1. STORY OF THE WEEK: “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree!” -- the timeless aphorism from the late U.S. Sen. Russell B. Long of Louisiana -- speaks to Americans’ antipathy about yielding part of their income to the government. Regardless of whether you view taxes as “the price we pay for civilized society” (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.) or an unjust tribute to a voracious bureaucracy, there’s no getting away from them. And now, uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will cut Medicare and Medicaid has cracked open for the first time in many years the possibility of a broad-based tax increase in the Ocean State. "What's happening in Washington will have a direct impact on what's happening in Rhode Island," House Speaker Joe Shekarchi told the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s legislative luncheon this week, as Patrick Anderson reported. That uncertainty has bolstered the hopes of the Revenue for Rhode Islanders Coalition, which is pushing a plan to raise $190 million in annual revenue with a new 3% surcharge on Rhode Island tax filers who earn more than $1 million.

Weayonnnoh Nelson-Davies, executive director of the Economic Progress Institute, is among the supporters of the plan. With the state sailing back into a sea of perennial deficits, Nelson-Davies contends there’s no evidence that the surcharge would cause an exodus of Rhode Island’s richest residents. “It also addresses a regressive tax structure we have where the lowest income Rhode Islanders are paying about 13.3% of their income versus the highest earners, who are paying only 8.6% of their income,” she said during an interview on Political Roundtable.

Rhode Island’s budget has almost doubled in the last 10 years, from $8.67 billion in 2015 to the $14.2 billion proposed by Gov. Dan McKee in January, so should the initial focus before raising taxes be on cutting spending and raising efficiency? “There may be some places we have to look to see where we can cut, but it shouldn’t be towards low-income folks who are dependent on the government,” Nelson-Davies said.

In an email blast last Friday, Greater Providence Chamber President Laurie White urged opposition to the proposed tax hike on millionaires, writing in part: “We need to focus on growing our economy and increasing our tax base by attracting new residents and creating new jobs. Rhode Island is already in a fierce competition with neighboring states to attract and keep businesses, residents, and talent. Increasing taxes will have a chilling effect on our ability to compete.” 

2. REALITY CHECK: Some of those attending the Greater Providence lunch noted the presence of bomb-sniffing dogs and other elements of elevated security -- a response to the public anger being displayed against corporations ranging from Tesla to Rhode Island Energy.

3. MEDICAID MATH: RI Senate GOP Leader Jessica de la Cruz (R-North Smithfield) is among the Republicans pouring cold water on the idea that the party will cut Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income people. But the Congressional Budget Office has found that U.S. House Republicans’ proposed budget is unlikely to work without Medicaid cuts. Reductions would be a big deal here since Medicaid makes up about a third of Rhode Island’s budget. “If you know a family that is having a baby in Rhode Island it’s very likely they are being supported by Medicaid,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said during a local event earlier this week. “If you have a family member who is elderly and in a nursing home, or if you know someone who is elderly and in a nursing home, there’s about a two-thirds chance they’re being paid for by Medicaid.” On a related note, Whitehouse and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed this week signaled their opposition to cloture on the Congressional GOP plan to fund the government.

4. FIVE YEARS ON: When I think of the start of the pandemic in 2020, one lasting memory is the face of a fellow shopper as I was scouting for toilet paper at the BJ’s Wholesale Club in Seekonk. He was a youngish guy -- about 30 -- and his expression was a mix of anxiety and thinly veiled frustration, as if he was on the edge. A lot of people felt that way back then, and aside from claiming almost 4,000 lives just in Rhode Island, and more than 7 million around the world, COVID and the response to it made for a polarizing debate about vaccines and the government response, echoes of which remain with us. At the same time, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown’s School of Public Health, has acknowledged mistakes, including how public officials moved too slowly in reopening schools. “The inability to shift, because we had said ‘the science says X,’ really, I think, boxed public health into a lot of bad decisions that were difficult to get out of,” Jha said as part of a panel of Brown experts. “Moving forward, if there are places where we as public health leaders need to acknowledge our errors, we should absolutely do that — and we should try to meet people where they are, understand their values, and move people forward toward a better understanding of how we're going to help folks lead better, healthier lives.”

5. CIVIL LIBERTIES: Mahmound Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident being held without charge at an immigration detention center in Louisiana after helping to lead pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, will be the first of “many to come,” President Trump said earlier this week. Amy Greer, a member of Khalil’s legal team, is a graduate of Roger Williams University School of Law. In an interview with NPR’s Ari Shapiro, Greer said in part, “Certainly, this administration's grumblings around challenging naturalized citizenship should certainly give us all pause as to how this administration wants to interpret certain areas of our law, and who those areas of the law apply to and who they don't.”

6. DISSENT ON CAMPUS: During the Vietnam era, Brown University served as the “strike center” for protests around New England. With the Trump administration targeting universities, delve into Washington’s love/hate relationship, via David Wright, with the Ivy League.

