News, at a calm glance

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s economy and income are lagging behind the growth seen nationwide, according to a Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council report released Monday. Between fiscal years 2019 and 2024, Rhode Island’s per capita personal income grew more slowly than the nation’s — 25 percent vs. 32 percent — and Rhode Island fell in that national ranking from 16th to 22nd. As a result, the state’s tax and spending rankings rose when measured against residents’ ability to pay: In total spending, Rhode Island rose from 24th to 18th highest, relative to personal income, and in tax revenues, it rose from 15th to 13th. “The cost of state and local government is outpacing Rhode Islanders’ ability to pay,” RIPEC president and CEO Michael DiBiase said in a statement. “Because our economy is growing more slowly than the nation’s, the same level of taxing and spending is taking a bigger bite out of Rhode Islanders’ incomes.”Get Rhode MapA weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter EmailThe business-backed group released its annual 50-state comparison as it prepares to hold its 83rd annual meeting at 5 p.m.

The MMX mission is scheduled to lift off today (Oct. 19) at 3:41 p.m. ET (1941 GMT).

Coming off a blowout loss at Purdue, the Gophers face a tough test against No. 15 Iowa, which has won eight of nine meetings against P.J. Fleck.

*There’s been a whole lot of conversation building about will or won’t, should or shouldn’t the Flyers trade Travis Konecny, but the broader fact remains that this is simply so far from the team’s biggest concern right now. [BSH] *Still, the Flyers are going to have to make some kind of moves at some point to get add some high end pieces that their complimentary players can actually compliment. [BSH]

Twentysomethings are increasingly skeptical about homeownership and investing. But a retirement account (and the magic of compounding) could change their minds.

The murky, magnificent Eel River was once a highway for the Wailaki people, who navigated by canoe and hauled goods between villages in cone-shaped baskets. But the tribe was forced out during the Gold Rush and, decades later, a railroad was built along the river in this verdant stretch of Humboldt County. Perry Lincoln, whose grandmother came from one of those villages, today sees another affront — the Great Redwood Trail, a 307-mile path planned along the remnants of the long-gone railroad that cuts through his ancestral land. When they first learned of the project a few years ago, he says, some people, both Native and non-Native, thought: “But wait a minute, this is kind of wrong. You’re just kind of shoving it down our throats.” A line on the T-shirt Lincoln wore summed up his feelings: “No trail on my ancestors’ bones.”Tribal members and allies formed a group, the Kinest’e Community Coalition, to have a say in the project, protect sacred sites and ultimately reroute the trail. They maintain the state approved a path that will allow tourists to amble over graves without their consent.

U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts praises the $1 billion investment BD Medical recently announced for its Nebraska sites, specifically the contributions to supply chain sturdiness.

Discovered in an Indigenous grave in Georgia nearly 150 years ago, the "Birdman" copper plate may actually depict a woman ceremonially dressed as a warrior.

Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn’s call to eliminate school vaccination requirements underscores why Minnesotans need to know where their candidates stand.

In December 2025, Morgan Dorfman received distressing news: a student at her daughter’s Pennsylvania high school was making AI-generated pornographic material using the daughter’s image. He was using an artificial intelligence image-editing app called Movely to create sexual videos from pictures of her daughter and five other girls. What Dorfman’s daughter experienced is not an anomaly: students in high schools across the US are reporting similar cases. Their classmates are generating nonconsensual pornographic or nude imagery using so-called “nudify apps”. Governments around the world have moved to ban these AI platforms from app stores, and most US states have implemented laws that criminalize possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material. However, in spite of regulations prohibiting them, nudification apps are still proliferating and remain accessible to teens, according to a report from the digital advocacy group Tech Transparency Project (TTP) shared exclusively with the Guardian and released on Monday. TTP researchers created four test accounts, two Apple accounts and two Google accounts, indicating the account holders were 13 years old.

Goldman Sachs says consumer-facing laggard stocks are the best way forward as earnings growth is set to slow next year and big tech stocks struggle.

Before McKee ordered the pause, four Rhode Island communities — South Kingstown, Narragansett, Glocester, North Kingstown — voted to cancel their Flock contracts. The Tiverton Town Council, by contrast, voted in July to approve four cameras that have not yet been installed. Get Rhode MapA weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter EmailThe Woonsocket City Council on Sept. 17 gave first passage to an amended ordinance regulating its 15 Flock cameras, with a second vote required. In Providence, three City Council members were scheduled to introduce an ordinance Thursday to ban the technology and require its deactivation. The city’s police chief, Colonel Oscar Perez, said in a statement Thursday he respects elected officials’ authority to set policy but would have welcomed the opportunity to weigh in before the legislation was drafted, citing the potential consequences for police operations and criminal investigations.

“Healthy reefs are home to a lot of biodiversity, a lot of species that we don’t yet fully understand, and potentially a lot of compounds — chemicals that could prove to be enormously useful for medical applications or other applications in the future,” he said. “That is something we can’t quantify very well because we haven’t completely explored all of those possibilities yet. But if reefs were to die, and those species and those ecosystems disappeared, then we would have lost the opportunity to potentially learn of that value and make use of it in the future.”Get Rhode MapA weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter EmailA breakthrough at Roger Williams University’s Center for Economic and Environmental Development is giving scientists more time to study coral by establishing a standardized method for spawning, breeding, and culturing the organism. Koty Sharp, director for the school’s Economic & Environmental Development, and associate professor of biology, marine biology, and environmental sciences, talked to the Globe about how the new discovery could advance coral research worldwide.

Momentick’s results in a Nature study suggest that remote sensing can help identify relatively small leaks without equipment installed at each site. Better detection could help energy companies reduce lost gas and provide insurers with more information about environmental risks. CTech12:52, 19.10.26 An Israeli startup has demonstrated that satellite imagery can be used to detect a methane emission estimated at less than 10 kilograms per hour, in a large international experiment published in the scientific journal Nature. The result highlights the potential for satellite-based monitoring to identify leaks that might otherwise go undetected, although the study also found significant differences in performance between satellite systems and analytical methods. Momentick participated in the year-long study, led by researchers at Stanford University with colleagues from the University of Michigan and other institutions. The researchers conducted 746 test events in Arizona, including 481 controlled methane releases and 265 control cases with no emissions.