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Rhode Island
‘These are dark times for everybody’: Hundreds tell R.I.’s congressmen about their frustration with the Trump administration – The Boston Globe
The two town halls were the first the Rhode Island congressmen have held since President Trump took office in January.
Many of the Rhode Islanders at Magaziner’s event said they were afraid that democracy was dying, and they wanted to know how to stop it.
“I am sick and tired of Rhode Island’s delegation not standing up in the way it should as a progressive state,” said one woman at Magaziner’s town hall, her voice cracking. “You have a role to play in Rhode Island to do more and to engage in civil disobedience. What are you going to do to stop Musk and the oligarchs from taking over the very little left of our representative democracy?”
People loudly applauded. Magaziner, a Democrat first elected to Rhode Island’s Second Congressional District in 2022, said he was doing all he could.
“It takes all of us, right? We need to be making a case to the public. We need to be doing what we can legislatively, we need to be doing what we can in the courts. It’s an all-hands-on deck moment,” Magaziner told the crowd. “The fact that you are all here tonight, when you could be doing anything else, gives me a lot of hope.”
In East Greenwich, except for a Cranston woman wearing a Make America Great Again shirt — who challenged Magaziner not to criticize Trump — the crowd was overwhelmingly upset about the country’s direction under Trump and Elon Musk.
They spoke of the higher prices, the tariffs, the ransacking of government agencies by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency without accountability.
Jen Manzi of Cranston said her preteen daughter needed an individualized education program at her school, but the Department of Education was being cut. She feared she would fall behind in school.
“I’m worried about my kid’s rights, and right now, they’re under attack,” Manzi said, beginning to cry.
The cuts made by DOGE are short-sighted for all Americans, Suzanne Colby, a Warwick resident and a research professor at Brown University, told Magaziner.
Her work involves studying the impact of tobacco products on young people, with funding from the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products. It’s the kind of research that led to the FDA’s ban of sweet-flavored vaping products for teens, which the Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday.
But the FDA has been cut, and with it, the funding that scientists like Colby rely on. In the long run, this loss and others will impact people’s lives, and that’s not a partisan issue, she said.
“I think there’s an element missing from the public discourse, and that is the cuts that DOGE is making — education, libraries, health and human services, the CDC, FDA, NIH — are going to cost more than they save,” Colby said. “Because they’re preventative in nature, because they protect our public health and help our children thrive and grow and succeed, we will spend more because these cuts are being made.”
Magaziner said he’d called the president of Brown University after hearing about funding cuts. He said he’d spoken to Textron and Electric Boat about how the tariffs were going to effect them.
He urged people to stay informed and engaged, and to keep speaking out.
“We’re living in truly unprecedented times,” Magaziner said, “because in my view President Trump is taking an alarming array of actions to expand his own executive power at the expense of checks and balances that our country is founded on.”
At Amo’s town hall in East Providence, Neronha told hundreds of people packed into the school auditorium that “more lawsuits are coming.”
Neronha, alongside dozens of other attorneys general, have filed numerous lawsuits against Trump policies that have resulted in court injunctions. “What we have done is effectively stopped the administration in its tracks.”
Al Soares, a 74-year-old lifelong East Providence resident, said he was afraid of Medicare cuts. Soares, who stood using a walker, said he lives in an assisted living facility.
“And I thank God for it,” Soares said. “I’m petrified … if they take away my Medicare, you know where I end up? On the street.”
Other constituents said they were fearful of immigration enforcement, proposed restrictions on voter registration, and funding cuts for farmers, health care workers and nonprofits.
“I’m not a hair-on-fire kind of person, but this is unprecedented,” said Amo, who was first elected to Rhode Island’s First Congressional District in 2023. “This is not normal.”
Renee Boyce, 37, an unaffiliated voter, said she’s not happy with either side, as housing costs and inflation have soared.
“As much as I don’t like Trump, I want to know what you’re going to do to fight about that,” Boyce said to Amo. “When it comes to DOGE, I actually did support government efficiency. Because I think there were spending problems.”
“Right now, we are in a defensive posture,” Amo responded. “There was a world where people in Washington used to sit and talk with each other about solutions. That is not happening right now.”
