Frank Caprio demurred when recently asked about his political plans, but RI Report has the details of how the general treasurer has considerably strengthened his war chest. Matt also has the scoop here:

Update 7/31: With the final numbers in, Treasurer Frank Caprio has taken the overall fundraising lead and he, along with Mayor David Cicilline, remain at the top of the Cash on Hand (CoH) category.

Matt has a good post about Blue State Coffee, a purveyor on Thayer Street of Fair Trade coffee. This reminded me of a piece I did a few years back on the power of consumers to make change with their coffee-buying decisions:

CAN A CUP of coffee change the world?

For embattled small-scale farmers like 28-year-old Carlos Reynoso, whose colleagues cultivate coffee beans in the western highlands of Guatemala, the daily choices of US consumers have a big impact.

I agree with Justin's incredulity about the overly generous benefits enjoyed by Cranston firefighters:

It's amazing enough that Cranston firefighters can retire after twenty years at any age, but this is stunning:

Once retired, retirees continue to receive extra pay each year for longevity bonuses and extra pay for 15 holidays!

Samantha Power had a lengthy essay in yesterday's New York Times Book Review. One of the highlights is how she calls the US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual a leading reference for a revised 21st Century approach to fighting terrorism.

When the terrorists struck on 9/11, the United States military was singularly unprepared to deal with them.

Is William Barbieri qualified for the long-unoccupied post of director of e-government information technology in the office of Secretary of State Ralph Mollis? According to Mollis's office, as told to the ProJo's Political Scene:

“Bill Barbieri’s professional background as a network administrator and a database systems manager is second to none.

While we await word on Buddy Cianci's future in broadcasting, the ProJo's Dan Barbarisi today takes a look at a question with broader implications: how will the rascal king's return to Rhode Island affect David Cicilline? (I wrote about the same question in July 2006.)

“Buddy’s return will change the public conversation about Providence.

Cianci confidante Charles Mansolillo says the newly freed former mayor will be present at tomorrow night's WaterFire in Providence.

Asked if Cianci would make a grand entrance, the former city solicitor said, "I don't think that's been given very much thought. I don't know the answer to that question."

Mansolillo says Buddy will speak with reporters later, rather than sooner, because "he doesn't want to go through a cacophony of questions."

Is putting 75 percent of RI's hospital system under the control of one entity a good idea?

Governor Carcieri plays it down the middle:

“While the creation of such a dominant health care network raises a number of important concerns, it also creates the potential for significant positive progress on a number of fronts,” Carcieri continued.

There's a lot happening in the local blogosphere. Matt had a good roundup on this yesterday. Here's some more:

-- Thanks to John DePetro for linking to N4N and some other local blogs (scroll down).

-- My conservative friends at Anchor Rising are keeping up a busy publication schedule, including the placement of a few recent op-eds in the ProJo, and AR's Andrew Morse will join the aforementioned Matt in appearing Sunday with Jim Hummel on ABC6 On the Record.