7. COMING ATTRACTION: Rhode Island FC has been priming the pump of public interest ahead of the May debut of the team’s new soccer arena in Pawtucket, sending releases on topics ranging from parking to the roster. Meanwhile, in a tweet this week, Gov. McKee offered a reminder that he cast the tie-breaking vote to move the project forward. The message is not without political risk as we approach election season, considering how taxpayers will pay $132 million over 30 years for the $27 million construction cost of the new stadium. But in for a dime, in for a dollar, as McKee doubled-down on a message that the arena will bring new jobs and economic momentum to Pawtucket. 

8. LOCAL MOTION: Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. denies the town is using eminent domain in bad faith to stop an affordable housing development. “No, it’s about building the [public safety] complex,” Polisena Jr. told my colleague Jeremy Bernfeld. “I mean, that is the number one priority. I don’t think there’s anything more quintessential to a municipal government than providing public safety.” As Jeremy reports, the libertarian-leaning nonprofit the Pacific Legal Foundation says it’s suing the town on behalf of the landowners, who want to build an affordable housing complex on the land. They call the eminent domain plan “a sham taking” in their legal filings and contend that the town is using the need for a new municipal complex as a fig leaf to mask their efforts to stop the apartments.

9. NEWSROOM NUGGETS -- Some of the recent work from The Public’s Radio and Rhode Island PBS.

***Luis Hernandez details how a new bill would combat efforts to ban and censor books in Rhode Island

***Michelle San Miguel reports on Rhode Islanders dealing with long COVID.

***Dave Fallon talks with Brigadier Gen. Andrew Chevalier, the new leader of the RI National Guard.

***Meet Joziah Fry, the best college athlete in Rhode Island you’ve never heard of, via Mike Szostak.

***Listen to The Public’s Radio Monday for my story on what’s happening with the Centurion Foundation’s effort to buy Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital.

10. TAKING OFF: One Union Station, the former train station that was redeveloped by Marsella Development, has been the home of public radio since before I joined what was then WRNI in 2009. The downtown location in the Rhode Island Foundation building made for a short trip to Smith Hill and other nearby destinations, even if the compact newsroom could make it challenging to hear oneself think on occasion. Over time, WRNI became Rhode Island Public Radio and then The Public’s Radio. A bigger change came last year with our merger with Rhode Island PBS. So after recording more than 800 episodes of Political Roundtable and countless news stories from One Union Station, I said goodbye to the trusty old office on Thursday while looking forward to spending more time at our new digs on Park Lane in Providence. 

11. REMEMBERING LEO’S: From 1974 to 1994, Leo’s -- a bar and restaurant -- was one of the central places for the ferment of the Providence zeitgeist. My friend and former colleague Scott MacKay was in the room where it happened on more than a few occasions and he offers this appreciation for Leo’s leading light: 

“The death of John Rector, 75, at Rhode Island Hospital from a stroke on March 6, brings a cascade of memories from Leo's, Rector's Jewelry District restaurant that defined an era of dining and nightlife in Providence. When Rector, a recent Brown grad from Minneapolis, opened Leo's in 1974 Providence was a seen-better-days dowager in serious need of a facelift. Buddy Cianci had just been elected mayor. Downtown was hollowing out and the city's manufacturing base was mostly gone. The Biltmore, the iconic Jazz Age hotel, was shuttered.

“Rector had run the Brown grad student bar, but otherwise didn't have extensive restaurant experience. There were no yuppies, boutiques or Brown medical students in the gritty Jewelry District. His first customers were jewelry plating workers seeking post-work beers, recalls Rector's widow, Teresa Level, a RISD grad who met John when she was tending bar for him. Rector quickly created a buzz with consistent food, late hours, tabs for customers and by presiding over a nightly party. The joint quickly became a lodestone for the emerging Hipwasee of Divine Providence. It was an eclectic clientele that emerged in a place to see and be seen. There was actor Peter Gerety holding court at the bar, artist Bunny Harvey at a table near Rich Lupo, another Brown grad who stayed in Providence and launched his popular music venue. It was a hangout for folks from Planned Parenthood, Save the Bay, The NewPaper/Providence Phoenix and ProJo, restaurant industry folks, Trinity Rep actors, and Brown and RISD professors.

“Leo's also had its share of eccentric patrons, including a fellow named Jeff Thomas who wore pink long johns and a bandana regardless of season. Rector was all about creating a space for people to gather and share food and drink. He was a witty, hard-working and generous man who was good to his servers and kitchen staff. Women could walk into Leo's alone and feel safe, which wasn't the case everywhere in the ’70s. It also became a hangout for politicians:. Cianci, Joe Paolino, and Govs. Sundlun and DiPrete and their staffers frequented Leo's. On many a night, some of Rhode Island's highest elected officials mingled with some of Rhode Island's highest people. Leo's end came when the young folks who fueled Rector's crowd got married, moved to Barrington and had kids. They no longer went out three or four nights a week. Leo's closed.” A celebration of John Rector’s life is planned at the Met Cafe in Pawtucket at 2 pm on May 17.

12. It’s not exactly a Providence Place-style secret apartment, but there are only 13 secret apartments left in the public libraries of New York City. Meanwhile, a number of wranglers, PR people and press agents are assiduously working to coordinate things ahead of a media screening next week of the secret mall apartment documentary -- a very meta-sequel to the covert initial chapter.