As we blaze a path into 2025, we have never been more excited for what’s to come from Uprise RI. But before we get into where we are going, it is important to talk about what got us to this point.

Uprise RI has always been known as a “progressive-leaning” news organization. So, when we posted consecutive articles in late 2024 titled “Trump on Rogan: What Was Really Said“, and “JD Vance: What You Should Know About the Likely Future GOP Presidential Nominee“, some on social media thought we had taken a sudden turn to the right. An opinion piece I wrote around the same time titled “What is Trump Derangement Syndrome?“, which called out the hypocrisy of Democratic Party voters, furthered this sentiment. But we have not shifted to the right. We’re just as progressive as ever. These pieces were intended to communicate several important points:

We Watch Both Sides – And You Should Too

JD Vance shows how the Republican party is changing. On several economic issues, he’s actually to the left of establishment Democrats like Hillary Clinton. Corporate media won’t tell you this. We covered it because Vance connects with working Americans in ways many Democrats can’t. Despite disagreements on social issues, his economic populism and clear communication style make him a serious 2028 presidential contender and we think it’s important that you know.

Democrats Need to Face Hard Truths

Being progressive means being honest. Our piece on Trump Derangement Syndrome (now our 3rd most-read article of all-time) exposed how many Democrats let fear of Trump blind them to supporting horrific civilian casualties in Gaza. We expected backlash but received praise from both conservatives and progressives for telling these uncomfortable truths.

Rhode Islanders Must Break Out of Media Bubbles

These days, most media operates like team sports. Blue media (NYT, CNN) coordinates with Democrats to control narratives. Red media (Fox, Daily Wire) does the same for Republicans. Each side exaggerates opponents’ flaws while ignoring their successes. The result is that each side thinks the other is pure evil. It is not productive, it communicates a false narrative, and America is much worse off as a result. We can do better and Uprise RI is committed to doing its part. Conservatives are not our enemy. We are committed to providing tools and coverage that those from all political ideologies will find useful.

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What’s to Come at Uprise RI

BillBuddy

In 2024, we solidified our technological lead in RI media with the release of two free online tools, BillBuddy and The Helping Hand. This year, we have made and continue to make significant improvements to both the look and feel of BillBuddy and its summaries of RI legislation. It remains the only non-partisan tool available to Rhode Islanders that provides an easy to understand summary of every law introduced in the RI General Assembly with pros and cons for your ideology. It is also the only tool that allows you to get instant answers to questions about a bill, and provide feedback on said legislation to your lawmaker with a click or tap. We’ve received hundreds of signups in the last few days and are encouraged to see Rhode Islander’s interest in learning about legislation before it is passed. If you have not yet signed up, please do. It’s free!

The Helping Hand

Using best-in-class artificial intelligence technology, The Helping Hand has assisted hundreds of RI renters navigate issues with their landlord and help consumers resolve complaints with local businesses. Today, thanks to our generous supporters, The Helping Hand remains available and completely free to all. But we’re not done! Soon, we’re adding bill analysis capability, allowing you to upload a photo of your cable or cell phone bill and find out if you are paying too much for what you get and how to haggle down your bill – exclusively for Rhode Islanders!

MoneyTrail

In a country where money rules everything and a large number of government officials legislate based on the whims of their donors, it is surprising that there is very little coverage of who donates to our local legislators. Part of this could be the convoluted way in which RI provides access to campaign finance reports. Is it intentional? Is it just poor IT investment? Either way, I am happy to report that we have developed a system to retrieve campaign finance reports automatically for all lawmakers, parse them, and report on them. Finally, you will be able to find out who’s paying your legislator at the click of a button. Stay tuned. MoneyTrail from Uprise RI is coming in February.

The Ocean

Last year we tested a concept known as “The Ocean”, essentially a version of The Onion for Rhode Island. Our test pieces got a great reaction (as ridiculous as they were, some believed they were real news stories despite our disclaimers) so we committed to launching the full publication. But, while everyone loves a good laugh, we prioritized more serious projects and The Ocean had to take a back seat. With major development of most our new tools nearly completed, we are happy to announce plans to launch The Ocean as a monthly feature starting in March. While there are many serious issues in this country worthy of our attention, once in a while everyone needs a good laugh to break the ice. We’re hopeful The Ocean can provide that.

All the Rest

Admittedly, our rate of publishing stories has slowed down over the past few months as we put our time and resources into these tools which we feel will have far more impact than publishing news. It’s a tradeoff we were comfortable with but we are fully committed to publishing stores that impact you, our readers. We expanded our coverage of national issues and watched several of these stories go viral this past year with hundreds of thousands of views: Our pieces on RealPage’s rental scheme, deleting tweets in bulk, Trump Derangement Syndrome, and Luigi Mangione’s manifesto were our top read pieces of 2024. These stories work to magnify our coverage of Rhode Island issues by enhancing our placement on search engines, ultimately helping us achieve our original mission.

Late last year we launched an innovative tool called Omnix Search which allows you to ask questions about our past articles. For example, you could ask “Are there any articles in which Gina Raimondo is portrayed in a negative light as a result of issues regarding homelessness?” and it will show you exactly what you want (try it!). This is technology no other media org has attempted to provide and we were very proud of the tool’s usefulness. Unfortunately, many users continue to use it as they would a search engine, typing in one or two words. So, we are reverting our standard article search back to the original system next month, but Omnix will remain available for those who want to perform a more investigative search.

Finally, I want to sincerely thank all of our supporters who have stuck with us over the past two years, and those of you who have newly come aboard. While our news coverage has been more limited, we’ve committed every last dollar of your generous donations to these technology tools I have discussed here with strong confidence that we they will expand transparency significantly in Rhode Island and help to shed sunlight on how things are really being done. Without you, these tools would not be possible and the information they reveal would likely stay hidden. If you have not yet become a supporter and truly want to make a difference, become a supporter or up your monthly donation today. Every dollar matters and I know of no media organization that does more with less than Uprise RI. We are committed to making all of our supporters proud and our hope is when you see our tools in action and the information they provide, you will smile and say to yourself “I made that happen!”. Because, you did.