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Rhode Island
Here’s How Much Minimum Wage Will Go Up In RI On Jan. 1
RHODE ISLAND — Minimum wage workers in Rhode Island are among about 9.2 million nationwide who will get a pay bump in 2025.
The pay raises taking effect Jan. 1 will increase worker pay by about $5.7 billion in the 21 states that are boosting the minimum wage, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank that analyzes the economic effect of policies on primarily low- and middle-income families.
In Rhode Island, the minimum wage will increase in 2025 to $15 an hour, up from $14 an hour in 2024. The tipped minimum wage stayed the same at $3.89 an hour.
The raises will increase 2025 pay for minimum wage workers in Rhode Island by about $46.5 million — or an average of $767 a year.
About 13.6 percent of the workforce and about 65,100 Rhode Island residents are directly or indirectly affected by the minimum wage hikes. About 33,300 children — 16.1 percent of all children in Rhode Island — live in households where a minimum wage worker lives.
Nationwide, more than a quarter (25.7 percent) of workers getting a minimum wage pay increase are parents, and more than 5.8 million children live in households where an individual will receive a minimum wage hike, the analysis said.
One in five (20.4 percent) of affected workers are in families with incomes below the poverty line, and nearly half (48.5 percent) have family incomes below twice the poverty line.
Teenagers are often disproportionately likely to become minimum wage workers, the analysis said, but about 88 percent of those getting raises are adults. Among them, about half are full-time workers.
Of all adult workers getting a minimum wage bump in 2025, 41.4 percent have completed at least some education beyond a high school degree.
In addition to Rhode Island, others among the 21 raising the minimum wage in 2025 are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont and Washington.
In addition, about 48 cities and counties, mostly in California, Colorado and Washington, are raising wages above their state minimum wage floors.
Most minimum wage hikes taking effect Jan. 1 are a result of state laws that tie minimum wage increases to inflation. The raises are automatic in 13 of the states and effect about 56.2 percent of workers getting raises.
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Rhode Island
Rhode Island shifts its primary to Wednesday, Sept. 9, easing a Labor Day poll setup crunch
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island’s primary elections will now be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9, moving it back from the typical Tuesday election day because it fell too close to Labor Day.
Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, signed off on the change earlier this week. The primary election had been scheduled for Sept. 8, which is the day after the holiday weekend.
State and local officials had requested the change after raising concerns about having enough time to set up polls for voters. However, under the legislation enacted, the filing deadlines will remain the same.
“We have to set up over 400 polling places around the state on the day before the election,” Nick Lima, the registrar and director of elections for the city of Cranston, told lawmakers at a hearing in January. “That’s very difficult to do on a holiday because many of our polls are schools, social halls and churches.”
It’s not unusual for states to change their election day. Lawmakers in neighboring Massachusetts changed the state’s 2026 primary election day from Sept. 15 to Sept. 1, arguing that doing so will help improve voter turnout.
Only four states hold their primary elections in September: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Delaware, which has the latest primary date in the U.S., taking place this year on Sept. 15.
Legislation seeking to move up Delaware’s primary election by several months has been introduced in the statehouse, but previous attempts to do so have stalled.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
CUMBERLAND, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island State Police are investigating a crash that happened on I-295 North in Cumberland Tuesday night.
The crash happened in the right lane near Exit 22 just before 9 p.m.
It’s unclear exactly what caused the crash or if anyone was injured.
12 News has reached out to Rhode Island State Police for more information but has not heard back.
Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.
Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the free WPRI 12+ TV app.
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Rhode Island’s Democrat and Republican primary elections will officially be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9 this year, instead of the usual Tuesday election day.
Lawmakers passed the bill at the urging of state and local officials, who were concerned that an election day falling the day after Labor Day would not give them enough time to set up polls for the arrival of voters.
Gov. Dan McKee signed the bill on April 20, officially moving the primary day for 2026.
Which races will be on the ballot? The Republican and Democrat nominees for a swath of local offices – most notably governor but also lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Why was RI’s primary day moved?
At a hearing on the bill earlier this year, Randy Rossi, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns explained the “significant logistical and financial challenges” municipalities otherwise would have faced having an election the day after Labor Day.
“Beyond cost, municipalities face serious logistical challenges accessing and setting up more than 430 polling locations on a major federal holiday, a process that often requires many hours and access to facilities that are typically closed and unstaffed on Labor Day,” he said.
“Compounding these challenges, many municipalities conduct early voting in city or town halls that must also serve as primary day polling locations,” Rossi noted.
Without changes to current law, he said, “municipalities would be required to conduct early voting and primary day polling simultaneously, often in the same limited space and with the same poll workers, requiring additional staffing and facilities.”
By the time this legislative hearing took place in January, other states facing similar issues, including Massachusetts, had already adjusted their primary dates, “and Rhode Island itself has demonstrated that alternative scheduling can be successful, as occurred during the statewide Wednesday primary in 2018,” Rossi said.
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