Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- David L. Spector, a lawyer from Needham, Mass., is under investigation in Massachusetts and Rhode Island regarding allegations that he took more than $500,000 he was supposed to pay banks in connection with refinancings for four clients, one of them a Westerly woman, according to David D. Curtin, the state Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel.

No criminal charges have been filed, according to Curtin, but he said that the Westerly woman, Doris Krakow, has filed a complaint with the Rhode Island State Police.

Currently, there are ethics complaints against Spector brought by Curtin's office and the Board of Bar Overseers in Massachusetts. Spector was licensed to practice in both states but was suspended in June 2008 in Rhode Island for failure to pay his bar dues. His license in Massachusetts was temporarily suspended on March 11 of this year after three clients in that state complained to the Board of Bar Overseers that he had wrongfully converted a total of $350,525.97 to his own use instead of paying off lending institutions where they had had mortgages, according to Curtin.

Asked what Spector did with the half-million-dollars he is suspected of having pocketed, Curtin said, "It looks like he used it for personal use" and office expenses.

The specifics of the Massachusetts cases have not been publicly disclosed, Curtin said, but in a complaint he filed with the Rhode Island Supreme Court that was made public on Friday, Curtin claims that in 2007, Spector pocketed $150,369.42 from ING Bank that should have been forwarded to Washington Mutual Bank to pay off an existing mortgage Krakow held before deciding to refinance with ING.

As a result, Curtin said, Krakow is now saddled with two mortgages on her residence in Westerly -- though he said negotiations are underway with her title insurance company to cover what Spector wrongfully took.

In an answer to Curtin's 15-point complaint, Spector admitted all but two of the allegations against him.

Curtin is asking that the court's disciplinary board hold a hearing in connection with the ethics charges he has filed. The ethics charges accuse Spector not only of pocketing proceeds that were supposed to be used to pay off Krakow's Washington Mutual mortgage, but also of making out a false HUD settlement statement attesting that he had disbursed the funds as he was supposed to.

WARWICK, R.I. -- A Scituate driver who was arrested earlier this week on a 19th charge of driving on a suspended license, and who was ordered held without bail because he was considered to have violated the terms of bail imposed last month for his 18th alleged offense, is due in Kent County District Court on Monday

Paul Rocha, 47, of 348 Old Plainfield Pike, was charged by Scituate police in October and was let out on bail, according to Michael J. Healey, spokesman for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch.

Capt. James Swanberg of the Rhode Island State Police said that Trooper Brian Macera noticed Rocha driving in West Warwick on Nov. 16.

He said Rocha failed to stop at a stop sign on Brookside Avenue, and he halted Rocha's pickup.

Swanberg said the plates on the truck belonged to another vehicle, and the police issued summonses for that offense and others, besides the suspended license count.

He said Rocha was arraigned before Judge Jeanne LaFazia in Kent County District Court on Monday. He said LaFazia ordered Rocha held without bail because he was free on bail from his previous offense.

Healey said that Rocha will be brought before Judge Frank J. Cenerini at the hearing Monday on the latest charge.

In another case involving multiple counts of driving on a suspended license, Robert A. Notarianni, 44, of 47 Cucumber Hill Rd., Foster, has been sentenced to 90 days at the Adult Correctional Institutions after he pleaded no contest to a 17th count of driving on a suspended license, Healey said.

Judge Cenerini imposed the sentence on Thursday, Healey said.

Cenerini also awarded a one-year, suspended sentence with probation for violating probation on an earlier charge of driving on a suspended license.

Healey said the probation means that if Notarianni is caught driving again without a license after he serves the 90 days, he can be returned to the ACI for up to two years.

By John Hill
Journal Staff Writer

WARWICK, R.I. -- The fiancée of the late Michael Woods testified in Kent County Superior Court Friday that she had no recollection of any Kent Hospital doctors examining Woods during the first hour of his arriving at the hospital emergency room the day he died.

Lisa Konopka testified in the Woods' family's negligence suit brought against Kent Hospital by Woods' brother, the actor James Woods. She said that, except for approximately 15 minutes when Woods was in the x-ray department, no doctor examined him until she screamed for help as he suffered what became a fatal heart attack July 26, 2006.

Her testimony contradicts testimony by several Kent Hospital employees. Hospital nurses and doctors, who have previously testified that Woods was looked at and talked to by at least two doctors in that first hour.

Two Kent Hospital doctors, John McCue and Kelli A. Naylor, testified previously that they met with and examined Woods, at times with Konopka present. Konopka insisted she had no recollection of meeting Naylor, the doctor who was overseeing Woods' treatment, until she was called into a meeting room with Naylor and told Woods had died.

In afternoon cross examination by hospital lawyer David Carroll, Konopka stopped short of denying that McCue or Naylor had seen Woods or that other staffers had taken information from him, saying that she could not recall it.

Konopka said the only time she and Woods were separated from the time he arrived at the emergency room at 4:25 p.m. until he was stricken in a hallway at 7:10 p.m., was his visit to the x-ray department.

Even on that point she disagreed with hospital employees testimony and records. She said Woods walked to the x-ray department on his own; hospital records indicated he went on a stretcher.

She also said she had no recollection of telling a nurse or doctor that Woods had suffered from a panic attack that day, though hospital records indicate nurses and doctors were told he did.

Carroll presented Konopka with a July 28, 2006 Providence Journal article that quoted her saying "then he started having some kind of panic attack."

She denied making that statement.

Konopka is scheduled to return to the stand Monday afternoon.

Extra: Read about Thursday's trial developments.

Providence Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Wayne Jankura of the Providence Parks Department rakes leaves off the watery surface of the Bank of America skating center, which he says is usually solid ice by now. The Rhode Island Foundation building is reflected in the water, which was about four to five inches deep on Friday. Despite that, the rink is scheduled to open Saturday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- So you thought the weather of 2009 was a bit on the insane side, with a spring that seemed to last until fall and Noachian levels of rainfall?

Not really, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center in Ithaca, N.Y.

Climatologist Jessica Rennells said Friday that while the summer was not very hot and July was the wettest since her center began keeping records in 1932, everything essentially averaged out.

"The season as a whole was really close to normal."

Some farmers in New York had low crop yields, she said. The same proved true in Rhode Island, where some farms in October said they lost a lot of their pumpkin crop to soggy conditions. Some farmers on Friday, however, reported a better-than-average harvest of apples.

Rennells' rundown of temperatures: "April was a little above normal, May was right at normal, June was a little colder, average 64.4 degrees, and normal is 67.6. July was a little bit cooler, the average being 70.3, where normal is 73.3 degrees. August was a little above normal - the average was 73.9, where normal is 71.9. September was below normal at 63, with normal 64. October was one degree below normal with 52, while the normal is 53."

As for November, she said, it has been warmer than usual but it's not over yet. The average temperature so far has been 49.2, with normal at 43.8.

As for rainfall, July and October won the race. "In July we had a lot of rain - 10.52 inches," she said. "Normal is 3.17. That's a lot of rain."

Then along came October, with 7.13 inches, "a lot above normal at 3.69," Rennells said.
The total rainfall from April to November was 37.76 inches. Normal is 30.06.
"July and October really drove those numbers," she said.

Speaking of rainfall, the overnight deluge from Thursday to Friday caused the cancellation of the planned opening Friday evening of the Bank of America Skating Center in Kennedy Plaza.

Bob McMahon, city parks director, said the compressor that chills the concrete surface of the rink and freezes layers of water lost out in the overnight bout with the rain.

"We were able to hold ice just fine [Thursday]," he said. "You put the water on it in thin layers, so it took us three nights to make it. We had a good inch, inch and a half. But when rainwater in that volume lands on top of the ice, especially in 50 degree weather, you just have warm water sitting on the ice."

McMahon predicted that the excess water would evaporate overnight and allow the rink to open for business on Saturday.

>> Continue reading: Odd-feeling R.I. weather averages out around normal

By Michael McKinney
and Maria Armental
Journal Staff Writers

CUMBERLAND, R.I. -- Graffiti involving a bomb threat, discovered this week in two bathrooms at Cumberland High School, put the school district on high alert.

But there were no problems reported Friday as staff at a table checkpoint searched high school students, who had been instructed to bring their items in clear bags, the schools superintendent said.

Police Chief John Desmarais said late Friday morning that no one has been charged.

"We are still conducting interviews. We have some leads that we need to track down," said the chief, who said the graffiti was found in one bathroom on Monday and another on Thursday.

Supt. Donna A. Morelle said Thursday that discovery of graffiti forced district officials to evacuate the campus and cancel all after-school activities and sports events Thursday to search the students' lockers.

"Very uneventful," Morelle said of how things went Friday morning. "It went pretty seamlessly."

Morelle said students who did bring items with them had them in zip-lock type bags or plastic bedding-type bags.

Morelle said Friday that plans were for school to go on as normal, with a state debate tournament scheduled to go on over the weekend.

Monday's threats, Morelle said, were found to be a "hoax."

Morelle said members of the state fire marshal's office -- and a bomb squad -- had searched the high school Monday, and "we had no evidence of any paraphernalia in the building." She said a search Thursday again found no concerns.

On Thursday evening, Morelle refused to give more information on the nature of the threats, saying that district parents had already been notified.

Earlier versions of this report were published at 8:06 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Carcieri intends to interview each of the five finalists for an open seat on the state Supreme Court before making the appointment, his spokesperson Amy Kempe said Friday. However, he may wait until the new year to make his selection, she said.

The Judicial Nominating Commission on Tuesday selected five finalists for the position of associate justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court, a seat that became vacant when Paul A. Suttell was promoted to chief justice in July.

The finalists are: Superior Court Judges Judith Colenback Savage and Gilbert V. Indeglia and lawyers John A. "Terry" MacFadyen III, Samuel D. Zurier and Sandra A. Lanni.

Under Rhode Island law, the governor is required to fill the vacancy within 21 days after the commission sends him the finalists. But Kempe said Carcieri views the 21-day time frame as merely advisory and said that with the holidays that are coming up, it's unclear whether he will have the time to make his choice in 2009. Kempe said Carcieri has made it a point to interview every candidate submitted to him as a finalist for a judgeship and that he intends to schedule individual interviews for the candidates for the Supreme Court.

Currently, the state's highest court is hearing appeals with just four instead of five justices, which has increased the workload for individual justices. This could lead to a time lag in the court's decision-making since each justice is currently being assigned more cases to write than is usual.

But there may be strategic reasons for the governor delaying making a new appointment. State law requires the House and Senate to take up a Supreme Court nomination within seven days of receiving a nomination from the governor. If either chamber fails within 60 days after the submission to confirm the nominee, the governor is then required to appoint someone else to fill the vacancy.

