On today's podcast, Rhode Island's unemployment has reached its lowest point in over four years, and the Ocean State celebrates national Bike to Work Day.

Plus, our panelists on Political Roundtable, doubles down on this week in politics.

Former state auditor Ernest Almonte has announced plans to run as a Democrat for state treasurer next year.  Former treasurer Frank Caprio has also expressed his intention to run for the post.

Almonte’s decision to run for treasurer marks a switch, since he announced plans last year to seek the governor’s office in 2014. In a statement, Almonte doesn’t explicitly explain his decision to change course. Yet he says he’s listened to input from Rhode Islanders and – quote – “made a decision based on logic.”

Pablo Rodriguez joins the Roundtable this week as we discuss the 2014 race for treasurer; Governor Lincoln Chafee's recent judicial nominations; lower-than-expected state revenues; and the trio of controversies facing President Obama.

Rhode Island’s unemployment rate took a healthy drop in April.  But the state is still a long way from restoring all the jobs lost to the recession.

Rhode Island’s April unemployment rate was 8.8 percent. That’s three tenths of one percent lower than in March and the lowest rate in four-and-a-half years.  Charles Fogarty, director of the state Department of Labor and Training, attributes the decline to increased consumer confidence.

Providence is among the cities that will observe National Bike to Work Day Friday.  A gathering at Burnside Park 8:00am Friday will include members of the Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition and will also include Mayor Angel Taveras.  The event is to show how biking is a healthy commute to work, said Matt Moritz the president of the Rhode Island Biking Coalition.

Seth Magaziner, who would add an unabashedly progressive profile to the 2014 campaign season, is considering running for treasurer next year.

UPDATE: Via email, Magaziner confirms that he's looking at the race, adding that he's still early in the process:

Over the past few days, a number of people have encouraged me to run for General Treasurer should the position become open. I haven't made any decisions yet, but am considering the possibility.

The Dynamo House, the century-old onetime Narragansett Electric power station, now sits as a forlorn reminder of what once thrived along Providence’s downtown waterfront.  And as Rhode Island Public Radio political analyst Scott MacKay notes, it now stands as a guard to the old Jewelry District that state and city officials are trying to rebrand as a Knowledge District.

As the Rhode Island State Police took a moment to remember those who died in the line of duty, they also paused to honor trooper Roupen Bastajian who rushed to help survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Every year, Rhode Island state police gather to remember the seven troopers killed in the line of duty since the agency was founded in 1925.  But this year, a trooper who’s very much alive was honored as well. Trooper Roupen Bastajian received the State Police service ribbon for aide he rendered at the Boston Marathon bombings.

Fiddleheads are the whimsical, tightly coiled spiral of fern sprouts that push their way up from under the layers of winter debris on the forest floor.

They are also a regional and seasonal delicacy.

In today's podcast, payday lending reform comes before the House Finance Committee, and a closed East Providence recycling will finally be removed.