May Breakfast season is upon us here in Rhode Island. That meant the pews at Oaklawn Community Baptist Church in Cranston started filling up at 7 on Thursday morning. These are traditional breakfasts celebrating the arrival of Spring. Churches and community groups use them as fundraisers. Although the tradition dates back to pagan England, they’ve […]
David Wright
David Wright is a veteran TV, radio, and digital reporter who has contributed stories to Rhode Island PBS Weekly since 2022 and more recently joined The Public’s Radio team.
For more than 20 years, he was a correspondent at ABC News. Career highlights include covering the White House during President Trump’s first term, the Vatican during 3 different papacies, and reporting from numerous global conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, and Gaza. Past interviews include Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, John Kerry, Hamid Karzai, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Elon Musk.
He recently won a New England Emmy and a NETA award for a story he did for Rhode Island PBS Weekly. Other awards include several national Emmy and Murrow Awards, plus a Peabody, a DuPont, and an Overseas Press Club award.
David began his career in public radio as a reporter and host at WBUR and KQED. A native of Buffalo, he is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford. He and his wife Victoria met when they were both covering the 2005 papal conclave in Rome. They have 3 teenage daughters and a German Shepherd Dog.
Posted inHealth, Local, Metro Desk, Politics
Amid Anchor Medical closure, Gov. Dan McKee rolls out primary care reforms
The impending closure of Anchor Medical Associates means some 25,000 Rhode Islanders will soon be forced to find new doctors. And the state already has a shortage of primary care doctors. As many as 400,000 Rhode Islanders already have no access to primary care. That’s the problem Gov. Dan McKee hopes to alleviate. “We […]
Posted inImmigration, Local
Crowd protests ICE activity outside Rhode Island Hospital
A crowd of about 85 protesters gathered outside Rhode Island Hospital on Thursday afternoon in response to an alert, sent out by local activists, that federal agents tased a person they were trying to apprehend. The alert said the detainee had been taken to the hospital for their injuries. According to Providence Mayor Brett Smiley’s […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local, Politics
Lawmakers seek to ban offshore drilling in New England
On Earth Day, members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation announced a bipartisan effort to ban offshore oil drilling. But the legislation announced Tuesday may be little more than a symbolic gesture. On his first day back in office, President Trump declared a national energy emergency. “We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in his second […]
Posted inLocal
Rhode Islanders pray for Pope Francis
Just before noon Mass Monday, the bells of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence tolled 88 times. Once for every year of Pope Francis’s life. Inside, right next to the altar, there’s now a portrait of the holy father draped in black. A steady stream of mourners kneel there and say a […]
Posted inArts And Culture, Local, Newport Bureau
A new chapter at America’s oldest synagogue
In the Jewish community of Newport, Passover this year is bittersweet because of a major change at Touro Synagogue. A unanimous ruling by the Rhode Island Supreme Court cleared the way for the eviction of the Newport congregation that has worshipped at Touro for generations, bringing closure to a long legal dispute at North America’s […]
Posted inArts And Culture, Business, Local
Mystic Disc proudly analog and still booming
The fact that Saturday, April 12, is National Record Store Day might leave reasonable people scratching their heads. Why, in an era when you can have instant access to almost any song at the click of a button, do record stores still exist? We visited Mystic Disc to find out. The one room shop has […]
Posted inHealth, Local, South County Bureau
Edesia looks for clarity amid chaos of Trump cuts
Outside Edesia’s North Kingstown headquarters, bulldozers are busy digging the foundation for a giant new warehouse to store the company’s product: Plumpy’Nut, a life-saving fortified peanut butter to feed malnourished children around the world. The construction project, planned long before the abrupt gutting of USAID, is funded by private donors. The Bezos family gave $137 […]
Posted inImmigration, Local, Metro Desk
New Providence bishop speaks out for immigrants, champions social justice
As leader of the Church in the most Catholic state in the nation, the Bishop of Providence has a bully pulpit. Bishop Bruce Lewandowski clearly intends to use it, vowing to be a voice of moral authority here in Rhode Island, in a moment when many feel a profound sense of despair, traumatized by sudden, […]
Posted inArts And Culture, Local, Transportation
Crumbling bridges and sweet flavors: Warwick Ice Cream’s delicious take on Rhode Island’s infrastructure
When he first heard the news that state officials had condemned the Washington Bridge, Tom Bucci senior immediately thought: ice cream. “Crumbling bridge, sorta like crumbling ice cream,” he mused. On the spot, he came up with a name. Now he needed a flavor. The list of ingredients practically rattled off the tongue. “So, we […]
