Rhode Island
Advocacy group says RI schools’ transgender policy puts federal funding at risk
Trump signs executive order banning trans women from sports teams
President Trump signed an executive order barring transgender women and girls from playing on school sports teams.
PROVIDENCE – An advocacy group is demanding the Rhode Island Department of Education rescind its long-standing policy on the protection of transgender students from discrimination in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order stating there are only two sexes.
The letter from the R.I. Center for Freedom & Prosperity asserts that “the RI Department of Education [RIDE] has placed itself and every member school district in this State at risk of civil rights violations, which are likely [to] lead to investigations by the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, loss of federal funding, and/or discrimination lawsuits from aggrieved individuals.”
Bottom line: RIDE’s lawyers reject the arguments that lawyer Gregory Piccirilli made in his letter to state Education Commissioner Angélica Infante Green on behalf of the advocacy group, which views the state’s stance on transgender rights as a large issue.
What are the complaints against the policy?
“This is an issue of grave concern for … thousands of parents across our state,” the center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse, said Thursday. The fact the most, if not all have “adopted RIDE’s recommended guidelines … puts RIDE and every one of those school districts at serious legal and financial risk.”
The group is chaired by Stephen Skoly. the Cranston dentist who defied Rhode Island’s COVID vaccine mandate during the pandemic and ultimately sued for the right to see patients again. Former state GOP Chair Giovanni Ciccione is also on the board.
What is RIDE’s policy on transgender rights?
Stepping back, RIDE’s long-standing policy was designed to protect students “from discrimination and harassment based on their gender identity and expression. The policy also ensures that students have access to safe and supportive learning environments.”
Titled “Protection for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students,” it says, in part:
“Programs and activities operated by Rhode Island public educational agencies shall be free from discrimination based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. By July 1, 2018, each local education agency shall adopt a policy addressing the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming students to a safe, supportive and non-discriminatory school environment.”
Piccirilli, in his letter, contends there is no basis in state law for the regulation.
Beyond that, he cited the executive order Trump signed on his first day in office under the heading: “DefendingWomen from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
Summarizing, Piccirill said Trump ordered all agencies within the executive branch to enforce all laws that “promote [the] reality” that there are “two sexes, male and female,” and that “[t]hese sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
Two weeks later, he said, the U.S. Department of Education sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to K-12 schools and institutions of higher education advising them that the “Office for Civil Rights” intends to enforce a Trump administration interpretation of Title IX that bans “recipients of federal funds to issue policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “gender identity.”
The response from R.I. Department of Education spokesman Victor Morente: The regulations the center is challenging “have been adopted by the R.I. Council on Elementary and Secondary Education as well as by every school district in Rhode Island.” They are “supported by both state and federal law and will be enforced until the Rhode Island General Assembly and/or the U.S. Congress changes the applicable law.”He said every R.I. school district has a policy and most, if not all, are posted.
The state’s policy has gone through several iterations, but it began with this statement of principle: “All students need a safe and supportive school environment to progress academically and developmentally. … The purpose of this guidance is to foster an educational environment that is safe and free from discrimination for allstudents, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”
Rhode Island
Boys And Girls Battle In Nearly 1,000 Wrestling Bounts At 2026 New England Championships
PROVIDENCE, RI — Hundreds of boys and girls from the six New England states competed at the 2026 CNESSPA New England Championships in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday and Sunday.
Boys from 176 high schools and girls from 125 schools participated in more than 960 bouts at the Providence Career & Technical Academy. The girls had 12 weight brackets while the boys had 14.
For the boys, Ponaganset High School in Glocester, RI, came in first with 128.5 points, Xavier High School in Middletown, CT, an all-boys Catholic school, came in second with 119 points, and Central Catholic in Lawrence, MA, came in third with 105.5 points. For the girls, Massabesic High School in Waterboro, ME, came in first, with 52 points, Salem High School in Salem, NH, came in second, and Woburn High School in Woburn, MA, came in third.
