WSBE-TV (Providence, RI)

With just a week remaining until the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Rhode Island is preparing for the arrival of the Ghanaian men’s soccer team on Friday. The Black Stars will be staying in Providence and training at Bryant University in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. What does Rhode Island have planned to celebrate Ghanaian culture during the tournament?

When a Rhode Island bill meant to counter the weakening of voting rights at the federal level was unveiled in March, it seemed to have all the support necessary to make it into a law. The sponsors were Senate President Val Lawson (D-East Providence) and House Majority Leader Katherine Kazarian (D-East Providence), the second-ranking Democrat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

Before Boston dumped tea into its harbor, Rhode Island colonists set a British ship on fire. On a June night in 1772, a group of Rhode Islanders rowed out from Pawtuxet Village, boarded the British revenue schooner HMS Gaspee and left it burning in Narragansett Bay. The attack happened 18 months before the Boston Tea Party and nearly three years before the first shots at Lexington and Concord.

A memorial service for late Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank filled Faneuil Hall with tributes and laughter Monday morning. Frank, who served in Congress for more than three decades before retiring in 2013, was remembered by dozens of friends, family members and some of the state’s highest-ranking elected officials.

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall. This episode, we’re taking a closer look at how we store dairy, from modern refrigeration to cheese caves. We had Samantha Zhang and Nat Hardy from our Possibly Team look into this.

After the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed a new $15.2 billion state budget Friday, this year’s session of the General Assembly is winding down. The Senate is expected to approve the budget this week, sending it to Gov. Dan McKee’s desk. Here are a few key details about what is in the record-setting fiscal plan. Fueled by better-than-expected state revenue, the spending plan adds about $300 million to what Gov. Dan McKee proposed in January.

Gordon S. Wood, the eminent and prolific scholar who forged a highly influential and sharply debated narrative of the country’s early years of independence through such prize-winning works as “The Creation of the American Republic” and “The Radicalism of the American Revolution,” has died. He was 92. Wood, a professor emeritus at Brown University, died Sunday after being struck by a car in a supermarket parking lot in East Providence, Rhode Island, according to police.

More survivors of sexual abuse will be permitted to sue Rhode Island-based institutions like the Roman Catholic Church under legislation poised to become law this week. The legislation will open a “revival window” during which lawsuits would be allowed against institutions alleged to be responsible for enabling or covering up abuse, even if the statute of limitations on the claims has previously expired. The window would open July 1, 2026 and close on June 30, 2028.

Summer is close enough that you can taste it, and I’m sending a virtual Del’s to help you stay cool. Thanks for stopping by. You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, threads and X. Here we go. *** Want to get my column in your inbox every Friday? Sign up right here *** Listen up: Ocean State Media now has a single powerful statewide radio frequency at 103.7. Switch your preset now! Time for a vibe check.

A growing number of Rhode Islanders are getting letters from their physicians. The message, essentially this: starting now, if you want to keep seeing this doctor, the fee is $2,500 a year. So-called “concierge medicine” is on the rise. Don’t want to pay? Or can’t afford to? Then find someone else. In a state already facing a shortage equivalent to 300 full-time primary care providers, that’s a tough letter to get.