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Judge Frank Caprio died at the age of 88 after a long, valiant battle with pancreatic cancer, but behind him leaves not just a legacy in the courtroom, but a worldwide family that fell in love with his heart.

Word of his passing was posted on his Instagram page in a touching entry expressing gratitude to the general public for the wave of good wishes and prayers that flooded him during his illness. A Providence institution for over three decades as a city court judge, in more recent years, however, he had evolved into something else: a voice of compassion and humanity in a justice system too often portrayed as cold-hearted.

From Providence to the World

Caprio served nearly 40 years on the Providence, Rhode Island, bench, but the internet brought him into households everywhere. Through his TV program Caught in Providence and the related viral short videos, millions everywhere learned about a man who listened more than he condemned.

One of his earliest memorable acts came in 2021, in which he forgave the parking ticket fee for a single mother in financial distress. She told him that she simply could not afford it, and instead of holding her in contempt, Caprio took pity and empathy on her. The clip went viral across social media, prompting tears and astonishment from strangers who seldom got to witness something so seldom: a judge acting from his heart.

These were not one-off occurrences. Clip after clip saw him smiling with kids, nodding in appreciation to parents, or giving second chances to those in most need. Each clip showed the same thing: Caprio was not only ruling on cases, but inspiring individuals.

His Courageous Last Chapter Caprio disclosed in December 2023 that he had pancreatic cancer. He underwent chemotherapy, and the sessions were giving him hope for a while. But the condition returned, and his health eventually declined.

However, he would not drift off into obscurity. In his last public address, in a video tape recorded from his hospital bedside, Caprio gazed into the camera as genuinely as ever and thanked his fans for the love and for praying for him. His sole request, in turn, was that they hold onto him in their hearts. It was an uncompromising, emotional, and very human tape, much as the man himself had been.

The Legacy of Judge Frank Caprio 

Judge Frank Caprio was more than a judge, but a reflection that it is a good that you are where you are, as long as you are kind. He gave the world a gentle face of justice, not hard, nor automatic, but considerate. His courtroom is a haven where people are treated as people and not another number in the cause.

To Providence, he was the local leader. To his family, he was his wife’s husband, his children’s father and father-in-law, and his grandkids’ grandpa. To the internet, he was all of our “Judge Grandpa,” the man that made us cry tears of joy at strange hours.

It’s the end of a phase, but his legacy continues in every clip still uploaded, in every human being that has found solace in things that he has spoken, in every other stranger that recalls him not as another judge, but as a friend.

Judge Frank Caprio taught us all a lesson that justice is kind, and that’s why he has become immortal.

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After being met with angry protesters at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station amid the Trump administration’s federal law enforcement crackdown, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller dismissed community dissenters and said the surge of National Guard troops and federal police agents was all for the “safety” of D.C.’s Black residents.

“Most of the citizens who live in Washington, D.C. are Black. This is not a city that has had any safety for its Black citizens for generations,” said Miller, who leads President Donald Trump‘s domestic policy.

The White House official, who is the chief architect of Trump’s anti-DEI agenda and launched a conservative law firm that sued to end several racial equity programs, told reporters on Wednesday alongside Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “President Trump is the one who is fixing that with the support of the Metropolitan Police Department, the support of the National Guard, and our federal law enforcement officers.”

As he tried to speak over a chorus of protesters, Miller downplayed the level of vitriol captured in videos of likely travelers heckling him, Vance, and Hegseth as they visited National Guard troops stationed at a Shake Shack. He dismissed the angry hecklers as “crazy communists” who are responsible for D.C. being “one of the most violent cities on planet Earth.”

“For too long, 99% of this city has been terrorized by 1% of the city, and the voices that you hear out there…have no roots. They have no connection to the city,” Miller claimed without possibly knowing the residency background of the crowd of individuals. He continued, “They have no families they’re raising in this city. They have no one [who] they are sending to school in this city. They have no jobs in the city…They’re the ones who’ve been advocating for the 1%; the criminals, the killers, the rapists, the drug dealers.”

The senior Trump White House official said the administration will “ignore these stupid white hippies [who] all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old.” Miller added, “We’re going to get back to the business of protecting the American people and the citizens of Washington, D.C.”

But while President Trump’s top policy chief says the administration’s surge of federal law enforcement and American troops is for the benefit of Black D.C. residents, public policy experts and former D.C. and White House officials say the federal government’s actions will not make the city safer in the long run.

Gregory Jackson, a public safety expert and former deputy director of the Biden White House’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, criticized the Trump administration for “demonizing and criminalizing entire Black communities” while cutting critical funding for public safety and community violence interventions.

Jackson said Biden-era investments in partnership with local leaders resulted in a significant decrease in crime in urban cities like D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

“The way that we reduce crime is by investing in people and holding the industry accountable for putting illegal guns into our communities,” Jackson told theGrio.

The former Biden official pointed to Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney of D.C. Jeanine Pirro, who recently instructed federal prosecutors in the district not to pursue federal charges for those holding rifles and shotguns.

‘They also reduced the timeline for you to get your concealed carry permit. So they’re encouraging more guns in our street, while defunding life-saving programs, while defunding city services, and while disrespecting a very large police force and really replacing them with outsiders,” said Jackson.

Simply put, Jackson said the Trump administration’s handling of crime in D.C. is an “ineffective approach.”

Courtney Snowden, a sixth-generation D.C. resident and former D.C. deputy mayor, told theGrio that the nation’s capital city is being “painted with this horrible perspective that is not grounded in any fact.”

“Like in any community across the country, we have some trouble. You can need additional support and engagement,” said Snowden. However, she said, “We shouldn’t be criminalizing homelessness. We shouldn’t criminalize poverty.”