The legislature is on recess until the first week of January so it would have to come back into special session to take up a nominee if it wanted to do so before the end of the year.

A welder works Friday morning in the rain on what will be the Clifford Street overpass over Route 95. The highway was closed Thursday night into early Friday morning to start putting the beams, in the background, into place for the overpass. Providence Journal photo / Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- State contractors ran a bit late installing a pair of beams for a new bridge across Route 95 Thursday night, but caused no serious traffic problems Friday morning, a Department of Transportation official said.

"There were no backups," said Frank Corrao III, the DOT's deputy chief engineer for construction.

He said that the DOT mistakenly said in its announcements of the highway closing that it would reopen the road by 5 a.m. However, he said, its contract with the prime contractor, Cardi Corp., gives the company until 5:30 to reopen the highway.

He said the northbound side opened at 5:25 and the southbound side at 5:40 and that heavy morning traffic doesn't start until about 6 a.m.

Corrao said that the highway was closed beginning at 11 p.m. and traffic diverted to detours while a pair of cranes set two beams in place. Contractors have to install at least two beams because, after bracing is put in place, they support each other. A single beam could fall over.

The DOT says it will close Route 95 again on Sunday through Tuesday nights for more work. It will start closing lanes at 8 p.m., will all lanes closed at 11 p.m. The highway will reopen by 5:30 a.m., the agency says.

Cardi Corp. is the prime contractor on the bridge, which is part of the DOT's ongoing relocation of a section of Route 195 and reconstruction a section of Route 95. The Clifford Street Bridge will replace the former Friendship Street Bridge and will connect Clifford Street, on the east side of Route 95, with Friendship Street on the west side.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will remove the split-lane traffic pattern this weekend on Route 95 South, shortly after Exit 6 (Route 3) in West Greenwich, the department said in a press release.

One lane of travel will be closed overnight Friday night on Route 95 South and reopen by 6 a.m. Saturday to make this change.

DOT is doing the work on a weekend to achieve its goal of removing the split-lane pattern before the holiday season, the release said. The project is presently several months ahead of schedule.

Motorists will still find lanes shifted to the left on both 95 North and South at the project for the next several months. RIDOT has been shifting and splitting travel lanes on this part of Route 95 to allow for the reconstruction of the Weaver Hill Road Bridge.

As part of the work, RIDOT will close the right lane on 95 South, and Weaver Hill Road completely, to local traffic at 9 p.m. Sunday in order to safely demolish a portion of the old bridge. All lanes will be restored by 5:30 a.m. Monday, the department said.

The removal of the split-lane traffic pattern will eliminate the need for an oversize-truck detour route along Route 3.

The $4.4-million project began earlier this year and is scheduled to be completed in Spring 2011. The project involves rehabilitation and widening of two separate bridge structures that carry 95 North and South over Weaver Hill Road, approximately 1 mile south of Exit 6. The bridges are more than 40 years old.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Brown University on Friday unveiled a new supercomputer that is the most powerful machine of its kind in Rhode Island.

The multimillion-dollar IBM computer will be used by scientists at Brown and other educational institutions in Rhode Island to assist research in so-called "grand challenge" problems in medicine, the environment, energy and other complex fields.

"I think it will really spur things and make things go forward very, very fast in ways we never imagined," said Clyde Briant, vice president for research at Brown.

The computer is 50 times more powerful than any machine Brown had before and is equivalent to about 5,000 ordinary desktop computers, said Jan Hesthaven, director of the Center for Computation and Visualization at Brown.

Governor Carcieri attended the ribbon cutting as did Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline.

The governor said the supercomputer will advance research in the state and boost knowledge industries such as biotechnology.

"We need to reposition the economy of this state," he said."We need a different dimension to the economy. Research and innovation will be at the core of that."

The new supercomputer - with a total of 1,440 microprocessors - is based on three IBM iDataPlex systems, equal to the size of six refrigerators; an IBM Cluster 1350; and multiple IBM storage systems running General Parallel File System, supported by IBM Global Services.

These are some highlights of the system:

-- Operates at a peak performance speed of more than 14 teraflops, nearly 50 times faster than what had been available at Brown.

-- Has 390 terabytes of storage capacity and holds 4.5 terabytes of memory, about 70 times more memory than what had been available at Brown.

--Allows parallel programs to be run, that, in aggregate, are 20 times faster than what had been available at Brown. Researchers can now compute a problem that is 20 times larger in the same time.

-- Is six times more energy efficient than what had been available at Brown.

BARRINGTON, R.I. -- Six Barrington High School students have been suspended after getting caught drinking in their hotel room while attending a national leadership conference in Baltimore.

Fifty-five Barrington students were attending the four-day Fall National Leadership Conference of the Future Business Leaders of America, which began Nov. 5, when a chaperone checked a room and discovered that six students were in possession of alcohol.

According to Barrington High School Principal Joseph Hurley, on Nov. 7, the last night of the conference, a student who apparently had been drinking called home. A family member, who was concerned about how the student sounded, contacted one of the chaperones, Hurley said.

When the chaperone entered the room, the adult discovered that the students had been drinking. Since the conference was to end the next day, the chaperones decided to stay at the conference and leave after it was over.

On Monday, the high school's two assistant principals, Nicole Varone and Michael Messore, spent the day interviewing the students and their parents. Afterward, they imposed a five-day suspension on all six teenagers.

Hurley said that his office will look into imposing further sanctions against the teenagers. According to the school activities handbook, students who violate the school's drug and alcohol use policy can be suspended from participation in other school-sponsored clubs and activities.

"We will continue to stress the importance of decision-making," Hurley said. "In this case, all of the students involved will meet with our student assistance counselor to talk about those decisions.

"You know the work we have been doing with the new Breathalyzer policy and The Life of an Athlete program," he said. "This is confirmation that we have to be vigilant and continue these efforts."

By Talia Buford
Journal Staff Writer

NEWPORT, R.I. -- The injuries that ultimately killed six-week-old Naiomi McCoy earlier this year could not have been caused by a simple fall, a state medical examiner testified Friday morning.

Dr. Alexander Chirkov testified in the second day of evidence in a bail hearing for Rachin McCoy, Naiomi's father and the man accused of fatally abusing the child to death. He is charged with first-degree murder and has been held without bail since his arrest in January.

During Naiomi's autopsy on Jan. 31, Chirkov said that he found fractures on 17 of Naiomi's ribs that had been caused within days of her death. He also found 5 older, healed rib fractures, he testified.

"The rib fractures were the result of symmetrical pressure," Chirkov testified. "It would not have been caused by a fall."

In the days after Naiomi's death, Rachin McCoy told a cousin and police detective that he'd dropped his daughter as he stood on the couch playfully throwing her in the air.

>> Continue reading: Med. examiner: Fall didn't cause baby Naiomi's injuries

By Curt Anderson
AP Legal Affairs Writer

MIAMI, Fla. -- Investors claiming they were fleeced by a high-profile attorney filed a $100 million lawsuit Friday contending that the lawyer orchestrated a massive Ponzi scheme with the help of a Canadian bank's U.S. subsidiary and several accomplices.

The 147-page lawsuit, filed in Broward County Circuit Court, in South Florida, alleges that attorney Scott Rothstein and others in his now-defunct firm used faked legal settlements -- or faked their involvement in real cases -- to promise fat returns for investors. TD Bank, the lawsuit claims, "was complicit in this scheme" by making the deals appear more legitimate and reassuring investors.

"The Ponzi scheme simply could not have gained traction without TD Bank's involvement in sanctioning, or otherwise, willingly failing to authenticate the origin of the enormous amounts of money coming through its doors," said the lawsuit, filed on behalf of six investors by attorney William Scherer. "TD Bank was the financial epicenter of the Ponzi scheme."

Besides his numerous Florida properties, Rothstein owned two houses in Narragansett until October, when he transferred them -- without payment -- to a limited-liability Delaware corporation.

The lawsuit filed Friday claims numerous red flags were ignored, such as the movement of some $500 million through Rothstein accounts at a TD Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale in October alone.

A TD Bank spokesman did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment. TD Bank, with headquarters in Maine and New Jersey, is the U.S. subsidiary of Canada's publicly traded Toronto Dominion Bank. It has some $134 billion in assets and about 1,000 branches, according to the company Web site.

Rothstein's attorney Marc Nurik declined comment on the lawsuit.

"This is the first I'm hearing of it," Nurik said.

>> Continue reading: Investors sue lawyer Rothstein in fraud probe for $100M

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Carcieri administration has mounted a legal campaign to keep new Superior Court Judge Brian Stern, a former head of state purchasing and chief of staff to the governor, from having to answer questions, under oath, in a lawsuit filed by the Shire Corp., a major bridge contractor.

The suit accuses a number of unnamed officials in the "executive branch" of government, which includes Governor Carcieri and his staff, of playing key roles in denying contracts to Shire or offering to award them if the company dropped embarrassing claims against the state Department of Transportation.

Stern, who was sworn in as a judge Oct. 5, is not named in the lawsuit the company filed in late September, a lawsuit that a spokeswoman for Governor Carcieri has described as "entirely without merit.''

But Stern is named repeatedly in a deposition given by Shire vice president Thomas Gammino on Oct. 21 that spells out the underpinning for the suit.

>> Continue reading: Update: Hearing set on questioning of judge in lawsuit

The Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers on Friday yanked the license for half of Yellow Cab's fleet and fined the company $100,000 for rolling back odometers on its cabs.

The rollbacks did not affect the fares paid by customers, but allowed Yellow Cab to keep the taxis on the street after their mandated retirement at 200,000 miles. The allowed the company to lower its costs while carrying passengers in vehicles considered too old for use as cabs.

Yellow Cab, which acknowledged sufficient evidence of its misconduct, also was cited for charging illegal flat rates for fares, rather than mileage-based charges based on the taxi meter, and for operating outside territory of Providence, Cranston and T.F. Green Airport.

Yellow Cab lost its license for six of its 12 cabs and is on five years probation.

Yellow Cab in Rhode Island is actually a consortium of four companies: D&T Cab Inc., White Rock Cab Inc., Doris Cab Inc. and Bobby's Cab Inc.

Rhode Island's unemployment rate may have dropped to 12.9 percent from 13 percent in October, but it's still the third highest in the country.

Figures released Friday morning for all 50 states solidify Rhode Island's ranking behind Michigan and Nevada, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jobless rates in both of those states also dipped in October. Michigan fell to 15.1 from 15.3 percent. Nevada reported a decrease to 13 percent from 13.3.

