Get your PVDFest on this weekend. Welcome back to my Friday column. You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, threads and X. Here we go. *** Want to get my column in your inbox every Friday? Sign up right here *** 1. STORY OF THE WEEK: Politics is not foremost in the minds […]
Seth Magaziner
Posted inArts And Culture, Local, Politics
Rhode Island libraries face deep cuts in Trump’s budget
President Trump’s new budget proposal calls for cutting the main source of federal funds for state and local libraries. The president’s budget outline, released earlier this month, would eliminate a little known federal agency called the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The proposed cuts weren’t exactly a surprise. Executive Order 14238, signed by […]
Posted inLocal, Politics
Rhode Island congressmen fight for emergency food aid
Ever since the Trump Administration abruptly dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, emergency food supplies have been piling up at the North Kingstown warehouse of Edesia Nutrition. As of last week, Edesia had stockpiled more than 120,000 boxes of Plumpy’Nut, a specially formulated mixture of ground peanuts, powdered milk, sugar and oil created to […]
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, Politics, TGIF
TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup for April 18, 2025
Is it too much to yearn for a major motion picture about Buddy Cianci and a cool indie about the Dorr Rebellion? You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, threads and X. Here we go. *** Want to get my column in your inbox every Friday? Just sign up right here. *** 1. […]
Posted inLocal, Politics
Reed, Magaziner say GOP plan is to slowly kill Social Security
While Republicans have long accused Democrats of using scare tactics to fan fears about Social Security, two Rhode Island Democrats say the GOP’s planned cuts to the taxpayer-funded retirement system speak for themselves. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed and U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner were among those who spoke Tuesday at a midday news conference at the St. […]
Posted inLocal, Politics, TGIF
TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup for April 11, 2025
April vacation week is here for the General Assembly, so prepare for a more active phase of the session once lawmakers return to the roost. You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, threads and X. Here we go. *** Want to get my column in your inbox every Friday? Just sign up right […]
Posted inLocal, Politics, TGIF
TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup for April 4, 2025
Raise your hand if you remember when Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan saluted those who braved a parking lot on I-95 to make it to Quonset by exhorting, “Rhode Island, smallest state in the nation, we will rock you!” You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, threads and X. Here we go. *** Want […]
Posted inLocal, Politics
Anxiety about democracy highlights town hall in East Greenwich
Concerns about democracy — and impatience about how Democrats are responding to President Donald Trump — dominated a town hall staged by Second District U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner on Thursday night at the Swift Community Center in East Greenwich. More than 200 people attended the event, and while the crowd appeared broadly supportive of Magaziner, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Local, Politics
Georgia congressman moves to impeach R.I.’s chief federal judge
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Georgia Republican, followed through on an earlier vow by filing articles of impeachment Monday against Rhode Island’s top federal judge, John J. McConnell Jr. Clyde makes two claims in his filing, the latest in a long line of conservative criticism against McConnell, who was a Democratic fundraiser and activist before […]
