In the News… quick recap of the week ending September 18, 2026

In the News gives short summaries of top news stories of the week in Rhode Island, regionally, nationally and internationally with key deaths over the past week

 

RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY

Keith Hoffman will not stay on in the RI Attorney General’s office

Aaron Guckian declared winner of Republican primary for Governor

Swim Across America Rhode Island raised nearly $324,000

Mark Palumbo Memorial 5K raised $250,000+ since ’21 for families at Hasbro Children’s Hospital

Memorial 5K raised $250,000+ since ’21 for families at Hasbro Children’s Hospital

URI cuts ribbon on their new Fine Arts Center

Gina Raimondo named senior fellow for Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs.

Tim Williamson retires after 25 years as West Warwick’s solicitor

Dr. Mae Jemison, first woman of color to go into space, to deliver Sept. 22 URI Honors Colloquium lecture

Approximately 17,000 more Rhode Islanders voted than in the 2022 primary; millennials accounted for 18% and Gen Z 6%, twice its 2024 share. Voters younger than baby boomers collectively outnumbered boomers for the first time in a statewide primary. 

2,658 RI borrowers “suspended” as part of nationwide SBA fraud investigation

Only 1/2 of Connecticut students pass the President’s Physical Fitness Test

North Attleboro pauses Flock to study

Road shortcut to Patriots game, closed during World Cup, is open again

Troy City Brewing in Fall River to close

Reported by GoLocalProv that David Morales used the name David Cazares while he lived in California – claims it is his father’s name

A Florida man accused of threatening to kill East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva and his family through a series of emails and social media posts

UK inflation rate rises to 3.1%

Debbie’s restaurant in Providence to close.

Becky’s BBQ in Middletown to close.

Miso Mazza restaurant on Federal Hill for sale

Cranston Police arrest Jose Escalante, 33, and at least one other, on drug charges and animal abuse at a home in Alpine Estates, Cranston, after a police investigation about drug dealing from the home, where several people were renters. Home owned by Prov. Police Chief Oscar Perez’s sister. Josh Perez, his nephew, had been arrested months ago as a “drug kingpin” operating out of the home, and is serving a 22 year sentence.

Prov. School board seeks to oust Ty’Relle Stephens as president as he says he is not leaving – this as two high placed staff in the department leave

RISD dining workers unionize

New England Revolution players visited with children and families in the Izzy Family Room at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence

Cybertruck owners pay nonresident Pell Bridge toll of $4 (not 83 cents) because trucks exceed the resident-discount plan’s vehicle-weight limit

Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia is out of federal prison and now works as a marketing manager for a local restaurant

Boston ends use of Flock cameras

The South County Star has been exclusively digital but this month they are trying one free monthly print edition.

Former Rhode Island Commerce Secretary Liz Tanner (and recent World Cup RI coordinator) is now interim vice president for workforce and institutional advancement at CCRI

Rhode Island receives $1 million federal grant for the 988 crisis line

Patriots quarterback supports a Providence school. Drake Maye and his wife donated $15,000 to Alfred Lima Elementary for teacher gift cards, books and equipment.

Appeals court permits an overhaul of federal homelessness funding. Reversing RI based injunctions, First Circuit allows redirecting roughly $1.3 billion from permanent housing toward temporary housing and services while litigation continues.

Providence schools: 2 top administrators of the Providence School Dept. leaving and efforts underway to remove the School Board President, Ty’Relle Stephens, who says he is staying.

RI State Payroll transparency portal is 2 years out of date

United Way says 43% of Rhode Island households cannot afford basic needs

Controversial financial divestment considered in Providence, financial experts not in favor

In Cranston, approx. 20 auto break-ins in a few days – Budlong, Meshanticut, Reservoir, etc

RI unemployment continues a positive fall – from 3.9% to 3.7%

Kosta Diamantis, a Connecticut official convicted of extorting school-construction contractor evades arrest, goes back to Greece, where he had citizenship

Drake Maye, New England Patriots, and his wife, MayeDay Family Foundation paid off the Amazon wish list of all students/teachers at the Alfred Lima school in Providence

URI doing a study about how people buy food at Dollars Store – and how they can do this in a healthy way

RI attorney and former part time municipal court judge, Donna Nesselbush sues and wins her pension for working at least 20 hours a week as a judge

Woonsocket wastewater treatment plant to close shortly

4 restaurants have closed on Thayer Street in Providence in the last few months – Kung Fu Tea, Tiger Sugar, Aroma Joe’s and Bagel Gourmet Ole

All 65 Revolution Wind turbines now installed

Basketball Hall of Famer Robert Parish will be at Nova Farms in Attleboro September 22, 7-9pm, for launch of Robert Parish Full Court Chronic, new cannabis line

Statewide campaign to pause RI gas tax for at least 30 days

___

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Colorado DNA analyst sentenced to 10 years after deleting male DNA in 32 rape cases — then reporting none was found on over 1,000 cases

CIA officer arrested with over 303 gold bars worth $40 million at his home, Working on a plea deal with federal prosecutors – could keep the case a mystery

Top Emmy Awards – Drama series: The Pitt. Comedy series: Widow’s Bay. Drama actor: Noah Wyle, The Pitt. Drama actress: Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus. Comedy actor: Matthew Rhy, Widow’s Bay. Comedy actress: Jean Smart, Hacks.

