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Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
R.I. General Assembly backs hourly minimum wage hike to $16 in 2026, then $17 in 2027
Both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly approved increasing the state's minimum wage by a dollar a year through 2027, voting mostly along party lines. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) The parade of annual increases in Rhode Island's hourly minimum wage is poised to march on for two more years under companion bills approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly Tuesday. The legislation sponsored by Democratic Rep. David Bennett, of Warwick, and Sen. John Burke, of West Warwick, increase the existing, $15 hourly minimum wage to $16 starting Jan. 1, 2026, rising to $17 on Jan. 1, 2027. Both chambers approved the wage hike in separate votes divided mostly along party lines — 55-10 in the House, and 33-4 in the Senate. All four Senate Republicans voted against the bill while nine of 10 House Republicans opposed it; the final House Republican, Rep. Robert Quattrocchi, of Scituate, was absent. Democratic Rep. Jacquelyn Baginski of Cranston also voted against the wage increase. Each chamber must rubber stamp the other's bill under a process known as concurrence before the proposal can be signed into law. Gov. Dan McKee's office did not immediately return inquiries for comment Thursday. Originally, an annual $1-per-year increase in base pay would have continued through the end of the decade, culminating in $20-an-hour in 2030. But backlash from business groups and economic uncertainty led to what Rep. Arthur Corvese, a North Providence Democrat and chair of the House Committee on Labor, termed a 'more measured approach' — only prescribing annual wage hikes for the next two years rather than five. 'I would urge my colleagues to vote for this very common sense, measured response regarding increasing the minimum wage,' Corvese said. His plea did not persuade Republican lawmakers, who echoed business owners concerns' that higher wages would cut into small business bottom lines, and, potentially, force layoffs. 'The real minimum wage is $0,' said House Minority Whip David Place, a Burrillville Republican. 'That's what they make when they get fired because business can't afford to keep them.' Consumers could suffer, too, warned Rep. Paul Santucci, a Smithfield Republican. Santucci took an informal survey of owners of four local restaurants, a farm, a nursing home and a repair shop. All told him they would likely have to raise their prices if base wages increase, Santucci said Thursday. 'For small business owners, policies that continually increase labor costs will force them to make difficult decisions,' the Rhode Island Business Coalition wrote in a March 5 letter to lawmakers. 'They may be forced to cut jobs and/or reduce their employees' hours, if they are not forced to close entirely. Rising labor costs may also increase the speed at which employers decide to invest in technology to replace lower-wage workers. This means fewer jobs for Rhode Island workers, and ultimately undermines the progress our economy needs to make.' The coalition in its letter also pointed out that Rhode Island already has the seventh highest hourly minimum wage in the country — accompanied by Massachusetts — having hiked the base pay for hourly workers in eight of the last nine years. Sen. Leonidas Raptakis framed Rhode Island's high ranking as a benefit, rather than a detriment, noting that the Ocean State's hourly base pay ranked 14th in 2013, before lawmakers began a series of regular minimum wage hikes. 'If we do this today, we're going to be number 6, then maybe in 2017, we'll be number 5,' said Raptakis, a Coventry Democrat and former small business owner. Raptakis unsuccessfully proposed two amendments on the Senate floor Thursday: one to raise the minimum wage to $17 immediately, with subsequent increases based upon the consumer price index, and a second to create a legislative study panel on the topic. Both amendments failed. Earlier in the session, progressive Democratic Rep. Enrique Sanchez also suggested an alternative, proposing a $22 hourly minimum starting Jan. 1, which failed to gain enough traction to advance out of committee. Addressing colleagues Thursday, Sanchez backed the less-severe $1 boost to hourly wages as 'good progress.' 'This is common sense legislation,' Sanchez said. 'The reality is that inflation is still high, and we need to make sure our Rhode Islanders are getting paid sufficient wages in order to maintain their lifestyles and support their families at home.' Majority Whip Katherine Kazarian, an East Providence Democrat, also noted that business owners routinely implore lawmakers to make policies that are predictable and standardized. 'This does exactly that,' Kazarian said. Union groups, medical professionals and advocates for child and family wellbeing previously expressed support for raising the state's minimum wage, which they said would boost purchasing power, reduce poverty and lead to better health outcomes. Lawmakers last updated the state's minimum wage rate in 2021, approving a set of annual increases that increased hourly rates by $3.50 over a four-year period. Separate proposals to increase the tipped minimum wage for servers and other hospitality workers — either a one-year bump to $6.75 an hour or gradually to reach $15 hourly by 2031 — remained held for review in committee in each chamber as of Thursday afternoon. Rhode Island has not updated its $3.89 hourly minimum wage for workers who receive tips since 2017. 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Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
