An awful substitution: putting children into jobs formerly held by deported immigrants

Let’s Get Child Labor Off Our Dinner Plates

By Todd Larsen, Charlotte Tate 

When deciding what to make for dinner, many of us think about how to balance making something affordable, delicious, and healthy. And we might consider ethical questions, like whether our food is locally sourced, our meat is humanely raised, or our meals have a low climate impact..

We probably don’t wonder whether child labor is involved. But unfortunately, that’s increasingly likely. In recent years, federal investigations have uncovered children working in dangerous conditions to create the food we eat.

Tyson, Perdue, Cargill, and JBS have all been found to have children working in slaughterhouses. Many of these children are immigrants who are unlikely to speak up when they’re in danger. They need these jobs to survive, but the jobs put their lives at risk.

Children all over the country, some as young as 10, are working in agriculture, restaurants, and meatpacking. There are an estimated 300,000-500,000 children working in agriculture alone.

Their jobs can be dangerous — kids often go to school with burns from restaurant stoves or cleaning chemicals. In the last two years, at least three children have died on the job.

Fueling this rise are politicians attempting to roll back child labor restrictions. They insist that children will benefit from these “opportunities to work.”

But child labor involves work that’s harmful to children’s development and health — like cleaning dangerous machinery in a slaughterhouse overnight, or being exposed to hazardous chemicals. Other kids may simply work so many hours that they fall behind in school and drop out.

Child labor puts an additional strain on local health care, education, and social services when kids who are injured or fail to keep up at school. It also harms the labor market by depressing wages — and puts businesses that actually abide by labor laws or ethical standards at a competitive disadvantage.

Some federal and state laws, such as federal “youth wage laws,” even allow businesses to pay children and teenagers less than adult wages for the first 90 days of employment. This lets companies increase their bottom line at the expense of children and their communities.

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Labor issued multi-million-dollar fines and carried out investigations that were widely covered in the media, which served as a deterrent. But it remains unclear if the Trump administration will follow suit.

States are also backsliding. Many are lowering the ages that children can work in unsafe jobs and increasing the hours they can work. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 31 states have introduced bills to weaken child labor protections in recent years.

General Assembly gives Charlestown authorization to create a Homestead Tax break

Goes to Governor for signature

By Will Collette

Thank you to our State Rep. Tina Spears (D) for getting H6247 passed in the House and Sen. Victoria Gu (D) for shepherding it through the Senate. And thank you, Council President Deb Carney for getting the ball rolling. All the bill needs now is the Governor’s signature and there’s no doubt he will sign it.

This bill gives the Charlestown Town Council the authority to craft an ordinance so those of us who make Charlestown our home can get a break on our property taxes in what’s called a “Homestead Exemption.” The legislation allows the town to exempt up to 10% of your assessed value.

For a house assessed at $500,000, that would knock the assessment down by $50,000. At the anticipated July 1 tax rate of $5.93, that would save around $300.

Many coastal communities offer permanent residents this tax break because we pay year-round for an infrastructure that can accommodate absentee landowners and other summer people.

Summer people also take their toll on our nerves through increased traffic, trash and noise. Other than their taxes, they contribute little to Charlestown’s economy other than the occasional meal at our few local restaurants and grocery shopping at Rippy’s and the Mini-Super.

Out of state landowners have been buying up Charlestown beach properties at unheard prices. Most recently, 18 Ninigret Avenue just sold for $5.5 million to a buyer who lives on Park Avenue in Manhattan. They paid more than $2.2 million above the home’s assessed value of $3,292,600.

So far this year, almost a dozen posh homes have sold to non-residents all at premium prices well over their assessed value. While none match the $2.2 million premium paid for 18 Ninigret Avenue, all but two of the other high-rollers paid more than $350,000 above assessed value. In second place after Ninigret Avenue are the Massachusetts buyers of 14 Highland Road who paid $718,900 above assessed value.

These folks seem to have money to burn.

Here’s the complete list of $1 million+ Charlestown sales in 2025 from our Tax Assessor’s office. Note that Starett Road is a duplicate entry:

Eight buyers live in Massachusetts and Connecticut (4 each). New York, New Jersey and Florida each had one.

