As the editor of the Rhode Report puts it while linking to this story, “This is what is important to the morons of the Democrat Party”:

As of January 1, restaurants across Rhode Island are no longer allowed to give out single-use plastic straws unless a customer asks for one.

Violators will get warnings for the first and second times that they fail to follow the law.

It is in the nature of zealots to be relentless.  Just so, as COVID was first engulfing the planet, Rhode Island legislators were working on a law against the intentional release of balloons.