Vincent “Vinnie” Medeiros, 72, of Newport, RI, completed his final round and stepped off the green on January 4, 2026, at HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center after a month-long illness surrounded by his family.

One of Vinnie’s greatest joys in life was golf, which teed off his education and early career. At 15, he began work as a caddy at Wanumetonomy Country Club in Middletown, later moving to the Pro Shop. As a result of his time there, he was awarded a full scholarship and attended Roger Williams College in Bristol, RI, with a major in History. He also attended the PGA Business School I in Florida and continued his career in the Pro Shop at Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington, RI, for five years.

After leaving the golf world, Vinnie began a long and dedicated career as a defense contractor supporting the US Navy at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC). Over a span of 43 years, he worked for four different contractors. Before his retirement in July 2025, he worked with MIKEL, Inc. as a System Engineer/Data Manager in the Acoustic Data Center (ADC) Library, where he supported information and data for Virginia and Seawolf class submarines.

Vinnie was beloved by family and friends for his sense of humor; he was a jokester, known for silly antics and his “commitment to the bit.” Those who called his landline were often greeted by his answering machine saying, “This is A1 Pizza; leave a message.” When accepting an invitation to family events, he always followed up with, “I’ll bring the chouriço pizza.”

He was an active member of his community, particularly within his neighborhood, the Fifth Ward. After 47 years of calling it home, he had woven himself into the fabric of the neighborhood. Alongside a group of fellow fifth-warder friends, he designed baseball caps for the residents of “5W” to proudly don.

Vinnie was a devoted son, brother, uncle, and friend. He embodied what it means to give the shirt off his back to anyone in need without expecting or wanting recognition for his generosity. He quietly took care of the people in his life when they needed him simply because that was his nature. Vinnie was also known for his deep love and compassion for animals, especially his dogs. He could often be found strolling around King Park, enjoying the view and fresh ocean breeze with his loyal canine companion, Molly. He cherished each of his dogs and honored them through regular donations to various charities for the wellbeing of animals.

Vinnie is survived by his siblings, Virginia Dobson (Charles) of Coventry, RI; Margaret Elliott (Edward) of Portsmouth, RI; and Diane Larson (Nels) of Goose Creek, SC. He is also survived by his nieces and nephews, Jeffrey Dobson, Danielle Beagen, Nicolas Medeiros, Jessica DeMello, Tara Ecenarro, Sunny-Dae Larson, and Lilly Larson-Daniels, as well as 7 great-nieces and -nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Manuel P. Medeiros; his mother, Anna M. Medeiros; and his brother, Manuel V. Medeiros.

Visiting hours will be held Friday, January 9 from 5:00-7:00 pm at the O’Neill-Hayes Funeral Home, 465 Spring St, Newport. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Saturday, January 10 at St. Augustin’s Church, corner of Carroll & Harrison Ave, Newport at 10:00 am. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Vincent’s name to the Potter League for Animals, 87 Oliphant Lane, Middletown, RI 02842, potterleague.org/donate/ or to HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center, 1085 N. Main St, Providence, RI 02904, hopehealthco.org/ways-to-give/donatenow/.

For online tributes, please visit oneillhayes.com.

• Rhode Island lawmakers are expected to reintroduce the Building Decarbonization Act to reduce emissions from heating and cooling.
• Environmental advocates are concerned about a lack of legislative action needed to meet the state’s 2030 climate goals.
• Other potential environmental legislation includes bills to increase public transit funding and improve recycling through a bottle bill.

Two years ago, the state Senate approved legislation that aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heating and cooling buildings in Rhode Island, but the measure was held up in the House.

Last year, roles were reversed, and with the Senate demurring, it was the House’s turn to pass a version of the bill that advocates say is necessary to meet the net-zero by 2050 mandate of the Act on Climate.

The Building Decarbonization Act is set to be reintroduced again this year in the General Assembly and once again, it will most likely be on the list of legislative priorities for the coalition that represents leading environmental groups across the state.

“I could see that getting a lot of support,” said James Crowley, president of the Environment Council of Rhode Island. “We haven’t taken much action yet on the heating sector despite it accounting for a third of emissions.”

As the new legislative session kicked off last week, Crowley and other advocates have measured hopes for environmental action in the General Assembly. Many believe this is a pivotal time for Rhode Island, just four years out from the Act on Climate’s next interim target, a 45% reduction of planet-warming emissions from 1990 levels by 2030.

But they also know that the lack of support for anything climate-related from the Trump administration will complicate state efforts. And with a gubernatorial race on the cards, state leaders will be wary of doing anything that potentially raises costs for Rhode Islanders, especially as they look for ways to fill gaps in federal funding for things like health care and education.

