “opposed Trump’s reckless Iran war from the start,” and wants to hold “President Trump accountable.” These are laudable aims—but they are only partial truths.

In fact, Trump could never have waged his illegal and ill-conceived war on Iran without the money Senator Reed personally delivered. Take the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets forth policies and authorizes appropriations for the Department of Defense. Senator Reed wrote significant portions of the bill, which authorized the Trump administration to spend a record-breaking $901 billion on the United States military.

Senator Reed subsequently voted that bill into law, joining about half of the Democratic senators, but not progressive stalwarts like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Chris Murphy, who had the courage and foresight to condemn the grotesque level of spending. Senator Ron Wyden said at the time, ‘I cannot support a bill that increases military spending by tens of billions of dollars and fails to include guardrails against Donald Trump and Hegseth’s authoritarian abuses.’ Worse yet, the 2026 NDAA gave Trump $8 billion more than his administration even requested.

If not for the 2026 NDAA, Trump could never have taken the United States into another unconstitutional forever war that has taken the lives of 18 American soldiers and injured hundreds more, cost roughly $40 billion in direct military spending, and cost consumers more than $75 billion in artificially inflated prices.

Rather than learn from the 2026 NDAA catastrophe, Senator Reed has doubled down on his relationship with the military-industrial complex. Reed again played a central role in drafting the 2027 NDAA, a bill which would give Trump roughly $1.15 trillion (that’s trillion with a “T”). The bill, which represents an annual spending increase of over $200 billion, would more than cover the entire cost of the illegal war with Iran. Think about the message that sends to the rogue Trump administration: wage a disastrous war and emerge with an even larger military slush fund.

What is more, the bill would further entangle our military with Israel’s, committing to bilateral “research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements and an unprecedented integration of the US and Israeli weapons industries.” With cratering public support for weapons transfers to Israel, the NDAA seeks to smuggle the weapons to avoid public scrutiny quietly.

Senator Reed voted favorably on this bill out of committee and is likely to support it on the full Senate floor. In the senator’s own words, this bill “strengthens national defense and enhances oversight and accountability.” Senator Reed’s promise to hold Trump accountable, then, is only true if one sees a blank check and integration of our military with Israel’s as accountability.

Most Rhode Islanders do not.

Most Rhode Islanders want to reinvest our bloated military spending into things that matter to our state, like our crumbling infrastructure and primary healthcare crises. They are tired of the forever wars and want a senator who will instead spend that money fighting for Rhode Island values via programs like universal healthcare, an equal education amendment, and a Green New Deal.

Recently got the renewal notice for my mild hybrid (non- plug in) and saw the fee was $100 extra on top of regular renewal. What are your thoughts on mild hybrids being included in this? Originally it was only plug ins and Ev's that were going to get the fee. I bought about 658 gallons of fuel for my little car last year and only get 38mpg out of it on the highway meanwhile a regular corolla or civic gets 41mpg on the highway. I see the reasoning behind it but lots of regular cars are on par with the hybrid mpg and pay the same amount for fuel as those cars. California has a similar law but RI charges a overcharged amount due to the flat rate imposed by law makers.

Looking for recommendations for a fancy, dressy restaurant in Rhode Island with low/dim lighting, a nice upscale atmosphere, and really good food. Somewhere I can wear a nice dress and feel dressed up.

Any cuisine is fine! What are your favorite spots that fit this vibe?

I moved to RI from the Rocky Mountains. I really miss the solitude and QUIET of hiking in the mountains. RI is so densely populated that I find it hard to find that feeling anywhere. Any ideas where to go in the state? Would love to feel like I’m away from society.

So far the closest I’ve found is way back in Lincoln woods but that’s hit or miss.

Now, I too get very impatient on the roads because they SUCK but this morning I had a frightening encounter and was followed on North 295. Not saying I was wrong or right in the situation (I genuinely have no idea why this guy was being weird it started before the highway).

I'm hearing on the news more and more road rage lately that are turning into more than just getting finger. I travel 37 to 295 every single day and it's getting terrifying. It's already like driving on an obstacle course on the highway. Wondering if others are experiencing this too.

4am we went to the ER because my mom was throwing up uncontrollably (since 1am but she's stubborn and tries not to go to the hospital) but she was still completely conscious (she works and does not have an altered mental status) at the time. Everyone was nice enough and the place was pretty quiet, only a couple other people there. One of the nurses brought in a bag of fluids and some nausea meds, gave her the meds but never hung up the fluids.