During the years the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) ruled Charlestown, they stifled any notion of giving local homeowners any tax break that would come at the expense of non-resident landowners.

The issue crested in December 2011 and ended in what I dubbed “The Riot of the Rich.” Town Hall was packed with rich non-residents, CCA devotees, right-wing nuts like Jim Mageau and Harry Staley and a few sadly misinformed locals who denounced the Charlestown Democratic Committee proposal for a Homestead Tax Credit as the opening salvo in a class war.

It was unfair to the wealthy, they said, and claimed that raising their taxes would drive them to move out, make them boycott local businesses and not give to local charities. They said all this with a straight face.

Since absentee landowners provide a substantial portion of the CCA’s election fund, there was no way the CCA leadership would support the idea. They stomped the homestead credit to death for the duration of their reign.

Then the CCA was finally beaten by Charlestown Residents United (CRU) in 2022 and in 2024 when an all-CRU Town Council slate was elected. That made it safe to talk about issues banned by the CCA.

The Council is currently chaired by Deb Carney (D) who was one of the few brave voices to speak out for the homestead credit in 2011. It was after her Council resolution that state Representative Tina Spears (D) introduced a bill modelled on the recently passed South Kingstown legislation.

Here’s the official timeline for the bill’s quick passage:

House Bill No. 6247

BY Tina Spears

ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- LEVY AND ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL TAXES (Grants the town council of the town of Charlestown the authority to enact a homestead exemption ordinance.)

04/23/2025 Introduced, referred to House Municipal Government & Housing

04/25/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/01/2025)

05/01/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study

06/06/2025 Scheduled for consideration (06/10/2025)

06/10/2025 Committee recommends passage

06/13/2025 Placed on House Calendar (06/16/2025)

06/16/2025 House read and passed

06/16/2025 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/18/2025)

06/18/2025 Senate passed in concurrence

06/18/2025 Transmitted to Governor

Once McKee signs, the action shifts back to the Town Council who must craft and present a new ordinance for public hearing. They will need to decide whether to do it (and I hope they will) and if so, at what percentage of assessed value. If they act quickly, we could have an ordinance in place when the legislation kicks in on December 31, plenty of time for applying the exemption to next year's tax bills.

The legislation details what properties are eligible.

Here’s the text of the bill:

AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- LEVY AND ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL TAXES

Introduced By: Representative Tina L. Spears

Date Introduced: April 23, 2025

Referred To: House Municipal Government & Housing

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 44-5 of the General Laws entitled "Levy and Assessment of Local Taxes" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

44-5-89. Charlestown homestead exemption.

(a) The town council of the town of Charlestown is authorized to annually fix the amount, if any, of a homestead exemption, with respect to assessed value, from local taxation on taxable real property used for residential purposes or mixed purposes, defined as a combination of residential and commercial uses, in the town of Charlestown, and to grant homestead exemptions to the owner, or owners, of residential real estate, or combination residential and commercial real estate, in an amount not to exceed ten percent (10%) of the assessed value. The exemption shall apply to property used exclusively for residential purposes, and improved with a dwelling containing less than five (5) units, or real property used for a combination of residential and commercial uses. When real property is used for mixed purposes, the percentage of the assessed value shall be a prorated amount. The prorated amount shall be the percentage of square feet of the parcel used for residential purposes, multiplied by the percentage of the homestead exemption. In order to determine compliance with the homestead exemption as outlined in this section, the town council shall provide, by resolution or ordinance, rules and regulations governing eligibility for the exemption established by this section.

(b) In the event property granted an exemption under this section is sold or transferred during the year for which the exemption is claimed, the town council of the town of Charlestown, 19 1 upon approval of the town council, may provide for a proration of the homestead exemption in 2 3 4 cases where title to property passes from those not entitled to claim an exemption to those who are entitled to claim an exemption.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on December 31, 2025.

A normal day in Trumpworld

MAGA: get yours today!