R.I. overdose deaths decline for second year in a row
Publicly-accessible Boxes containing Naloxone, an opioid reversal drug also known by the brand name Narcan, line up outside the East Bay Recovery Center in Warren. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Rhode Island saw its lowest number of fatal drug overdoses since 2020, according to health department data presented to the Governor's Overdose Task Force on Wednesday. 'This is a sign of hope,' Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement Wednesday. 'We know there is still much work ahead, but the steps we are taking are saving lives.' This is the second year in a row that overdose deaths have dropped. There were 329 Rhode Islanders who died from overdoses in 2024, representing an 18.6% decrease from 2023, and a 25% drop compared to 2022. That means the state is well on its way to achieving its goal of a 30% reduction for 2030. The goal was set in 2022, the year a total of 436 people died of drug overdoses. The 2024 data demonstrated another longstanding trend now broken: For the first time since 2013, cocaine-related deaths were implicated in 61% of fatal overdoses, surpassing the 57% of deaths associated with fentanyl. All opioid-related overdoses, in fact, fell from 85% the previous year to 69% in 2024. But more than one substance can contribute to an overdose, so distinguishing the role of cocaine or fentanyl in a death is not so neatly accomplished. A large portion of overdoses — 118 in all — involved both substances being used in tandem in 2024. About three in five people who died from cocaine also had fentanyl in their system. The annual overdose data is compiled and interpreted by the Rhode Island Department of Health's (RIDOH) Substance Use Epidemiology Program, which finished reviewing the 2024 results last week, according to Joseph Wendelken, a department spokesperson. The data is largely based on autopsy and toxicology findings from the Office of the State Medical Examiners. Personal medical history also informs the coroners' findings. The data does not include deaths with undetermined causes. 'Though decline is encouraging, this is still an incredible loss in our community,' Heidi Weidele, the health department's lead fatal overdose epidemiologist, told the task force Wednesday during her presentation on the data. The scale of loss did not affect all people equally: 70% of overdose deaths in 2024 were men, a number consistent with recent years. Similarly, people ages 45 to 54 were the largest age-based cohort of overdose deaths, followed by people ages 55 to 64. By race, non-Hispanic white Rhode Islanders comprised the largest share of overdoses at 73%, even though they were also most likely to have a history of substance use treatment. Most of the state's overdoses were concentrated in urban areas, with Woonsocket, Providence and Pawtucket reporting the highest numbers. Though decline is encouraging, this is still an incredible loss in our community. – Heidi Weidele, lead fatal overdose epidemiologist, Rhode Island Department of Health Weidele said the deceased most commonly worked in 'natural resources, construction, maintenance, and service occupations, which is similar to what we've seen in past years,' she told the task force. 'And service occupations would be things like health care support, law enforcement, food preparation, grounds maintenance, and personal care.' Other statistics from the report painted a grim picture of the deceased leading up to final moments: Most never sought substance use treatment, or received medical treatment for a previous overdose. Eight out of 10 died in private, in a home, garage or camper. Most overdosed alone, with no bystander present in 60% of cases. The availability of lethal drugs has also influenced overdose trends over the years. In 2009, prescription drugs accounted for 62% of overdose deaths. By 2020, prescription drugs accounted for only 9% of fatal overdoses, while illicit drugs like fentanyl and cocaine comprised 72% of overdose deaths. In 2024, the state actually saw 34% of deaths attributed to combinations of illicit and prescription drugs combined — the highest percentage since at least 2009. A few uncommon culprits in overdose deaths were still marked as 'substances of concern' by the state health department. These included novel benzodiazepines, tranquilizers which belong to the much broader category of research chemicals — substances derived from or chemically very similar to legal and regulated drugs. In this case, novel benzodiazepines like clonazolam — about two-and-a-half-times stronger than Xanax — accounted for nine fatalities in 2024. Brown University researcher: Street drugs are getting more potent and more mysterious Xylazine, a veterinary anesthetic increasingly being used to cut street-sourced opioids, was another rogue substance that continued to impact overdose data in 2024. It was involved in 37% of opioid-related deaths. 