He added that Trump’s “stupid, boneheaded tariff regime” would further increase costs.
Afterwards, Boyce told the Globe: “These are dark times for everybody.”
Neighbors and retirees Judy Bessoff and Gale Dyer of West Greenwich came an hour early to hear Magaziner and said they want to pressure the Democrats to take action.
“I’m concerned about the whole kit and kaboodle, and the dismantling of our government without regard for jobs and lives,” said Dyer.
Bessoff said she wanted to know why Trump was being allowed to skirt the Constitution, and why no one was stopping him. “I’ve been hearing people saying this is not what I voted for.”
“It doesn’t give you a whole lot of faith in the government,” she added. “You used to feel safe and secure. Now, it just feels nebulous.”
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits. Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.
On Friday, May 1, Bravo posted a mid-season preview to YouTube, giving fans a glimpse at the drama still to come during the franchise’s first season in the Ocean State.
Which ‘Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ stars want to do Season 2?
Reporter Paul Edward Parker asks cast members of the “Real Housewives of Rhode Island” if they’re up for another season of the Bravo TV show.
Paul Edward Parker
Enjoying “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” so far? Buckle up – it’s about to get even juicier.
On Friday, May 1, Bravo posted a mid-season preview to YouTube, giving fans a glimpse at the drama still to come during the franchise’s first season in the Ocean State. As expected, the season will continue to follow major developing plotlines, including the fallout from Rulla Pontarelli’s reported husband’s affair and the strained relationship between Rosie DiMare and Kelsey Swanson.
However, the trailer also hints that the season will take some unexpected twists and turns, with new arguments rising between friendly cast members and personal issues coming to a head for many of the women.
Here’s a sneak peek at the rest of Season 1 of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.”
What happened in ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ mid-season preview?
According to the mid-season preview, the rest of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” Season 1 will include many more fights between the cast members. Swanson and DiMare’s screaming matches will continue, with the trailer showing DiMare telling Swanson “Everyone in f***ing Rhode Island knows you f*** married men.”
Surprisingly, disagreements will also rise between LizMcGraw and Alicia Carmody, as well as McGraw and Jo-Ellen Tiberi. McGraw is shown telling Tiberi to get out of her face, with Tiberi storming after her yelling “what did I do?”
Meanwhile, Ashley Iaconetti will continue to struggle under the financial and emotional burden of Audrey’s, with her and husband Jared Haibon discussing their decision to renew the lease or not. After her breakup, Swanson will have to decide if her new man is worth giving up her financial comfort, while Tiberi will finally have a tough conversation with her mother.
As for Pontarelli, it seems that Tiberi will make good on her episode five promise of finding concrete proof of Brian Pontarelli’s reported affair, with multiple housewives discussing video proof in the trailer. After Pontarelli reveals to the group that Brian was arrested for tracking her, the trailer ends with the question looming over everyone’s heads: “Rulla, what are you gonna do?”.
How to watch ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’
Want to see how all the drama unfolds? “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” will air every Sunday at 9 p.m. on Bravo.
Watch ‘The Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ on Peacock
Episodes will be available for next-day streaming each Monday on Peacock.
Local News
A West Warwick resident captured video of the white-robed figure wandering around town early Monday morning.
Police in Rhode Island say they’ve confirmed that videos of a person walking around a town in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood were part of a hoax for social media, not the work of an organized group.
Social media videos appeared to show the person walking around West Warwick while dressed in white robes and a pointed hood. The incident happened on Main Street at around 2 a.m. Monday, according to West Warwick police.
Detectives have since learned that the event was a stunt orchestrated by two brothers “to generate attention on social media and in the news,” police said on Facebook. The perpetrators admitted their involvement to police and “provided conclusive evidence” that they were the only ones responsible for the hoax.
The individuals “explicitly denounced” affiliation with hate groups, and police said that the investigation has yielded “no evidence to suggest otherwise.” For now, the investigation has been closed.
“The West Warwick Police Department would like to thank members of the community who came forward with information,” police said. “Thorough investigations such as this often rely on community involvement, and we appreciate the public’s cooperation and assistance.”