 

Make Asbestosis (and mesothelioma) great again

 

How does coffee affect a sleeping brain?

It's actually helpful

University of Montreal

Coffee can help you stay awake. But what does caffeine actually do to your brain once you're asleep? Using AI, a team of researchers has an answer: it affects the brain's 'criticality'.

Caffeine is not only found in coffee, but also in tea, chocolate, energy drinks and many soft drinks, making it one of the most widely consumed psychoactive substances in the world.

In a study published in April in Nature Communications Biology, a team of researchers from Université de Montréal shed new light on how caffeine can modify sleep and influence the brain's recovery -- both physical and cognitive -- overnight.

The research was led by Philipp Thölke, a research trainee at UdeM's Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Laboratory (CoCo Lab), and co-led by the lab's director Karim Jerbi, a psychology professor and researcher at Mila -- Quebec AI Institute.

Working with sleep-and-aging psychology professor Julie Carrier and her team at UdeM's Centre for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, the scientists used AI and electroencephalography (EEG) to study caffeine's effect on sleep.

They showed for the first time that caffeine increases the complexity of brain signals and enhances brain "criticality" during sleep. Interestingly, this was more pronounced in younger adults.

"Criticality describes a state of the brain that is balanced between order and chaos," said Jerbi. "It's like an orchestra: too quiet and nothing happens, too chaotic and there's cacophony. Criticality is the happy medium where brain activity is both organized and flexible. In this state, the brain functions optimally: it can process information efficiently, adapt quickly, learn and make decisions with agility."

Added Carrier: "Caffeine stimulates the brain and pushes it into a state of criticality, where it is more awake, alert and reactive While this is useful during the day for concentration, this state could interfere with rest at night: the brain would neither relax nor recover properly."

40 adults studied

To study how caffeine affects the sleeping brain, Carrier's team recorded the nocturnal brain activity of 40 healthy adults using an electroencephalogram. They compared each participant's brain activity on two separate nights -- one when they consumed caffeine capsules three hours and then one hour before bedtime, and another when they took a placebo at the same times.

"We used advanced statistical analysis and artificial intelligence to identify subtle changes in neuronal activity," said Thölke, the study's first author. "The results showed that caffeine increased the complexity of brain signals, reflecting more dynamic and less predictable neuronal activity, especially during the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) phase of sleep that's crucial for memory consolidation and cognitive recovery."

The researchers also discovered striking changes in the brain's electrical rhythms during sleep: caffeine attenuated slower oscillations such as theta and alpha waves -- generally associated with deep, restorative sleep -- and stimulated beta wave activity, which is more common during wakefulness and mental engagement.

"These changes suggest that even during sleep, the brain remains in a more activated, less restorative state under the influence of caffeine," says Jerbi, who also holds the Canada Research Chair in Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroimaging. "This change in the brain's rhythmic activity may help explain why caffeine affects the efficiency with which the brain recovers during the night, with potential consequences for memory processing."

People in their 20s more affected

The study also showed that the effects of caffeine on brain dynamics were significantly more pronounced in young adults between ages 20 and 27 compared to middle-aged participants aged 41 to 58, especially during REM sleep, the phase associated with dreaming.

Young adults showed a greater response to caffeine, likely due to a higher density of adenosine receptors in their brains. Adenosine is a molecule that gradually accumulates in the brain throughout the day, causing a feeling of fatigue.

"Adenosine receptors naturally decrease with age, reducing caffeine's ability to block them and improve brain complexity, which may partly explain the reduced effect of caffeine observed in middle-aged participants," Carrier said.

And these age-related differences suggest that younger brains may be more susceptible to the stimulant effects of caffeine. Given caffeine's widespread use around the world, especially as a daily remedy for fatigue, the researchers stress the importance of understanding its complex effects on brain activity across different age groups and health conditions.

They add that further research is needed to clarify how these neural changes affect cognitive health and daily functioning, and to potentially guide personalized recommendations for caffeine intake.

Materials provided by University of Montreal. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Save Public Radio and Television!

