Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Tonight at Brown University you can hear a reading by poet Mei-mei Berssenbrugge and visual artist Richard Tuttle.

The 7:30 event is at McCormack Family Theater

Berssenbrugge is author of "I Love Artists: New and Selected Poems," "Nest," "Four Year Old Girl" and many other books.

Tuttle has exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, and others.

They are going to give a joint reading from their works.

Check out projothebeat.com for what else there is to do tonight, tomorrow and into the weekend around Rhode Island beyond.

The Navy's top officer today gave a ringing endorsement of the submarine program, calling it a ``killer arrow'' among the weapons available to commanders.

``I love submarines,'' Adm. Gary Roughead, the Chief of Naval Operations, told a convention of submariners, contractors and others close to the industry, joking that some of his colleagues in the surface Navy ``think I have gone over to the dark side.''

But Roughead, a rare CNO who has commanded both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, observed on a serious note that some people ``think that submarines are a thing of the past.''

He said skeptics view submarines as ``cold war relics'' that have outlived the usefulness. ``I am not in their camp,'' Roughead told the annual symposium of the Naval Submarine League in Northern Virginia.

Roughead went on to allude in general terms to the versatility of submarines, which are uniquely able to operate without detection on missions of intelligence-gathering, special forces warfare and long-distance missile attacks.

As a commander in the Pacific, Roughead suggested that he relied heavily on submarines, calling them ``the killer arrow in the quiver,'' that offers ``options and capabilities that exist nowhere else.''

Roughead offered particular praise for the small, new class of former ballistic missile subs that have been overhauled in recent years to accommodate large payloads of conventional missiles, as well as special forces units.

The Navy leader spoke at a moment of growing challenges for the Navy, which faces heavy budgetary pressures even as such potential adversaries such as China expand their undersea fleets.

There is no evidence of trauma or foul play in the death of 17-year-old Taylor Meyer, the Plainville, girl who was found dead Monday in a swampy part of Norfolk, near where she attended a drinking party after a Friday night football game.

According to a news release late today from the Norfolk County District Attorney's office, the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has finished the physical autopsy of Meyer. A final cause of death has not been issued -- since some standard medical testing has not been completed -- "but the examination found no evidence of trauma or foul play in her death."

The available evidence is consistent with death by drowning, the news release states.

Meyer, a King Philip Regional High School senior, in Wrentham, saw her school's undefeated football team post another win, over Fairhaven, at the homecoming game on Friday night. Afterward, law enforcement officials have said, she was among 20 to 25 young people who drove to an airstrip at abandoned Norfolk Airport where they gathered around a bonfire and where drinking took place.

The airstrip is a place where teenagers have been known to park and hang out, so police have monitored it from time to time, Norfolk Police Chief Charles H. Stone Jr. said during a Monday news conference.

At some point Friday night, Meyer left the party and started to walk away from the group, Stone has said. She was using her cell phone to call for a ride, he said.

There was a 10:57 p.m. call from Meyer's cell phone, Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating said Monday, to either a distant cousin or a friend, but reports indicated it was difficult to understand her. Cell-phone service in the rural area is "uneven," he said.

Meyer was supposed to have spent the night at someone else's house, Stone said, so it wasn't until noontime Saturday that her mother began calling to try to find her. The girl was reported missing that afternoon.

On Saturday evening, law-enforcement authorities launched a search that included a metro SWAT team, boats, dogs and a state police helicopter.

-- With Journal archival reports

WARWICK -- The retrial of the man charged with murdering Margaret Duffy-Stephenson in her house in 2005 opened today with a prosecution argument: If it were an ordinary burglary gone bad, why was a purse on the counter untouched and a Porsche and other cars ignored in favor of an obscure basement safe known to the accused, James Richardson?

Prosecutor Randall White's opening statement included photos of several cars -- some in the driveway and others in the vicinity of Duffy-Stephenson's Warwick house when her body was found in the house at the bottom of stairs in 2005. A downstairs office had been ransacked and $11,000 taken from a locked safe, which was known to Richardson, Duffy-Stephenson, her husband, James Stephenson, and James Stephenson's mother, the prosecutor said.

The prosecution says Richardson knew the safe contained money.

Duffy-Stephenson, 37, a teacher's aide for special-needs students in East Greenwich, was found stabbed to death Nov. 18, 2005, days after she returned from a family wedding in Florida. Her husband and the couple's 3-year-old son, Robert, had stayed in Florida to visit relatives.

The opening statement in Kent County Superior Court also included that Richardson's DNA was found in material under Duffy-Stephenson's fingernails.

The jury is being allowed to take notes during the trial. This morning, before the opening statement, jurors visited the house where Duffy-Stephenson was found.

In Richardson's first trial in 2007, jurors did not visit the house. The first trial lasted just more than two weeks, with prosecutors presenting more than 20 witnesses and 171 pieces of evidence. The jury deliberated for 3½ days before reporting it was unable to reach a verdict.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford

By Tom Mooney
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The owner of a janitorial firm pleaded guilty today to one count of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, some of whom had been rounded up in a raid on Rhode Island courthouses.

Vincent D'Elia, 56, the operator of Falcon Maintenance LLC in Johnston, entered the plea in U.S. District Court this afternoon, after his arraignment in a separate proceeding just before that.