It is a familiar trend. Closer to home, every New England state except Connecticut saw slight declines in unemployment rates.

Connecticut's unemployment rate jumped to 8.8 percent, but Massachusetts reported a drop to 8.9 percent, Maine declined to 8.2 percent, with New Hampshire and Vermont even lower.

But Rhode Island is not expected to see its jobless rate dip below 10 percent until 2013, according to a forecast by the New England Economic Partnership, a nonprofit regional outlook group.

Overall, 29 states recorded unemployment rate increases in October, while 13 states registered declines, and 8 states had no change, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Few states reported major statistical swings.

According to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, this state's unemployment rate remains at an all-time high. 73,300 residents are still out of work. The state lost 1,100 jobs in October and saw its labor market contract slightly -- a potential sign that some frustrated workers have given up looking for work.

By Tatiana Pina and Kate Bramson
Journal Staff Writers

WARWICK, R.I. -- Hours after a fatal crash in Cranston that killed one of his friends from the University of Rhode Island, the 19-year-old man driving the car was charged with drunk driving.

Sonny Pham, of 22 Hartwell Drive, Foxboro, bowed his head in Third District Court Friday morning as Judge Mary McCaffrey arraigned him on a charge of driving under the influence, death resulting.

The judge set bail at $15,000 with surety and forbade Pham from drinking alcohol. If he was caught drinking, McCaffrey said, his bail would be revoked.

His friend Erica Rose, of 3748 Flat River Road, Coventry -- a sophomore education major at URI -- was riding in the back seat of Pham's Pontiac Grand Prix when the car crashed on Route 10 in Cranston at around 1:30 a.m. The state police said the car lost control in the rain, swerved into the median, hit a guardrail, and skidded across the two northbound lanes before stopping in the breakdown lane.

Rose, 19, was killed, and another passenger, Valerie Goulet, of 28 West Walnut St., Milford, Mass., appeared to have minor injuries, according to the state police. Goulet also attends URI. Pham was not injured. None wore a seat belt, said state police Lt. Arnold "Skip" Buxton.

The prosecution told the judge that Pham had failed the field sobriety test and took a Breathlyzer, which showed a blood-alcohol content of .091 at first, and then .092 sometime later.

His attorney, John Bevilacqua, tried unsuccessfully to convince the judge to release Pham on his own recognizance, saying he has no record and is a URI student with an uncle living in Rhode Island. Seven of Pham's relatives were in court.

Afterward, Pham's mother, Helen, said that her son and Rose had known each other from school and were friends. "I am so sorry for what happened to Erica," she said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the city where Pham would be arraigned.

This story was originally published at 7:16 a.m. and updated at 7:35 a.m., 8:41, 9:02 and 11:45 a.m.

Providence Journal chart / C. Eugene Emery Jr.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Average prices for heating oil, diesel and unleaded gasoline remained virtually unchanged from last week, according to Friday's survey by the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources.

The typical price of unleaded stayed at $2.70 per gallon, diesel was at $2.91 and home heating oil remained at $2.72.

But the home heating oil average reflects a wide range of prices among dealers. The state typically surveys nine companies to reach its average.

The state found per-gallon prices ranged from a low of $2.25 to a high of $3.10, suggesting that consumers could save as much as 85 cents per gallon if they shopped around.

One year ago, the difference among dealers was even larger: nearly a dollar per gallon.

Journal file/ photo
Skaters take a spin during opening ceremonies for the rink in November 1998.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The outdoor skating rink at Kennedy Plaza is scheduled to open for the season at 11 a.m. Saturday, not Friday night, as originally scheduled.

The opening was delayed because of rain, according to Mayor David N. Cicilline's office.

The Bank of America Skating Center will be open from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. on weekends, and 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for children under 12 and senior citizens over the age of 65.

Skate rentals cost $4.

The skating center also offers lunchtime and after-work specials with reduced admission and rental prices.

For more information, check out the skating center's Web site.

This original version of this report was originally published at 10:16 a.m.

WARWICK, R.I. -- An Oakland Beach man was arrested Thursday for allegedly dealing marijuana out of his home.

Juan J. Scott, 23, tried to flush a pound of marijuana down the toilet, as detectives with a search warrant came into his rental home at 723 Oakland Beach Ave., said Capt. Sean T. Collins. Altogether, the detectives found more than two pounds of marijuana, packaged for sale in dozens of bags, as well as scales and a surveillance system, according to the police.

Scott had been the subject of a month-long drug investigation, after numerous tips and complaints to the police about drug dealing at that house, Collins said. Scott was charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Another man in the house with him, Justin Bryden, 21, of Coburn Street, was charged with possession of marijuana.

WARWICK, R.I. -- A local 17-year-old boy is accused of robbing the Coastway Community Bank branch at 2089 Warwick Ave. late Thursday morning.

Capt. Sean Collins said the boy had cut school that day and walked into the bank with a note for the teller. The handwritten note, riddled with misspelled words, demanded money or "everyone will be shot," Collins said.

The teller didn't see a weapon, the police said, but gave the youth some money.

But the youth's image had been captured on the bank surveillance cameras and the note held his fingerprints, the police said -- leading them to arrest the teenager six hours after the crime.

The boy, whose name is withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with first-degree robbery and held at the Rhode Island Training School.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A two-car collision near Providence Place Mall stalled traffic Friday morning and sent one person to a hospital with minor injuries.

The accident happened at the intersection of Francis Street and Memorial Boulevard around 9:10 a.m., snarling rush-hour traffic. One driver was taken out of a car with minor injuries, the police said. The other driver was not harmed.

No further details were available at the scene Friday. The cars were removed from the intersection before 9:30 a.m.

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) -- A judge has approved a $100,000 settlement from the city of Attleboro to a teenage girl who claims her wrist was broken during a scuffle with a police officer.

Esther Durex said she was struck multiple times when she was stopped and questioned after leaving a party in October 2008. Police alleged she was combative and intoxicated, and she was charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace.

Medical tests proved she had no drugs or alcohol in her system and charges were eventually dismissed.

A lawyer for the city said in Fall River Superior Court on Thursday the city was not opposed to the settlement, reached between the Durex's lawyers and the city's insurance carrier.

Durex, an honors student, was 16 at the time of the incident.

---

Information from: The Sun Chronicle.

Rhode Island commuters Friday morning are dealing with heavy rain and flooding conditions around the state.

In Providence, large puddles on Allens Avenue and in the downtown area have slowed traffic.

In Warwick, drivers are plowing through large puddles on Post Road, south of Centerville Road (Apponaug Four Corners), and also on Centerville Road.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement reporting that a heavy band of showers and scattered thunderstorms is moving through the region.

The weather service says the rain is falling at a rate up to one inch an hour, which "will result in poor drainage flooding for the morning commute, especially across the Providence to Boston 1-95 corridor."

Meanwhile, the rain continues to pound down.

It's suppose to taper off between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Tell us about your flooding issues.

-- with reports from News Staff

TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) -- Lizzie Borden has been found innocent of using an ax to hack her father and stepmother to death - again.

Borden was acquitted 123-48 by the audience at a mock trial in Taunton on Thursday night to mark the 150th anniversary of Massachusetts Superior Court.

Joan Fund and Bristol Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne served as Borden's defense team, while Francis O'Boy and Thomas Gay were the prosecutors. Actors dressed in period attire played Borden and witnesses from the original 1893 trial.

Fund said in her closing statement that there was "no murder weapon, no blood, no bloody clothing, no investigation."

O'Boy countered that Borden had motivation and opportunity.

Borden was charged with the August 1892 slayings, but although she was acquitted, many people thought she was guilty.

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Information from: Taunton Daily Gazette, http://www.tauntongazette.com

LINCOLN, R.I. -- Thirty-six police recruits stood out among 1,923 applicants.

On Friday, those 36 will be sworn in as members of the Rhode Island State Police.

The new state troopers have completed 22 weeks of training. On June 22, they began their intensive, paramilitary training, according to Lt. Col. Raymond S. White Jr.

At 6 p.m. Friday, they will graduate at a ceremony at the Community College of Rhode Island's Flanagan Campus in Lincoln.

After graduation, they will receive Field Training from experienced troopers before they begin their solo patrols, the state police said.

Along with family and friends of the graduates, others also expected to attend include Col. Brendan P. Doherty, superintendent of the state police, Governor Carcieri and Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch.

The following men and women are scheduled to graduate:

• Roupen Bastajian of Smithfield
• John R. Brown of Coventry
• Matthew J. Burke of North Kingstown
• Andrew L. Carter of Narragansett
• Dwayne Correia of North Smithfield
• Sean M. Crowley of East Providence
• Amoncio A. DaCruz of Providence
• Brendan D. Devine of Smithfield
• James R. Donnelly-Taylor of Warwick
• Kyle A. Draper of Warwick
• Jonathan M. Elliott of Warren
• Andrew R. Emerson of Providence
• Louis J. Fiorenzano Jr. of Providence
• James E. Gaffney of Warwick
• Melissa A. Giardina of Richmond
• Kyle A. Gorenski of Narragansett
• David R. Gosling of East Greenwich
• Ruth C. Hernandez of East Providence
• Adam J. Houston of Cranston
• Adam B. Kennett of East Greenwich
• Ryan N. Mahoney of Narragansett
• Kenneth J. Marandola Jr. of North Providence
• Robert B. Marchand of South Kingstown
• Nicholas J. Messinger of West Greenwich
• Courtney E. Mulcahy of Narragansett
• Christopher V. O'Connors of North Kingstown
• Brendan D. Palmer of East Greenwich
• Sean F. Pasley of Warwick
• Donald Pope Jr., of Providence
• Michael Reynolds III of Lincoln
• Ryan M. Santo of Warwick
• Kyle K. Shibley of West Warwick
• Lisa M. Silveira of Middletown
• James M. Thomas III of Warwick
• Stephen W. Vinton of West Warwick


• Anthony S. Washington of Providence

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Four athletes selected by their coaches to represent Rhode Island in the Special Olympics Nationals in Lincoln, Neb., next year will appear in person at a fundraiser Saturday to help pay for their trip.

The selected athletes are:

• Bill Guy of Coventry who will compete in golf
• Steven Lleech of Lincoln who will compete in track and field
• Spencer Moulton of Barrington who will compete in track and field
• Michael St. Ours of East Greenwich who will compete in track and field

"This is a chance to show support for special athletes chosen on their merits who are going to represent Rhode Island on a national stage," said Jan Schmidt, lead singer of The Original Sinners, one of the music groups that will perform at the event that starts at 3 p.m. at The Blackstone in Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket.