Elena Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka for the U.S. Open

Pres. Trump spoke in Ireland about reunification, meeting only for 5 minutes with leaders

Celine Dion returns to the stage with a Paris residency, no word on her disabling disease, Stiff Person Syndrome

Sept. 24^th Pres. Trump will host China Pres. Xi Xi Ping at the White House

153 million driver’s license scans may be on the dark web

Wisconsin Governor aboard a plane with only pilot, lands in a lake after mechanical problems – had to swim out – stitches over his eye, otherwise unhurt

Ringo Starr’s sandwich he has eaten for years: Toasted bread in skillet with butter. Spread on goat cheese, sprinkle grated goat cheddar

153 million drivers licenses are on the dark web

Wisconsin Governor on a plane that crash landed in a lake. Swam out, stitches over eye

Navy All-Stars win over Red All-Star, 8–7, at Newport International Polo Series

FL Gov. DeSantis offers “asylum” to lone juror in Clancy trial after doxxing uncovers ID

Pres. Trump asks Ukraine to stop targeting Russian refineries; could cause diesel shortage

President Trump announces he’s removing tariffs on Irish Whiskey

Andrew Yang says the $5,000 check for Americans should happen – time to return some of the billions going around government to the people

About 140,000 automated license plate readers, including thousands of Flock cameras, are installed across the U.S

Kennedy Center could close soon because of falling ceilings, etc.

Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour after he claims Patriots owner Robert Kraft organized a boycott over his pro-Palestinian remarks at a recent concert.  Ed Sheeran said the action “was the promoter’s decision,” not his, and while he “respects Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes,” he chooses not to use his platform to discuss politics. His first concert will be tonight and protesters are expected

Key Saudi pipeline (across Saudi Arabia, 750 miles long) will take weeks to repair – Houthis continue to pummel Saudi, Mecca, pipeline, etc.

Judge seals the Clancy jury list indefinitely

Gen Z turning for advice to family & friends more than influencers; but 29% still “addicted” to social media

Sen. Mitch McConnell, in a wheelchair, came to Congress for a vote last night

Meghan and Harry moved children Archie & Lilibet to different school over security concerns

FBI Director Kash Patel announces the capture of Most Wanted Fraudster Emylee Thai in Vietnam. Thai is accused in a nearly $100 MILLION Medicare fraud scheme

LA News Helicopter crashes live while reporting on a bus/SUV accident, then an explosion on the ground, 2 die from TV station, 1 died on ground of a possible heart attack

Federal officials arrested 21-year-old Jonathan Kramer in Pennsylvania who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Syria, prepared with a rifle, ammunition and dozens of knives to conduct ISIS inspired mass casualty attack

Abbott Labs to pay $384M resulting from its baby formula manufacturing problems

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans ages 12–21 have used AI chatbots for mental-health advice, and 63.3% of those users told no one – JAMA Pediatrics

Sunny, the Obama family Portuguese Water Dog has died

Kansas City Chief tight end Travis Kelce has been named as a victim in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Saudi Arabia seeks Egyptian help against the Houthis.

Lindsay Clancy hires attorney Martin Weinberg, who at one time was on the Karen Reed case, to seek a dismissal on grounds of double jeopardy

60 Minutes will feature an interview on Sunday with Patrick Clancy

Fed raises interest rate by a quarter point, first time in 3 years. President Trump had hoped to see them lowered. Major banks subsequently raised their prime lending rate to 7%.

Palestinian President again denied VISA to US – this time to attend a conference. Other world leaders denied too

COSTCO opening in October: Lee’s Summit, Missouri; The Colony, Texas; Amherst, New York; Lawrence, Kansas; and Camarillo, California. Opening in November: South Meridian, Idaho; Vallejo, California; Chandler, Arizona; Newport News, Virginia; and Franklin, Wisconsin.

Potties for NYC: Opening 17 free bathrooms for $235,000 each – part of a $4 million plan to offer relief to the city’s public bathroom crisis

Travis Kelce taken for millions in a Ponzi scheme by undocumented immigran

Amazon raising wages for some of its workers and giving all of its U.S. employees a grocery discount.

Steve Belichick resigns from UNC football after investigation finds ‘certain actions’ disregarded standards

AI discussion continues worldwide – China says they will not slow down

First new wild cat species in 100 years – the Leopardus tilcayo, or the tilcayo tiger cat in Bolivian Amazon. Smaller than a house cat, slender and spotted, with rounded ears

Chris Harrison, former host of ABC’s “The Bachelor”, to host “The Vow” airing on Fox Nation

EU is proposing a social media ban for children under 13

48 people died in Nigeria and many others fell ill after drinking a home made alcoholic drink

Princess Diana’s brother’s new book with scathing claims against King Charles and his callous attitude to Diana’s death

Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway chairman, to remain chairman emeritus; son Howard to take over company

Elon Musk temporarily moved into a motor home on-site in Tennessee, says living there allows him to work alongside engineers to speed up work on xAI’s Colossus supercomputer.

Pres. Trump banned CNN, MSNOW and Politico from White House press conference because of their inaccurate reporting

China President had a problem with his headset that translates at a multi-nation dinner, with staff running over to help him fix it – wrongly reported as him getting seriously ill

Anthropic and Accenture announce at least $2 billion for independent AI evaluation.

Anthropic establishes a biology laboratory, expanding AI into drug discovery, including research on rare and neglected diseases.

Agreement signed with Denmark about Greenland – US will have a larger, lasting military role in Greenland, while preserving Danish sovereignty and Greenland’s right to self-determination.

 

PASSINGS

Brian “Nashville” Duckworth, 56, country singer, undisclosed cause

Janet Feyler, former CEO of Girl Scouts of RI for many years

Bob Mackie, 87, fashion designer, of pneumonia

Suzanne Magaziner, 74, mother of RI Congressman Seth Magaziner

Duncan Sheik, 56, singer and Broadway actor