Snowden said she believed D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had done an “excellent job” creating public safety resources, citing the city’s 30-year low in crime. She added, “Right now, it feels like all of that’s getting undermined with this effort by the [Trump] administration.”

Markus Batchelor, a D.C. native and political director at People For the American Way, said of Stephen Miller’s remarks on Wednesday, “I’ll take a thousand white hippies standing up for our democracy over one white nationalist trying to destroy it.”

“Stephen Miller has spent the last decade creating and implementing the Trump administration’s most anti-Black policies,” Batchelor told theGrio.

“He’s led the effort to dismantle Black people’s access to housing, education, jobs, the vote, and equal justice under law,” he added. “Him pretending to be the savior of Black people in Washington is both a hilarious contradiction and disgusting propaganda.”

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Dafne Keen, the once-feral Laura from Logan who clawed her way into Hollywood stardom, has entered her grown-and-gorgeous era, and social media is absolutely spiraling over her latest Instagram posts.

The 20-year-old actress recently blessed her fans with a carousel of vacation shots from Puerto Rico, and it’s safe to say the internet hasn’t caught its breath since.

Island Goddess: Dafne’s Beachside Beauty

On a sandy tropical beach framed by lush green foliage, Keen poses in a chic brown bikini, hoop earrings catching the sunlight, and a delicate bracelet wrapping her wrist. In one shot, she subtly adjusts her bikini top with a knowing smile, while in another, she gives a sideways grin that radiates a playful confidence.

The vibe? Effortless beauty with just enough mystery to remind the world she’s no longer the child star people first met in Logan but a young woman shaping her own spotlight.

Dancing Under Bad Bunny’s Lights

In another slide from the same post, Keen is spotted in the crowd at a Bad Bunny concert, swaying and dancing with carefree energy. The clip adds another layer to her vacation narrative: part beach muse, part music lover fully immersed in Puerto Rican nightlife.

It’s a slice of realness that fans adore, Dafne looking as comfortable onstage at one of the world’s hottest concerts as she does stealing scenes in His Dark Materials.

The Internet Has Entered Its Dafne Keen Era

Fans and followers wasted no time making their thoughts known. The responses range from thirsty declarations to cultural comparisons:

• “Top 3 Baddest in the game rght now.”






• “Type you go to war for.”






• “2 million gooners and I’m one of them.”






• “She could definitely pull those claws on me.”






• “Cue all the idiots who resisted the idea of Laura as the MCU’s Wolverine suddenly having a change of heart.”

Others used the moment to remind people of her acting chops:

• “People hype up Sydney Sweeney when the real star of the show is Keen.”






• “She becomes more and more beautiful with each passing year.”






• “Dafne Keen is who they’re making Sydney Sweeney out to be, good lord.”

But not every reaction was celebratory. Some fans raised concerns over how the internet talks about actresses who grew up on-screen:

• “Is anyone else weirded tf out by how much people thirst over her on this app? Like yes she’s an adult but idk, there’s something about her coming to prominence as a child (not that long ago) that just makes it creepy to me.”






• “Too many of the headlines like this are basically just code for ‘this teen starlet is done with puberty, conventionally attractive, and of legal age, so it is totally ok for men to openly perv on her now.’ It’s weird, and it’s been an ongoing trend since forever.”

Related

If you want all of the tea on the life and times of the Obama family, Michelle Obama’s podcast with her brother Craig Robinson— “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson”—has got you covered.

On the latest episode that features Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, they spent a lot of time talking about the family unit and bridging the gap as parents with kids, Michelle shared about ‘growing up Obama’ for Sasha and Malia and how they related (or not) to their famous father, Barack Obama, as teenagers in the White House. 

According to our Forever First Lady, Barack had more of a connection with his daughter Malia than Sasha, though clearly he maintained a deep love and fondness for both of his kids. But anybody with multiple children will tell you that each kid comes with their own personality and way of doing things, which requires parents to learn how to relate to them as individuals.

According to Michelle, Malia was intent on making time for her dad. 

“I’d say this to Barack, when it comes to, you know, [our] oldest, Malia, she is going to figure out who you are, what do you like and let’s discuss,” she said. “When Malia was a teenager, it wasn’t that she was going out any less or doing anything differently; she would tell me, ‘I’m going out this weekend, but I’m going to go in and give dad like 15 minutes.’” 

She continued, “Barack would come out of the Treaty Room and say, ‘I just had an amazing conversation with Malia!”

Any parent will tell you that a teenager taking an interest in you will engender all of the warm and fuzzy feelings. When my own 16-year-old daughter asks me how my day was, I start to tear up. I know she loves me, but, ya know, taking an interest? Swoon. If that is how you engage with one child, the oldest, if the younger is providing an entirely different, less attached experience, you might wonder why. 

Michelle said that’s why Barack called Sasha “difficult,” which made Michelle explain to him that Malia was more of a people-pleaser and Sasha was…well, not. 

“Sasha is like a cat. She’s like, ‘Don’t touch me, don’t pet me. I’m not pleasing you. You come to me,’” shared Michelle.

As a parent of four kids, I have a broad spectrum of kids. Some of my kids want to hang with us, and other kids will disappear for the entire day doing their own thing if we let them. As Michelle pointed out, you have to learn every kid’s temperament and meet them where they are. 

Be that as it may, the Obama girls are no longer teenagers but young adults who maintain close relationships with their parents as they forge their own lives in the world, separate and apart from their famous mom and dad. 

If there’s one takeaway from Michelle’s discussion about the challenges of parenting teens, it’s that all parents go through the same things, whether nobody knows your name or you’re one of, if not the, most famous parents on the planet.