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In the News: Quick Recap of the Week, May 17-22, 2026
Here is a quick summary of news of the week in Rhode Island, the region, national and international and passings of note – get caught up!
RHODE ISLAND & REGION
SNAP Eat Well Buy Well program ends June 30, 2026, but rewards can be used for over 200 more days – this is the program that provided 2 to 1 funding for fresh fruits and vegetables bought with a SNAP card IN certain stores – NOT the general SNAP program
Mansfield, MA bans data centers within their municipality
A man falls from a ride at Southwick Zoo after suffering a medical emergency.
2 students arrested at E-Cubed Academy in Providence – one with a gun, one with a machete
RI get $25M settlement from Monsanto
Ted’s Stadium will honor Café Itri gift certificates – good only on week days
Single engine plane crashed in Westerly – pilot deceased, a certified instructor in his 20s
Gov. says control of Providence city schools should now be returned to the city – there is a 16.5M deficit this year with 109 possible layoffs of teachers/staff
Mayor Wu plans to use $70M from reserves to plug city’s deficits
A shark seen in Point Judith Pond
RI Speaker of the House Joseph Shekarchi moves forward to Supreme Court nomination – other candidates announced: Christopher Bush, Judge Laureen D’Ambra, Judge Luis Matos and John Roberts
Chaos on Beaches – Narragansett Beach with 3-4 stabbings. Second Beach in Middletown fights with pepper spraying, teens attacking police. Hampton Beach, NH fights and attacks. Occurred on National School Senior Skip Day
RI student jumped off the roof of South Kingstown HS – while no up to date status of her health, she was alive and speaking when found
Man dies from jump off the Mt. Hope Bridge – when police go to a Newport motel to notify his mother, than find that she is deceased, suspected homicide
At Harvard, to rein in grade inflation, and reduce the number of students graduating with a 4.0 grade point average, they will limit the number of A’s assigned in a course to 20% of students, allowing faculty to give four additional A’s.
Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police is banning boxing of the state police training Academy.
RIPTA will run a holiday schedule on Monday, Memorial Day
Pawtucket has short-changed the education day all year in schools and will now add 10 minutes a day and delay summer vacay to make up for it – which, of course, won’t do that.
Logan Airport is getting $2.8 million to upgrade its Kidport play areas as part of a nearly $1 billion nationwide push to make airports more family-friendly
New Bedford Fire Station to be maintained after funding is identified
Burlingame Park still not open yet
Prov. Schools to return to local Providence control July 1st – after yes/no events and statements over the last few days. RIDE director said Providence School Board was dysfunctional and it was not happening. Gov. said it will happen. Mayor Smiley says he’s happy about this. Infante Green says it’s being done – but that she will remain in charge because “I am still Commissioner”.
Nantucket resident was in the Gaza rescue flotilla where members were arrested and deported from Israel
License of Venus de Milo suspended for 60 days
RI State Beaches open this weekend
Etta Tenants Assoc. forming a union to protect evictions
Outdoor concert in Vermont rescheduled until fall due to a Ravens bird nest in the rafters. Ravens are protected
Pawtucket youth held without bail as he is a bail violator in the melee on Narragansett Beach
RI AG suing Kalshi & Polymarket for skirting RI’s gambling laws – Kalshi then sues RI Iand sends cease-and-desist letter to ‘Kalshi Lies’ social media group
Joanne M. Achille appointed Assoc. Justice of the RI Superior Court
At least 15% of residents of Nantucket have Lyme Disease – and it is spreading rapidly to other areas
$791,000 federal funding for the West Warwick Police Department to modernize its emergency response fleet.
Beacon Mutual data breach impacting over 100,000 in Rhode Island – approx. 160,000 in New England
Media reports that Ed Brady will run as an Independent for Mayor of Cranston at next election
Cranston’s new Budlong Pool is on schedule to reopen early July
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NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
NYC Mayor Mamdani says he regrets doing a video calling out Ken Griffin’s condo and taxing the rich
Ebola now a public health emergency in countries around the Congo – 30% death rate, no drug or vaccine to this new strain
14% fewer Americans died from drug overdoses last year than the previous year — the third straight annual drop and the longest sustained decline in decades.
US neutralizes 2nd in command of ISIS, found in Nigeria
The hantavirus-hit cruise ship is now in the Port of Rotterdam, where it will be disinfected and crew members will go into quarantine
Four aviators eject as 2 jets collide midair at Idaho Air Force base show
Iran drone hits area inside UAE nuclear power plant
New trend with AI commencement speakers getting boo’d when they mention AI
Napoleon Solo wins The Preakness
Billie Jean King graduates college in CA at the age of 82
Shooting at largest San Diego mosque. 17 and 18 year old shooters found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a car nearby. 3 others shot and killed with only security guard identified at first. Mother of one shooter had called police that her guns and car were missing and she believed her son was suicidal.