Find out what’s happening in Providencefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Boy Results
106-pound bracket: 1Samuel Floody (Scituate RI), 2Sam Winship (CENCTH), 3Josh Perez (XAV), 4Chace Armstrong (Ponaganset), 5Remington Grunhuvd (MSBC), and 6Matt Boucher (Timberlane).
113: 1John Woodall (Franklin), 2Antoine Jackman (GRLOW), 3Cole Desiano (RDGF), 4Caden Hughes (PNGT), 5Reid Grandmason (Exeter), and 6Kylan Berry (BNYE).
Find out what’s happening in Providencefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
120: 1Zack Dixon (Xavier), 2Lucas Copper (CENCTH), 3Cole Lemovitz (Ponaganset), 4Dominic Simpson (Belfast), 5Logan Barry (Scituate RI), and 6William Accorsi (SOMS).
126: 1Nick Desisto (Tewksbury), 2Mael Pierre-Paul (BUNL), 3Brayden Boccia (MLFD), 4Cahota LaFond (COLC), 5Josiah Martins Semedo (N-B), and 6Jisup Shin (Weston).
132: 1Evan Boulard (MSBC), 2Robert Newton (Scituate RI), 3Derek Marcolini (MLFD), 4Dylan Meyers (RDGF), 5Aplollo Bellini (Ponaganset), and 6Zaphyr Musshorn (Xavier).
138: 1Lukas Boxley (LDYD), 2Kai Ly (MINN), 3Jason Ballou (ANDV), 4Jack Sauer (Franklin), 5Coleson Tully (Carver), and 6Asa Reis (Mt. Anthony Union).
144: 1John Carrozza (RDGF), 2James Lally (SJP), 3James Rocco (BARR), 4Duncan Harrington (Mt. Anthony Union), 5Jordin Agosto (AGWM), and 6Evan Madigan (EDL).
150: 1Isaiah McDaniel (MIDD), 2Alex Lamarre (BC), 3Henry McElligott (HOLL), 4Dan Greaney (LEOM), 5Leo Moore (RDGF), and 6Nicholas Genin (NWTS).
157: 1James Tildsley (SHAW), 2Carnell Davis (Ponaganset), 3Antonio Arguello (NTWN), 4Daniel Woods (WELL), 5Anthony Lombardi (MTHP), and 6Ben Byrne (Nashua South).
165: 1Colby Vital (Ponaganset), 2Matt Pappas (BHEN), 3Evan Schibi (GLBT), 4Harry Marino (COND), 5Jacob Critchfield (Hollis Brookline), and 6Brady Ouellette (Noble)
175: 1Cyrus Jones (SHRN), 2Harrison Muller (Danbury), 3Vincent Rivera (Xavier), 4Rhys Dewar (CENCTH), 5Cooper Theriault-Dinielli (PLNV), and 6Adryan Urena (LSA).
190: 1Sam Josey (SJP), 2Chase Catalano (XAV), 3Dylan O’Brian (FWRD), 4Logan Holmes (SHAW), 5Dante Richardson (CHSW), and 6Grady Pease (MDMK).
215: 1Matt Harrold (HAV), 2Owen Pavao (S-B), 3Shamus Pease (MDMK), 4Taiyo Gemme (OLWB), 5William Buffington (TAUN), and 6Merlin Smith (EDL).
285: 1Kaz Morosetti (NKNG), 2Brian Waller-Reitano (CENCTH), 3William Martinez (WLLS), 4Bishop Kearns (Bishop Guertin), 5Chris Levesque (OXFD), and 6Chase Galke (SHLT).
The full results for the boys are available here on Arena Flo Wrestling.
Girl Results
100: 1Ella Paris (Salem NH), 2Parker Theriault (Mattanawcook/PVHS), 3Sophia Gordon (SWIN), 4Riley-Anne Tarmey (TRIT), 5Abigail Garland (MTBL), and 6Hannah Perro (Noble).
107: 1Sora Bukoski (Penobscot County Wrestling), 2Elsa Scott (SHRN), 3Maggie Campbell (Woburn), 4Amelia Hough (Milford), 5Kelsie Strong (MARSH), and 6Clara Reynolds (NMIL).
