Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Rhode Island
R.I. Assembly votes for $18 million public backstop to save two hospitals – The Boston Globe
The legislation spelled out what’s at stake, saying the funding would help preserve 2,700 jobs in Rhode Island. It said Roger Williams Medical Center provided care for nearly 31,500 emergency room patients, 55,000 inpatient cases, and 84,000 outpatient visits in fiscal year 2024, while Our Lady of Fatima Hospital provided care for nearly 25,500 emergency room patients, 4,857 inpatient cases, and 124,000 outpatient visits.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, and Senate President Valarie J. Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, issued a joint statement, saying the two hospitals “provide critical health care to our state, and Rhode Island cannot afford a scenario in which they close.”
Rhode Island’s other hospitals would be unable to absorb the 300,000 patients they serve each year, nor their 55,000 emergency department visits, they said.
Shekarchi and Lawson said that with the involvement from the Health Department and Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, the state has imposed “many, many safeguards” on the deal “to ensure the long-term stability of these two hospitals.”
The House and Senate finance committees have worked to ensure “Centurion is prepared to support the hospitals and will work to right the ship after mismanagement by the current owner,” they said.
“While the entire health sector nationally faces many uncertainties in the current environment, this sale, which would return the hospitals to nonprofit status, is the best available path forward for a better future for Fatima and Roger Williams, and for public health in Rhode Island,” Shekarchi and Lawson said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Louis P. DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, said rather than being “too big to fail,” Rhode Island and its health care system is “too small to let them fail.”
“This is the right thing to do to shore up those hospitals and provide the means for Centurion to take over the hospital,” DiPalma said.
He added that if Centurion defaulted on its loans, the first reserve funds would come from $9 million that the nonprofit is putting up. The state’s $18 million would only be tapped after that $9 million is gone, he said.
Senator Jonathon Acosta, a Central Falls Democrat, said legislators needed to pass the bill to save the hospitals, but he wanted to be sure Rhode Island learns a lesson from all this. “It’s important that we contextualize exactly how we got here so we don’t get here again in 10 to 20 years,” he said.
Acosta said private equity came into Rhode Island nearly 15 years ago seeking to buy the two hospitals. State officials vetted the purchase, but he said, “At the end of the day, it was private interests trying to get into a space that takes public dollars for the provision of help.”
Acosta noted that many of the patients at the two hospitals rely on public funding through Medicaid and Medicare, but he said, “This private company began taking anything from the top that they could take and sending it out of state.”
At the same time, he said, the company used the hospitals and their patients as collateral while borrowing millions and providing millions to shareholders.
“So now they’re bankrupt, and we are faced with the closure of two of our hospitals,” Acosta said. “ Rich people borrow money from other rich people using our public hospitals as collateral, and now need us to bail them out with public money so that we can convert the private hospital back to a nonprofit. That is wild.”
Representative David Morales, a Providence Democrat running for mayor, said he was supporting the bill because tens of thousands of Medicaid and Medicare recipients depend on those hospitals. But he, too, emphasized the importance of recognizing “how we got into this mess in the first place.”
“It is a result of what happens when we have for-profit entities that abuse and exploit our health care system,” he said.
So with $18 million in public funds on the line, Morales said he expects Centurion to pay its frontline health care workers “a livable wage” and maintain “safe staffing” so patients receive the quality of care they deserve.
Representative Charlene M. Lima, a Cranston Democrat, also supported the legislation, and said the state must also look out for the doctors who were promised medical malpractice insurance by Prospect. She warned that the failure to provide that coverage could drive doctors into bankruptcy and exacerbate the shortage of primary care doctors in Rhode Island.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
Local News
Several Rhode Island residents spotted a porbeagle shark, which later beached and died, near Narragansett.
As warmer weather arrives in New England, so has its annual crop of shark sightings, as some Rhode Island residents recently found out.
The Atlantic Shark Institute, a local research nonprofit, documented several sightings over the weekend. Those observations led them to a porbeagle shark that beached itself and died Sunday afternoon, the organization said on Facebook.
The first sightings began Saturday afternoon at Salty Brine State Beach in Narragansett. Witnesses said the shark was found wedged in rocks by the breakwater but eventually freed itself and swam in circles, according to Atlantic Shark Institute Executive Director Jon Dodd.
The shark later ended up in the shallow waters of Point Judith Pond and swam towards Billington Cove, where it beached and died the next day. Researchers said they presumed that it was the same shark in both sightings.
Porbeagles aren’t an uncommon sight in New England waters compared to other types of sharks because they prefer colder water, according to Dodd. However, a porbeagle swimming that far into Point Judith Pond is a first for the Atlantic Shark Institute.
Like many sharks, the porbeagle was likely making its way north to follow the colder water as summer approaches and temperatures rise. After it died, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) performed a necropsy and towed it out to sea.
Dodd noted in a statement to Boston.com that the shark never presented a danger to the people who spotted it. In fact, Dodd said, of the near-1,000 shark attacks documented in the International Shark Attack File, only two involved porbeagles, and neither were fatal.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — In an unexpected development, R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green announced Wednesday she is recommending the state relinquish control of the Providence schools by July 1.
