For several weeks the Special Committee on Ways and Means has been carefully vetting the 2026-2027 city budget, holding meetings with every department as well as two public hearings. Tonight, councilors recommended the budget with amendments that add much-needed new positions to PEMA, PERA, the Department of Sustainability, and Veterans Support, along with a grant to Mathewson Street Church to provide support for our unhoused neighbors and extra funding for community libraries and recreation programming. The first full vote on the budget will be held at a special City Council meeting on June 15th. The budget requires two votes to pass.

When police in Rhode Island wrongfully arrest someone without charges, the RI Attorney General’s office says the public does not have the right to know. Civil rights advocates say that ruling opens the door for secret arrests and abuse. bostonglobe.com/2026/06/02/m… via @BostonGlobe

If you want to see how bad the RI April household survey data is, this table shows percent changes. Wow!

RI's unemployment rate rose from 4.4% last April to 4.5% this April. Sound good, right? But this occurred as resident employment plunged by 10,700, with an almost identical drop in the labor force. Too bad the media in this state is so oblivious to what is "under the hood."

I didn't think RI's household survey data could get worse after last month. But, it did, bigtime! Huge drops in our labor force and resident employment, monthly and annually. Our "official" unemployment rate of 4.5% is totally meaningless (the media won't realize this).

Cost-of-living concerns dominated our poll, with the economy and housing affordability emerging as the top issues for more than half of respondents. Healthcare came in third. Full results --> wpri.com/12-news-emerson-col…

Commentary: Breaking up homeless encampments disrupts vital access to health care, social services, and community, write emergency medicine physicians with the Brown University Health Street Medicine program. trib.al/A8B1IWi

Rhode Island’s unemployment rate reached its highest level in nearly five years during the first three months of 2026. trib.al/zyeYd8l

Like the nation, RI employment in health and education is having a major impact on employment change. For March, RI payroll employment (yearly) fell 1,300. If we take out education and health, the decline was actually 3,600.

Rhode Island's economy lost ground to the rest of the country over the past 10 years, according to a new @RIPEC_ analysis. Personal incomes and GDP lagged neighboring states from 2014 to 2024 under Govs Raimondo and McKee providencejournal.com/story/…

This week on @ALivelyExp: The state has spent tens of millions of taxpayers dollars on homeless - with not much to show for it. Plus: a look at the top local stories of the week. @ehirsch5 @_HarrisonTuttle @IanDonnis join Hummel tonight @7/Sunday @ noon on @OSMediaRI

El Papa cuando le preguntan su postura sobre la migración: “Yo cambiaría la pregunta: qué hace el norte global para ayudar al sur global en su situación que les obliga a migrar”

Rhode Island has spent tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money trying to address homelessness- with little to show for it. @ehirsch5 @_HarrisonTuttle @hummel_report talk about why, and what should be done. Available right now. youtu.be/MgRW-CIsQPg

Last year, I was waiting for the two RI labor market measures to converge. Since then, they have, but I should be careful what I wish for.

Last night at the @GeorgeWileyCRI we heard from from those directly impacted by our for profit utility system which prioritizes corporate greed over people's needs & to discuss solutions with Dr. Diana Hernández #PassPIPP

@_HarrisonTuttle in the @projo: RI's economic crisis has deep roots. We face a systemic crisis of homelessness and economic instability, rooted in decades of policy choices - providencejournal.com/story/…

Bad news concerning RI's labor market. February Household Survey data show falling labor force and resident employment and higher number of unemployed -- all both monthly and yearly. Result: the rise in the official unemployment rate is understated.

R.I. unemployment rate increased to 4.6 percent and job count fell by 1,000 in February.

APRIL 12 1965: @wpri12 aired a documentary series entitled "Close Up"-- this episode, "Where We Don't Live", interviewed Black Rhode Islanders about housing discrimination. Here is the 30 minute episode from the @RIHistory archives. 👉🏻 m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDo7ZX…