The Sanford Grey Band and Steve Smith and The Nakeds will also perform.

Organizers are asking that concertgoers donate $15 to help send the athletes to Nebraska in April, 2010. Items donated by local businesses will be available in a silent auction, and food will be available for purchase.

"We expect a memorable performance by all involved" Schmidt said. "I think everyone should come and encourage them and their families. I for one look forward to meeting them!"

Friday's Providence Journal front page reports that the state's unemployment rate has dipped for the first time in nearly three years.

Providence poet Keith Waldrop has won the National Book Award for poetry.

The Rhode Island education commissioner has revoked the teaching certification of a teacher who was caught driving drunk to her job at a Bristol elementary school.

Download a copy of Friday's front page in .pdf format.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A thunderstorm? Seriously? It's November, not July.

The National Weather Service is serious. We could see a thunderstorm Friday, according to its forecast.

The service says we should expect showers, and possibly a thunderstorm, before 3 p.m. After that, there's a slight chance of showers between 3 and 4 p.m.

The temperature in the Providence area should reach 61 degrees with a south wind of eight to 14 mph.

Commuters are likely to deal with patchy fog before 8 a.m.

The rain should move out Friday, leaving us with a dry weekend. The weather service forecasts a mostly sunny day Saturday with a high near 59. Sunday should be mostly sunny, too, with a high near 53.

For more weather and regular updates, see projo.com/weather.

On the local front:

A year ago today:
Rhode Island's unemployment rate last month climbed to 9.3 percent, the highest since 1983, as job cuts in the private and public sectors coursed through nearly every part of the economy, a government report released today shows. Factories, offices and retail stores, among others, slashed payrolls in October, eliminating 2,400 jobs, according to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. The ranks of the unemployed last month swelled to nearly 53,000, the highest on record. Rhode Island's October unemployment rate is identical to that of Michigan, where Detroit's Big Three automakers this week pleaded for American taxpayers to help their industry as prospects of receiving federal rescue aid dimmed. The latest jobs report is grim even in light of the economic forecast released yesterday by the nonprofit New England Economic Partnership. The NEEP economists predicted that during the next two years, Rhode Island would lose nearly 15,000 more jobs and unemployment would hit 10 percent, probably by the end of next year. But the pace of the decline is swifter than predicted. The October job losses already account for more than 70 percent of the 3,400 jobs that NEEP had forecast the state would lose during October, this month and next month.

On Nov. 20, 2004
5 years ago today:
The Providence police have decided not to press charges against a truck driver who ran over a bicyclist three days ago on Allens Avenue. The cyclist, Peter Robbins of Sheldon Street, remained in critical condition in Rhode Island Hospital. Robbins fell under the back wheels of the 18-wheeler while riding his mountain bike. Investigators determined that the truck driver, Fred Parella, 56, of Barrington, who was driving for Fortune Metals, did not see Robbins. Witnesses said Robbins tried to pass the truck on the right, even though the truck was taking a right turn onto Terminal Road.

25 years ago today:
Three men from Norridgewock, Maine, are free on $25,000 bail after being arraigned on auto-theft charges involving nearly 100 cars stolen from the Providence and Warwick, R.I., areas. The three were indicted after an investigation in Maine, and more arrests are expected in Rhode Island in connection with the case. Maine State Police say the case involves the largest stolen-car ring in the state's history. Arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Edward Keith were Michael Daniels, 34; Robert Daniels, 23, and Frank Carcieri, 31. All three are from Rhode Island but have lived in Norridgewock for about 13 months. Pasquale Perrino, an assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the Bangor office, said the defendants bought junked automobiles and used the titles and vehicle-identification numbers to disguise the stolen cars. Also, he said, some cars were cut up and sold for parts either as "the result of an outright theft or an insurance theft."

On the international front:

On this day in 1990, Saddam Hussein orders another 250,000 Iraqi troops into Kuwait.

Read more highlights from Today in History.

Watch video highlights from Today in History.

BOSTON, Mass. -- A federal appeals court Thursday upheld a lower court decision clearing a Rhode Island State Police trooper of wrongdoing in connection to a 2003 raid on Narragansett tribal land.

Adam Jennings, an employee of the tribe's smoke shop in Charlestown, charged that Trooper Kenneth Jones had used excessive force during the July 14, 2003, raid by twisting his ankle until it broke.

Jones said he maintained his grip because Jennings continued to resist as troopers, with a court-authorized search warrant, sought evidence that the smoke shop was selling tax-free cigarettes.

In 2005, a federal jury found Jones used excessive force and awarded $301,000 to Jennings in damages.

That verdict was later overturned on grounds Jones was protected by qualified immunity, which shields officers from liability when they act reasonably while doing their jobs, and that Jennings' increased force argument was "plainly contradicted by other evidence."

The court of appeals later reinstated the jury's verdict but sent the case back to federal District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres to consider motions for a new trial.

A federal jury ruled in Jones' favor after the second trial, and Jennings appealed.

"Today's decision confirms what we have known all along," Rhode Island state Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said in a news release, "which is that Judge Torres was right in 2008 when he ruled that Trooper Jones was entitled to a new trial because Adam Jennings and his witnesses were not credible, and that testimony presented by members of the Rhode Island State Police was more consistent with other evidence that was presented at trial."

"The troopers who responded that day acted with the utmost professionalism in fulfilling their duties under extremely challenging circumstances," Lynch said. "With today's decision, a long and winding trail of litigation is over and Trooper Jones is exonerated, once and for all."

CRANSTON -- An explosion and a break in the main dam at the Scituate Reservoir.

A wall of water moving down the north branch of the Pawtuxet River.

Large swaths of five cities and towns, T.F. Green Airport and parts of Route 95 flooded.

A scenario worthy of a disaster movie -- but not as far-fetched as it first appears, officials say -- was the script for a practice drill Thursday at the headquarters of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency.

Pretending that a lone wolf terrorist had blown a hole in the dam, about 100 emergency management personnel gathered to test the state's public and internal lines of communication, a new 800 MHz radio network, and an emergency action plan mandated by a state dam safety law. Many more people participated without traveling, in federal and state agencies and the municipalities most affected: Scituate, West Warwick, Coventry, Warwick and Cranston.

Among their tasks: Cope with a loss of potable water in the drinking-water system that serves 60 percent of Rhode Island. Among their responses: Ask the military to send two water desalinization plants on barges, have the Poland Spring water company immediately ship hundreds of thousands of liters of bottled water, and activate an obscure mutual aid compact among water systems called WARN.

Officials said the scenario was not far-fetched regarding what could occur if there were a catastrophic breach of the Gainer Memorial Dam and a massive release of water into the Pawtuxet River floodplain.

Edward Johnson, deputy director of RIEMA, said the drill exposed a few glitches in the state's preparation, such as a need to have emergency management personnel become more conversant with Web EOC -- as in emergency operations center -- an e-mail communications system.

A representative of the Coast Guard said in a closed-door post-exercise evaluation, according to RIEMA spokesman Steve Kass, that RIEMA had demonstrated unbelievable improvement in the years since he had participated in a drill there.

J. David Smith, RIEMA executive director, said, "It's a validation of all the hard work and training that the people have done."

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) --- A new law eliminating mandatory minimum drug sentences in Rhode Island has taken effect without the governor's signature.

Governor Carcieri had vetoed similar measures in past years. But supporters say they compromised on this year's legislation by removing a provision that placed a cap on the maximum sentence a judge could give for drug possession crimes.

The new law, which took effect this month, leaves the sentence to the judge's discretion.

Under the old law, anyone caught manufacturing, possessing or dealing up to one kilogram of heroin or cocaine, or up to five kilograms of marijuana, could face a minimum 10-year sentence.

Despite that, many drug offenders in Rhode Island actually receive and serve far shorter sentences.

By Michelle R. Smith
Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Economic reality and money problems may be cooling the enthusiasm of U.S. college students to study abroad, just two years after students' interest in foreign study was at an all-time high.

Four times as many students went abroad in the 2007-2008 academic year as 20 years ago, according to a survey of 985 schools released this week by the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit advocacy group.

But nearly 60 percent of the schools and study-abroad groups surveyed in early September by The Forum on Education Abroad report decreased enrollment from a year ago, since the global economic crisis.

Brown University in Providence, which typically sends one-third of its junior class abroad, saw a 10-percent drop in such enrollment this fall compared with fall 2008, said Kendall Brostuen, director of the Office of International Programs and an associate dean.

"My sense is over the last year, there's probably been some very important dinner-table discussions about how to best go about using the resources that a family has," Brostuen said.

>> Continue reading: With less cash, 10 percent fewer study abroad at Brown

NEWPORT, R.I. -- A downtown building that was constructed in 1909 as a YMCA and became a hotel in 1997 has been sold.

According to city land records, Vanderbilt Hall, on Mary Street, sold for $5.7 million on Monday. The hotel, with 33 rooms and suites, was owned, under the corporate name Vanderbilt Hall LP, by Arnold B. "Buff" Chace Jr., a prominent Providence developer. The new owner, under the corporate name Vanderbilt Hall Holdings LLC, is Peter de Savary, a British businessman who developed Portsmouth's Carnegie Abbey Club.

De Savary could not be reached immediately to say what plans he has for the hotel. He told the online magazine, Newport Seen, that he envisions a hotel, club, spa and English restaurant.

City records show the property was valued at $9.9 million for the budget year that ended June 30, 2009.

In the early 1900s, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt donated what would become the hotel property to the city of Newport in honor of his father Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Alfred Vanderbilt inherited the largest share of his father's estate and remained a prominent businessman, although his greatest fame involved two maritime disasters.

In 1912, at the last minute, he canceled plans to travel on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, which sank after hitting an iceberg. Three years later, on May 7, 1915, he was aboard the ocean liner Lusitania when a German U-boat torpedoed and sank it. Witnesses reported that Vanderbilt, who could not swim, gave up his life vest to a young woman with a baby.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- In a rare move, state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist has revoked the teaching certification of a Bristol-Warren teacher who pleaded no contest to driving drunk to school one morning, ensuring that the teacher can never again work in Rhode Island public schools.

Kathleen A. Borgia, 43, of Warren, was charged with drunken driving at 9 a.m. on Sept. 28 a block away from Colt Andrews Elementary School, where she taught second grade.

Supt. Edward Mara said he suspended her the next day, and she was placed on a paid leave until she resigned Oct. 30.

On Oct. 9, Borgia pleaded no contest to the charge and had her license suspended for six months.

The state has revoked just 12 certifications -- including Borgia's -- since 2001, according to a state Education Department spokesman.

