A former Rhode Island state senator has been charged with OUI after crashing the boat he was driving into a moored vessel, ejecting his passenger. Details: wpri.com/news/local-news/eas…

Come for @TedNesi’s smart take on how the General Assembly has — and hasn’t changed. Stay for some bills that flew under the radar wpri.com/news/local-news/ted…

My Saturday column: wpri.com/?p=3051438

.@IanDonnis gets at the challenge for all candidates with the timing of the Sept. 9 primary: "most people will spend more time thinking about barbecues and the beach, not tuning into the fight to lead the state" oceanstatemedia.org/politics…

The @FiveFreedoms' Negri First Amendment Institute is a great program for entry-level and even experienced reporters. Applications are due July 24 nefac.org/wp-content/uploads…

The Ghana national team has arrived in the Ocean State ⚓️🇬🇭 @wpri12

VIDEO NOW: Two years after Mayor Brett Smiley's veto of the Providence City Council's 8-Law ordinance, councilors will take up a new version that sets affordability thresholds that align with other low-income housing programs. MORE: wpri.com/news/local-news/pro… @wpri12

VIDEO NOW: I spoke more with Council President Rachel Miller tonight about her decision not to run for reelection, who she is endorsing for Ward 13, and if she has ruled out running for office again one day. Updated story: wpri.com/news/elections/prov… @wpri12

EXCLUSIVE: Only Target 12 was in court when former RIH nurse, Scott Amaral, who was violently beaten by a patient in 2023, addressed his attacker. That man, George Bower, changed his plea and was sentenced. More details coming up on @wpri12. wpri.com/target-12/ri-hospit…

NEW: Bristol bristles at RIPTA's request for yet another delay in the Mt. Hope Bridge inspection report lawsuit. The saga began with a Target 12 investigation that revealed the agency was refusing to release the report on the nearly century-old span. wpri.com/target-12/bristol-o…

The defendants also said the state won’t produce records on inspection, maintenance, and structural deficiencies of other bridges in its inventory.

"Among the impasses: joint defendants Barletta Heavy Division and Aetna Bridge Company said the state has refused to provide 'communications involving Deputy Chief of Staff T. Joseph Almond and Governor Daniel J. McKee relating to the Washington Bridge'"

NEW: The judge overseeing the state’s Washington Bridge lawsuit has tapped a special master to resolve ongoing disputes over access to documents, including internal emails at the governor’s office. wpri.com/target-12/special-m…

There are new and seemingly competing leaks today about Bari Weiss and CBS News. Here's what I wrote in today's @ReliableSources:

"What’s different between this moment and 50 years ago, though, is the voters themselves. Vietnam and Watergate disillusioned Americans, but the post-World War II consensus media and culture still prevailed. Now that’s all fragmented, and the results are screaming in neon"

I wrote about my friend Gordon Wood. On Gordon Wood, America 250, and this dour moment in history open.substack.com/pub/search…

A rough night for two Dem incumbents Local @RIDemParty chairs voted to endorse Foulkes for gov and Xay for LG, snubbing McKee and Matos (just as they did in 2022; both still won) No endorsement for AG, but @keithhoffmann says he got the most votes wpri.com/news/elections/dem-…

I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him. In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over. Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed. When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye. She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession. As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him. Rest in peace, professor.

A night out on Federal Hill quickly turned into chaos Saturday night. Christopher Woodley tells me he is lucky to be alive after a motorcycle hit him after someone threw a trash can at the rider, making them lose control of the bike. @wpri12 MORE --> wpri.com/news/local-news/pro…

RIP to a real one