The energy fight has officially taken over the Rhode Island State House — and the Center’s warnings are breaking through. As Governor Dan McKee rolls out an “affordability” plan and utilities scramble to defend the status quo, talk radio, lawmakers, and even neighboring states are echoing what we’ve been saying all along: you can’t regulate your way to cheap, reliable power.
In this powerful testimony, Mike Stenhouse, CEO of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, explains why energy policy is the single most important determinant of Rhode Island’s future prosperity or poverty. Whether one believes in climate change or not, the economic consequences of the Act on Climate are unavoidable.
Something big is happening inside Rhode Island’s schools—and almost no one in local media is talking about it. TPUSA and Turning Point Action are rapidly expanding their presence, and the Cranston West event with Anthony Watson lit the fuse. In this episode, Sten reacts to the full event, the rhetoric, the call to action delivered to students, and the behind-the-scenes tensions that erupted—including Adam’s removal and the TKU/Karen Iacobbo moment everyone is talking about.
Local Warwick watchdogs, Rob Cote and Rob Cushman, discovered an inconvenient fact that city officials had been attempting to hide … a major lawsuit that could lead to bankruptcy … and collaborated to create an AI video, explaining the dire situation.
One of the big selling points for proponents of offshore wind here in Rhode Island has been: “Look at how Deepwater Wind lowered Block Island’s electric rates!” This was, in fact, one of the things that Senator Sam Zurier said, at Minute 12:00, in his interview “In the Dugout” with Mike Stenhouse a couple of […]
Opinion: In what can only be viewed as troubling data from the US Census Bureau, our state continues hemorrhage US citizens, while simultaneously attracting foreigners, many of whom are likely undocumented immigrants. The concerning aspect about this is that those net 10k lost citizens to “domestic migration” – away from our state – are significantly […]
The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity announced Thursday that it has launched an online petition calling on state policymakers to reconsider Rhode Island’s current energy strategy, arguing it could lead to higher electricity costs and increased risks to grid reliability.
Dr. Stephen “Doc” Skoly steps down as chairman of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity to run for Congress in Rhode Island’s 2nd District, citing medical freedom, affordability, and individual liberty.
The Ocean State Current has obtained a copy of the RI Supreme Court Brief filed last Friday (1/16/26) on behalf of the aggrieved West Warwick mother, Jane Doe, in her lawsuit against the RI Department of Education (RIDE). Doe’s daughter was secretly assisted in her desired transition to a boy by school officials, in accordance […]
This column was submitted anonymously to The Current: As we enter this 2026 election year, it should come as no surprise that Democrats are suddenly claiming an “epiphany” on healthcare—positioning it alongside issues such as racism, sexism, and other social injustices, often framing disagreement as a failure to “think correctly.” What is surprising is the […]
Energy isn’t optional! It is the backbone of family life, affordable living, and a functioning economy. Join us for a virtual press conference with energy researchers examining how New England can meet rising demand without sacrificing reliability or affordability. The discussion will focus on realistic choices that keep the lights on and costs under control. Watch it here.
On ENERGY STORAGE NOW NOW NOW! Renewable energy, which has been mandated by Rhode Island’s 2021 Act on Climate, does not work as an energy source for the electric grid absent a major, toxic and costly energy storage infrastructure. From their testimony, the RI PUC does not appear to oppose such an infrastructure but they believe it should be added via a deliberative, prudent process. Instead, though, eager, pro-green energy legislators – just get it built; we have to save the planet!!1!! – filed an energy storage mandate bill, H7811, now law, in 2024 to recklessly accelerate the addition of such an energy storage infrastructure. In testimony on the bill, the PUC raised serious concerns about the “substantial” cost to ratepayers and tight timeframe of the bill’s mandates, saying in part,
The following was extracted from an “X” post by Ken Block, who was just named GoLocalProv’s “Man of the Year” **** Oh, Warwick! Warwick’s dysfunctional government has been a hot-button topic for me for more than a decade. What happened in Warwick this week was horrifying and clearly illustrates why the city’s government is so […]
In 2025, lawmakers created a special Senate commission ‘to study and provide recommendations for potential changes’ to our state’s Act On Climate energy mandates. It was expected that this five-member Senate commission would meet regularly and include public comment, but Chairman Sam Zurier has not yet convened a meaningful hearing.
Before I met my wife, I watched Home Alone exactly one time. It was the first movie I ever saw in a theater—age eight, Disney World, 1990. I thought it was funny, and then I moved on with my life.
Then I got married.
Since then, I’ve seen Home Alone roughly nine… thousand times. Once Thanksgiving arrives, it just seems to live on the TV like a flat-screen Christmas decoration.