National Grid said spent Thursday cutting off power to 5,000 customers so it could replace copper ground wire stolen from its Smithfield substation, just off Route 44.

The emergency repairs affected North Providence, Johnston, Smithfield and Scituate.

Spokesman David Graves said it appears that the theft was ongoing. Workers who arrived at the substation Thursday found much of the wire yanked out and some of it all rolled up, waiting to be taken away.

"The danger anyone places themselves in doing something like this is absolutely ridiculous. It's beyond foolishness. It's almost suicidal" because the wires in the substation is carrying tens of thousands of volts, said Graves. The ground wire might not be live, but manipulating it could cause a deadly electric arc.

The company originally planned to shut off all 5,000 customers served by the substation but, instead, decided to do rolling blackouts -- affecting 1,000 to 1,5000 customers at a time -- as portions of the substation were repaired.

Just after 4 p.m. four of the six sections had been fixed. Graves estimated that the power outages should be over before 6 p.m.

The theft was discovered after the company received a call of flickering lights in the North Providence area.

"We went out this morning and replaced a regulator," Graves said. That caused about 2,700 customers to lose power for an hour or so.

"Then we did a further inspection at the substation and found that some ground wire had been removed, and other wire had been rolled up, like it was being prepared for theft," said Graves. "Once pulled out of the ground, it creates an imbalance in the system, which caused the flicker."

He said he did not immediately know how much wiring had been removed.

Smithfield and State Police have been called in to investigate. National Grid also has a group of police departments and security organizations that specialize in investigating the theft of equipment from utility companies, Graves said.

(An earlier version of this story was posted at 2:25 p.m.)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A reproduction print of Maxwell Mays' painting "Inauguration Day" will be displayed in the State Room of the State House through Nov. 27, Governor Carcieri's office announced Thursday.

Mays, a well-loved Rhode Island artist, died on Monday at the age of 91. The public is invited to view the print and share thoughts and remembrances in a guest book.

The State House is open to the public each week day, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 26.

The enlarged print of the "Inauguration Day" painting shows scores of people gathering at a state house festooned with bunting, with inaugural ceremonies in progress.

Throughout a career that lasted more than 60 years, Mays produced colorful and whimsical paintings highlighting historic sites, landscapes and seascapes. He was also known for his involvement in local environmental conservation, for his longtime affiliation with the Providence Art Club and for his generosity, the governor's office said.

In response to reports questioning the effectiveness of mammography, the state Health Commissioner announced on Thursday that Rhode Island law still requires health insurers to pay for mammograms.

Earlier this week, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group of experts convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, said it no longer recommends routine mammography screenings for women ages 40 to 49.

But Rhode Island still requires health insurers to provide coverage for annual mammograms for women 40 and older. It also requires coverage for two mammograms per year when recommended by a physician for women who have been treated for breast cancer or who are at high risk of developing breast cancer.

Rhode Island law is based on guidelines issued by the American Cancer Society, which in response to the task force's report affirmed its recommendation for annual screenings for women 40 and older. The Cancer Society, after conducting its own review of mammogram data, concluded the exams produce some false alarms, lead to some unnecessary treatments and miss some cancers, but still save lives.

Rhode Island's coverage requirements apply to fully insured group health plans and individual health insurance policies. Federal law exempts self-funded group health insurance plans.

The commissioner urges anyone with questions to contact their benefits administrator.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- In the aftermath of the Governor's veto of legislation that would have given domestic partners the right to make funeral decisions for each other, Governor Carcieri is reminding residents that current law already allows people to designate a funeral planning agent.

"It has become abundantly clear that people are not aware that there is a statute that allows for anyone to designate another person to be responsible for funeral arrangements, regardless of the relationship" Governor Carcieri said in a news release Thursday afternoon.

"It only requires the notarized signatures of the two people making the agreement on a statement that follows the wording prescribed in law," Carcieri wrote. "I have directed the Department of Health to make a sample form available online, and to work with appropriate businesses and groups, such as the Rhode Island Funeral Directors Association, the Rhode Island Bar Association, and the Rhode Island Medical Association, to let it be known this form is available, and should be recognized and accepted as a statutorily allowed designation."

Rhode Island General Law § 5-33.2-24 states that in cases where "no funeral services contracts are in effect at the time of death," funeral homes would "follow the directions of the deceased person's survivors, in the following order of priority," and then goes on to list those people.

The first person named is, "an agent designated pursuant to chapter 33.3 of this title."

This refers to the Funeral Planning Agent described in Rhode Island General Law (§ 5-33.3-2) as a person who "has authority and responsibility to make all arrangements regarding funeral preparation, planning, the nature of the funeral goods and services to be provided, the manner in which funeral services are to be conducted, burial, and/or the disposition of the principal's remains, including cremation, upon the death of the principal."

Funeral planning agents must be at least 18 years of age, of sound mind, and willing to act at the agent. A person cannot act as a funeral planning agent for more than one non-relative simultaneously.

The owner of the Providence Place mall said Thursday that it has reached a deal with some of its lenders, allowing a number of its shopping centers to exit bankruptcy by the end of 2009.

General Growth Properties Inc. (GGP:NYSE) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2009, after failing to persuade a majority of its debt holders to give it more time to refinance billions of dollars in debt racked up during an aggressive expansion that included the $11.3-billion purchase of Rouse Co. in 2004. Just months before, Baltimore, Md.-based Rouse had purchased Providence Place for $510 million from the developers who built the shopping center in the late 1990s.

General Growth had about $29.6 billion in assets and more than $27 billion in liabilities as of Dec. 31, 2008, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. Included in that was $400 million General Growth borrowed on Providence Place shortly after the Chicago company took control of the retail center.

The deal with the lenders restructures about $9 billion in mortgages in about 70 loans. The lenders agreed to extend loan maturity dates about 6.4 years, on average, from Jan. 1, 2010, with none of the included loans coming due before January 2014.

>> Continue reading: Providence Place mall owner restructures debt

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A federal judge has sentenced two men to prison for being felons in possession of firearms, U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha announced Thursday.

In separate cases, Stanley Alston, 39, of Providence, was sentenced on Tuesday to 67 months, and Damon Foster, 35, of Bronx, N.Y., was sentenced Thursday to 37 months, Neronha said in a news release.

The sentences were imposed by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi in U.S. District Court.

In April, Alston pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Rose said the government could prove that, on July 10, 2008, Alston met an undercover agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms at a convenience store on Broadway in Providence and said he had a gun for sale. The agent told Alston to bring the gun to his car outside the store. Alston got into the car with a black case that contained a semi-automatic rifle, and the agent gave him $200 for the weapon.

Foster pleaded guilty in June to being a felon in possession of a firearm. At Foster's plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rose said the government could prove that, in January, Providence police officers arrested Foster on two warrants. During a search of Foster's belongings at an apartment where he had been staying, officers seized two semi-automatic handguns: a nine millimeter and a .45 caliber.

Both defendants have prior felony convictions, Alston for breaking and entering and drug possession, Foster for drug trafficking.

Providence police and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigated the case as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice initiative against gun crimes. Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, the U.S. Attorney's Office, working with Providence Police, ATF, the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office, Rhode Island State Police, and other agencies, prosecutes federal firearms offenses in an effort to incarcerate those responsible for gun violence and deter others from committing gun crimes. Since 2001, federal gun offenders have been sentenced to a total of more than 900 years in federal prison.

NEWPORT, R.I. -- A North Providence man has filed a notice of intent to sue the city of Newport over an incident on Sept. 11 in which, he says, a uniformed city police officer shot him with a stun gun.

Under Rhode Island law, a claimant must give the city at least 40 days' notice before filing a lawsuit.

The city of Newport received the notice on Oct. 22 and presented it to the City Council Wednesday night.

In the complaint, Colin Millar of North Providence alleges he had gone to Robert Marvelle's house at 53 Coggeshall Ave., Newport, to register for the sixth Hannah Grace Spearfishing Tournament, which was to be held the following day on Kings Beach.

While at the house, according to the complaint, a uniformed city police officer struck Millar "in the chest with two Taser prongs" without warning or justification, causing his body to convulse and his knees to buckle.

Millar alleges the officer, who has not been identified, told him he had stunned Millar as a "joke."

Millar said in the complaint that he called 911 three times before he was able to get assistance and said he flagged down two police cars that did not stop.

When a paramedic arrived, Millar said in the complaint, the police officer told the paramedic that the Taser had discharged "accidentally."

The officer offered to take Millar to the hospital in his police cruiser, but Millar declined and was taken by ambulance to Newport Hospital, according to the notice filed by Millar's lawyers, Matthew R. Plain and Elizabeth R. Penta of Providence.

He is seeking $961 in medical expenses and $25,000 "in full and final settlement of all his claims against the city."

Lt. Daniel A. Dvorak, a spokesman for the Newport Police Department, said an ongoing internal affairs investigation was launched on Sept. 11.

He declined to comment on whether the officer involved remains at work or has been suspended.

"In light of the claim, we have no further comment at this point," Dvorak said in a statement that he read to a reporter. "We are taking this matter very seriously."

CRANSTON, R.I. -- An inmate at the Adult Correctional Institutions who claimed to be the president of the Statewide Prison Chapter of the NAACP in filing a racial-profiling suit against top state officials has no connection with the NAACP, Clifford Montiero, director for all NAACP activities in Rhode Island, said on Thursday.

"He's a liar," Montiero said of Calvin Walker, who is serving a 60-year sentence for rape and robbery at a Newport mansion in 1986.

"There's no such chapter," Montiero said in response to a reporter attempting to verify Walker's claim. "He can't do that without permission from me, and I've never given permission.

"If I see any documentation, I will have to write him a letter saying he can't use our name or any affiliation without prior permission from me."

Meanwhile Thursday, Tracey Zeckhausen, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said the department intends to strenuously defend itself against Walker's allegations.

"All inmates at the ACI are entitled to and receive access to the courts regardless of race," Zeckhausen said. "Once we verify that Mr. Walker's case has been properly filed and served, we will mount a vigorous response to it in court."

Walker has petitioned the Rhode Island Supreme Court to bar the prison from enforcing a rule that the inmate contends is unconstitutional and amounts to racial profiling.
In papers filed with the Supreme Court, Walker identified himself as the president of the Statewide Prison Chapter of the NAACP.

Walker, 52, who is black, argued that the prison system grants more privileges to white inmates than black, particularly regarding use of the prison library to research the law and file appeals.