“We have to be mindful of the moment that we’re operating in,” said Jed Thorp, director of advocacy for Save The Bay. “That will make it relatively hard for environmental issues to break through.”

Session follows approval of new state climate action plan

After years of inaction on environmental priorities, the General Assembly appeared to turn a corner in 2021 with the passage of the Act on Climate, a law that underpins all policymaking in the state around transitioning away from fossil fuels. It was followed a year later with a commitment to offset all electric usage in the state with wind, solar and other renewable sources by 2033.

But there’s been little movement since then in the legislature to address emissions from buildings, transportation and other sectors of the Rhode Island economy, leading to questions about the state’s commitment to its climate goals.

At a meeting last month of the state Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council, Emily Koo, Rhode Island director of the Acadia Center, a clean energy advocacy group, spoke of a “vacuum of climate leadership” across state government.

Meg Kerr, vice chair of the climate council’s advisory board, urged greater urgency.

“We really need a whole-of-government approach and a whole-of-economy approach to achieve the Act on Climate,” she said. “We need state leadership and state vision.”

They spoke at a Dec. 18 meeting of the council, which is made up of agency directors and staff and directs the state government’s climate policy. Its members were meeting to approve a strategy that had been in the works for more than a year and is supposed to lay out the ways the state could meet the Act on Climate’s goals.

But some critics said the plan fell short of expectations, with too much focus on the federal government’s hostility to climate policy. Bill Ibelle, a member of Climate Action Rhode Island, described the tone of the report as “defeatist.”

While the report assumed big upticks in the adoption of heat pumps and electric cars and projected the state would reach the 2030 target, it didn’t lay out a plan to get to later goals, he and others complained.

“It’s really important that these are things that we should push hard on,” Ibelle said. “What I’d like to see this group do is do more then mention them, but endorse them.”

In a statement, Terry Gray, director of the state Department of Environmental Management and chair of the climate council, said that state agencies are “fully committed to action” and that they are already implementing parts of the strategy while also looking at alternatives in the absence of federal backing.

“Recent federal rollbacks of clean-energy initiatives, disruptions to offshore wind, and the loss of critical federal funding have significantly altered the policy and financing landscape that many states, including Rhode Island, have relied on,” he said. “As those impacts continue to unfold, states must reassess how best to advance their climate goals under these new conditions.” 

Measures to reduce reliance on fossil fuels are expected

Amid the uncertainty, Sen. Meghan Kallman said she believes the General Assembly needs to do more on climate issues.

The Pawtucket Democrat was the lead sponsor in the Senate of the Building Decarbonization Act in 2024 and 2025 and plans to introduce it again this year. Last year’s version required that new buildings be constructed so that they’re able to switch from heating systems that burn fossil fuels to electric heat pumps. (The House version that won passage, introduced by Rep. Rebecca Kislak, was amended so that it required only that large buildings track and report their energy usage.)

Kallman said she’s also working on a separate bill focused on new hospital construction and electrification, as well as other measures.

“My expectation is that the Senate will continue to lead on these issues,” Kallman said. “The federal landscape is challenging, but that’s a reason why the state needs to take leadership.”

While Crowley, a staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, said that the Environment Council won’t vote on its priorities for several more weeks, he thinks Kallman’s bill would almost certainly be on the list again. So, too, would a move to reduce reliance on cars by finding more funds for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. A bottle bill aimed at improving recycling would also be a priority if it’s proposed again.

On the latter, the legislature voted last year to study the costs of implementing the redemption system for used bottles and cans that the bill calls for. The report is due by the end of the year, so Thorp doesn’t expect approval of the new recycling program in the meantime but he expects a bill to be filed to keep discussions going.

Koo said she’s hoping for more attention in the General Assembly on reducing the state’s reliance on natural gas. She mentioned a proposal to limit new spending on the gas delivery system. She also said that reduced electric rates for heat pump users and variable rates that could make it cheaper to charge electric cars would also help.

Crowley said there’s hope that with a new Congress after the mid-term elections and a new president in three years, the political landscape could change once again.

“Even in this difficult climate we can still do the work,” he said.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Indivisible R.I. is holding a rally on Sunday as part of the “ICE Out for Good” demonstrations taking place this weekend nationwide.

The rally is in response to the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

In a release, the organization said the rally will “honor the life lost, make visible the human cost of ICE`s actions, and demand that state and federal leaders reject local contracts with ICE, take every action possible to stop ICE from operating in Rhode Island, and hold ICE agents accountable when they break the law.”

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