'Every single overdose death is preventable,' Health Department Director Dr. Jerry Larkin said in a statement Wednesday. 'Recovery is within reach for every person living with the disease of addiction.' McKee strengthened the Overdose Task Force — a coalition of more than 150 members divvied up into nine workgroups — in 2022 via an executive order, hoping to ensure a sustained state response to the opioid overdose crisis. Among the initiatives it steers are determining how to dispense opioid settlement funds, naloxone distribution networks, peer outreach, and recovery support and public awareness campaigns. Earlier this year, Rhode Island also opened the nation's first state-regulated harm reduction site at Project Weber/RENEW in south Providence, where people can use drugs and receive medical attention in the event of an overdose. Despite a fierce floor debate in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, legislation to extend the injection site's pilot authorization was extended by the General Assembly and later signed into law by McKee on June 6. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
RIDE disability rights case settlement disrupts R.I. House final budget preparations
The Rhode Island Department of Education's Westminster Street entrance in Providence is shown. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) may soon have to pay $1.86 million to settle a class action lawsuit that claimed the state had failed to provide special education services for students with disabilities between the ages of 21 and 22. That news presented a last minute complication for the Rhode Island House Committee on Finance's fiscal 2026 state budget preparations Tuesday. 'We literally worked to, like, 15 minutes ago to do this budget,' House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi told reporters at a press briefing on the $14.33 billion spending plan that began after 9 p.m. Tuesday night. He cited a figure of nearly $2 million needed because of an adverse ruling against RIDE, but details were unavailable at the time. The case of K.L. v. Rhode Island Board of Education is close to a settlement, Victor Morente, a RIDE spokesperson, confirmed via email on Wednesday morning. He said officials were still drafting a 'tentative' agreement that is still subject to approval from Rhode Island District Court as well as the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, RIDE's governing body. The settlement comes nearly seven years after a federal appeals court ruled that RIDE shortchanged students with disabilities in the 2010s. The class action suit began in 2014 with a single plaintiff: A Warwick parent filing on behalf of their daughter, a Rhode Island student on the autism spectrum who also had ADHD and severe anxiety. But the student, named K.L. in the lawsuit, aged out of state-sponsored educational accommodations at age 21, before she could finish her high school diploma — something she should have been eligible to receive until age 22 under federal disability laws, her attorneys argued. K.L. had an individualized education program (IEP), which tailors learning for students with disabilities and helps to address their needs. These support programs are the roadmaps to ensure local schools education agencies supply students with a free and 'appropriate' public education per mandates derived from the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Students 'who were over 21 and under 22 as of February 10, 2012, or turned 21 before July 1, 2019,' Morente wrote, would be eligible for relief under the draft settlement if they did not receive their high school diploma and aged out of support services under previous Rhode Island law. When the case came before the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, it ruled in favor of RIDE by determining that 'public education' under the federal law would not include adult learning for students with disabilities over age 21. The class members then took their case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, which vacated the lower court's judgment. We literally worked to, like, 15 minutes ago to do this budget. – House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi during a press briefing Tuesday Senior Judge Kermit Victor Lipez wrote in the first circuit's October 2018 majority opinion that the lower court had relied on too 'narrow' a definition of public education. 'At present, if a 21-year-old student in Rhode Island does not complete high school for a non-disability related reason — say, because she was previously incarcerated — the state will provide her the services needed to attain a secondary-school level of academic proficiency and a route to obtain a high-school level degree,' Lipez wrote. 'However, if the same 21-year-old does not complete high school due to a qualifying disability, the state currently does not offer her ability-appropriate services to attain the same level of educational achievement.' That imbalance violated disability law, the First Circuit decided, and the court boomeranged the case back to the District of Rhode Island for the two parties to determine remedies for class members. Sonja Deyoe, the attorney representing class members since the suit's inception, wrote in an email Wednesday that the First Circuit ruling was pivotal for disability rights in Rhode Island. 