Limit access to part of Wickenden Street for a movie shoot, sure, but obstruct my peregrinations to Pizza Marvin at your peril. Welcome back to my Friday column. You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, threads and X. Here we go.
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1. STORY OF THE WEEK: Debate over the future of RIPTA is providing fireworks in an otherwise quiet stretch of summer in the Ocean State. State Rep. Julie Casimiro (D-North Kingstown) took aim at Gov. Dan McKee with an op-ed this week, arguing that McKee “is no friend of RIPTA.” Casimiro cites how it was the General Assembly, not the governor, that added $15 million to help RIPTA this year, and how the legislature last year boosted by $5 million the $10 million initially recommended by McKee. “RIPTA is a lifeline for so many Rhode Islanders,” Casimiro wrote in her opinion piece. “Yes, there has been mismanagement and waste in the past, but unlike so many state agencies, RIPTA has already made tangible improvements to bring down its administrative and operating costs. If Governor McKee is looking to save taxpayer money, he has many more agencies under his control that could use the scrutiny.” But McKee spokeswoman Laura Hart said Rep. Casimiro “seems to be missing the bigger picture when it comes to helping RIPTA for the long term.” While the administration believes that public transit plays a critical role, Hart said via email, “no business model is sustainable if it does not adapt when both its revenue and its customer base continue to decline … While fares have remained at $2 for the past 15 years, the recent efficiency study shows that some underperforming routes costing as much as $40 to $80 per passenger trip. That is clearly an unsustainable model.” RIPTA’s board recently tabled sharp service cuts after receiving a letter from McKee; Hart said talks are ongoing between RIPTA and the governor’s office about how to boost revenue while reducing low-performing routes. At the same time, transit advocates like Nicole O’Loughlin have been rallying expressions of opposition to RIPTA cuts from such groups as the RI Manufacturers Association and the RI Hospitality Association. RIPTA has been underfunded for years, so this isn’t a fresh problem — or one with easy solutions. With the glare of next year’s statewide race for governor intensifying, however, advocates have a timely window of opportunity to press for a more sustainable approach.
2. SUPERMAN UPDATE: High Rock Development, the Massachusetts-based owner of what we call the Superman Building, said it remains committed, following the recent death of company head David Sweetser, to moving ahead with a residential makeover, with activity increasing in 2026. The Jazz Age icon has been dormant since 2013, and three years have passed since the announcement of the most recent redevelopment plan.
3. SUMMER IN RI: Legislative leaders from around the country will gather when the 2025 annual meeting of the Council of State Governments gets under way in Providence this weekend. The host committee is composed of Speaker Joe Shekarchi, Senate President Val Lawson, House Majority Leader Chris Blazejewski, House GOP Leader Michael Chippendale, and Senate GOP Leader Jessica de la Cruz. The agenda indicates an invitation-only corporate contributors dinner, policy sessions (at the Omni Hotel) on topics ranging from housing to semiconductors, a clam boil dinner at the Statehouse, a WaterFire display on Monday and a Rhode Island state dinner. Via House spokesman Larry Berman: “According to CSG, there will be more than 500 attendees. CSG East includes 11 states from Maine to Maryland, as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and provinces in Eastern Canada. However, there will be attendees from several additional states and Washington, DC.”
4. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: Rhode Island-based jobs climbed by 500 from June to July and the state unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.8%, according to DLT. Yet URI economist Leonard Lardaro said the state’s economy continues to slow. According to URI, Lardaro “said he can’t rule out that the state is in a recession, but the full picture is blurred by the uncertainty caused by trade tariffs, which have frozen the state’s economic activity.”
5. SOCIAL INSECURITY: A lot of conventional political wisdom has crumbled in recent years. So Baby Boomers gradually making their way toward retirement might be forgiven if they feel anxious about the outlook for sustaining the current level of Social Security benefits. Politicians of both parties have demonstrated their ability to procrastinate by failing to address the situation. Be that as it may, the 90th anniversary of Social Security was celebrated this week, even amid warnings about how benefits will decline without action. According to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island retirement beneficiaries receive almost $2,000 a month in Social Security. Reed has introduced legislation to undo cuts made by President Trump to the Social Security administration.
6. DEMOCRATS IN THE WILDERNESS: As debate continues about whether Democrats need to move to the center or offer a bolder populist critique, Aaron Regunberg, a former Providence state rep who lost a close LG contest to Dan McKee in 2018, offered his view via The New Republic. Excerpt: “[A]gain and again, in must-win House and Senate races, rather than embracing candidates that are proving their capacity to spark grassroots Democratic enthusiasm and tap into the populist ferment of the American public, establishment leaders are working to tilt the scales in favor of exactly the kind of uninspiring corporatists that dug the party’s current hole.”
