☕ Heating Up

Monday, June 15, 2026 | Edition #42

GOOD MORNING, WARWICK. Let's all take a moment of silence for our lawns, which spent this weekend transforming into the floor of a hamster cage. I hope you made it through the inferno unscathed and your farmer's tan didn't reach Neapolitan ice cream status. It was a hot one. For my fellow Gaspee 5k racers, parade squatters, and parkway peeps, if you scored shade like my crew did, the 61st Gaspee Days celebration was genuinely beautiful. If you didn't, I assume you're reading this from inside a walk-in freezer. Partial relief is coming: 5-10 degrees cooler this week, a gift we Rhode Islanders will accept gratefully and then immediately complain that it’s "kinda chilly."

Meanwhile, summer is officially here for the 10,000+ teachers across Rhode Island who've earned every second of it. If you need to fill the calendar, entertain the kids, or chase a new adventure in the 401, I've featured some summer activities in today’s edition, a few I'd bet you've never heard of. We only get five months of relatively cooperative weather around here. Don't waste them.

⏱️ Sunset Time: 8:23PM

🌑 Moon Phase: New Moon

⛽ Avg. Gas Price: $4.00 (click here to find the cheapest gas near you)

💧 Chance of Rain: 20%

The 40-foot screen is up. The food trucks are parked next to the portable restrooms (truly poetic planning). And as of Thursday, the PVD FanZone at Station Park is officially open and absolutely packed. For the next several weeks, Providence becomes Rhode Island's official World Cup headquarters, showing every match on the big screen until July 19.

Here's what makes this beautiful: while Boston's fan festival only runs 16 of the 39 tournament days, Providence said hold my coffee milk and committed to being open every single day. Day one brought fans from Argentina, Mexico, England, Germany, Norway and Scotland, lots from Scotland, alongside hundreds of locals. One police officer reportedly wore a Mexico jersey under his vest, and his patrols across the park were suspiciously well-timed with Mexico's attacking runs across the screen. That's the kind of dedication you can't teach.

Heads up if you go: leave the giant backpack at home, there are security checks, and Finance Way and parts of Gaspee Street are closed or reduced to one lane. Francis Street, already a triple-parking war zone on a normal day, is going to be even messier than usual. But the vibe? Cultures from around the world gathering in a parking lot next to the mall to scream at a screen together. That's about as good as it gets.

Read the full story here

They actually did it. Friday night at the temporarily renamed “Los Angeles Stadium,” in front of 70,492 fans, the U.S. Men's National Team opened their home World Cup with a 4-1 demolition of Paraguay. Not a nervous 1-0 squeaker. Not a heartbreaking collapse. A genuine, convincing, leave-no-doubt beatdown. Somewhere in Rhode Island, thousands of people who learned the offside rule three weeks ago lost their entire minds.

The hero was striker Folarin Balogun, who scored twice in the first half, becoming the first American to score two goals in a single World Cup match since 1930. Let that sink in. The last guy to do this was doing it when your great-grandparents were chasing down ice cream trucks or still trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Things got rolling early with an own goal in the 7th minute, Balogun added his brace, and Gio Reyna iced it in stoppage time while Christian Pulisic picked up his third career World Cup assist.

The party at the PVD FanZone was, by all accounts, unhinged. Next up: the USA plays Australia on June 19 in Seattle. For now, enjoy the rare and unfamiliar sensation of American soccer optimism. It doesn't come around often.

Read the full story here

You know that feeling when you're backing out of a parking spot and you tap the car behind you? Now imagine that, except both cars are Boeing 737s and you're at T.F. Green. Thursday night around 10:45 PM, the wing of Southwest Flight 3515 made contact with the tail of Southwest Flight 3409 while pushing back from the gate, in what the FAA is investigating and what the rest of us are calling a fender-bender at 2 miles per hour. They put a backup camera in a base-model Corolla, but apparently a 737 pushing back onto a taxiway runs on pure vibes and a guy outside waving his arms.

The best part, and there's always a best part, is that passengers say the plane kept moving after the collision, forcing them to yell up toward the cockpit to let the crew know they'd hit something. Picture it: you've already been delayed six hours, you're on a half-empty flight to Washington, and now you're personally responsible for alerting the pilots that their aircraft just bumped into another aircraft. That's not a flight, that's a group project.

Both planes returned to their gates, everyone deboarded normally, and no injuries were reported. Southwest says they'll inspect both aircraft before putting them back in service. Somewhere, two pilots are filling out the aviation equivalent of swapping insurance info in a Walmart parking lot.

Read the full story here

Looking for something fun to do this summer? Maybe something different than the usual trip to Narragansett Town Beach, the same restaurants, and the same feeling of spender's remorse? Here are some truly fun, non-iPad-enhanced or AI-generated things to do this summer right here in the 401.