114: 1Allison Patten (PILG), 2Kennedie Davis (BR), 3Ava Gamberdella (BRNF), 4Addie Smith (VERG), 5Mia Annello (BILL), and 6Ella Libiszewski (LUD).
120: 1Jillian Blake (TRUMB), 2Hannah Dyckman (Bristol County/Dighton Rehoboth), 3Maleeah Rios (BC), 4Alanna Smith (CMHL), 5Lauren McAteer (WPO), and 6Monica Flores Romero (Fairfield Warde).
126: 1Adelina Tate (ELTC), 2Caitlin Castoldi (Woburn), 3Delaney Frost (Noble), 4Maisa Allen (OTV), 5Ashlynn Cummings (FLUD), and 6Luca Marshall (TCTY).
132: 1Madeline Ngo (Newton North), 2Alexia Coleman (Salem MA), 3Eliana Selerais (AMTY), 4Kaydn Hansen (MTBL), 5Kylie Biter (OXFD), and 6Faith Young (Middleborough).
138: 1Adriana DeGroat (FRMG), 2Nevaeh Grunhuvd (MSBC), 3Winner Tshibombi (STRF), 4Keira Lynch (Salem NH), 5Daphen Nyan (Davies Career & Tech Academy), and 6Ania Konieczna (SHRN).
145: 1Sophie Grunhuvd (MSBC), 2Gabriella Kiely (STRF), 3Josephina Piel (NMIL), 4Gabriella Ramos (AGWM), 5Regan Murphy (Canton), and 6Hailey Isham (MT ABE).
152: 1Ava McGinnis (NOKO), 2Nmachukwu Okoli (BR), 3Zady Paige (BLFS), 4Rileigh Fagan (BP), 5Nora Demaine (Lake Region), and 6Mackenzie Lacoss (Spaulding).
165: 1Kaydence Atkinson (NBHS), 2Gabriella Mighty (STAM), 3Bethany-grace Dean (Bristol Eastern), 4Sadie Nadeau (Spaulding), 5Jordyn Reynolds (GLTS), and 6Stella Christopher (AGWM).
185: 1Kayli Morris (PLATT), 2Madi King (BBA), 3Madison Beauregard (Concord), 4Leanna Watson (Putnam), 5Emma Leonido (HANV), and 6Jillian Boncore (Alvirne)
235: 1Jeily Euceda (NRWK), 2Hillary MacDonald (LAWR), 3Lillian Soper (BUCK), 4Elaine Pinto (DURF), 5Jadaliz Acosta (Bloomfield/Weaver), and 6Alei Fiatoa-Fautua (NPRO).
View the full results for the girls here.
Also Read
- Dozens Of New Hampshire’s Wrestlers Will Compete In New England Championship Bouts In Rhode Island
- Girls From Bedford, Concord, Londonderry, Salem, Other Schools Are Heading To New England Championships
- Timberlane, Goffstown, And Bow Win NHIAA Division Championships: New Hampshire Wrestling Roundup
- Concord High School’s Crimson Tide Wrestling Team Places 2nd At NHIAA Division I Championships
- Timberlane Wins NH JV Tourney; Salem 4th, Milford 5th, Nashua North 8th, Bedford 10th: Wrestling Roundup
- Concord High School JV Wrestlers Place 2nd At 2026 New Hampshire State Tournament
- Bedford, Exeter, Salem Win Bouts | North Beats South In Nashua | More: NH Wrestling Results, Part 2
- Londonderry, Milford, Portsmouth, And Souhegan Compete In The Final Bouts Of 2026: NH Wrestling Results
- Concord Falls To Timberlane Regional High School, 44-27; Crimson Tide Wrestlers End Regular Season At 21-1
- Exeter Hosts Quad | Portsmouth, Souhegan Compete At Invitational | Salem Takes 3 In MA: NH Wrestling Roundup
- Concord Wrestlers Sweep 3 Other High Schools At Their Last Saturday Quad Of The Season
- Winnacunnet, Exeter, Londonderry, Merrimack, Milford, And Portsmouth Post Wins: NH Wrestling Roundup
- On Senior Night, Concord High School Wrestlers Cruise To A Win Against Nashua South, 68-9
- Rhode Island’s Bishop Hendricken High School Again Wins NH’s Capital City Classic Wrestling Tournament
- 9 Crimson Tide Wrestlers Place At Successful 35th Annual Capital City Classic Wrestling Tournament In Concord
- Concord High School’s Crimson Tide Wrestling Team Nets The Blackbirds In Keene, 45-26
- Capital City Classic Wrestling Tournament Celebrates 35 Years At Concord High School Saturday
