Happy Thursday! I'm Dan McGowan, and I'm writing in Bryan Hodgson for Providence mayor. Follow me on X (Twitter) @DanMcGowan, or send tips to
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Join us: On April 30, Globe Rhode Island and WGBH are hosting a live taping of "The Big Dig" podcast about Rhode Island's bridge problems. You can register here.
Ryan Pearson is putting his money where his middle finger is.
The Democratic state senator, who has been on the outs with Rhode Island Senate leadership for several years now, loaned his campaign $275,000 on March 30 ahead of what could be the first competitive primary race of his career.
That’s an unusually large campaign loan from any candidate for the General Assembly – much less a 14-year incumbent – but Pearson maintains that he wants to send a message to both Senate leadership and The League of Rhode Island Businesses, a new political group that is backing his primary challenger in District 19, Cumberland Town Councilman James Metivier.
“From what I am told, they are one in the same,” Pearson said in a text message, referring to Senate leadership and the business group.
The bigger picture: Pearson has experienced a steep fall from political prominence since being ousted as Senate majority leader in 2024 and then narrowly losing in his bid to be Senate president last year after Dominick Ruggerio died (Senator Val Lawson beat him out for both jobs).
While Lawson has distanced herself from the business group – The League of Businesses has endorsed her primary challenger this year, too – Majority Leader Frank Ciccone and Whip David Tikoian have been more open to supporting candidates it is backing.
Pearson is among the leadership dissidents who believe the business group would also like to oust Lawson as president, and it might only take flipping a couple of Senate seats to give the more conservative Ciccone or Tikoian the votes they need to ascend to the top spot in the chamber.
While loaning his campaign $275,000 doesn’t guarantee he’ll spend that much, Pearson said it shows he’s not going anywhere.
“I want to be sure to demonstrate that I have the resources to not only compete in my own race, but support as many colleagues as possible,” Pearson said.
🤔 So you think you're a Rhode Islander...
When did Rhode Island ban the death penalty?
(Answer at the bottom.)
Do you have the perfect question for Rhode Map readers? Don't forget to send the answer, too. Send me an email today.
The Globe in Rhode Island
⚓ On this week's edition of the Rhode Island Report podcast, Ed Fitzpatrick talks to Salve Regina University Professor Christine Ramsay about combatting the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels. Listen here.
⚓ Standing in front of the dais in the City Council chamber on Wednesday night, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley detailed how he plans to tackle the high cost of rent in Providence, from emergency rent relief to constructing more homes. Left unmentioned: in a matter of days, he plans to veto the council’s most significant piece of housing legislation in years. Read more.
⚓ In Rhode Island’s messy cannabis rollout, worker-owned stores have yet to materialize. Read more.
⚓ Centreville Bank Stadium, the home of Rhode Island FC that opened its doors last year, will host its first-ever live music event when the Island Rhodes Music Festival – with headliners featuring Sublime and The Roots – comes to Pawtucket in August. Read more.
⚓ Lauren Daley continues her fun recaps of each episode of "The Real Housewives of Rhode Island." Read more.
You can check out all of our coverage at Globe.com/RI
Also in the Globe
⚓ While there are college influencers of all kinds — including “looksmaxxers” and athletes with name, image, and likeness deals — some of the most successful are Gen Z women like Amherst College's Grace Nah who’ve managed to leverage campus life to create profitable partnerships with companies targeting their peers. Read more.
⚓ John Cox, the president of Cape Cod Community College from 2012 until he abruptly retired in mid-March, had an unprofessional relationship with a 23-year-old female student whom he sought to mentor, according to an external investigation commissioned by the college. Read more.
⚓ NFL reporter Dianna Russini may have violated a cardinal sin of journalism, but her behavior isn’t much different from that of her male counterparts at ESPN and NFL Network. Their methods of obtaining “scoops” can be just as inappropriate. Read more.
⚓ Rhode Map readers, if you want the birthday of a friend or family member to be recognized Friday, send me an email with their first and last name, and their age.
⚓ The Providence City Council is meeting at 6 p.m. to approve its rent control ordinance for a second time.
⚓ The Student Life and Athletics Committee for the URI Board of Trustees meets at 9 a.m. Here's the agenda.
🏆 Pop quiz answer
Rhode Island became the second state in the country to ban the death penalty in 1852, although certain provisions allowing for capital punishment remained in certain parts of Rhode Island general law until 1984 (no one has been executed since John Gordon in 1845).
RHODE ISLAND REPORT PODCAST Ed Fitzpatrick talks to Salve Regina University Professor Christine Ramsay about combatting the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels. Listen to all of our podcasts here.
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