Anderson Cooper signed off on 60 Minutes – will continue on CNN
Mayor Mamdani offers free day care this fall 6 wks to 3 yrs old for all municipal workers – it will be subcontracted to a private agency
BBC reports Gonorrhoea and syphilis hit record levels in Europe
A large sculpture of a middle finger installed outside of NYC Mayor Mamdani’s office.
CDC has certain travel bans resulting from Ebola – including to and Congo, South Sudan, or Uganda in the past 21 days
California signature collector charged with paying homeless people to register to vote
This week’s national primaries: Republicans endorsed by Pres. Trump win.
Kentucky – Ed Gallrein over Thomas Massie (14 years in Congress)
Texas – Ken Paxton over John Cornyn (23 years in Senate)
Louisiana – Julia Letlow advances while Bill Cassidy (17 years in Congress) fails to advance to runoff.
Pre-revolutionary Iran flag BANNED from World Cup stadiums by FIFA.
NAACP urging athletes to avoid attending “southern schools”
Heart Attack Grille in Vegas is closed – they had the super-large servings of hamburgers, etc. promoted as a way to get a heart attack or bypass. Customers were called patients and wait staff dressed as doctors and nurses
NYC woman pulled her car up to a curb, stepped out of her car and fell directly into a man hole – died of cardiac arrest caused by super heated steam – in her late 50s – officials say the manhole cover was dislodged by a large truck
NATO considering helping ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz if Iran is still blocking
IRS settles with Pres. Trump and he withdraws his $1.8 Billion lawsuit which he was favored to win in exchange for the IRS agreeing to never have actions against him or any member of his family.
TSA now allows passengers to fly with medical marijuana in both carry-on & checked bags.
Cost of hosting FIFA World Cup to US taxpayers – $1B
A sinkhole shut down one runway at LaGuardia in New York City – cancellations, delays
Fox News host Joey Jones re-enlists in the US Marine Corps as a Staff Sargeant and is sworn in by former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Director, Dept. of War
Air France Boeing 777 headed to Detroit Airport diverted to Montreal due to a person with possible Ebola symptoms
3 people died and 18 first responders were hospitalized, with 2 in serious condition, after exposure to an unknown substance in a New Mexico home
Vanessa Trump, Kai Trump’s mother and former wife of Trump’s son, now girlfriend of Tiger Woods diagnosed with breast cancer
DR Congo cancelled their pre World Cup training camp due the outbreak of an extremely rare variant of the Ebola virus in their country.
Khomeini issues an order saying Iran’s enhanced uranium will not leave Iran.
15 arrested in Minnesota for $90+ M in Medicaid fraud
SpaceX and OpenAI will both be issuing IPOs soon. Elon Musk may become 1st trillionaire
Planes arriving in US from countries impacted by Ebola are being diverted to DC for advanced screening – or diverted back out of the country
Residents of a town in the Congo burned a hospital after they were denied retrieval of a family member’s body – person did not have Ebola, but many in the hospital did
Oura Ring that monitors health stats files for IPO
Adys Lastres Morera, sister of the executive president of GAESA, a sprawling Cuban conglomerate of military-run businesses, arrested
Tulsi Gabbard resigns from National Intelligence directorship saying her husband has a “rare form of bone cancer”.
12th Hantavirus case confirmed – person is in quarantine, after getting off cruiseship in Spain
Kevin Warsh was sworn in as Fed chair
Most green-card applicants will need to go abroad to apply for permanent residency at an American consulate
President’s security decides he cannot go to Bermuda for the marriage of his son
Explosion at NYC shipyard injures 16 people, 3 seriously
U.S. has also implemented a 30-day emergency order barring entry to non-U.S. citizens who have visited the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan within the last 21 days – orders Congo World Cup team to quarantine for 21 days
Ivanka Trump was targeted in an assassination plot by an Iranian terrorist who was arrested and found to have details, including a blueprint of her Florida home – this in retaliation for US killing of Iran leader and family
Mandatory evacuation last night of 40,000 in Orange County, CA where there is a tank on fire and in danger of exploding or leaking that is toxic and capable of causing a mass casualty incident
First Starship V3 launch & landing for SpaceX – landed in planned massive explosion in the ocean
Stock market ends in 8th straight week high
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PASSINGS
Rob Base, 49, rapper, known for “It Takes Two”, of cancer
Kyle Busch, 41, NASCAR superstar of a sudden, serious illness
Barney Frank, 86, for Congressman for decades, of congestive heart failure
Mark Fuhrman, 74, detective in O.J. Simpson case, of cancer
Josh Mauro, 35, former NFL defensive back, of accidental drug overdose