Dan McKee

The Providence public schools will continue requiring students and staff to wear face coverings even after a statewide school mask requirement ends March 4, officials said Friday. Gov. Dan McKee announced earlier this week that the statewide school mask mandate would end March 4, a week after students return from February vacation, but added that mask regulations would then be…

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee announced he will lift the statewide mask mandate and proof of COVID-19 vaccine requirements, and plans to lift the school mask mandate in March.

Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee said Tuesday that he has activated 180 members of the National Guard to help with the state’s response to the latest wave of new coronavirus cases. The guard “is supporting vaccination and testing throughout RI, including being on the ground in Central Falls today,” the Democrat tweeted. A Central Falls testing site has been plagued…

Lawmakers plan to spend $119 million of Rhode Island’s federal pandemic relief money when they return to the State House on Tuesday.

Rhode Island is reinstating a mask mandate for some indoor venues, Gov. Dan McKee announced Wednesday, while requiring masks for people who can’t show proof of vaccination in others. The new rules go into effect on Monday and will be reevaluated within 30 days, McKee said. He also announced that the state would be sending out 100,000 at-home rapid COVID…

Rhode Island’s governor has extended his executive orders requiring masks in schools and declaring a disaster emergency due to new COVID-19 variants. Both orders were due to expire Saturday. Gov. Dan McKee signed an extension through Jan. 8. McKee reported on Saturday the state’s first case of the omicron variant of coronavirus in an adult who recently had traveled out-of-state. McKee...

Gov. Dan McKee made the announcement Saturday.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Thursday that the administration’s goal for offshore wind and the projects being developed now represent a “gust of job growth throughout the country.” Granholm visited a new offshore wind manufacturing hub in Providence to talk about the Biden administration’s plan to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 and to promote...

Gov. Dan McKee said Wednesday that Rhode Island is taking steps to prepare for the arrival of the omicron COVID-19 variant in the state. The new variant has not been discovered in the state or elsewhere in the United States yet. But there is a widespread belief that it will be here soon. During a Wednesday morning COVID update, McKee…

Three top Boston doctors explain what the new omicron variant is, whether it’s already in the U.S., what the symptoms are and if vaccines protect against it on the weekly “COVID Q&A” series.

Rhode Island dropped “Providence Plantations” from its name a year ago, but not from its buildings. Providence Plantations is written in the script in marble near the State House dome and on bronze plaques in the entryway. The state seal with the full former name is on the rotunda floor, the elevator doors, door numbers and directional signs. It’s...

Rhode Island officials are preparing now to vaccinate children ages 5 to 11 in anticipation of the federal government authorizing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for that age group, Gov. Dan McKee said Thursday. McKee and the state’s health director went to the Providence Children’s Museum to describe their strategy for the next vaccination campaign. The museum plans to offer the...

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee says the state is already moving into the recovery and assessment phase after Tropical Storm Henri, with the top priority being restore power to tens of thousands of residents and businesses. Henri was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, and made landfall near Westerly, R.I., Sunday afternoon with sustained winds of about 60…

Henri made landfall shortly after noon near Westerly.

Top state leaders in Rhode Island on Wednesday recommended that all students, staff and faculty wear face coverings when schools fully reopen this fall. The decision announced by Gov. Dan McKee, Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green, and Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott is in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s update this week to recommend...

Gov. Dan McKee has signed into law legislation allowing restaurants to continue to use COVID-19 modifications, including outdoor dining and takeout windows. The legislation imposes a moratorium on the enforcement of any municipal ordinance or zoning requirement that would penalize restaurants and bars for modifications made in response to emergency orders from state or local officials. The moratorium is effective…

Anyone who visits Rhode Island will soon be able to get a coronavirus vaccine, and nightclubs will be allowed to open at full capacity by the end of May if patrons can prove they have received their shot, Gov. Daniel McKee announced Thursday. Until now, only residents and people who work or go to school in the state have been…

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said Sunday he has canceled a fundraising event that was being organized on his behalf by a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump. The Democratic governor had been scheduled to attend a May 12 event co-hosted by Gerald Zarrella, a Republican who was co-chair of Trump’s Rhode Island re-election campaign. But when the Democrat…

New Hampshire and Rhode Island are set to ease their COVID-19 restrictions on Friday following guidance from their governors.   New Hampshire will be following new guidelines released last week by Gov. Chris Sununu. The new guidelines, dubbed “Universal Best Practices,” replace the former requirements of “Safer at Home 2.0” which had been in effect since March of 2020.  The…

There will be high school proms and graduation ceremonies in Rhode Island this spring as more residents get vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Dan McKee said Thursday. “We’re making great progress,” the Democratic governor said, noting the state is ranked among the highest in the country for how many residents are fully inoculated. “That is good news. I know the...