Monday, September 7, 2026

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GIVING VOICE: 
Dr. Fatima Mirza works in an examination room at Rhode Island Hospital. Mirza and her husband, Dr. Rohaid Ali, worked on two significant projects recently involving artificial intelligence, one of which used OpenAI’s Voice Engine to create a clone of the voice of a young patient who lost her voice after surgery to remove a brain tumor. 
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

A higher health care intelligence? In R.I., some believe it’s the...

Like many these days, Severence MacLaughlin foresees a big, bright future for artificial intelligence. Unlike many, the Rhode Island-based data scientist was willing to quit...
A BIG VACANCY: The 88-room hotel on the property of the Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Hotel has remained unused since 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak led to its sudden closure. 
PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

Nearly 5 years later, Tiverton casino hotel still empty

Tiverton won a lottery in 2018 when, after the closure of the Newport Grand slot parlor in Newport, the town became one of only...

Parking tax might be on horizon in Providence

If Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley has his way, parking in private lots in the city could get a little more expensive as the...
THE WARMUP: A legislative study commission on climate change meets in December at the Statehouse, weeks before the full General Assembly convenes to start the 2025 legislative session. Testifying are Thomas Guthlein, left, R.I. Emergency Management Agency associate director; and Melinda Hopkins, the agency’s planning branch chief. 
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

FALLING SHORT: Projected $330M deficit has General Assembly prepping for belt-tightening

For Rhode Island legislators, what’s old is new again. After three years of surpluses, state budget officials are now projecting that the government is facing...
DEAL-MAKING TACTIC? Providence College economics professor Christopher Limnios says he doesn’t expect the tariffs levied against China, Mexico and Canada to be as high as President-elect Donald Trump has threatened. He suspects it might be a move to get leaders of those countries to the negotiation table. 
PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Some R.I. firms worry about effects of tariff threats

Many Rhode Island businesses are in a “wait-and-see” holding pattern as they anxiously await the results of President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to raise tariffs...

Will more Washington Bridge hearings help?

December marked the one-year anniversary of the failure of the Washington Bridge, and General Assembly leaders are planning a January retrospective. Again. House Speaker K....
Anika Kimble-Huntley, / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

‘All that’ and a giant quahog: Tourism chief takes R.I.’s effort...

Anika Kimble-Huntley has learned that being the state’s chief tourism marketer involves certain responsibilities that go beyond the published job description. She took the R.I....
ATTENTION TO DETAIL: Gorilla Gaming co-owner Gretel McCrory works on the factory floor at the Warwick gaming table manufacturer. The company’s attention to detail has caught the eye of big players in the gambling industry, including signing a deal in 2017 to be the official poker table of the World Series of Poker
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Meet the Makers: Warwick poker table maker has played its cards...

(Editor’s note: This is the 28th installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...
DR. MICHAEL FINE, former director of the R.I. Department of Health, says taking steps such as creating new residencies for primary care physicians and nurse practitioners would be a start to reducing the shortage in personnel in primary care, followed by new scholarship programs with the caveat that recipients agree to practice in Rhode Island. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Addressing doctor shortage could be a primary challenge for lawmakers

State legislators might consider a host of potential prescriptions to ease Rhode Island’s worsening shortage of primary care doctors when they convene in January,...
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