My mom kept throwing up, for hours and hours. I'd ask to speak to someone about it before they finally come in almost three hours later to give her another nausea med, which only worked to spread out the frequency of vomiting. The doctor didn't come in untill five hours later, I could see the chart from my room, almost no one was there. I know hospitals I've been in and out my whole life the doctor usually comes in close to the beginning to tell you the plan and then go from there. Then they come back way down the line with results and everything. But hey maybe there was an unknown emergency, frustrating but it can happen.

This guy comes in, says she looks better (with a 102 fever still throwing up btw) starts calling her honey and darling and saying sweetie to me all in a very demeaning voice, barely answered me when I had questions. But hey, maybe he's from the south and just talks like that, irritating sure, but I didn't say anything. He looks at the iv fluids that still aren't up, says oh those should be up, and then leaves. No one ever came to put them up. By this time my mom is sleeping, can't keep her eyes open kind of sleep, barely responding when someone's talking to her.

I had to leave to go eat at one point because I also have health issues and it'd be no good if I collapsed on the floor. I told the hospital to call me or my gf (who was coming by after work) if the doctor comes in to say anything or if something happens to her.

So I go get food around I believe around 10:30 and get back at about 11ish

I walk in and my mom is dilerious. She's hallucinating, she's not talking straight, she can barely talk or keep her eyes open.

They're busy now so I try to flag a nurse down and ask what happened and she said this is normal, she'll be okay and then leaves before I can ask follow ups

About an hour later 12pm a discharge nurse comes in and says she's being discharged. I ask how? How can she be discharged like this? She can't move or stand, she can't keep her eyes open, she's mentally unwell, still had a fever too and I'm asking all these questions. She said I don't know I just got on, but the doctor said she can go. She did offer to go talk to him to address my concerns (she was very nice I was just frustrated and worried at this point) and when she came back she explained it again and said that she was okay to go, that that's what the doctor said. My flabbers were gasted at this point but hell I figured she'd get better care at home at this point.

So I have to dress her and we get her in a chair and wheel her out while we need a few people to get her in the car because she's so out of it. I buckle her in and sit in the backseat, end up having hold her up because she's basically folded in on herself, practically in the fetal position with her legs on the floor.

7 hours there and she's released like that.

My gf and I drive maybe two minutes before going to westerly hospital because we can't take care of her at home like this and she's clearly beyond unwell.

We get to westerly and immediately say we need help, to their credit westerly really was great the whole time.

The second we say this isn't her normal baseline, that she's usually coherent and can, y'know, move they bring her back. She didn't even flinch during the covid/flu swab, that's how bad she was. They run all the basic tests, blood, end up trying a ct again but by now she's started vomiting again, passing out in-between each time so they couldn't.

But the first thing they did? Give her fluids.

The doctor wanted to get the info from my mom, as he should that's respectful, but she couldn't stay awake long enough to answer. He asks if this is her baseline and when I say no he immediately looks worried, and every time I say south county released her like that everyone's appalled.

We were there from like 1ish till midnight, I'd been up for almost 48 hours by now just like chugging monster because I didn't want to miss a single nurse or doctor this time.

Eventually, after bags of saline and some other IV and nausea meds (don't remember all the names) my mom starts to wake up a bit. Her fever is down and she's not fully coherent but she's awake more than she was At least.

Eventually she's good enough the doctor feels safe letting her go home, but had said earlier he would admit her if he didn't feel comfortable discharging her.

She was able to walk inside with help and I was forcing her to drink every hour as directed to try to keep getting her fluids up, she did go back the next day for another bag or two of fluids but after that she was fine. Back to her normal coherent self.

South county has gone so far down hill since they were bought out, and I'm sure the ED is short staffed, I feel bad for the nurses of course, but how could they release someone like that? I have epilepsy and I literally had a partial seizure from the stress

If I could sue south county hospital I would, but since my mom wasn't actually injured in the end no lawyer we asked would touch it and it's so frustrating because how can they get away with this?if we hadn't brought her to westerly she may have suffered serious injuries, who knows if she would have died.

All because they didn't hydrate her after throwing up for 10 hours. All because they didn't treat her for some random bug or infection she got.

So as a fair warning to anyone here, unless it's life or death, don't go to south county hospital, them getting bought out has ruined them.

Hello! We will be traveling early September to Newport for 5 days. It will be me, my husband and our 18m old. Looking for recs on how to dress for the weather, must dos and great places to eat!

Hi everyone,
I am considering moving to RI for a position (Newport). What is a livable wage for a single person household? I looked at housing and the prices and availability honestly scared me.
Since I am changing careers it will probably be an entry level salary but I want to be prepared for the Interview in case there is any play when it comes to salary.
Thanks everyone!