Attorney General Neronha co-leads coalition in support of lawsuits challenging NPR and PBS funding cuts

Steve Ahlquist

From a press release:

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha co-led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of two lawsuits brought by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) that seek to block proposed funding cuts to their organizations and local affiliates.

“Make no mistake: when the Trump Administration attacks NPR and PBS, they are attempting to severely limit the public’s right to receive critical information,” said Attorney General Neronha. “NPR and PBS are American institutions responsible for delivering emergency information, educational programming, and reliable news, all of which Americans use to inform how they live their lives. These massive cuts would have dramatically negative impacts on the flow of public information, especially in rural and tribal areas, with potentially life-threatening consequences. We must fight to protect every American’s ability to access information, regardless of income level or zip code. We must fight to protect our public stations.”

At issue in the case is an executive order signed by President Trump on May 1 directing the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and executive branch agencies to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. On May 27, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations—Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and tribal-serving KSUT in southwestern Colorado—sued to block the proposed cuts. PBS and a Minnesota-based affiliate filed a separate lawsuit on May 30.

The coalition of attorneys general, led by those from Rhode Island, Colorado, Arizona, and Minnesota, argues that public broadcast stations serve a critical role in delivering information to the public, and the proposed cuts would severely harm Americans. 

Democratic South County women win passage of lots of good legislation

General Assembly powerhouses

By Will Collette

Thank you Tina and Victoria

In case you haven’t noticed it, most of South County’s General Assembly members are Democratic women. Among the few exceptions are Charlestown-connected Rep. Bob Craven of No. Kingstown, one of the body’s most powerful members, and two Westerly DINOcrats, Sen. Sam Azzinaro and Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy.

Then there’s MAGA outlier Sen. Elaine Morgan (R) whose contribution this session has consisted of embarrassing MAGA stunts including one where she impersonated a DOGE agent to try to get into a homelessness program in Providence.

The dominance of South County’s Democratic women shows in their remarkable output of significant legislation and, this year in particular, their ability to get these bills passed.

Now that this year’s General Assembly has closed, my inbox is filled with notices of bills passed. Sponsors of these bills include Charlestown’s Senator Victoria Gu and Tina Spears, South Kingstown’s Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, Sen. Sue Sosnowski, Reps. Teresa Tanzi and Kathy Fogarty, and Sen. Alana DiMario.

Today’s roundup only includes bills passed at the end of the session, not the bills passed earlier. I’ve usually posted notices about those bills as they happened.

Rep. Megan Cotter (Richmond, Hopkinton, Exeter) scored her impressive achievements on bills to protect lives, land and homes in the past few weeks.

The greatest achievements are in the areas of affordable housing, land use and health care.

I congratulate them all. Trying to get anything done in the General Assembly is hard and often disappointing work but they can all take pride in their ability to get things done to benefit South County and the rest of Rhode Island.

Below, I’ve pasted in the reports on the bills that passed at the session’s close.

Time's up

Trump put counter-terrorism in great hands

And apparently, this kid is going to "protect" us for the next three months:

July 9 program in Charlestown on well water quality

Safe well water? Test to be sure

In Rhode Island, private well owners are responsible for testing and maintaining the quality of their own well water. 

To provide residents with information on private well water testing, treatment, and maintenance, water quality expert Alyson McCann with the University of Rhode Island’s Cooperative Extension Water Quality Program will hold a free program on Wednesday, July 9, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Cross’ Mills Public Library, 4417 Old Post Road, in Charlestown.  

This program is held in partnership with the Charlestown Conservation Commission and the Cross’ Mills Public Library.  

AIR POLLUTION ALERT: Really bad air today

Heat plus cars = dangerous smog in South County

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) forecasts that air quality will reach UNHEALTHY levels due to elevated ground-level ozone on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, during the afternoon and continuing into the late evening. Fine particles readings from wildfire smoke and local buildup are expected to reach MODERATE statewide. 

Key Details:

• The highest ozone levels are expected in southern portions of Rhode Island.
• Peak levels begin late afternoon, continuing into the evening and even after sunset.