The commissioner will make the recommendation to the R.I. Council on Elementary and Secondary Education on May 26, saying her decision came after “deep deliberation and consultation” with city and state leaders.
“This is an important moment, and I want to be clear: this conversation is happening now because of the work you — the students, families, educators and support staff, the community,” Infante-Green wrote in an open letter to the Providence Public Schools community.
If the handoff is successful, Providence would regain control of its school district for the first time since November 2019, following a devastating Johns Hopkins University report documenting systemic failures.
Infante-Green’s decision represents an about-face from Tuesday when she told reporters that she wanted to begin transitioning the district back to Providence this summer, but with the eventual handoff not happening until July 2027.
“I’m the one who put the line in the sand and said it’s going back in 2027,” Infante-Green said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, internal negotiations spilled into public view, exposing tensions over how the transition would unfold. On Tuesday, Infante-Green spokesperson Victor Morente chastised the Providence School Board for making those internal discussions public.
“Violating the confidentiality of these meetings undermines the mutual trust needed for a successful transition and raises serious questions about board leadership’s ability to manage complex, high-stakes negotiations,” Morente said in a statement.
In a draft order Infante-Green plans to recommend to the council, the commissioner outlined a series of steps the district should take to support its “long-term success.”
“The commissioner hereby states her firm conviction that the progress made by PPSD while it was under state control will not continue, and in fact student achievement in the district will regress, if the following measures, or substantially similar measures, are not undertaken by the responsible parties,” she wrote in the order.
The recommendations include hiring a board coordinator, commissioning a third-party review of governance strategies, properly funding schools and requiring training on the R.I. Code of Ethics.
The state’s nearly seven years running the problem-plagued school district has been a mixed bag. In her letter, Infante-Green cited examples of “measurable progress” during state control, including stronger academic outcomes, higher graduation rates and improvements in chronic absenteeism.
Yet only a third of students are proficient in English language arts, and just 31.4% are proficient in math, according to the latest standardized test scores. Many local and state leaders have also characterized the state takeover as a failed experiment, accusing RIDE of repeatedly moving the goalposts on measures of success and the return of local control.
The timing of the handoff to local control would come at the same time state and local politicians are vying to keep their jobs.
Gov. Dan McKee is trying to fend off a challenge from Democratic rival Helena Foulkes. Foulkes has said, if elected governor, she would fire Infante-Green and return local control to Providence.
McKee said Tuesday “the time has come” for the schools to go back to Providence.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is facing his own Democratic primary challenge from state Rep. David Morales. Both men have supported regaining control of the Providence schools.
According to her draft order, Infante-Green said she would maintain authority over the schools until they are handed off. Until that time, she would retain “the right to rescind or modify” the order, she wrote.
This is a breaking news story. It will be updated.
Eli Sherman (esherman@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News and co-hosts Behind the Story. Connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter and Bluesky.
Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Facebook, X/Twitter and Bluesky.
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.
Follow us on social media:
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Three people were stabbed on a Rhode Island beach Tuesday as hundreds of teenagers packed the area, forcing beachgoers to flee.
The victims were found at Narragansett Town Beach after police officers responded to the crowded scene amid reports of violence. The three unidentified individuals sustained minor stab wounds and were taken to a local hospital for treatment, Narragansett Police said.
WATCH: ROWDY TEENAGERS SWARM DC NAVY YARD IN WATERFRONT TAKEOVER DESPITE POLICE JUVENILE CURFEW ZONE
Three people were stabbed Tuesday as hundreds of beachgoers packed Narragansett Town Beach in Rhode Island, police said. (Narragansett Police Department)
No suspects have been identified, and no arrests have been made in connection with the stabbings.
However, several other disturbances broke out as hundreds of people on the beach attempted to leave simultaneously, officials noted. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene.
OUT-OF-CONTROL TEEN MOB IN DC REVEALS FAILURE OF BLUE CITY SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES
Two unidentified adults were arrested and charged with simple assault, resisting arrest, and obstruction of justice. Police noted these arrests did not appear to be related to the stabbings.
The incident came amid a wave of teen violence across the country. Over the weekend, teenagers in Washington, D.C., got into a chaotic brawl inside a Chipotle restaurant. About eight teens could be seen throwing punches and hurling restaurant furniture at one another as innocent bystanders huddled for safety in a corner of the establishment.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
All of the suspects were dressed head-to-toe in black, with some wearing hoods and masks.
-
Michigan4 minutes agoMichigan-Ohio State rivalry is enough reason to bag a 24-team College Football Playoff
-
Massachusetts10 minutes agoMassachusetts housing market is even competitive for burned down homes
-
Minnesota16 minutes agoWarmer Thursday in Twin Cities ahead of rainy start to weekend
-
Mississippi22 minutes agoWhere to watch Georgia vs Mississippi State SEC Tournament baseball
-
Missouri28 minutes agoMissouri property tax reform efforts fail as legislative session ends
-
Montana34 minutes ago
Montana Lottery Powerball, Lotto America results for May 20, 2026
-
Nebraska40 minutes agoNate Boerkircher’s path from small-town Nebraska to Jacksonville
-
Nevada46 minutes agoNevada officials warn Gov. Lombardo of heightened 2026 wildfire risk as heat nears