'The law previously had limited that education until the age of 21,' Deyoe wrote. 'This was a major change for disabled individuals in Rhode Island.' The First Circuit's ruling predates current RIDE leadership, and in August 2019, then-new education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green issued a memo instructing how state education officials should comply with the ruling. 'It is now clear that if they have not already done so, school districts … must comply with the recent First Circuit decision and should make services available and give careful consideration to the cost of prospective compliance,' Infante-Green wrote, adding that it was still unclear 'how appropriate remedies will be provided to those eligible class members.' Deyoe echoed that sentiment, saying that determining damages under the lawsuit 'did span a very long time,' with both parties trying to avoid forcing a legal decision as to whether individual class members could receive relief for damages. 'Whether individualized compensatory education damages could be awarded to the individual class members was always disputed by the RI Department of Education,' Deyoe said. The settlement also needs to be approved by the members of the class, Deyoe said. The currently draft spares class members from having to undergo individual trials to determine compensational education benefits. 'We are very hopeful the settlement will be approved, but the class members always have the opportunity to object and the Court may approve the settlement only with certain changes,' Deyoe wrote. 'We cannot predict that yet…While all of this took a long time to achieve, we do believe this is a good resolution for the class members.' The funding source to resolve the settlement was not immediately available from RIDE or the House on Wednesday. But Shekarchi detailed in a statement over email that the sudden news had cost the House some time on Tuesday. 'After the budget is posted for consideration by the House Finance Committee 48 hours in advance, there are always a number of policy decisions, options and calculations that must be finalized,' wrote the Speaker. 'The notification of a $1.86 million additional expense on the morning of the budget adoption certainly complicated the final process.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
When will a vital system of currents in the Atlantic Ocean collapse? Depends on whom you ask.
The Atlantic Ocean as seen from Sachuest Beach in Middletown. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist's weekly newsletter here. Just below Greenland is a menacing stretch of water known as the Cold Blob. As the planet heats up, the Cold Blob remains a spooky outlier — positioned right above the area where the Atlantic Ocean's so-called conveyor belt is supposed to switch back and head south. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current, or AMOC for short, comprises an enormous system of currents that carries water and nutrients across the world and plays a large part in stabilizing the global climate. For years, scientists have warned that the AMOC was slowing down, possibly nearing collapse. The Cold Blob is the most immediately visible proof of its decline, likely a result of Greenland's melting glaciers, but research on the deep water current's strength over recent years has varied wildly. New studies published in Nature Geoscience last week and in Nature earlier this year offer some slightly encouraging news. AMOC's decline could be 'much more of a slow, gradual change, rather than an immediate change,' said David Bonan, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington who served as the lead author on the Nature Geoscience study. The full collapse of the current might not be reached this century, rather than around the midcentury mark as other research has predicted. The stakes could hardly be higher. Should the current break down, the most frightening predictions describe a world thrown into chaos: Drought could destroy India, South America, and Africa; the Eastern Seaboard of the United States would see dramatic sea level rise; and an arctic chill would spread across Europe. 'You cannot adapt to this,' said Peter Ditlevsen, the co-author of a 2023 study and an ice and climate researcher at the University of Copenhagen, in an interview with Inside Climate News. 'There's some studies of what happens to agriculture in Great Britain, and it becomes like trying to grow potatoes in northern Norway.' A more gradual change would still cause enormous upheaval, but would give the world more time to put mitigation efforts in place. Part of what makes AMOC's behavior so hard to forecast is that consistent monitoring of the current didn't begin until 2004, so the historical data is limited. When researchers run models to examine AMOC's behavior in the past, they sometimes get baffling results. 'The new models aren't working for AMOC,' said David Thornalley, a paleoclimatologist at University College London, who wasn't involved with the latest research. 