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Boston Globe
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
R.I. expecting competitive race for lieutenant governor
Advertisement While attention has focused on whether Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Former state Senator Cynthia Coyne has already A number of other people are considering jumping into the race, including Providence City Council member Advertisement Joe Fleming, a veteran pollster and analyst for WPRI, said the latest polling and fundraising numbers indicate Matos 'could have a serious problem.' He said he's surprised she does not have more campaign cash at this point, 'knowing she would face serious competition.' Fleming said her high disapproval numbers likely reflect publicity about the 'I would think candidates are looking at that race seriously, believing she is a target,' he said. But her polling numbers among Democrats show 'that in a primary, she may not be quite as weak as people might think,' Fleming said. 'In a multi-candidate race, she is in a much better position, but she needs to raise money to get her message out.' Katie Langford Sonder, who crafted the Salve poll as associate director and fellow at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, said the latest poll showed lower approval ratings for most of Rhode Island's top elected Democrats, not just Matos. She said Democratic voters are looking for stronger responses to what they consider an 'onslaught of bad news' from the Trump administration. But Sonder said Matos' support among Democratic voters 'is actually very good' when compared to other top officials such as McKee, who had a minus-2 net approval rating among Democrats compared to her plus-23 net rating. Republicans have sharply different views, with just 7 percent approving of Matos' job performance and 76 disapproving (for a minus-70 net approval). And 13 percent of unaffiliated voters approve of the job she's doing, while 57 percent disapprove (for a minus-44 net approval). Advertisement Here's a closer look at the two candidates in the race: Sabina Matos , 51, a Providence Democrat, moved to the US from the Dominican Republic in 1994 and graduated from Rhode Island College. She was elected to the Providence City Council in 2010 and became Providence's first Latina City Council president. In 2021, When asked to name two specific accomplishments, Matos said she advocated for providing Matos' campaign account contains $14,611. Cindy Coyne , 63, a Barrington Democrat, was born in Pawtucket and attended the University of Rhode Island on an athletic scholarship for swimming. She was among the first women to graduate from the State Police Training Academy and served as a State Trooper for more than 20 years, becoming a lieutenant. Advertisement Former state Senator Cynthia "Cindy" Coyne, a Barrington Democrat, is running for lieutenant governor. Handout Coyne served as a Barrington Town Council member from 2010 to 2014. And she served in the Senate from 2015 to 2023 after becoming the first Democrat to win the seat representing Barrington in more than 100 years. She chaired the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. In citing two accomplishments, Coyne noted she championed a law that now bans ' Campaign funds: $60,713. Here's a brief look at those who said they're considering entering the race: Sue AnderBois , 42, a Providence Democrat, was elected to the Providence City Council in 2024, representing Ward 3. She created and chairs the task force working to make North Main Street safer. She works as the Northeast division director of climate and energy at The Nature Conservancy. She was the state director of food strategy, or 'food czar,' under former Governor Gina M. Raimondo. Providence City Council member Sue AnderBois. Handout AnderBois said the lieutenant governor's post would offer the opportunity to have a larger impact on key issues such as climate change, transit, and high energy costs. Campaign funds: $19,445 Lou DiPalma , 64, a Middletown Democrat, was elected to the Senate in 2008 and now chairs Senate Finance Committee. He sponsored legislation that Advertisement Senate Finance Committee Chairman Louis P. DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat. Handout DiPalma said she is 'leaning toward' running for reelection to the Senate but 'still exploring the possibility' of running for lieutenant governor. Campaign funds: $113,907 Stephen Casey , 56, a Woonsocket Democrat, has represented House District 50 after being elected in 2012, and chairs the House Municipal Government and Housing Committee. He has been a Woonsocket firefighter for 20 years. He ran for the First Congressional District seat in 2023, finishing fifth in the Democratic primary, just behind Matos. Rhode Island state Representative Stephen M. Casey, a Woonsocket Democrat. Handout When asked about the lieutenant governor's race, Casey said, 'I would certainly consider it and keep all my options open.' Campaign funds: $17,134. Maria Rivera , 48, a Central Falls Democrat, Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Rivera said she has not ruled out running for lieutenant governor. 'It is still a possibility,' Campaign funds: $54,982. Kenneth J. Hopkins , 70, a Cranston Republican, Advertisement Cranston Mayor Kenneth J. Hopkins Handout Hopkins said he is 'keeping all options open at this point,' including the lieutenant governor's post. Campaign funds: $11,130. Aaron Guckian , 49, of East Greenwich, ran for lieutenant governor in 2022 and now works as executive director of the Rhode Island Dental Association. He previously worked as a development officer for the Rhode Island Foundation, and as special assistant to former Republican Governor Donald L. Carcieri. Aaron Guckian, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Rhode Island in 2022. Handout Guckian said he is considering running for governor, lieutenant governor, or treasurer. He noted he won the cities of Warwick and Cranston in the 2022 race against Matos. 