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1. STORY OF THE WEEK: Supporters of the birthing center at Newport Hospital got good news this week — Brown University Health is keeping it open for now. But in an internal letter, Brown Health President/CEO John Fernandez prefaced the decision by noting how Rhode Island’s largest hospital group has been unable to reach a targeted 3% operating margin over the last decade. And although the current state budget directs an additional $23 million to Brown Health, that’s less than 10% of the amount sought to address ongoing needs. Added Fernandez, “If this underfunding is not addressed within the next one or two years, we will be forced to further reduce patient services, an outcome which is unacceptable to us at Brown Health and is a step we are determined to avoid.” Brown Health might be determined to avoid further cuts, but fallout from President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ suggests that Rhode Island’s healthcare crisis will get worse before it gets better. As the ProJo’s Jonny Williams reported this week, tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders are expected to lose Medicaid coverage due to changes at the federal level. “This shifting of financial responsibility onto our state will have profound and immediate adverse implications for our annual budget,” forcing adjustments in essential services like education, transportation and public safety,” state Sen. Louis DiPalma (D-Middletown) wrote in a Globe op-ed. All this comes following years of warnings from Attorney General Peter Neronha about how reimbursement for public and private insurance in Rhode Island pales in comparison to Connecticut and Massachusetts. “Until we truly prioritize investment in our health care system, we can and should expect more difficult decisions about closures, decisions which may not turn out as favorably as this one,” Neronha said via statement regarding the birthing center at Newport Hospital. The timing, however, couldn’t be worse for the state since we’re in a new era of perennial deficits amid softening in the economy. One upside, though, is that with 2026 being a statewide election year, voters — aided by Rhode Island’s reporting corps — will have a chance to assess whether candidates have any pragmatic plans for ameliorating the healthcare crisis.
2. REALITY CHECK: For decades, the overarching challenge facing Rhode Island has been improving the state’s economic competitiveness, generating more revenue, and sparking more jobs. Now, though, the Ocean State’s fiscal hurdles are increasingly bleeding into other areas, including healthcare and public transit.
3. HELENA RISING: For an unannounced Democratic candidate for governor, Helena Foulkes is doing, well, not so bad. With a campaign balance of more than $2 million, she has more than twice the amount of cash on hand as Gov. Dan McKee. And as I first reported this week, Foulkes made a significant addition to her team by hiring Louisville-based Eric Hyers. A native of North Adams in the Berkshires, Hyers’ winning streak includes managing victorious statewide campaigns in blue Rhode Island and red states like Kentucky and Montana. Remaining publicly undecided on a gov run for now is House Speaker Joe Shekarchi, although he has almost $4 million in his campaign account and — unlike Foulkes — is an almost-ubiquitous guest on local interview shows. In a statement touting a boost in fundraising since a new fundraiser came onboard, McKee campaign manager Rob Silverstein said the governor “will be re-elected because he has a strong record of fighting for Rhode Islanders and delivering on the issues that matter most. Our campaign will continue to highlight the governor’s decisive actions on raising family incomes, education, reproductive care, clean energy, and gun safety – all while articulating a forward-looking vision for the state’s future.” In a sign that he may be ramping up his criticism of President Trump, McKee is among the Democratic governors taking part in a Friday news conference on the president’s budget bill.
4. GINAWORLD: Along with U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Reps. Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner, Gina Raimondo is on the host committee for an Aug. 4 fundraiser for U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, who looks solid heading into his next election. The event will be at the Newport home of Tom Quinn, who cut his teeth working on Claiborne Pell’s first campaign and was also involved in JFK’s groundbreaking 1960 run. Suggested contributions run from $250 to $3,500. Raimondo’s role suggests a resumption of political activity in her native Rhode Island. The former governor and U.S. Commerce secretary is also playing a role in a fundraiser for Reed on Block Island later this month.
5. DEMOCRATS IN THE WILDERNESS: A question looms over Democrats Gina Raimondo and Pete Buttigieg — does their previous role in the Biden administration rule them out as possible presidential candidates in 2028? It’s a query we’ll hear more and more as we move closer to the next election. In related news, a recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 52% of voters oppose President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ while just 42% support it. Yet the WSJ also found that 63% of voters have a negative view of the Democratic Party. Heading into last year’s election, it was already known that the party’s brand was badly damaged in working class communities. Now, debate is intensifying about how Democrats should move forward. How to respond to Trumpism was a hot topic when the state’s Democratic city and town chairs gathered this week for a regular meeting at state Democratic Party Chair Liz Perik’s Jamestown home (also there: Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, AG Peter Neronha, Secretary of State Gregg Amore, Speaker Joe Shekarchi and Senate President Val Lawson). Generally speaking, some Dems including RI Democratic National Committeeman Joseph R. Paolino Jr., say the party needs to move to the center. Others, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (who beat Hillary Clinton in RI’s 2016 Democratic presidential primary), contend a more aggressive economic populism approach is the answer. For a sense of how Buttigieg perceives the way forward, listen to this 37-minute podcast interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
6. THE DELEGATION: U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo hosted a press call this week in which he discussed how President Trump is affecting Rhode Island …. On the 60th anniversary of Medicare/Medicaid, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed sounded a warning about how the president’s budget bill will affect Rhode Islanders …. U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is a co-sponsor of “the Pick Up After Your DOGE Act, legislation requiring a comprehensive audit of federal agency computer systems and networks accessed by staff of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).” …. U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner introduced a bill to require paid time off for all full-time workers in the U.S., with a related event planned Monday at the Roger Williams Planetarium and Museum of Natural History.