- Concord’s Wrestlers Continue Their Winning Ways With Victories Against Souhegan, Bow, And Plymouth
- Londonderry, Merrimack, Portsmouth, Souhegan, And Salem Win At Weekend Wrestling Quads: NH Roundup
- Bow, Exeter, Londonderry, Milford, Nashua North, And Souhegan Win Wrestling Matches: New Hampshire Results
- Concord Wrestlers Beat Defending State Champions, Salem Blue Devils, 48-30
- A Dozen Schools Battle On The Seacoast | Souhegan Takes 3 At Quad | Merrimack Duals: NH Wrestling Results
- Crimson Tide Varsity Wrestlers Sweep 3 At Super Quad 2 In Concord; Others Rack Up Places At Tourneys
- Bedford, Londonderry, Milford, Salem, And Souhegan Wrestlers Win Matches: New Hampshire Results
- Concord High School’s Wrestling Team Beats Hollis Brookline, 54-22
- Concord High School Wrestlers Sweep 6 Meets At First Super Quad Of The 2025-2026 Season
- Salem Girls, Milford Boys Place 1st At Nashua Tourney | Londonderry Sweeps At Bow Quad: NH Wrestling Roundup
- Concord High School Crimson Tide Wrestlers Crash Into Londonderry Lancers, 54-16
- Concord Wins 2026 Minickiello Tourney; Souhegan 5th; Portsmouth 6th: NH High School Wrestling Roundup
- Concord Boy Wrestlers Place 5th, Souhegan 7th; Salem Girls 2nd At 2-Day Maine Tourney: NH Wrestling Results
- Crimson Tide Places 5th; Salem Girls 3rd At George Bossi Holiday Tourney: New Hampshire Wrestling Roundup
- Central Catholic Places 1st, Shawsheen Tech 2nd, And St. John’s Prep 3rd At Historic Wrestling Tourney
- Crimson Tide Beats Jaguars, 75-5, While Bedford, Salem, And Souhegan Notch Wins: NH Wrestling Results
- Concord’s Crimson Tide Places 2nd At 2025 Salem Blue Devil Tournament: New Hampshire Wrestling Results
- Wrestlers From 5 Schools Scrimmage At Concord High School In First Bouts Of The Season
Do you have a news tip? Email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 217 communities — and expanding every day. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
Rhode Island
RI’s Civil War history reveals an overlooked soldier | Opinion
Watch President Trump announce ‘Patriot Games’ for 2026
President Donald Trump touted the “Patriot Games” next year in a video address that also emphasized “no men playing in women’s sports.”
As Rhode Island joins the nation in marking its 250th anniversary, I’ve been asked a fair and important question: Why highlight Amos (Ramos) Butler? Why elevate one individual when there are so many well-documented figures already woven into our state’s history?
My answer is simple: because history is not only about what we have long remembered, but about what we failed to see.
I did not set out to find Amos Butler. I encountered him while researching Civil War records connected to Rhode Island: lists of names, enlistment dates, regiments. In those records, I found a man listed as “Amos Butler,” born in Mexico, who served in the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment (Colored) during the Civil War. His name alone gave me pause. Amos is not a common Mexican name. That detail led me deeper into the archive, where questions of identity, language and recordkeeping began to surface.
What emerged was not a heroic legend or a tidy narrative, but something more historically instructive: a glimpse into how 19th-century bureaucracies recorded – or misrecorded – immigrant lives.