'I am definitely looking at running again,' he said. Campaign funds: $2,176. Bill Bartholomew , 41, of Providence, is a Bill Bartholomew, podcaster and radio host. Handout Bartholomew said he would run as a Democrat. He said he has not taken any formal steps to launch his campaign. But, he said, 'I'm definitely still considering it.' Campaign funds: None reported. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien have been mentioned as possible candidates, but they both said they are not planning to run for lieutenant governor. Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
Scotsman
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Fringe theatre review: BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG + more
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG (WIP) ★★★★ Summerhall (Venue 26) until 25 August There's no more obvious sign that something has become too unwieldy to function than when it begins to eat itself. Take, for example, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in which Bringing Shows To the Fringe seems to have become its own increasingly prevalent genre: a metatextual howl against the appalling labour conditions and precarious funding landscape in which the artists who make the festival are forced to work. Enter Fringe veteran Hannah Maxwell, whose latest show – the wryly titled BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG – deconstructs the cruel optimism of making art within a system which allows a select few to skyrocket to success and everyone else to flounder. Unfolding as a satirically corporate and thoroughly unhinged focus group, audience members are given name tag stickers and large post-it notes and encouraged to give feedback throughout the show, as Maxwell workshops three new ideas that she hopes – somewhat hopelessly – might be her long-awaited breakthrough. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Maxwell's self-deprecating wit is a fizzy delight, but it cleverly masks a spiral of self-doubt and criticism that begins to creep into the show, as feedback options provided on her middle-management-style PowerPoint go from the mildly constructive to the outright hostile. Is it possible, BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG asks, to maintain a sense of self-belief as an artist amidst the structural disinterest of a failing arts landscape, and the siren call of the Autobiographical Show Industrial Complex that defines the Fringe's few successes? What does it do to a person to continually have to sell themselves, particularly when no one seems to want to buy? Almost certainly nothing good, but watching Maxwell convey this through her deft and hilarious manipulation of genre and media is an (admittedly somewhat guilt-ridden) giddy ride. The Fringe may be eating itself but BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG is a compellingly delicious refusal to beg for a seat at the table. Anahit Behrooz David and Katie Get Re-Married ★★★ Friesian at Underbelly, Bristo Square (Venue 302) until 24 August David and Katie are star-crossed haters in this toe-curling caricature of a millennial couple remarrying after a tempestuous dating history. The decision is painfully questionable from the moment they set foot on stage, smothering each other in cloying affection. Each saccharine declaration of 'I love you' and therapy speak affirmations function as flimsy sticking plasters over cavernous emotional wounds. The audience are guests at their wedding, taken through their dating history, chance meeting at a college party to their first wedding, breakups, getting back together, all flecked by vinegary arguments and explosive emotions. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's a wittily observed send-up of millennial adults lacking in as much emotional intelligence as self-awareness, condemned to circle the same doomed cycle of breakup and reunion. Between sparky songs about failed sex experiments and volleys of petty insults, a grim realisation creeps in: they are hopelessly co-dependent, and neither are capable of escaping the other's gravitational pull. The comedy is broad, the tone often hyper-silly. Though it runs out of steam towards the final moments, there's a tragic edge to the whole thing, a sense that beneath the caricature lies a sadly recognisable truth about love, that letting go is harder than it looks. Alexander Cohen King ★★★ Former Gents Locker Room at Summerhall (Venue 26) until 25 August In King, socially anxious Yen discovers an unexpected liberation through drag performance. She reinvents herself as 'Sterling da Silva', a swaggering crypto-bro parody so pitch-perfect you can smell the protein powder. What starts as a private joke metastasises into a second life, one in which Yen is liberated from patriarchal expectations pinned on her by a clueless boyfriend. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But there are limits to liberation. A rocky relationship with her newfound community of drag queens raises awkward questions about the politics of performance, community boundaries and the thin line between escape and appropriation, fissures which creep into Yen's personal life. The satire bites hardest when it skewers the smug banter and bravado of finance bro culture. Performer Jo Tan switches deftly between Yen's jittery awkwardness and Sterling's preening machismo. Her elastic performance is the show's real engine. When it widens its lens to gender roles in modern Singapore, the focus blurs and the sharp commentary dulls: the final moments feels more like tidy conclusion than an organic finale. The momentum rarely sags under Irfan Kasban's brisk direction. King isn't quite a knockout, but it lands its hits with the satisfying thud. Alexander Cohen Lovett | Andrew Perry Lovett ★★★ Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 25 August In most iterations of the Sweeney Todd story, Mrs Lovett plays second fiddle – or should that be second razor? – to the demon barber of Fleet Street. In this one-woman play written and performed by Lucy Roslyn, though, Nelly takes centre stage. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The hour-long monologue begins with Roslyn's Nelly – real name Eleanor – solemnly sharpening a knife on a butcher's block and explaining the finer points of carving up a carcass. From there, she slowly tells the dark and desperate story of her life. We hear about an early encounter with a beached whale on the banks of the Thames; how Nelly's French mother sold her body after the death of her husband; how Nelly found security in her marriage to a German businessman; and how her life was injected with erotic excitement when she met a charming young barber called Mr Todd. Roslyn plays Nelly with a steely glint in her eye and a sly smile, sometimes sliding into other characters – a one-eyed prostitute, an abusive priest – as her story unfolds. She evokes the grittiness and griminess of nineteenth-century London well, too. It takes a long time for the meat of this monologue to arrive – a lot of religious imagery and animal metaphors get in the way of the narrative – but it is delicious when it does. Fergus Morgan How To Kill Your Landlord ★★ Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49) until 25 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There's a 1980s punk spirit and a 2020s disclaimer (don't really kill your landlord) in this surreal comedy in which a group of 20-something tenants decide that the only way to get their skiing, scheming landlord out of their lives and crumbling flat is to kill him. Within the slapstick is a serious message about housing inequality between the generations in a piece that has the lively tone of an early evening BBC comedy with more big energy than laughable jokes. The younger performers could bring more nuance to their roles – an online yoga teacher, crypto trading tech bro and stressed city worker – in a plot with more variation, but the intentions are strong. Sally Stott The Cyclops ★★ theSpace @ Symposium Hall (Venue 43) until 23 August There's some great free-flowing comic banter from the talented Scottish cast in this rethinking of the Greek legend, which is transported to a pub get-together where the aftereffects of a modern-day tragedy are slowly revealed. Anyone looking for a more literal depiction of the single-eyed giant from Odysseus might be confused, but a story that celebrates friendship and raises awareness of men's mental health offers some pertinent observations on what's hidden behind acerbic put-downs and pints of beer. A structure that is predominantly a single pub conversation struggles to sustain an hour-long play, but the good energy and intentions help to keep the ship afloat. Sally Stott Will You Be Praying the Entire Flight? ★★★ theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9) until 16 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This is a likeable character comedy two-hander, in which two young Jewish women with very different lives and attitudes meet on a plane to London and discover that they have more in common than it at first seems. One is ultra-orthodox, Hasidic and suffering from a severe case of flight sickness. The other, horrified, is a secular software developer, more at home in her pyjamas and oversized headphones. Playwright Gili Malinsky's tight script is full of the dry, wry dialogue that, in its comic brevity, seems to be referencing the world of Jim Henson and not just on the latter character's Animal-themed T-shirt. It's a dry mood that is accentuated by Rachel Ravel and Marissa Ruben's stripped back, understated delivery, in which they stare straight ahead under S. Dylan Zwickel's similarly punchy direction attended by Madeline Rose Parks' socially inept air hostess. The conversation covers work, relationships, region and non-religion and, briefly, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although there's a clear gap in this part of the conversation – that of a Palestinian voice, which feels particularly absent at a time when unfathomable horrors are being carried out in the region. But within the limited scope of a simple story of two very different Jewish woman meeting on a plane, it's calling for understanding over conflict and finding the places that unify rather than divide. Sally Stott Dream with me... ★★ Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236) until 16 August There's a toddler in the audience who's loving this bold and experimental shape-shifting, self-referential, relatively late-night show about a man's metamorphosis-filled dreams featuring his father, his former athletics coach, a goblin, a pigeon and a fish. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's deliberately esoteric and, with writer/performer Samuel Koppel's jagged movements intercut with his monologues, the discombobulating feeling of travelling through the depths of the subconscious in sleep is well evoked. Unless you're the aforementioned toddler, the difficultly is in sustaining this for an hour-long place. 'I hope it's not too random, too complicated,' he says. It's not, but it wouldn't suffer from a bit more structure for the adults.