7. ON COLLEGE HILL: Linda McMahon, President Trump’s education secretary, and Brown University President Christina Paxson each claimed victory after a resolution agreement was announced this week. “The Trump Administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,” McMahon said in a statement. ‘Because of the Trump Administration’s resolution agreement with Brown University, aspiring students will be judged solely on their merits, not their race or sex.” Paxson said her top priority for Brown through discussions with the federal government “was remaining true to our academic mission, our core values and who we are as a community at Brown. This is reflected in key provisions of the resolution agreement preserving our academic independence, as well as a commitment to pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island, which is aligned with our service and community engagement mission.”
8. GENERAL MATTERS: Will Attorney General Peter Neronha take a pass on seeking a different office in 2026? He held out that possibility while talking with me Wednesday, although he also said he remains undecided about his plans: “I’ve really loved being attorney general because I love using the law to do the work that we do in the office. I am a lawyer at heart and in the back of my mind I am not sure that any other job in politics would really give me the same kind of satisfaction that this one has.” Neronha confirmed that Helena Foulkes recently shared with him the results of a poll she commissioned, although he declined to discuss the details. Neronha and I talked as I ran down the story of how the Centurion Foundation sought changes in its financing to acquire Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital.
9. LOOKING TO 2026: Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos is sitting on a modest campaign balance of $14,611, down from a starting cash balance of $24,718, raising the question of whether she will seek re-election next year. Matos spokesman David Folcarelli (who said he was responding to this campaign question outside of work hours) said via email: “Lt Gov. Matos will run, and win, in 2026. She’s actively building out her campaign team and preparing for a formal launch later this quarter. As the leading voice in Rhode Island for tackling the affordability crisis, including introducing legislation to lower grocery costs, she’s earned the trust of Rhode Islanders. She has strong grassroots support, she’ll have the resources to run a winning campaign, and she’s ready to continue delivering results for working families across the state.” Matos’ Q2 report notes, among other things, a $300 contribution to U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner, a $2,500 expenditure with Quisqueya in Action, and a $1,000 contribution to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed. In related LG news, Democratic candidate Cindy Coyne of Barrington reported a Q2 balance of more than $60,000.
10. BEACH BUBBLER: Dave Armon of Narragansett recently shared via FB some good news for visitors to Scarborough North Beach — the state Department of Environmental Management installed a water bottle-filling station in the north pavilion in mid-July: “The fountain, whose digital readout Saturday says it has already filled the equivalent of 514 single-use plastic bottles, is part of a pilot project, according to Robert Henninger, the manager of the state park department’s District 4. Every state beach should have these water bottle filling stations – or at least a bubbler. It has been five years since beach goers have been able to quench their thirst without paying for the privilege. As a daily swimmer at Roger Wheeler State Beach (Sandhill Cove), I was dismayed when DEM shut off the lone bubbler, mounted on the north side of the pavilion, during the COVID pandemic in 2020. When operations returned to normal at Wheeler, the bubbler was blocked by concession carts. I voiced my concern to the park manager in 2022, Mike Mahoney, who was supportive of my suggestion that the new multimillion-dollar boardwalk project include water bottle filling stations. But rather than telling the concession stand operator to stop blocking the drinking fountain, DEM pulled the bubbler out and installed a wooden panel over the water hookup. The same systematic removal of fountains happened at Salty Brine and other pavilions. Forcing beachgoers to plunk down $3.99 for a plastic bottle of water from the refreshment stand is maddening. (An employee at the concession stand told me he and his colleagues are not allowed to fill patrons’ water bottles.) Adding plastic bottles to the piles of trash left on the beach is also crazy ….”
11. PEOPLE IN THE NEWS: U.S. District Court Judge Jack McConnell has spoken out for the first time about the harassment he faced after ruling against the Trump administration …. Ward 2 Providence Councilor Helen Anthony announced she is resigning, effective Sept. 1, to devote more time to her health, following a 2023 accident in which she was struck by a van …. Richard Fossa, 88, the long-serving chief of staff (and former mayor) in North Providence, tells me he’s using accrued vacation time ahead of retirement next month. “I think I’m getting burned out,” he quipped, adding that his exit is unrelated to questions about local government …. Gary Sasse is the Rhode Island chair of Our Republican Legacy.
12. PUBLIC TRANSIT: As RIPTA faces sharp cuts, the agency is out with its efficiency study. You can read it here.
13. MEDIA: The Dallas-based Belo Corp., which bought the Providence Journal Company in 1996, wore out its welcome with employees in a few years, in part due to cost cuts and a long-running contract standoff. With the benefit of hindsight, that era seems like the good old days, a time when Rhode Island’s statewide daily — and newspapers everywhere — had a far more robust level of staffing before the internet exacted a bigger bite on print products. Belo sold the ProJo in 2014; more staffing cuts followed and print circulation fell (though a number of talented reporters continue to do excellent work at the Journal). Now, Belo’s flagship Dallas Morning News is going through its own drama involving a change of ownership, with Alden Global Capital trying to outpace Hearst. As Nieman Lab puts it in a spicy headline, “Alden Global Capital is miffed that the Dallas Morning News won’t offer itself up for disembowelment.” Footnote: Former Belo Chairman/CEO Robert Decherd, a great-grandson of the DMN’s founder — staunchly opposes Alden’s bid. He was taken to task by ProJo alum C.J. Chivers in 2001 for downplaying how poor union-management relations accelerated ‘an exodus’ from Fountain Street.
14. KICKER: In a time of climate change, is ramping up shade an important part of the way forward, or is the healing power of sunlight underestimated? Something to ponder during a week in which local temperatures ran the gamut, from high 90s to mid 50s.