🦪 Come Clam with Me. Longtime quahogger Jody King teaches all ages how to dig for clams. July's sold out, but August at Rocky Point and September in Gansett have spots left. $10, free for kids under 7. It doesn't get more Rhode Island than harvesting your own stuffies where you used to ride the Skyliner. Sign up here

🛶 Paddle the Pawtuxet. There's a whole wooded side of the city you only see from the water. No rental livery sits on the river, so bring your own kayak, but launch from Pontiac, Rhodes, or the Belmont Park carry-down and you've got osprey, herons, and the occasional river otter to yourself. The hardest part is finding a friend with a roof rack. Trail map here

🌲 Hike Whitehead Preserve. Down in Little Compton, an ADA-accessible boardwalk floats you through wetland and forest where 60-plus bird species nest, no muddy sneakers required. It's flat, quiet, and peaceful enough that your biggest decision becomes whether to keep walking or just stand there and listen to the birds argue. More info here

⛰️ Climb Neutaconkanut Hill. Hiding in the middle of Providence is the highest point in the city, an 88-acre wild forest with a summit meadow overlooking the whole skyline. The trails wind past glacial boulders, old stone walls, and three rusted-out Camaros being reclaimed by nature, the most Rhode Island landmark imaginable. Trail map here

⭐ Stargazing at Frosty Drew. Inside Ninigret Park in Charlestown, one of the darkest spots on the East Coast, this observatory opens its telescopes to the public every clear Friday night to view Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, and distant galaxies. Tickets release four days ahead, $5 donation appreciated, an insane deal for a guided tour of the universe. More info here

🚁 See Newport From the Sky. For a splurge, a family-run outfit at Middletown Airport flies you over the Breakers, Marble House, and miles of coastline from 800 feet up. The 12-minute mansion tour starts around $255 for three, roughly what the Vanderbilts spent on doorknobs, and a far better view than fighting for parking on Bellevue. More info here

These are a few of the many great things to do right here in Rhode Island, and I'll keep digging up more as the summer rolls on. So go out of your comfort zone this year. Take the day off. Put your smartphone in a blender. Touch some grass.

We are officially entering the danger zone time of year, where my wife is out of school for the summer and the Amazon app is racking up record screen time. She's been getting better at not pulling the trigger on everything she sees... but that didn't stop a package from showing up on the front steps this week.

👉 See what showed up here.

Wednesday, June 17: 🎨 Paint Your Pet Party | Apponaug Brewing, 7-9 PM. Turn your pet's photo into a masterpiece, no experience needed. Grab a beer and a brush. Tickets

Saturday, June 20: 🎆 Warwick's 250th Celebration | Rocky Point State Park, 10 AM-3 PM. Free. A 10 AM cannon blast kicks off a full day of Revolutionary-era fun. History, but make it a block party. Info

Saturday, June 20: 🎁 Father's Day Marketplace | Warwick Mall, 10 AM-3:30 PM. Local vendors with handmade gifts for Dad, plus food trucks. Last-minute shopping, sorted. Info

Now through Sunday, June 21: 🎭 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd. Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer winner, where nobody's being honest about anything. Tickets $67-$77. Tickets

⚽ PVD FanZone | Station Park, Providence, daily through July 19. Free. Every World Cup match on a 40-foot screen, plus food trucks and a beer garden. Info

🥬 Conimicut Village Community Market | Saturdays, 9 AM-12 PM through Sept 26. Free. Local vendors and a waterfront village to wander on a Saturday morning. Info

🌽 Goddard Park Farmers Market | Fridays, 9 AM-1 PM through October. Fresh local produce in a waterfront park. A solid excuse to be outside before noon. Info

🏛️ City Council Meetings | Select Mondays, 6:30 PM, City Hall Chambers. Ordinances, budgets, and the occasional spicy public hearing. Check the calendar first. Calendar

Can you guess where in Warwick was this photo taken? Answer shown at the end.

Ennui (noun) | AHN-wee | A feeling of listlessness, dissatisfaction, and world-weary boredom.

You know that very specific 11 PM energy when you're on an aggressive search for dopamine? You scroll for twenty minutes looking for a Netflix series that doesn't require commitment, then stand in front of the cupboard hunting for something to eat that isn't chemically manufactured, triple-processed, or requiring actual cooking. You find nothing on either front. You're not hungry. You're not even bored, exactly. You're just a person aimlessly foraging your own kitchen at midnight for a feeling. That, my friends, is ennui.

Thanks to Jason V. for submitting today’s word of the day! You can submit a word of the day yourself, here. I’ll be sure to include it in the next edition!

✅ Where in Warwick Answer: This photo was taken nearby the empty lots along Smith Street, near where the old Winslow Field used to sit. If you grew up playing softball or soccer here, this one might sting a little. The original Winslow Park fields off Main Avenue were displaced when T.F. Green extended its main runway to 8,700 feet, a project that also looped Main Avenue around the extension and bought up the surrounding single-family homes. The runway was lengthened by 1,534 feet back in 2017, and the airport corporation spent $7.5 million building a replacement Winslow Park on the west side of airport property for the Apponaug Girls Softball and Warwick Firefighters Soccer leagues. What's left here on Smith Street is a now quiet neighborhood that was once filled with kids playing manhunt and making lifelong memories. Now, an eerie silence in between plane landings.

That's it for today. Father’s Day is this Sunday. Don’t forget to treat your old man to something nice this weekend. A brunch at The Shandy. A new grilling accessory. Maybe even a new puppy. That’s all it took to spark up a heated debate at the dinner table tonight. You’re welcome.

Thanks for reading. Keep smiling!