Metro
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
This Morning star, 40, opens up about cancer scare after finding lump
This Morning host Josie Gibson has revealed her frightening ordeal after finding a 'large lump' on her breast. The TV presenter, 40, who rose to fame when she won the 2010 series of Big Brother, previously went under the knife to have 34D breast implants, having been a B cup before. However, Josie grew concerned when one of her breasts actually 'changed shape' due to the lump, which ultimately led to her having her implants removed. Speaking in a new interview, she recalled the 2023 health scare: 'I had a big lump underneath my left boob, and I was getting really worried about it. 'You could actually see it protruding—you could see the breast had changed shape, so I was getting a little bit frightened.' Josie made a GP appointment, and her doctor 'had a feel around', after which he found the issue was actually with her breast implant. 'I went and I had them out, and, for me, it was one of the best things I've done,' Josie declared to The Sun. After having her implants taken out, the star finally has 'peace of mind' and zero regrets. She's now also urging other women to help make breast cancer a less taboo topic, joining forces with charity Breast Cancer Now to raise awareness of the symptoms. 'We only ever talk about breast cancer when something bad happens. Let's make it part of the conversation.' Josie initially had a breast enlargement—and a nipple lift—after losing weight, having gone from a size 20 to a size 8 in the space of a year. Her physical transformation was well documented and highly publicised, as she spoke about adapting to a much stricter diet and hiring a personal trainer. In 2013, Josie also released a workout DVD called Josie Gibson: 30 Second Slim and, in 2014, published her book, The Josie Gibson Diet: Love Food, Get Slim, Stay Slim. Continuing on her healthy lifestyle journey, the following year, Josie launched a sought-after diet plan named Slimmables, which offered members a 14-day detox and progression to an 80/20 diet. However, speaking previously about shedding as much weight as she did, Josie, who was left in tears after cruel responses to her appearance in Big Brother, admitted that she's still never satisfied with her body. She told the Daily Mail last December: 'I've been, you know, over the years, you put so much stress on yourself—like I'm never happy, never happy. 'But now I'm just really busy, but I would like to lose a bit of timber, but I'm happy with myself. And that's the main thing.' 'It's like a home renovation, your body, isn't it? So I always need a little bit of progress. I always need to paint a room.' Josie is certain of one thing, though, and it's that, despite the rise of celebs taking Ozempic, she has no desire to try weight loss drugs or jabs. 'The thing is, I can understand, you know, when people get desperate and they want to do that,' she reasoned. More Trending 'But it wouldn't be for me, only because I don't want to mess around with my body. I like everything natural; I always go down the natural route.' Josie joined ITV's This Morning in 2019, initially as a competition announcer. In 2021, she began hosting the main show regularly, filling in for Holly Willoughby last minute and quickly winning the nation's hearts. View More » Recent years have also seen Josie appear on Cooking with the Stars, The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice, and I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, the latter of which saw her finish in fourth place. CoppaFeel! offers these simple steps on how to check your own chest for signs of cancer. Look Look at your boobs, pecs or chest. Look at the area from your armpit, across and beneath your boobs, pecs or chest, and up to your collarbone. Be aware of any changes in size, outline or shape and changes in skin such as puckering or dimpling. Feel Feel each of your boobs, pecs or chest. Feel the area from your armpit, across and beneath your boobs, pecs or chest, and up to your collarbone. Be aware of any changes in skin such as puckering or dimpling, or any lumps, bumps or skin thickening which are different from the opposite side. Notice your nipples Look at each of your nipples. Be aware of any nipple discharge that's not milky, any bleeding from the nipple, any rash or crusting on or around your nipple area that doesn't heal easily and any change in the position of your nipple MORE: Princess Andre, 18, teases drastic career change after reality TV success as parents feud MORE: I'm A Celebrity icon tipped to return as highly anticipated All Stars takes shape MORE: 'Lots of unexpected twists and turns': Your favourite British TV thrillers
Boston Globe
12-08-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Social media has become an antisocial monster. It's time to call it something else.