He named Governor Carcieri and A.T. Wall, state prisons director, as respondents.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Supreme Court Justice Paul A. Suttell says the court has no immediate plans to implement a controversial law that would allow people to hire retired judges to preside over private trials in civil cases.

The controversial "rent-a-judge" law, as it is known in the legal community, has been on the books since 1984 but has never been used.

Suttell says that while the court heard arguments in January about effectuating the law, it currently does not plan to set up rules to allow such trials to take place. He says that if, at some point, the court decided to implement rules to allow for such trials, it would first hold another hearing so members of the public could weigh in on the issue.

A state legislator, Rep. Al Gemma, D-Warwick, introduced a bill in the last General Assembly session that would repeal the law that would allow parties to pay for a retired judge to hear their lawsuits in a private arena. But in April, the House Judiciary Committee decided to hold the bill for further study so the court could, any time now, set up the new system for hearing civil disputes.

For the moment, it seems in no rush to do so, even though former Chief Justice Frank J. Williams said that the court had conducted research and found that in states that already provide for such private justice systems, no problems have arisen.

Newly retired Family Court Judge Howard I. Lipsey -- who earlier in his career was a highly successful divorce lawyer -- is the person who began the push to implement the law. He's expressed an interest in being hired by parties to hear their cases behind closed doors, which would bring additional pay. He currently receives a 100 percent pension -- $150,933 a year -- plus health insurance since he continues to sit several days a week on the bench. [However, he has taken the month of November off, Chief Family Court Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. said Thursday.]

By Bryan Rourke
Journal arts writer

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon," the follow-up to "Twilight," opens in theaters at midnight on Thursday.

The new movie, based on the second in a series of vampire novels by Stephanie Meyer, brings Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner back to the screen as Bella, Edward and Jacob.

Fans can get a double dose of Team Twilight at a few cinemas in Rhode Island -- Island Cinemas, Providence Place Cinemas and Showcase Cinemas Warwick -- where midnight showings of "New Moon" are preceeded by a 9 p.m. screening of "Twilight."

Reviews are now coming out for the film, though fans might find them disappointing. Try this one from latimes.com to start.

And no matter what you think of the movie, you may want to weigh in on projo.com's survey for Twilight followers: Are you for Team Edward or Team Jacob?

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" is rated PG-13. Check more listings for the movie at projothebeat.com.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Financially struggling Rhode Islanders could get help soon from a $1.6 million grant from United Way of Rhode Island.

The money will help low- and moderate-income residents increase savings, earn more and build assets.

The money will go to nine agencies over the next three years, beginning in January.
The agencies, in turn, "will help Rhode Islanders make responsible fiscal decisions, plan for a financial future and maintain savings," said United Way President and CEO Anthony Maione.

The grants are part of a long-term effort by United Way to strengthen the state's economy by identifying and attacking the causes of the fiscal hardship facing individuals and families, Maione said.

The agencies receiving money are Comprehensive Community Action Program; Connecting for Children and Families; Education in Action; John Hope Settlement House Collaborative; Family Resources Community Action; Rhode Island Family Life Center; Rhode Island Foster Parents Association; Rhode Island Jumpstart Coalition; and Tri-Town Community Action Agency.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state Supreme Court has refused to grant post-conviction relief to a former golf pro who was found guilty on a variety of charges stemming from the armed abduction and kidnapping of three teenagers 30 years ago.

The nine-page ruling, handed up on Thursday, ends a long-running legal battle that has crawled through the court system since Michael A. Ballard was convicted on the multiple felony counts on Dec. 3, 1979.

Ballard, 66, formerly of Bristol, was paroled on home confinement from the Adult Correctional Institutions two years ago.

In his 1979 trial in Superior Court, Ballard was portrayed as the mastermind of a three-man team that was charged with kidnapping teenagers Frank and Tammy Galleshaw, and their friend, Kenneth Fullam. They were abducted at gunpoint from the garage of the Galleshaw home in Burrillville.

The Galleshaw family owned and operated Wright's Farm, a well-known chicken restaurant in Burrillville.

The teenagers were released unharmed on the same day they were kidnaped.

By Kate Bramson
Journal Staff Writer
and The Associated Press

WARWICK, R.I. -- The air traffic equipment failure that has delayed flights around the country is also expected to cause some delays at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick.

Green officials on Thursday afternoon said that weather elsewhere in the country paired with the failure of Federal Aviation Administration communications equipment is expected to affect flights through the evening.

They are reminding passengers to check with their airlines for information about specific flights.

The problem lasted about five hours Thursday morning, but has caused delays nationwide.

The system was back up and running around 10 a.m., according to Jim Peters, spokesman in Queens, N.Y., for the FAA's New England regional office.

This was the second time in 15 months that a glitch in the flight plan system caused delays.

An AirTran Airways spokesman said there was no danger to flights in the air, and flights were still taking off and landing as the FAA worked to correct the problem.

"Everything is safe in the air," spokesman Christopher White said.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said she didn't know how many flights were affected.

The Web site for T.F. Green Airport has not been reporting delays.

The FAA will not have a tally of how many flights had to be diverted or delayed from New England airports -- or others around the country -- until Friday, Peters said.

This story has been updated throughout the day, most recently at 11:28 a.m.

>> Continue reading: Update: Green Airport says delays expected today

By Talia Buford
Journal Staff Writer

NEWPORT, R.I. -- When she first arrived at the hospital last January, Katysha Lopez told the court Thursday, she asked her boyfriend what happened to their daughter.

Six-week old Naomi McCoy had been rushed to Newport Hospital with severe injuries while Lopez was at her parents' house doing laundry. The baby's father, Rachin McCoy, had been taking care of her at the couple's home at Festival Field Apartments in Newport.

Lopez said McCoy told her that Naomi had fallen from the couch. But when a nurse walked in carrying Naomi, barely breathing and with a swollen head, Lopez said she knew the story didn't match her daughter's injuries.

Lopez was the first witness in the bail hearing for Rachin McCoy, who is accused of first-degree murder in the death of his daughter. Testimony in the hearing will resume at 2 p.m. before Associate Justice Melanie Wilk Thurnberg in Newport Superior Court.

As hospital personnel rushed to get Naomi to Hasbro Children's Hospital, in Providence, to address what they said were severe injuries, Lopez testified that she asked McCoy again.

"What happened to her?" she testified that she asked. "I'm her mother, I deserve to know."

It was then, Lopez testified, that McCoy said tearfully that he'd been playing with Naomi, throwing her in the air, catching her and kissing her, when he missed and dropped her. He frantically wrapped her in a blanket, grabbed the house keys and bundled her into the car seat so that he could take her to his cousin's house to get a ride to the hospital.

Lopez said she spent the next three days sleeping at Hasbro Children's Hospital, waiting for word that Naomi was getting better. But she wasn't. Doctors told her the baby's internal bleeding was getting worse and that she wasn't going to survive. On Jan. 30, three days after being injured, Naomi died.

Prior to the incident, Lopez said she had no reason to be concerned about McCoy's parenting skills. Lopez and McCoy had dated for about 2 years before they decided to move in together and have a baby. A visiting nurse came to their house regularly throughout Lopez's pregnancy and after Naomi was born to show the couple how to care for the infant. Lopez testified that when McCoy was there for the lessons, he seemed eager to learn and was caring with Naomi when he did take care of her.

For much of Lopez's testimony, McCoy sat at the defense table with crying quietly with his head bowed. McCoy has been held wihout bail since his arrest in January and has pleaded not guilty.

Associated Press

A federal agency says 136 people died in New England from work-related injuries last year, 27 fewer than in the previous year and the lowest number since it began compiling the statistics in 1992.

The 2008 preliminary figures were released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The two New England states with the largest workforces --- Massachusetts and Connecticut --- accounted for two-thirds of the region's occupational deaths in 2008.

Sixty-one workers died in Massachusetts, 14 fewer than in 2007. Transportation accidents accounted for 30 percent of fatalities, while falls were the second-leading cause of death at 25 percent.

Connecticut recorded 28 worker deaths, down from 38 in the previous year.

There were 24 deaths in Maine, 10 in Vermont, seven in New Hampshire, and six in Rhode Island.

By Talia Buford
Journal Staff Writer

NEWPORT, R.I. -- A motorcyclist who crashed his Harley Davidson in June, killing his passenger, was ordered to give up his driver's license during his arraignment in Newport County Superior Court Thursday morning.

Joseph Beirola, 48, of Tiverton, was released on $25,000 personal recognizance and ordered to report to the Tiverton Police Department for processing. Beirola was indicted by the Newport County Grand Jury on Friday for driving under the influence, death resulting, and driving to endanger, death resulting. He had not been charged prior to the indictment.

The police say that Beirola was riding his 1997 Harley Davidson on Route 24 on June 13 when he lost control of the bike on the Main Road off-ramp. Beirola was severely injured and his passenger, Janet C. Valcourt, 53, of 191 Lawton St. in Fall River, was killed. She had been wearing a helmet.

At Beirola's arraignment, his attorney, Kevin Hagan, argued that Beirola needed his license to travel to see his attorney, and to do his job, which includes snow plowing and mowing for the state Department of Transportation. Hagan said that Beirola has worked for the state for 23 years and has lived in Rhode Island all of his life. He also volunteered that Beirola has visited CODAC, a substance abuse treatment facility, and gotten on the waiting list for treatment.

Associate Justice Melanie Wilk Thunberg said the issue could be revisited at a later date, but that Beirola would have to forfeit his license.

A pretrial date has been scheduled for Jan 7.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Dennis Tasker, 38, of Providence, pleaded guilty Thursday to robbing banks in Providence and Newport in July by using threatening notes, United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha announced Thursday.

Tasker entered the plea before Judge William E. Smith in U.S. District Court. The suspect was arrested in Boston while allegedly trying to break into cars three days after the second robbery, Neronha said in a news release.

At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gerard B. Sullivan said the government could prove that on July 7, Tasker handed a note to a teller at the Sovereign Bank on Thayer Street in Providence claiming he had a gun and demanding money. The teller gave him about $760. No weapon was displayed or seen during the robbery.

Providence Patrolman Theodore Michael recognized Tasker in bank surveillance pictures, having transported him between the Adult Correctional Institutions and court when Michael was a deputy sheriff in Newport County. The bank teller who had been robbed identified Tasker from a photo array, the news release said.

On July 8, Tasker entered the Sovereign Bank on Thames Street in Newport and handed a teller a note demanding money. The teller gave him approximately $7,900 and he fled. asker quickly became a suspect in that robbery also, and Newport Police detectives identified fingerprints lifted from the note as Tasker's.

