Michael Bilow

Heat Advisory Tue–Wed: Dangerous heat indices up to 99°F expected; Air Quality Alert

Heat Advisory in effect from July 14, 11:00 AM EDT until July 15, 08:00 PM EDT At Providence, a Heat Advisory is effective Tue, Jul 14, 11am, to Wed, Jul 15, 8pm. Afternoon temperatures/heat indices are likely Tue 94°F/99°F and Wed 94°F/98°F, which can be dangerously life-threatening. Chance of rain will reach 30% Wed afternoon, […]

Read More

Extreme Heat Warning Wed–Sat: Dangerous heat indices up to 115°F expected; Air Quality Alert

Extreme Heat Warning in effect from July 1, 10:00 AM EDT until July 4, 08:00 PM EDT At Providence, an Extreme Heat Warning is effective Wed, Jul 1, 10am to Sat, Jul 4, 8pm. Afternoon temperatures/heat indices are likely Wed 93°F/100°F, Thu 99°F/109°F, Fri 98°F/106°F, and Sat 96°F/101°F, which can be dangerously life-threatening. Peak heat […]

Read More

Toward a Gayer Semiquincentennial: Remembering the first RI Pride 50 years ago

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026, those of us old enough to remember the 200th anniversary in 1976 tend to be fondly nostalgic for the “Bicentennial” in what seemed a less troubled time, when patriotism could be unironic. That’s somewhat of a false memory: the Vietnam war, the Arab Oil embargo, […]

Read More

Feds to Regard Cannabis as Medicine: Recreational use expected to follow within months

In the face of decades of evidence that cannabis has safe and effective medical uses, the federal government moved it on Apr 23 from Schedule I, which is for drugs such as heroin and LSD that have a high risk of abuse and no legitimate medical purpose, to Schedule III, which is for drugs that […]

Read More

Pothole Construction Season a Sign of Spring: RI DOT seeks public help finding where to repair

The RI Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced a major initiative to repair potholes caused by a harsh winter. A new Pothole Service Requests Dashboard site on the web – https://www.dot.ri.gov/travel/potholes.php – allows the public to report locations needing repair, and monitor progress. It includes overall counts and a map that can zoom down to individual […]

Read More

The Impossibility of Satire: Trump-world is an inherent self-parody

On the “Weekend Update” satirical news segment on Saturday Night Live. anchor Colin Jost displayed a snapshot of an unhinged rant laced with profanity in the form of a Donald Trump post to Truth Social, before admitting he made it up – but until he said that, any viewer would assume it was real. I […]

Read More

Fake RI DMV Text Message Scam: Tries to entice following a risky web link

Readers made Motif aware they received text messages trying to entice them into following a web link that presumably would lead to a scam, collecting financial information or infecting the user with malware. The messages threaten dire legal consequences due to unpaid violations at the RI Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), citing general laws references […]

Read More

News Analysis — Iran War Update: Where are we going, and do we know?

  [See prior update: motifri.com/iran-war2026] Donald Trump built his entire life and career on denial of reality, convinced he could counter every adversary with some combination of cajolery and charm or, if that failed, threatening and bullying. In his first presidential term, Trump hit the wall because a pandemic virus is not susceptible to such […]

Read More