Friday, March 27th

The Cheapest Clothing House in Providence, late 19th century.

Trump buys time as missile and drone exchanges continue; R.I. Speaker eyes Supreme Court seat; Red Sox win season opener

Headlines

Trump extends deadline for strikes on civilian infrastructure as Hegseth leads prayer at the Pentagon.

In his remarks at the Pentagon today, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth calls for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy” in his prayers. (Guardian)

Trump extends his deadline for the Strait of Hormuz to be opened until April 6th, at which time he says the United States will strike energy infrastructure if the demands are not met. The president also says he “doesn’t care” about the outcome, but that talks are “going very well.” (Guardian)

Late into the evening on Thursday, strikes continued around the region. Around 11:30 p.m., Saudi Arabia intercepted drones in its eastern region. Earlier in the night, attacks in Qom, Iran killed at least 6, with the Red Crescent still engaged in a search for survivors. Strikes continued to be felt in Tehran and other centers, including Urmia. A Druze village in the Hasbaiyya area in southern Lebanon was destroyed earlier in the day by the IDF as their campaign continues to raze the Lebanese land south of the Litani river. (Al Jazeera)

The European Parliament votes to adopt an American-style deportation regime; a group of 18 illegally deported men allege Salvadorian authorities violated their human rights.

In Strasbourg, France on Thursday lawmakers in the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of stricter immigration policies, 389-206. The proposals establish ICE-like deportation centers, and enforce EU-wide deportations for asylum seekers whose claims are rejected. The proposed deportation centers would likely be offshore hubs which the Commissioner of Human Rights for the Council of Europe recently warned would become “human rights black holes.”

The vote was a win for hard-right conservatives, specifically those from Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands, whereas France and Spain have opposed the efficacy of the proposed measures. Now, lawmakers and member states must negotiate on the final rules before it can be approved and put into effect.

A group of 18 men brought a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Thursday, claiming that their rights were violated while in custody at Cecot, the notorious El Salvadorian prison. The men are a few of over 250 deported without charge to Cecot by the Trump administration in March of 2025. They were deported again to Venezuela in July.In their petition, the men claim El Salvador is in violation of the American Convention on Human Rights.

The petition claims the men were victims of beatings and inhumane treatment, and that 36 men from El Salvador have been unable to be contacted since their deportation to Cecot. The petition to the IACHR is part of a series of cases challenging US deporting migrants to countries including El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and Eswatini. (Guardian)

Quick Hits

The U.S., Israel, and Argentina voted against a U.N. resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. (UN)
Analysts view OpenAI ending its video service as a possible sign of an A.I. bubble, as hundreds of billions of dollars in debt and global instability raise concerns about the sector’s growth and the impact of a slowdown on the market. (Atlantic)
Protests erupt outside of U.S. court over the trial of former-Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Both supporters and opponents of Maduro could be heard outside of the New York court. (Al Jazeera)
The I.O.C. bans transgender athletes from participation in the Olympics according to their identity. (AP)
A Dutch court rules xAI must prevent its service from being capable of generating and distributing nude images of people without their consent. (Al Jazeera)
Mexico launches a search for two missing aid ships bound for Cuba. (Al Jazeera)

R.I. Stories

The Providence City Council Special Committee on Health, Opportunity, Prosperity and Education voted to advance the rent stabilization ordinance. This sets the ordinance up for a vote before the whole council on April 2nd.

The R.I. judiciary has said that digital access to court records, meant to be available by summer of 2025, have been delayed indefinitely while a more robust search engine is developed. The judiciary requested public comment on its system’s rules, but has failed to make the comments public, causing transparency concerns among open-access advocates. (Journal)

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley continues to move ahead with his plan to remove the South Water bike lane this summer.

Electric boat announced plans to hire 8,000 workers in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Mental health calls to the Providence Police have jumped 238% in 10 years. (WPRI)

Providence says the former owner of the Roger Williams Medical Center is delinquent on $10 million in taxes. (WPRI)

T.F. Green collecting donations for TSA workers who have gone without pay due to the partial government shutdown. (WPRI)

Judge Brian Stern appointed attorney W. Mark Russo to oversee the handling of $13 million in debt concealed by the Croft School, a private school in Providence. (WPRI)

R.I. Politics

AG Neronha has joined with several other states to sue the federal government for placing illegal conditions on billions in critical USDA funding. USDA has threatened penalties for states that do not comply with the federal government’s position on immigration, D.E.I., and gender identity without connection to the mission of the USDA. (AG)

Speaker of the House, K. Joe Shekarchi (D-Warwick), a housing lawyer by trade, has expressed interest in becoming the next justice of the R.I. Supreme Court. Though it is the responsibility of the legislature to nominate a person to the seat, the nomination of the Speaker could damage the historically-embattled institution’s newly improved reputation. (Globe)

Sports

The Red Sox won 3-0 over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday to open the season. Roman Anthony (LF) led the Sox with 3 hits. Duran, Story, and Rafaela each batted in a run.

The Celtics dominated in the second half on Wednesday night for a comeback win over OKC, 119-109. Brown led in scoring for the Celtics with 31 points. Next game tonight at home against Atlanta; tip-off at 7:30.

The Bruins won in OT against Buffalo on Wednesday, 4-3. Next game against the Minnesota Wild, tomorrow at 5:00.