On July 11, MBTA police in Boston arrested Tasker after he had allegedly tried to break into about 15 cars. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing only a towel around his waist and a jacket. He gave two false names but police identified him as Tasker, and Providence Police went to Boston to interview him. He admitted to both bank robberies, the U.S. attorney said.

Tasker pleaded guilty to two counts of bank robbery. He was held pending sentencing, scheduled for April 16. The maximum penalty for bank robbery is 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- City residents who still need recycling bins will be able to buy them Saturday at five locations.

Under a new recycling policy that went into effect last week, residents are required to put out the recycling bins with their trash barrel. If they don't, their trash won't be picked up.

After garbage began piling up on some neighborhood streets, residents scambled to buy the city-issued bins; several thousand have been sold this week.

On Saturday, sales will be held from 9 to 10 a.m. at the following locations:
The Joslin Recreation Center, 17 Hyat St.
Selim Rogers Recreation Center, 60 Camden Ave.
Vincent Brown Recreation Center, 438 Hope St.
The West End Recreation Center, 109 Bucklin St.
The Department of Recreation, 1 Recreation Way.

The bins are $5 each; residents must have a blue container and a green. Or, residents have the option of using any waterproof containers, labeling one for paper, the other for cans, glass and plastic bottles.

By John Hill
Journal Staff Writer

WARWICK, R.I. -- A lawyer for Kent Hospital continued his cross examination Thursday morning of an expert witness hired by the family of Michael Woods, challenging the doctor's opinion that Kent Hospital did not meet the professional standard of care when it treated Woods the day he died, July 26, 2006.

Lawyer David Carroll used his questioning to recite the various tests and conversations Kent Dr. Kelli A. Naylor had with Woods while he was under her care from about 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. that day.

The expert witness, Dr. John A. Schriver, testified earlier that in his opinion had Woods been put on a cardiac monitor and been treated according to accepted standards, he most likely would not have suffered a fatal heart attack.

Carroll questioned Schriver about how long it would have taken to follow the steps that Schriver recommended, implying it would have taken longer than the 90 minutes Woods was alive after his heart condition was noted.

Carroll also pushed back on testimony about how Woods was left on a gurney in a hallway and not in a treatment room with a cardiac monitor. In his questioning, Carroll elicited information that Woods's gurney was parked in the middle of the emergency room complex, near a nurses' station, and not in an isolated part of the unit.

Woods' brother, actor James Woods, brought the lawsuit alleging negligence against Kent Hospital.

Testimony was expected to resume in the afternoon.

Extra: Read about Wednesday's trial developments.

BOSTON, Mass. -- Rhode Island lawyer John F. "Jack" Cicilline went to U.S. District Court in Boston Thursday morning in a bid to get his son, John M. Cicilline, released from prison early.

The senior Cicilline told a U.S. magistrate that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons violated his son's due-process rights in assigning the time he would be released from a halfway house, and that it failed to take into consideration that his son was trying to save his house, as well as his three children.

John M. Cicilline, the brother of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, is a disbarred lawyer. In October 2008, he began serving an 18-month sentence at Fort Devens for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal authorities.

Cicilline is due to be on supervised release in Rhode Island Feb. 8, 2010, after he serves 41 days in a halfway house in Massachusetts. He is being held at a federal medical center in Fort Devens, Mass., north of Worcester.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts is opposing Cicilline's bid. Mark Grady, an assistant U.S. Attorney, said the courts don't have jurisdiction over where the U.S. Bureau of Prisons decides to put prisoners.

"What is clearly at issue here is Mr. Cicilline's dissatisfaction with the 41-day sentence he received," Grady said.

After considering the arguments, the magistrate will make a recommendation to the judge.

John M. Cicilline's sister and a daughter were in the courtroom. The girl cried. Cicilline's brother, the mayor, did not attend the hearing.

Before leaving the courtroom, "Jack" Cicilline kissed his son.

-- Reported by Journal Staff Writer Katie Mulvaney

Waldrop

Providence poet Keith Waldrop's "Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy" has won the National Book Award for poetry.

Judges praised Waldrop's work for demonstrating "language's capacity to go to extremes."

Waldrop, who lives on the East Side, has taught at Brown for 41 years, where he is the Brooke Russell Astor Professor of Humanities.

In a news release Thursday morning, Brown quoted this from the judges' comments:

"If transcendental immanence were possible, it would be because Keith Waldrop had invented it; he's the only one who could -- and in Transcendental Studies he has," the judges noted. "These three linked series achieve a fusion arcing from the Romantic to the Postmodern that demonstrates language's capacity to go to extremes -- and to haul daily lived experience right along with it: life imitates language, and when language becomes these poems, life itself gets more various, more volatile, more vital."

Waldrop, 76, has written about 20 books of poetry. He's also an actor, director and publisher.

Critics and admirers have called him a poet's poet, graphic designer, publisher and "hoodoo god."

Publishers Weekly has said, "Waldrop has long been a major force in American avant-garde poetics."

Waldrop's latest book was one of five finalists for the poetry award. His first book, "Windmill Near Calvary," was nominated for the same award -- 40 years ago.

"Keith was nominated for a National Book Award for his first book almost 40 years ago, so this has been a long time coming," said Brian Evenson, professor of literary arts and director of Brown's Literary Arts Program. "Transcendental Studies is an exceptionally strong volume of poetry and an excellent choice by the National Book Awards committee. We're delighted that he won."

Here's a list of other National Book Awards winners: Colum McCann's "Let the Great World Spin" has captured the fiction prize; T.J. Stiles' biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, "The First Tycoon," was the nonfiction winner; Phillip Hoose's "Claudette Colvin" won for young people's literature.

Winners each received a $10,000 prize.

Honorary medals also were presented to Gore Vidal and Dave Eggers at Wednesday's ceremony.

Extra: Read a full story on Waldrop.

An earlier version of this report was published at 9:39 a.m.

-- With Associated Press and Journal archival reports

WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- The state police are helping the Woonsocket police with an investigation into the removal of two hard drives from computers from the city administration.

Capt. David Neill of the state police said, "We're assisting the Woonsocket Police through our computer crimes unit to do a forensic audit on two hard drives to show they are property of Woonsocket." Neither he nor the Woonsocket Police would say who the hard drives belong to or who took the hard drives out of the computers.

Neill said that the two hard drives were "reported missing and upon further inquiry were returned." He said the state police did not consider them stolen.

Reached at home, Leo T. Fontaine, the mayor-elect who is expected to take office in January, said he was aware of the investigation. "From my standpoint it's important that any information that would be helpful to the new administration is something we would need to have in City Hall."

Mayor Susan D. Menard could not be reached for comment.

SWANSEA, Mass. -- The police have obtained an arrest warrant charging a Fall River man with possession of a stolen car and other violations after the suspect allegedly eluded police by abandoning the car and escaping into a wooded area on Wednesday despite a search lasting two hours.

Officer Patrick Mooney reported that he saw a car fail to halt at a stop sign at Ocean View and Pinehurst Avenues in the Ocean Grove section. He entered the plate into his laptop computer and discovered that the vehicle was stolen from Fall River earlier in the day.

Mooney tailed the car until he confirmed that the vehicle had been stolen. He said the operator tried to elude the officer by turning down several side streets, eventually halting on Church St. near the Gardner School.

The driver got out and ran off, Mooney said, adding that he recognized the operator as Christopher White, 48, and gave chase through several back yards and the wooded area between Church Street and Gardners Neck Road.

State troopers and officers from Somerset assisted in the search. A state police K-9 was called in.

Swansea police said that they discovered a small amount of crack cocaine in the vehicle.
The warrant charges White, whose last known address was 563 Osborn St., Fall River, with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, failing to stop for police, possession of a controlled substance and operating with a revoked license.

EAST LYME, Conn. (AP) -- Authorities say a Rhode Island woman's gambling debts led her to embezzle almost $335,000 from the company that runs East Lyme's school lunch program.

Westerly resident Beverly Howard was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of first-degree larceny in New London Superior Court. She did not enter a plea.

Police say the 53-year-old Howard was East Lyme's dining services director and allegedly embezzled the money from her employer, Chartwells, which runs the meals programs under contract.

Police say Howard told officers she needed to repay about $382,000 in casino gambling losses, mostly at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Her attorneys say she is cooperating with authorities and recognizes the severity of the allegations. She returns to court Dec. 2.

-- Information from: The Day.

AP Photo/Cape Cod Times/ Merrily Lunsford
Ken Williamson rakes cranberries during the wet harvest at Willowbend Country Club Sept. 30, 2009 in Mashpee, Mass.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. (AP) -- The cranberry harvest slipped in Massachusetts, but other states have picked up the slack, meaning your cranberry sauce will cost about the same this Thanksgiving as it did last year.

Massachusetts is the second biggest cranberry producer in the U.S. with about 25 percent of the harvest. Cooler temperatures there lowered its yield somewhat.

But cranberry harvests in Wisconsin and other top-producing states are meeting expectations.

Wisconsin is the nation's leading cranberry producer. It grows nearly 60 percent of America's crop.

Final harvest numbers aren't available, but an industry spokesman says the state should meet its summer forecast of 400 million pounds.

That's a decrease of about 10 percent since 2008. But last year was a record, in part because the weather cooperated perfectly.

New Jersey, Oregon and Washington appear to be covering the slack for Massachusetts. Those states round out the nation's top five.

A Good Samaritan vessel is on its way to assist a disabled fishing vessel about 12 miles south of Block Island that asked for help early Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The 40-foot C.W. Griswold, registered out of Point Judith, sought help from the Coast Guard at about 4:45 a.m. Thursday, according to Seth Caron, an operations specialist, first class, for the Coast Guard's Woods Hole Command Center Sector Southeastern New England.

The crew reported a fishing net had gotten caught in the boat's propeller, Caron said. Timothy Caldwell, whose hometown is not known by the Coast Guard, is operating the boat, Caron said.

The three people aboard were in no immediate danger and were able to anchor the boat, so there was no need for the Coast Guard to launch an immediate rescue, Caron said. The agency issued what's called a marine assistance request broadcast over Channel 16, the international distress frequency for boaters.

Another boat heard that broadcast and is on its way to tow the boat back to shore, Caron said.

WARWICK, R.I. -- An ambitious plan to build a hotel, parking garage and complex of buildings that will combine office and retail space on Jefferson Boulevard received final approval from the city Wednesday night.

The proposal, which is the vision of contractor Michael D'Ambra, got the green light from the Planning Board after months of review by the city's Planning Department.

The $300-million project will not only create jobs and generate taxes, but also represents a sizable gamble on the state's new intermodal station that is being built next door to D'Ambra's 8.4 acres on Jefferson Boulevard.