7. LG UPDATE: State Sen. Louis DiPalma (D-Middletown), chair of Senate Finance, tells me he’s still exploring a possible run for lieutenant governor, but is leaning toward seeking re-election. Elsewhere, Ray Baccari Jr. reports that Eric Ulis, “who describes himself as an expert on unsolved mysteries and recently launched a ‘26 LG campaign, tells me he is withdrawing from the race.”
8. NEW SENATOR ON THE BLOCK: Stefano Famiglietti, joined by his wife, Samantha, was sworn into his new role as the state senator in District 4 by Secretary of State Gregg Amore on Thursday. The outgoing North Providence councilor, a lawyer with a practice in Providence, succeeds the late Dominick Ruggerio, who died in April. (Photo: General Assembly)
9. BOOK FREEDOM: Gov. McKee was among those taking part in a ceremonial signing this week of Rhode Island’s Freedom to Read Act. “This was not librarians against the world,” Nicole Dyszlewski, a member of the Rhode Island Freedom to Read Coalition, wrote in an article for PEN America. “I think that was the key to success, that this wasn’t reduced to a librarian issue or a teacher issue or a parent issue. It was an everybody issue. It was a democracy issue. It was a diversity issue, and I mean that in the best way possible.” According to her article “the new law is the first in the nation to provide a private right of action against censorship to librarians, authors, public library patrons, students, and parents and guardians, allowing them to seek relief in court.”
10. SPEAKING OF BOOKS: My better half, aka Mrs. TGIF, periodically hectors your humble correspondent to thin the groaning stacks of books in our home. My rare compliance commingles with an overarching temptation to acquire some new reads even as I dispatch a few volumes. So after conducting some biz a few months back at Myopic Books in Wayland Square, my gains included Simon Winchester’s nonfiction The Men Who United The States. Like a lot of political reporters, I enjoy reading about history; the book was published in the calmer year of 2013, so it makes for an interesting contrast with our current moment. And since all roads lead to Rhode Island, one of the most noteworthy characters is Newport native Clarence King, a geologist, mountaineer and the first director of the United States Geological Survey. King, who was white, also pursued a double life by passing as a Black man while pursuing and marrying a Black woman. Before his death, King wrote of his hope that one day “the composite elements of American populations” would fade and people would be identified only as Americans. Winchester writes: “Perhaps, in some way, by marrying into a Black family and siring five children who were of mixed race — ‘melted down into one race alloy’ — King played his microcosmically small part in helping his country achieve that.”
11. MEGA-HEIST: This week marked the 50th anniversary of the Bonded Vault robbery, one of the largest in U.S. history and the greatest payday for the New England Mob. The heist was sanctioned by Raymond L.S. Patriarca, as WPRI’s Tim White and co-authors reported in an excellent 2016 book. “It was 150 safety deposit boxes, and we’re not talking those small ones you’d see at Citizens Bank, right?” White told me in an interview at the time. “These were really large two-foot safety deposit boxes stuffed with jewelry, gold bars, cash, like you wouldn’t believe.” Tim has continued delving into the case, with a crucial assist from his excellent mom Beth, and you can find his 50-year retrospective on Bonded Vault here.
12. KUDOS & CONGRATS, TO: Rhode Island AFL-CIO President Patrick Crowley, on the arrival of his first grandchild, Henry Daniel, who emerged in Boston late last month at 6.6 lbs. He is the son of Crowley’s son, Michael and wife Alicia …. Ace fundraiser Kate Ramstad (Gina Raimondo, Gabe Amo, Helena Foulkes) and Ed Mullaney on their engagement …. Lauren Matlach, who has signed on as the first-ever director communications/policy for the Rhode Island League of Charter Public Schools …. Emmanuel Falck, deputy chief of staff for House Speaker Joe Shekarchi, and Annie Pease, director of policy and project management for the Rhode Island Foundation, who are getting married in Narragansett this weekend.
13. SHORE ENOUGH?: As my colleague Alex Nunes has reported, in shoreline fire districts, taxes buy residents ‘beach club’ perks and exclusivity. So supporters of expanded access are celebrating what they bill as an upset seven-vote win by Melissa Jenkins — a supporter of expanded access — for a three-year term as a Bonnet Shores Fire District Council member.
14. KICKER: Bourbon sippers, unite! Kentucky bourbon was booming after the last Great Recession. Inflation and the trend of less drinking by younger Americans have taken a toll, though. Things have gotten so bad that Jack Daniel’s parent company closed a barrel-making plant in Kentucky. Now, President Trump’s tariffs pose another challenge. As the BBC reports, “Republican Senator Rand Paul, who represents Kentucky, said the tariffs will hurt local businesses and consumers in his home state. ‘Well, tariffs are taxes, and when you put a tax on a business, it’s always passed through as a cost. So, there will be higher prices’ he told ABC’s ‘This Week’ in May.”
