Behind the Story

Ben Berke, who covers Providence, took a deep dive into the campaign finance reports of Councilor Ana Vargas, revealing the politician received an influx of donations in the months leading up to the vote. The majority of the donations came from landlords and others in the real estate industry.

“The timing is incredibly striking and she’s refused to explain her position,” Berke said, noting in his reporting that Vargas was the only councilor who did not speak about why she voted against the rent-control ordinance. “I think that’s something people would want to know as they go into the voting booth.”

While Vargas campaigned in support of rent control, she ultimately voted against the City Council leadership’s rent-control ordinance. Her opposition is one vote standing in the way of the council securing the 10 votes needed to override a veto issued by Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. The mayor rejected the measure, saying it would stunt housing development and hurt the city financially.

“She’s not raising a lot of money in these campaigns, even when she’s running for office — she’s not having big fundraisers,” Berke said of Vargas’ campaign account. “And it’s only when this rent-control vote comes up in the beginning of 2026 that she really starts to see big donations coming in.”

The council has scheduled an override vote for Friday evening.

Later in the show, Dan and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Ed Fitzpatrick, who covers government and politics, has been closely watching the General Assembly as House Speaker Joe Shekarchi faces a Thursday deadline to decide whether to apply for a seat on the R.I. Supreme Court.

If Shekarchi takes the plunge and steps down as the most powerful Democrat in the House, the move could trigger a cascade of changes to leadership.

“This is a big deal because the speaker of the House, especially in Rhode Island, is the most powerful politician in the state,” Fitzpatrick said. “They have arguably more power than the governor. And you rarely ever see that gavel change hands in the middle of a session.”

Fitzpatrick also discussed his recent reporting on the U.S. attorney’s office in Rhode Island, where the Trump administration is keeping Charles “Chas” Calenda in charge after his 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney expired.

Because Calenda can no longer serve in that role under federal advise-and-consent rules, the administration has taken the unusual step of naming him “special attorney” and first assistant U.S. attorney.

Meanwhile, it has left the state’s top federal prosecutor position vacant, meaning Calenda remains in the top position without needing Senate confirmation. The courts have likewise declined to try appointing a name from a list of applicants.

“It became clear pretty quickly that [the court] chose not to because they knew that, as in other states, the Trump administration probably would have fired that person,” Fitzpatrick said. “Colenda, in the first U.S. attorney’s position, is effectively in charge of the District of Rhode Island without being named U.S. attorney.”

Later in the show, Tim White — who filled in as cohost — and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Ian Donnis, a longtime political reporter, has been covering the recent failure of a highway ramp in Cranston that disrupted travel for motorists and Amtrak passengers.

Last Friday, part of a bridge in poor condition fell onto a railroad track, surprising transportation officials who said there had been no prior signs of trouble.

The infrastructure issue comes amid ongoing criticism of the Washington Bridge closure. The westbound span failed in December 2023 and has remained closed to traffic.

The Cranston bridge failure comes about 10 years after the state unveiled RhodeWorks, an expensive and controversial infrastructure program designed to upgrade roads and bridges statewide.

The law also created the state’s truck toll program, which was tied up in court for years after being challenged by a truckers association.

The state ultimately won that legal fight, but resuming toll collection has been delayed, in part because the infrastructure used to collect tolls has become outdated.

Donnis examined the program’s balance sheet and found it is currently underwater after a decade in operation.

Later in the show, Kim and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

David Cicilline, who served in the U.S. Congress, said he remembers a time when there were regional and Washington bureaus of The Providence Journal. Today, those no longer exist, and he said the shrinking of the industry has resulted in an erosion of civic health among Rhode Islanders.

The Rhode Island Foundation, which helps support “Behind the Story,” is leading a national initiative locally called Press Forward Rhode Island, which will provide grants to nonprofit and for-profit news organizations that come up with ideas for how to improve access to news, address information gaps and increase sustainability.

“I’ve watched this significant decline in the presence of local media,” Cicilline said. “You see news organizations just shrink or just go away completely. And the reason it’s particularly pernicious is because you think about the role journalists play in exposing corruption, mismanagement, bad decisions by those in local and state and federal government. And that’s important oversight and sometimes the only way the public learns about those things.”

Cicilline also talked about a recent survey Press Forward Rhode Island published showing 89% of Rhode Island respondents saying they still placed value on local news and trusted those news sources more than national organizations.