"That's the reason I'm building this," D'Ambra said, referring to the combination train station, commuter parking garage and car rental center that is slated for completion next year. The most outstanding feature of the joint project by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation and the state Department of Transportation is that it is all linked to the airport by a glass-enclosed skywalk that spans Post Road.

D'Ambra has permission to connect his complex to the intermodal station, prompting his lawyer K. Joseph Shekarchi to tell Planning Board members that "one of the best things about this project is that you'll be able to leave your office or hotel room and get in a car or (catch) a flight to Florida without ever having to carry an umbrella or put on an overcoats."

D'Ambra said he is already courting tenants and needs a few signed leases and more of a rebound in the economy before construction begins, but he is hopeful "that will happen by mid-2010."

The construction will be done in phases and the project will take three to four years to complete, D'Ambra said in an interviews.

>> Continue reading: Warwick board OKs hotel-retail complex near airport

EAST GREENWICH, R.I. -- A 15-unit condominium project that will provide some sorely needed affordable housing to the town was unanimously approved by the Planning Board Wednesday night.

Five of the units in the "Cottages on Greene" project -- a reference to the unusual cottage style of the units and their Greene Street location -- will be categorized as affordable. That designation applies to only 4.4 percent of the town's 5,182 or so housing units. The affordable units are expected to sell for $204,000.

Joseph Palombo, a builder and partner in the development company, 620 Main Street Associates, said after the meeting that if the weather is favorable, the foundations could be put in soon and the 10 buildings that make up the complex could be ready for sale by mid-summer.

After the 7-0 vote, Planning Director Lee R. Whitaker praised the project's innovative design and said having the residences so close to Main Street will help enrich the downtown area.

>> Continue reading: East Greenwich board 'Greene-lights' condos

Thursday's Providence Journal front page reports that a Barrington man was captain of the Maersk Alabama when pirates tried taking over the ship for the second time in seven months.

Swine flu cases in Rhode Island are declining.

A state panel is considering whether the state should decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Download a copy of Thursday's Providence Journal front page in .pdf format.

Live local radar

More weather...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Clouds will increase Thursday, but the temperature should reach 58 degrees, a little higher than normal for this time of year.

Those clouds should bring showers tonight with thunderstorms possible early Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Friday looks rainy with the possibility of thunderstorms continuing until noon. The high Friday should reach 59 degrees.

The weekend looks dry. Saturday should be mostly sunny with a high near 58. Expect clouds Sunday and a high near 52.

For more weather and regular updates, see projo.com/weather.

On the local front:

Journal file photo/ Kathy Borchers
Lawyer Robert Mann (left) sits with his client, Gilbert Delestre, during Delestre's trial.

A year ago today: In his opening statement, the defense lawyer for a Woonsocket man charged with beating his girlfriend's 3-year-old nephew to death says that his client, Gilbert Delestre, hit Thomas J. Wright, causing him to fall down the staircase of their apartment, but he did not intend to kill him. Delestre, 25, tried to catch the child as he tumbled down the stairs but was unable to and "he went down hard" and was badly injured, lawyer Robert Mann told the jury in the murder trial at Superior Court in Providence. Delestre will testify that he lied to the police when they came to his apartment and that he tried to blame the babysitter, Mann said. He is sorry for his actions and will take responsibility for them when he testifies in the coming days, Mann said. He asked the jury to acquit Delestre of murder and conspiracy and instead find him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Prosecutors said Delestre and Katherine Bunnell, 24, took turns beating Thomas on Oct. 29, 2004, after returning home at 2:30 a.m. from a night out and becoming enraged when they discovered the boy had spilled yogurt and milk on the new living-room rug.

5 years ago today: Two months ago, vandals broke into a storage shed belonging to New England Gas Co., smashed one jar containing mercury and took another to their apartment complex, causing a spill that contaminated the complex and setting off a cleanup that's still under way. Now, state and federal officials are investigating whether the gas company broke the law by storing mercury in the shed, just a few blocks from two schools, a nursing home, numerous houses and apartment buildings. Southern Union, New England Gas' parent company, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the gas company has received a subpoena for documents related to the spill. The documents are expected to tell investigators whether the company violated "hazardous waste management provisions, spill and release notification procedures and hazard communication requirements." New England Gas and Southern Union officials didn't return telephone calls seeking comment on the Nov. 9 SEC filing.

25 years ago today: A $50,000 diamond-studded watch reported stolen last year from Eileen Bond, wife of the head of the Australia II yacht syndicate, will be allowed as evidence in the larceny trial of Flournoy L. Hightower, a Newport policeman. Superior Court Judge Albert E. DeRobbio approved an order allowing the watch into evidence when Hightower goes to trial on charges of possession of less than $500 worth of stolen electrician's tools, possession of more than $500 worth of stolen contractor's supplies, and possession of drugs. Hightower, 37, of 299 Prospect St., Middletown, is suspended without pay from the Police Department. He was arrested a year ago as a result of investigation into the theft of Mrs. Bond's watch. She reported that it was stolen in front of the Thames Street Armory as she was entering the building for a press conference the night Australia II won the America's Cup. The police searched Hightower's home, police locker and car when trying to find the watch, and allegedly found other stolen items. The watch was later recovered.

On the national front:

On this day in 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg address as he dedicates a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania.

Read more highlights from Today in History.

Watch video highlights from Today in History.

SEEKONK, Mass. -- Attention Shane Murphy: The Somali Community Association of Ohio wants to take you out to dinner and seeks your help in forming a coast guard to fight Indian Ocean pirates.

Shane Murphy / Providence Journal file photo

Murphy said he would consider the invitation. "Personally, I'm just willing to do anything to make it a safer area and help protect the mariners that are working out there," he said Wednesday night.

Murphy, of Seekonk, was chief officer of the Maersk Alabama when pirates based in Somalia swarmed aboard in April and took the ship's captain hostage. Murphy led the crew in resisting the pirate attack. That incident ended five days later, when Navy Seals killed three pirates and freed Capt. Richard Phillips.

"I have many friends in Africa, and I don't hold anybody accountable for the actions of a few people," Murphy said. "I know there's a lot of good people over there."

Bashir Haji, vice president of the Somali association that has its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, called The Journal in a bid to contact Murphy after pirates again attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday. They were driven off by gunfire from the ship's armed guard, according to news reports.

Murphy is still a merchant marine, but not for Maersk, and he has begun working for Nexus Consulting Group, a private company that provides armed security in the Gulf of Aden to three major U.S.-flagged shipping companies, said Elizabeth R. O'Keefe, a lawyer for Duval, Klasnick & Pastel in Woburn, Mass., who represents Nexus and Murphy.

Nexus president Kevin Doherty, "is very much interested in discussing and being a part of the formation of a coast guard to fight piracy and has been in contact with the Federal Government of Somalia Republic ambassador-at-large Osman Samantar in D.C.," O'Keefe said. Murphy said Wednesday night that he and Doherty had just been brainstorming about how to set up a private coast guard to protect the gulf between Somalia and Yemen from pirates.

O'Keefe said the three companies that have hired Nexus "are reticent to disclose which ships are armed" with security forces. She said the teams of former U.S. military operatives have thwarted eight documented attacks. Having a proven deterrent aboard "is actually lowering the cost of kidnap and ransom insurance by as much as 40 percent" for the shipping lines, she said.

Haji explained why his group in Ohio extended an invitation to Murphy. "We want to ask him to come to Columbus to give a speech about his ordeal with the pirates."

Murphy last night spoke of Abdwali Muse, the surviving pirate who threatened Murphy's life in April and was captured in Wednesday's attack. "The difference between he and I is, I started going to sea when I was a child, I worked hard and educated myself and made a career for myself. Somebody just handed him a weapon and said, go see what you can find." Murphy wants to help train Somalians to defend their coast and make a living.

"If I can help give these people an opportunity to learn what I have, maybe we could turn some people around," he said.,

Haji said the Somali Community Association wants to enlist Murphy to persuade the international community to "send a lot of money" that would enable Somalia to build a fleet to patrol the waters off the east African nation.

"They could watch and battle with the pirates," Haji said. "We want Shane Murphy to be our voice. Somalia has not had a government in 20 years."

There are about 45,000 Somalis living in the Columbus area, according to the group's Web site.

With reports by Donita Naylor

This story was first published at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday and updated at 5:34 p.m. and 7:17 p.m..

projo.com / Timothy C. Barmann

New data from the R.I. Department of Health shows a dramatic spike in emergency room visits for flu-like symptoms the first week of November. Click on chart for larger version.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The number of flu cases in Rhode Island took an abrupt nosedive last week, as the swine-flu epidemic starts to wane in the state.

Information gathered from emergency rooms, doctors' offices and schools indicates that flu-like illnesses -- most of them swine flu -- peaked in the first week of November, and then dropped sharply last week, said Health Director David R. Gifford.

But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods, Gifford said. The number of cases remains high, and two additional people died of swine flu in recent days, bringing to seven the number swine-flu deaths since Sept. 1. Both were women age 45 to 55 who lived in Providence County and who had underlying health conditions.

The sudden peak and drop-off in flu cases follows the normal pattern seen in the yearly flu epidemic, except that many more people are getting sick, Gifford said. A second peak could occur this fall, as happened in New York City, and a third wave of swine flu will most likely occur in the spring, he said.

So far about 100,000 Rhode Islanders have been vaccinated against swine flu, including some 35,000 schoolchildren. Gifford urged Rhode Islanders to get vaccinated as the vaccine becomes available, adding these developments:

-- Women who have had a baby within the past six months should contact their obstetricians to get a swine-flu shot. Nearly two-thirds of pregnant women in Rhode Island have received the swine flu shot, and there is enough left over to give to postpartum women to protect babies too young for the vaccine.

-- A vaccination clinic for Rhode Islanders in kindergarten through 12th grade who attend school out of state will be held on Saturday, Dec. 12, at a location to be announced. Parents must register their children for this clinic by 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, by going to www.health.ri.gov. Alternative arrangements will be made for parents who cannot attend the clinic because of religious observances, provided they contact the H1N1 Information Line (222-8022) by Dec. 2.

--The school-based clinics for next week will take place as scheduled. The state has enough vaccine.

--Turnout at high school clinics has been lower at other schools, about 50 to 60 percent compared with 76 percent statewide. Gifford urged parents to sign the consent form and instruct their teenagers to get vaccinated. "Don't let your teenager talk you out of the shot," he said.

Find out more about clinics for seasonal flu and swine flu, as well as more news and information about the viruses at: projo.com/health