In this deeply moving episode of Sten Reacts, we reflect on the tragic mass shooting that struck Brown University during an economics review session, claiming the lives of two students and injuring nine others. Among those killed was Ella Cook, a passionate conservative activist, vice president of the Brown College Republicans, and beloved voice for her peers. We honor her legacy as a “bright light” — a devoted Christian, fearless advocate for conservative students on an overwhelmingly liberal campus, and someone with a promising future ahead.
Michael G. Riley, a prominent board member of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity and a well-known figure in the state’s civic and public-policy circles, died Nov. 20, 2025, with his family at his side. He was 69. Riley’s tenure on the board capped a lifetime defined by intellectual rigor, contrarian spirit, and an unwavering commitment to liberty. Colleagues at the Center remembered him as a forceful thinker whose integrity and curiosity shaped debates and strengthened the organization’s mission.
A Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil hosted Tuesday inside Salve Regina University’s Our Lady of Mercy Chapel has prompted concern among Catholic community members who say the event conflicted with the chapel’s sacred purpose and with established Catholic teaching on gender ideology and the human person.
Club America at Cranston West High School will welcome 2018 Winter Olympian Anthony Watson for a special discussion on American values on Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. in the school auditorium. The event is open to all students, parents, faculty, and citizens in the community. Registration is open here now.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is saddened by the loss of John Carlevale, one of the 1991 founding fathers of “State of the State”, originally a radio show that would evolve into one of the most inciteful and popular political public access television programs in Rhode Island history. “John was a […]
PUBLISHER’s NOTE: In yet another example of how policymakers failed to conduct any level of appropriate cost-vs-benefit analysis when they set our state upon a “net zero” strategy and passed RI’s “Act On Climate” in 2021, it has now come to light that there has been zero planning for the payment and disposal of wind […]
In this powerful episode, Sten delivers a heartfelt reaction to Erika Kirk’s deeply emotional speech following an unthinkable tragedy. Her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was gunned down while speaking at a university event in Utah — a shocking act of political violence that has sent ripples across the nation. In her tearful address, Erika calls on supporters to carry Charlie’s movement forward, refusing to let his vision die with him. Sten walks viewers through Erika’s moving words and how America is grappling with the grief, outrage, and fierce debate now surrounding free speech and political violence.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The #AssaultOnRIFamilies by our own state government continues. This attack, stemming from the RhodeMapRI controversy from 10-12 years ago and in response to the so-called housing crisis, is yet another example of how the most fundamental building block of our free-market system of capitalism – private property ownership and related property rights – […]
J. William Middendorf II, a former U.S. Secretary of the Navy, ambassador, composer, and one of Rhode Island’s most distinguished public figures, died Oct. 24, 2025, in Fall River. He was 101.
In his column published on the national platform – The Daily Caller – on October 12, 2025, Mike Stenhouse writes: “In their effort to create “safe spaces” that might save lives, the Left’s God-denying agenda has made schools unsafe places that put the emotional and physical health of students at severe risk. The suicide attempt by […]
Lawrence Gillheeney of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity was inducted into the 1995 Society during America’s Future’s Northeast Regional Showcase & Polo Match this weekend. The 1995 Society honors young leaders whose bold impact advances freedom in their communities. Since its founding, it has recognized the best, brightest, and bravest rising stars in the liberty movement.
The distinction between wrath and anger is important because too often they are conflated to mean the same thing, when in fact, one is a passion with the other a vice. To be clear, passion is not a sin in itself. Vices, however, are all sins, and wrath is one of them; one of the seven “deadly” sins. In contrast, anger is the passion that can lead down one of two possible roads, one is vice, the other is virtue.
Every generation faces the same question: Do we still believe in free speech, or have we accepted a version of speech that is controlled and dressed up as freedom? When powerful institutions decide what can be said, when lawsuits are used to scare people into silence, when rules online hide or block unpopular ideas, speech no longer belongs to the people. It becomes property of the system, handed out only to those who serve its goals. Real freedom is not something the government gives us. It is something we already have, and speech is the tool of the free citizen.
The murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk showed the deadly result. His killer wrote insults on bullets and called him a fascist. But Kirk was not a fascist. He was a man who believed in the value of life. When Christians are mislabeled as fascists, violence against them is excused as if it were justice. This is how propaganda works. Lies are repeated until violence looks normal.
Across multiple fronts, the RI Department of Education (RIDE) continues to fail Ocean State students and families. In the latest instance that highlights RIDE’s woke incompetence, the United States government has just filed legal action to stop RIDE and the Providence Public School District (PPSD) from discriminating against teachers based on their race in violation […]