'Some people would say we don't 100 percent know what AMOC did through the 20th century.' The February study in Nature found that the current is more stable than expected. Winds in the Southern Ocean churn the incoming Arctic water up to the surface and send it northward again. The research showed AMOC slowing between 20 to 80 percent by 2100, but not collapsing entirely. This is obviously a pretty big range, and 'even a moderate weakening could affect rainfall patterns, sea level rise, and the ocean's ability to take up carbon,' said Jonathan Baker, lead author of the study and a senior scientist in the ocean, cryosphere, and climate group at the Met Office, the weather service for the U.K. Between 2009 and 2010, AMOC wobbled — slowing about 30 percent — and sea levels rose 5 inches between New York City and Newfoundland within a year. The most recent study in Nature Geosciences narrowed that range to a weakening of 18 to 43 percent by 2100 after investigating how previous models were making their calculations. Models that predict an imminent collapse tend to assume AMOC is fairly strong at the moment, extending to great depths within the ocean and forcing warm surface water deep into the sea. Models that presented the current as weaker, with a shallower reach into the deep ocean, were less affected by warming surface waters. Bonan and his team found that the North Atlantic is 'a little bit more aligned with these weaker models,' he said. 'If you warmed up the surface [water], or if you have increased sea ice melt or Greenland Ice Sheet melt, a lot of those surface properties are probably just going to stay at the upper ocean, rather than going deeper into the ocean.' Still, Bonan highlighted the need for more advanced models that may be able to better forecast interactions between ice sheets and the ocean. Thornalley underlined those concerns — without sophisticated modeling of meltwater coming off Greenland, he said, these studies might be painting an overly rosy picture. 'If you look at what all the models do after 2100, a lot of them go on to collapse,' he said. One problem with estimating a drop-dead date for AMOC is that researchers still don't understand when the current might reach a tipping point, a threshold that, when crossed, will have a cascading effect from which there is no return. Whether the current dies a slower or faster death won't matter in the long run if the world breaches that threshold. 'It's a good study,' Thornalley said. 'Does it make me calmer about the future? No.' Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Allegations of a 'turf war' arise in debate over regulating kratom in NC
A laptop displays the website of an online kratom retailer. (Photo: Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) North Carolina legislators are once again looking to put restrictions on kratom, which is currently unregulated in the state. The House Regulatory Reform Committee on Tuesday advanced House Bill 468, which would require retailers to obtain licenses to sell kratom and prohibit sales to or purchases by people younger than 21. The bill now heads to the House Finance Committee. According to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, kratom is a stimulant at low doses and a sedative at high doses. It is derived from a southeast Asian tree leaf and sold in the United States as tea, powered in capsules, or as liquid. The DEA sought to temporarily ban kratom in 2016, but backed off after a public outcry. That year, North Carolina legislators sought in separate bills to ban kratom or limit sales to people over age 18. Neither of those bills became law. Last session, a proposal to regulate kratom died in the battle between the state House and Senate over legalizing medical marijuana. Kratom has been a factor in hundreds of fatal overdoses since 2020, according to the Washington Post and the Tamp Bay Times. A handful of states have banned it. The committee debate Tuesday centered on provisions in the bill that would ban synthetic versions of the compounds that produce psychoactive effects. The argument centered on the compound known as 7-OH. 'At the time, we choose not to have any synthetic products on the market in North Carolina,' said Rep. Jeff McNeely (R-Iredell), the bill's sponsor. Isaac Montanya, CEO of 7-OH producer Charlotte Extraction Labs, said the bill inserted itself into a turf war. He called its prohibition on synthetics 'a sly way to regulate 7-OH out of the market.' His company manufactures an ethical product, Montanya said. Jeff Smith, national policy director for Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust, told the committee that people use 7-OH to ease opioid withdrawal. 'Banning 7-OH would turn patients into criminals,' he said. Sheldon Bradshaw, a former chief counsel with the FDA representing the industry group Botanicals for Better Health and Wellness, called 7-OH 'dangerous' and deceptively marketed. 'It has no business being on store shelves and in products that are being labeled as natural kratom and marketed as herbal supplements,' he said. McNeely said the ban on synthetics addresses the part of the plant that's going to be the most abused. 'We should have had kratom and cannabis regulated two years ago if not four years ago,' he said. 'Because it's been unregulated, we've allowed things to happen — good, bad, indifferent.'