Amos Butler served alongside Black soldiers in a segregated regiment at a moment when the nation was redefining freedom, citizenship and belonging. His likely Spanish surname, Ramos, appears to have been Anglicized – or misunderstood – by the very system charged with preserving his service. That single alteration tells us a great deal about how people like him moved through official history: fully present and contributing, yet partially obscured.
This is not about retroactively assigning modern identities or reshaping the past to fit contemporary frameworks. It is about acknowledging what the records themselves reveal. Civil War historians know well that military documents often flatten race, erase origin, and simplify identity. Butler’s story fits squarely within that established scholarship. What makes it notable is that it unfolds here, in Rhode Island.
State histories tend to emphasize regiments, battles and leadership. Far less attention is given to the individual enlisted men whose lives complicate our assumptions about who served and why. Butler’s story adds texture to Rhode Island’s Civil War narrative by reminding us that migration, race and service were already intertwined long before the 20th century.
The 250th anniversary of the United States invites reflection, not revisionism. Major commemorations have always prompted historians to revisit archives, ask new questions, and consider whose experiences were overlooked. But commemoration is also, at its best, an act of recognition. To name and remember people of color who lived, labored and served in earlier generations is not to diminish the past – it is to honor it more fully. Their lives are not footnotes to history; they are part of its foundation.
We often say that history is written by those who leave records. But it is also shaped by how carefully we read those records – and whether we are willing to notice the irregularities, the misspellings, the lives that don’t quite fit our expectations.
Honoring Amos Butler is not about elevating one person above others. It is about acknowledging that the American story, and Rhode Island’s story within it, has always been broader and more diverse than the version many of us inherited.
At 250 years, we have an opportunity not only to look back, but to commemorate those whose presence affirms that people of color have always been here – living, serving and shaping this country in ways we are only beginning to fully recognize.
Marta V. Martínez is the executive director of Rhode Island Latino Arts. She serves on the RI250 Commission. Martínez is producing a first-person monologue of Amos (Ramos) Butler, which will be presented as part of the RI250 celebration.
Rhode Island
Michael Flynn attends ‘Rhode Island First’ rally in Warwick
WARWICK, R.I. (WJAR) — Former U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn appeared at a “Rhode Island First” rally in Warwick Saturday night with Vic Mellor, a congressional candidate running to unseat Rep. Seth Magaziner in Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District.
Protestors gathered near the entrance of the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick ahead of the rally, where Flynn and Mellor gave remarks along with other conservative speakers and musicians.
“The purpose of this is to motivate the base, because there’s such a high percentage of Republicans and Independents that don’t vote,” Mellor said.
Devin Bates reports on a rally for Vic Mellor, a Republican challenger to Rep. Seth Magaziner, that featured Michael Flynn. (WJAR)
Protestors picketing outside the hotel felt differently, with organizers calling out the hotel’s owners for hosting “individuals associated with the January 6 insurrection, election denialism, and extreme rhetoric.”
“We don’t agree with Crowne Plaza letting them be here, we think it’s kind of sad that they do,” said Kristen Lancaster. “They’re not pro-democracy, they’re anti-healthcare, anti-science.”
Ahead of the rally, Flynn shared his thoughts about Rhode Island’s current federal delegation as Mellor seeks to become the first GOP candidate elected to statewide office since 2006, when Donald Carcieri was re-elected as governor.
“You’ve got manufacturing potential here, you have a workforce that really could be first class, but you don’t have a federal elected body of people right now that are bringing that back, because they’re fighting opportunity,” Flynn said.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (4)
NBC 10 News reached out to IHG Hotels and Resorts for comment on protestors’ frustration over the Crowne Plaza hosting this event, but the company had not responded.
-
Wisconsin1 week agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts6 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Maryland1 week agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida1 week agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Pennsylvania4 days agoPa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico
-
Oregon1 week ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling
-
News1 week ago2 Survivors Describe the Terror and Tragedy of the Tahoe Avalanche
-
Sports4 days agoKeith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death