Video captured by Ryan Fitzgerald showed the hooded figure wandering around the Arctic Gazebo before heading down the street. Fitzgerald told The Boston Globe that he thought the person was “just messing around” but noted that it was indicative of broader issues.
“There’s a lot of undisclosed racism that goes on here. I hear about it all the time,” Fitzgerald told the Globe. “So it wouldn’t be shocking to me if it wasn’t a prank, and it wasn’t a hoax, and it was really somebody that really was about that kind of life.”
Rhode Island House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi visited Newport on April 27 as the keynote speaker at a panel discussion about the need to develop more housing on Aquidneck Island.
Shekarchi was joined by Middletown Town Administrator Shawn Brown, Raytheon government relations and site executive Tim DelGuidice, and NOAA relocation project manager Matthew Hill.
On an island where the largest employers are Naval Station Newport and the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and over 20,000 people work in defense-related jobs, the need for workforce housing is a particularly acute component of the crisis. A report published by the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce said Newport and the surrounding region need to build 6,000 to 9,000 housing units to keep up with workforce demand.
NOAA broke ground in 2024 at the future home of its Marine Operations Center-Atlantic base on a five-acre site on Naval Station Newport, and the $150 million project is scheduled to be completed in 2027. Hill said upwards of 250 federal employees and their families will be relocating to Rhode Island after their current base in Norfolk, Virginia, is closed and NOAA’s new facility at Naval Station Newport is completed.
“That provides justification for these developers to go out and secure funds,” said Hill. “You have 250 people coming here for certain, with stable incomes, so these developments can start to move forward.”
Shekarchi spoke about the adaptive reuse bill signed into law by the state legislature three years ago, which was intended to make it easier for municipalities to convert old hospitals, factories and schools into housing.
“There’s a lot of municipal land, a lot of municipal buildings that could be converted into housing, that for whatever reason has been resisted by local communities,” he said.
The Oliphant and Green End proposals voted down by the Middletown Town Council in 2024 would have been such adaptive reuse projects. Shekarchi did not explicitly mention those proposals, but he suggested the Newport Jai Alai site, which he described as “desolate” in its current state, could be ideal for mixed-use commercial and residential development.
“There is so much opposition in all of our communities,” Rep. Michelle McGaw told Newport This Week. “I don’t think people recognize that it’s their children, it’s their grandchildren, people who grew up here and want to stay here and raise their families here but cannot afford to do so.”
“We’re not only looking at people at 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI); there is a huge gap between what people are earning and what they can afford.”
Rhode Island AMI is approximately $112,000. So, a one-person household earning about $65,000, 80 precent AMI, would qualify for affordable housing.
DelGuidice said Raytheon’s workforce, especially its younger employees, would benefit from new development on the island.
“In five years, I’d love to see that we’ve closed that gap of 9,000 units, and we’ve got more of our employees able to live closer to work and not have a 45-minute or hour-long commute,” he said.
Stressing Aquidneck Island’s need for housing across all income levels, Brown highlighted Middletown’s approach of purchasing 6.2 acres of land in order to develop 36 middle-income housing units across the street from town hall. However, he said 36 planned new homes is a fraction of the island’s collective need, and he highlighted the importance of the island’s municipalities, the Navy, and private industry cooperatively maintaining and improving the island’s infrastructure in order to be able to build new housing developments.
He pointed to Middletown and Newport’s cooperative efforts on wastewater management as an example of the unseen infrastructure work necessary to maintain and expand the island’s housing supply. He cited shared island infrastructure as a critical area where state support is necessary in order to create new housing stock.
“We’re land-restricted, and we have a lot of conservation easements on Aquidneck Island, which is another challenge,” Brown said. “It is going to be these areas that are either infilled or redeveloped. That is where additional housing is going to come from, and we are going to need that wastewater management capacity in order to do a lot of these developments.”
“The speakers today were very strong on the fact that we need all kinds of housing, not just higher income or middle income,” Rep. Lauren Carson told Newport This Week following the meeting. “We really need to address the broader issues here. I have confidence that policymakers, myself, the speaker and city leaders across the island know what has to happen.”
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