Advertisement First, let's define social media. There are several basic features that platforms share: an interactive user interface; the ability to categorize people into followers, lists, or groups; and — above all — the sharing of user-generated content. In an ideal world, this leads to an egalitarian marketplace where people choose their interests, follow or grow their social network, and disseminate ideas for the benefit of others. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up That's obviously not where we ended up. Tech giants have hijacked these forums and filled them with sponsored content and bots, shifting our focus from our friends and colleagues toward ads and corporations. With the advent of AI, a final, definitive threshold has been crossed. There is no way to ensure the humanity of anything we see online. Advertisement Hundreds of incremental commercial decisions have led us here, says Chris Shipley, a technology strategist who popularized the term 'social media' in the early aughts. She agrees the term no longer fits for platforms that now occupy the spaces in our lives that used to be filled with actual people. ''Social' means, to many people, that it's 'sociable,' it's lovely, it's all the positive common connotations,' Shipley says. But 'when we see what's really happened, it's antisocial. ' This is true regardless of platform. YouTube's most popular channels overwhelmingly Allowing tech companies to refer to their product as social media strips them of their culpability in creating this dystopian mess. It allows them to hide behind the fiction that these changes have been mere coincidences of iteration and that Big Tech hasn't fundamentally altered the nature of the product. We need to better define what is happening to us online, especially as each person's digital habitat becomes more optimized and siloed. Plenty of terms exist to describe this era of worthless content — AI slop, brainrot. There is also a lexicon for the banal brainsuck of the user experience — doomscroll, bed rot. But we need to shift from a vocabulary that is tailored to shame users and content creators to one that names, broadly speaking, the addictive forces and perverse incentives acting upon them. Advertisement No one looks at what Amazon has become and calls the behemoth a 'bookseller' — the company has outgrown its original purpose. So has social media. 'If people said, 'TikTok, Facebook, X — they're screwing with me and they're exploiting me,' we might think differently about them,' Shipley says. But 'consumers generally don't value themselves. They don't value their personal information. They don't value their time. They don't value their attention.' Ultimately, says Shipley, 'We give away a lot of ourselves for very little in return.' It's time to reevaluate just how much of us we allow these companies to consume, and to call it by its name. That's why, instead of social media, I would call these platforms 'consumption media.' It's a more apt term for the hours of content we run past our eyeballs while letting companies track, analyze, and monetize us. We are consuming. And we are being consumed. Rebecca Spiess can be reached at
Boston Globe
10-08-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
As Washington axes aid for the most vulnerable, legislation in Mass. would tackle inequities
It's vital work, and many of its recommendations are worth enacting. Advertisement This proposed legislation comes at a time when the Trump administration is seeking to limit diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and racial preferences. The work of the Health Equity Compact is not that. It's about finding practical solutions to address the health needs of places like Brockton, where the according to the Atrius Health Equity Foundation. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up One of the Compact's specific proposals, for which this editorial board Advertisement In general, anything the state can do to advance career ladders for health care workers is valuable. For example, UMass Chan Medical School just The health equity bill allows the public health commissioner to have a role in creating 'stackable' credentials for health care workers, where one credential can be added to the next, creating a career path. Another intriguing idea in the proposed bill is the creation of a trust fund to give grants to 'health equity zones,' specific communities with poor health outcomes. This is a model The In particular, at least for now, lawmakers should resist the temptation to pass new health insurance mandates. Advertisement The bill would require insurance coverage for interpreters, community health workers, and patient navigators. It is important for hospitals and health centers to be able to employ staff who help patients, including non-English speakers, navigate a complex health care system. These positions are typically funded through grants and, in some cases, by insurance under negotiated agreements or payment models. But a wide-ranging insurance mandate like the one in this bill would increase premiums for all payers — including those who can least afford them. In 2023, the Division of Insurance The bill would also require insurers to reimburse equally for telehealth and in-person care for primary care and chronic disease visits. There is ongoing debate over reimbursement rates for telehealth, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic. It's worth studying the costs and benefits of telehealth in specific specialties before mandating payment parity because ideally, telehealth would provide opportunities for cost savings. Those quibbles aside, the proposed health equity bill would move the state in the right direction. At a time when the federal government is cutting health care spending and eliminating benefits that help the poorest citizens, it would be a strong statement if Massachusetts were to take the lead in passing a bill to improve the health of people in communities that today suffer the most. Advertisement Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us