Health Impacts:

Unhealthy ozone levels may cause:

• Throat irritation, coughing, and chest pain
• Shortness of breath and increased risk of respiratory infections
• Worsening of asthma and other lung conditions particularly for children, the elderly, and others with pre-existing respiratory issues.

Recommended Actions:

• Reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion.
• Take frequent breaks and choose less strenuous activities.
• Monitor for symptoms like coughing or shortness of breath.
• People with asthma or lung conditions should follow their action plans and carry quick-relief medications.
• Schedule outdoor activities in the morning when ozone levels are lowest and typically GOOD on the Air Quality index.

Air quality can change throughout the day. To stay informed, download the AirNOW app or visit www.airnow.gov for real-time updates and forecasts.

Additional information is also available on DEM’s air quality forecast page at www.dem.ri.gov/airquality.

For more information on DEM programs and initiatives, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Facebook, Twitter/X (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@rhodeisland.dem) for timely updates. Sign up here to receive the latest press releases, news, and events from DEM's Public Affairs Office to your inbox.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s actions at the CDC “put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses"

Former CDC Board Members Say RFK Jr. Has “Critically Weakened” Vaccine Program

By Chris Walker, Truthout

Health Secretary swims with his grandkids in sewage.
Obviously, he doesn't CARE about putting families at risk.

On June 16, the 17 former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who were dismissed earlier this month by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., published an op-ed decrying that decision, noting that action and his questionable replacements for the board would leave the country “critically weakened.”

The op-ed by the former ACIP members, the first time that they have collectively spoken out since being ousted, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

ACIP is a panel of independent scientists and health experts that provides guidance to the CDC on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Those recommendations are then reviewed by the director of the CDC, who has the final say on whether to adopt them. Currently, there is no director for the agency, which means Kennedy himself has the final say, for the time being.

Kennedy announced the dismissal of the previous board in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier in June, claiming that a “clean sweep” of the board was needed “to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.” He named eight new members to the board two days later, which prompted health experts to express concern about their expertise, many noting that several of the new ACIP members are vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists.

The new members of ACIP are set to meet later this month to vote on vaccine recommendations relating to COVID, HPV, the flu, RSV, and more.

The 17 former members, comprising of health and science experts across various fields, stated that the ACIP has traditionally provided “a unified and trusted approach to vaccinations for the diverse array of immunization providers across the U.S.”

“For more than 60 years, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — codified in the federal regulations (42 USC 217a: advisory councils or committees) — has served as a panel of experts that reviews the most up-to-date evidence on vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (eg, against respiratory syncytial virus [RSV]), providing sound recommendations to the [CDC] regarding how vaccines should be used,” the former ACIP members said.

Kennedy’s decision to abruptly dismiss them from the board and appoint eight new members two days later has “left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened,” the group wrote, adding, “These actions have stripped the program of the institutional knowledge and continuity that have been essential to its success over decades.”

What I fear Trump will do with his war

Centralize even more power and curtail even more civil liberties

Robert Reich

Friends,

One of my goals in writing this letter to you every day is to alert you to dangers to our democracy so you can alert others, who then alert others, and by this means we enlarge and strengthen our bulwark against the tide of fascism.

Wars pose particular challenges to democracy because nations at war often become more xenophobic and willing to give those in power extra leeway to protect the homeland. That’s an underlying danger in Trump’s war with Iran.

Trump has already tried to use three pretexts to usurp power — terrorism, national emergency, and war itself — to justify his mass deportations, universal tariffs, and consolidations of power. And he has tried to use these to gain legal legitimacy under laws that give presidents additional power when the nation is threatened.

Federal courts and public opinion haven’t allowed him to go as far as he wished. But if Trump’s war with Iran escalates — which it’s almost certain to do if Iran retaliates — courts may be reluctant to impede a commander-in-chief and the public may be willing to go along.

I fear that Trump’s war with Iran will enable him to use these three pretexts — terrorism, national emergency, and war — to further suppress dissent at home, narrow freedom of speech and expression, make warrantless searches and arrests of Americans, imprison opponents, and put more military onto our streets.

Trump diplomacy