But the research also showed Rhode Islanders are concerned about misinformation, and nearly two-thirds of respondents said they felt like local news lacked diversity in viewpoints.

“The responsibility of journalists and news sources is to report facts and not to give you what you want to hear or to support your opinion, and to distinguish between stories that are facts and opinion pieces,” Cicilline said.

“But that’s where civics education matters,” he added. “Making sure people understand this is a place where you can go when you want to know what the facts are. And if you want opinions on something, go to the opinions page or go to the program that’s talking about opinions, not news, but really educating people about the differences between those two things.”

Later in the show, Dan and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

The story, “Working the Night Shift,” appears in this month’s issue of Rhode Island Monthly.

Lauren Clem, a senior editor, and Jonathan Pitts-Wiley, a photographer, shadowed workers in fields including hospitality, health care, policing, fishing and restaurants.

“I am not normally working the night shift, so we had some very sleepless few weeks,” Clem said. “The majority we did on separate nights, and we tried to line them up chronologically within the feature.”

Pitts-Wiley, a North Providence-based portrait and documentary photographer, partnered with Clem to capture moments experienced by those featured in the piece. He said he aimed to respect the dignity of his subjects while using light in different ways to capture compelling images.

“For me, it just came down to what is visually interesting and trying to create images that are compelling irrespective of having all the context,” Pitts-Wiley said. “The viewer is not in the room with you. They don’t know the smell, they don’t have the context, they only have the image.”

Later in the show, Kim and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Eric Halvarson, who has been a contributing writer since August, was hired last month to cover Providence full time. He said the hire marks an important milestone for the largely volunteer-driven organization as it looks to expand its coverage.

“One of the motivations behind starting the outlet was to cover all of the city and move beyond downtown and the East Side, and to cover areas that might not get as much in-depth attention,” Halvarson said during a taping of the show.

Halvarson, who grew up in Cranston and now lives in Providence, recently published a deep dive on murals in the city amid controversy surrounding a large painting of Iryna Zarutska on a downtown building.

The Ukrainian refugee, who was stabbed to death in Charlotte, North Carolina, has become a polarizing figure, with a group that includes billionaire Elon Musk financially backing efforts to put up murals of her across the country.

Halvarson spoke with artists, curators and Providence residents to explore what goes into placing murals in public spaces and what factors are considered when they are likely to spark debate.

“I wanted to find a way to put this in context and bring it into a broader conversation about Providence, beyond the conservative or progressive takes,” he said.

Later in the show, Dan and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Alex Kuffner, who covers energy and the environment, first shed light on the issue last month with an in-depth report on the state’s largest sludge disposal facility in Woonsocket, which residents are fighting to shut down.

More than 90% of the state’s sludge — a mix of human waste, organic materials and chemicals filtered out of wastewater — is disposed of at the facility in northern Rhode Island.

“If that closes, you’re going to have dozens of cities and towns that will have not have a place to take their sludge,” he said. “They’re going to be faced with essentially finding places that can landfill it, and cities and towns now that have been forced to do this they are taking their sludge by rail to Massachusetts and then it goes all the way to Ohio or Pennsylvania.”

Now, a similar issue is emerging in North Kingstown, where residents are calling on the Quonset Development Corp. to rescind approval of a proposed sludge facility. Meanwhile, House Speaker Joe Shekarchi has supported legislation to create a commission to study biosolids, and Gov. Dan McKee is urging greater transparency around the proposed project.

Kuffner said there’s no link between the two projects in different parts of the state, but many people are watching closely to what happens in both communities to get a better sense of where sludge will go in the future.

“For people in the industry who are trying to find a place for their sludge, they’re thinking, ‘If this thing can get up and running, it’d be great because then it takes the pressure off Woonsocket and Woonsocket can then close,’” he said.

But Kuffner acknowledged the science behind the Quonset project is still relatively new and has faced challenges in other parts of the country. He said the project has several hurdles to clear before it might become a reality, and there are several factors that could prevent it from getting off the ground.

“There are a lot of stakeholders that make it very complicated,” he said.

Later in the show, Kim and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Ethan Shorey, who served as the newspaper’s editor, has said in the past that he always wanted to spend his entire career at one news organization. But he acknowledged it has become tougher in recent years and felt now was the time for a change. He left the paper on March 6.

