Cannabis Corner? Nine Cooperatives Apply to Open Dispensaries on One Stretch of North Main Street

by Eric Halvarson

Dr. Andre Dev started the Community Cannabis Network of Rhode Island to help ensure cannabis co-ops succeeded as enduring, locally owned businesses. So, when the pool of potential cannabis retailer applications for RI started rolling in at the end of 2025, he expected a handful [...]

New Cannabis Stores Put on Pause As Retail Royalty Make Millions

by Eric Halvarson

Cannabis in Rhode Island is a $167 million dollar industry, but only a handful are seeing the rewards. Existing RI retailers sold almost $40 million dollars worth of products since the State closed applications for additional retail licenses in December. However, that process was suddenly [...]

Newest ProvPort Tenant L3Harris to Process UnderSea Communications Cables, Local Residents Protest Business Ties to Defense Economy

by Eric Halvarson

Providence’s newest portside tenant is L3Harris, one of the largest defense contractors in the world. The company plans to build a 50,000 square foot warehouse in ProvPort worth $6 million to load and offload subsea telecommunications cable.  The news comes as ProvPort looks to complete [...]

Local News Sites Launch Collaborative

by The Providence Eye

Six Newsrooms Band Together to Strengthen Local News Coverage Editor’s Note: The following is a press release announcing the launch of Rhode Island News Collaborative (RINC), of which The Providence Eye is a founding member. Six independent newsrooms announce the formation of the Rhode Island [...]

A Place to Begin Again at Beautiful Day

by Margaret Rizzuto

A bowl of pasta moves slowly down the table as someone laughs and another person searches for the right English word.  On Tuesday evenings at Beautiful Day in Providence, the kitchen quiets down, and the long tables begin to fill. Staff, trainees, volunteers, and visitors [...]

Hanju Kitchen Chef Closes Shop in Providence, Leaves U.S. Amid Uncertainty in Immigration Policies

by Eric Halvarson

A bowl of gumbo ramen. A spoonful of kimchi mac & cheese. A bulgogi hot dog.  These are the culinary creations from the mind of Chef Jenny Han, served across Providence for the last five years. Dubbed “KoCajun,” Han’s unique blend of Korean and Cajun [...]

Recovery grants available for East Side merchants who lost business after Brown shooting

by Alexander Castro

Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by Rhode Island Current on January 14, 2026. Reprinted with permission. Recovery grants will soon become available to help Providence East Side businesses impacted during the roughly five-day manhunt for the gunman responsible for killing two students and injuring [...]

Café workers at Seven Stars Bakery vote to authorize strike against employer

by Steve Ahlquist

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Steve Ahlquist’s Substack on January 2. Reprinted with permission. From a press release: United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local Union 328, which represents over 9,000 workers across a variety of industries in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, announced that employees at [...]

Senator Reed Talks Trump Tariffs and the Spiraling Costs of Coffee

by Steve Ahlquist

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Steve Ahlquist’s Substack on November 14. Reprinted with permission. On Friday, United States Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) visited the great-smelling Mills Coffee Roasting Company on Broad Street in Providence to discuss his latest effort to help lower the price of coffee. Dating to [...]

The Future of the Port of Providence

by Joshua Geaughan

Editor’s note: This article is the latest installment in a series of articles about the Providence port and ProvPort’s Master Planning process, written and researched by the team of student journalists at Communities of Hope. Read previous articles here and here. According to The Grantham [...]