“I was able to make it work for a really long time,” Shorey said, adding the long hours required at a local newspaper were affecting his ability to spend time with his family. “I was ending up having to do almost a full-time extra job 15 to 20 weeks a year.”

Shorey said he’s currently exploring options to continue reporting in Rhode Island. He said people should expect to see his byline again within the next four months.

“Digital really is the future,” he said. “I’m more optimistic, even in Rhode Island, you see this news collaborative, with a lot of the digital sites and it’s sharing some resources, and I think they’re going to do more of that in the future. There’s a lot of them now.”

The long-time journalist also discussed how the industry has changed, especially with the influence of social media. A 2025 Pew Research Center poll found Americans continue to trust local news more than any other type of information.

But the poll also found Americans ages 18 to 29 are equally likely to trust information from social media as from national news outlets. And trust in social media has grown across all age groups since 2016, according to the poll.

Shorey said it’s changed dramatically over his career, and media literacy is always something he tried to highlight to students and younger journalists.

“I don’t want to disparage 18 to 29 year olds, but there is less news literacy than there’s ever been, in my opinion,” Shorey said.

Later in the show, Dan and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Watch “Behind the Story” Thursdays at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on the WPRI 12+ TV app.

It airs on TV (Sundays at 8 a.m. on FOX Providence and 11 a.m. on The CW Providence), and will be available on demand through the WPRI 12+ app and right here on WPRI.com.

“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of the Boston Globe.

Patrick Anderson, who covers politics and government, has followed the story since former state directors Jim Thorsen and David Patten became embroiled in the scandal three years ago.

The two men traveled to Philadelphia to visit a redeveloped space known as “Bok.” Afterward, state contractors who gave them a tour alleged Patten behaved inappropriately during the trip and that Thorsen failed to intervene.

The two men were also treated a free lunch at a restaurant called Irwin’s, which opened early specifically for them. Thorsen paid for Patten and himself days later after realizing trouble was brewing.

“It was a very unusual circumstance that Thorson was walking into, with no menus, no waitstaff, no table settings at the other tables, the chef personally preparing meals — no bill,” Anderson said.

“So, something even beyond the unusual nature of what happens in political lunches was going on here,” he added.

The issue became a scandal after the McKee administration was forced to release an email detailing the alleged behavior, following a public records battle with Target 12 and The Providence Journal.

Both former directors later came under scrutiny from the R.I. Ethics Commission, which alleged they violated the state’s ethics code.

Patten was fined $5,000 to resolve the matter, while Thorsen is contesting the allegations.

Later in the show, Kim and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Watch “Behind the Story” Thursdays at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on the WPRI 12+ TV app.

It airs on TV (Sundays at 8 a.m. on FOX Providence and 11 a.m. on The CW Providence), and will be available on demand through the WPRI 12+ app and right here on WPRI.com.

“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of the Boston Globe.

Alexa Gagosz, who covers business for the newspaper, has spent years reporting on the mall. She described it as currently being in a state of limbo.

“It’s this place that used to be a luxurious place to shop with the Nordstrom’s — with classic mall stores like The Gap, J. Crew and a lot of those have been replaced and gone,” Gagosz said. “When we say the mall is in limbo, it’s like, what is the future of this major development?”

The mall has been under court-ordered receivership, a state-level version of bankruptcy, since the former operator defaulted on millions of dollars of debt in 2024.

Gagosz and her colleague Steph Machado detailed the current state of the mall’s vendors, including a mounting number of empty storefronts alongside businesses that continue to bustle.

The duo also looked at what it would take to reinvent the struggling shopping complex, which is poised to lose a longstanding tax break with the city in 2028.

“If it failed, it would completely transform downtown Providence in such a negative way,” Gagosz said.

“luckily though, it is literally at the front door of the state House, lawmakers have to drive by it in order to go park and get into the State House and deliberate over whatever they’re going to deliberate that day,” she added. “I think the same with City Hall, and I don’t think that there is an appetite for anybody to allow this mall to fail. It just can’t.”

Later in the show, Dan and Eli talked about the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:

Watch “Behind the Story” Thursdays at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on the WPRI 12+ TV app.

It airs on TV (Sundays at 8 a.m. on FOX Providence and 11 a.m. on The CW Providence), and will be available on demand through the WPRI 12+ app and right here on WPRI.com.

“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of the Boston Globe.