In summarizing the charge against him, Assistant U.S. Attorney John McAdams said that on at least two occasions since January 2003, D'Elia was told by employees of Falcon that he was hiring illegals. According to McAdams, D'Elia said, "I don't even want to know about it."

McAdams went on to say that in one contract that Falcon had with state of Rhode Island, with its judiciary, 18 of 23 of Falcon workers were unauthorized to be working in the United States.

U.S. District Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi, after hearing McAdams summarize, asked D'Elia:

"In other words, everything he said is true?"

"Yes, your honor," he replied.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 27. He faces a fine of $3,000 per worker.

Until then, D'Elia is free on a $10,000 bond, but if he violates law, he could surrender that $10,000. One of the conditions of the bail is that he remains employed. At his arraignment, he confirmed he was still self-employed.

Falcon Maintenance LLC is one of two state contractors whose employees were arrested during the July federal immigration raid at six courthouses.

By Jennifer D. Jordan
Journal Staff Writer

Robert Felner, a national education figure and former director of the University of Rhode Island's School of Education, was indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges of money laundering conspiracy, mail program fraud and tax evasion by the U.S. Attorney in Kentucky.

According to the indictment, Felner, 58, and a former colleague in Illinois, Thomas Schroeder, 58, conspired to embezzle about $1.7 million from URI.

That money was transferred into bank accounts used by Felner and his associate for personal expenses and has not been recovered, according to David L. Huber, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Huber said during a 1 p.m. televised press conference in Louisville that arrest warrants had been issued for Felner, 58, and his former colleague from Illinois, Thomas Schroeder, 58. Huber said he expected the men to turn themselves in tomorrow for arraignment.

The two are also accused of conspiring to embezzle $450,000 from a University of Louisville grant.

In addition, for the tax years 2002 through 2007, Felner under reported his gross income by $1.5 million, underpaying approximately $500,000 federal income taxes for those years, the indictment says.

Huber said he does not anticipate any more indictments related to the case, at least not in the near future.

"Based on what I have seen, we believe we have the extent of the fraud and the participants," Huber said. "I don't see any more coming at this point. We think this was a pretty controlled operation ... The two people kept it pretty well to themselves, so I don't expect anything else at this time. That's not to say that as we go on with the case, other things might not come up."

The indictment follows a five-month-long federal investigation by the Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Service for alleged misappropriation of federal grants while Felner was dean at the University of Louisville's College of Education and Human Development, the job he took after he left URI in June 2003.

>> Continue reading: Update: Ex-URI official indicted in Ky. on fraud charges

WARWICK -- Bail was set this morning at $50,000 with surety for a Pawtucket man who was arrested yesterday on assault and kidnapping charges.

Derek Taylor, 31, of 20 Armistice Blvd., will be arraigned in Providence Superior Court on the felony charges on Dec. 10.

The police said Taylor threatened several people with a handgun at 244 Montgomery Ave., Cranson, and forced a woman police officers described as his girlfriend into a car before fleeing to Providence.

Providence police later found the woman unharmed in Taylor's car a few blocks away at 45 Payton St.

Taylor, who was arraigned this morning in District Court, Warwick, was charged with two counts of felony assault, kidnapping, possession of a firearm after being convicted of a crime of violence, disorderly conduct, simple assault, and driving without a license or with an expired license.

Harold Reissner, 85, of Barrington, a survivor of the Holocaust, spoke today to West Warwick High School English and history students who had read "Night" by Elie Wiesel. Providence Journal photo / Kathy Borchers

Until he was 13, Harold Reissner had what he describes as an "active, happy" childhood. He played sports, he was a boy scout, he attended the local public school.

Then the Nazis began their campaign of persecution against Jews.

"Things changed very quickly," the 85-year-old Barrington resident told about 100 students today at West Warwick High School.

Reissner was no longer welcome at school. Friends ignored him. Some taunted him or spit on him.

By age 17, Reissner had been shipped with his parents and younger brother to a concentration camp in Latvia. It was the first of many he would be see as Hitler pursued his mad plans to conquer Europe and kill off an entire race.

He was eventually separated from his mother but managed to stay with his father and brother until April 1945, when he came down with typhoid fever.

Because of his illness, he missed a final death march that killed his father and brother, just days before American soldiers arrived.

Reissner said he and a few others who were left behind hid in the dirt under floor boards of a camp building until the sound of heavy equipment drew them out.

The sound was from the Americans.

He said he started talking publicly about his experiences eight years ago because he was concerned that some people were denying that the Holocaust happened.

"There are few survivors left," he said.

-- Journal Staff Writer Randal Edgar

MIDDLETOWN -- The real estate firm listing Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage's sprawling Gray Craig estate in Middletown, which he bought a little more than a year ago for $15.7 million, says there has been interest in the property.

Lila Delman Real Estate has listed the mansion at $15.9 million and describes it this way on its Web site: "Nestled in the privacy of Paradise Valley, an inspiration for generations of American artists including William Trost Richards and a sanctuary of wild life and natural beauty, Gray Craig is an estate of unparalleled refinement."

Melanie Delman, president and owner of the firm and broker, said Cage's work has prevented him from spending the time he wanted to in Newport.

"He loves the area," she said. "Initially, he spent quite a bit of time [at the property], but business engagements have kept him away."

Delman declined to say how many potential buyers have looked at the Gray Craig estate, which has been on the market since the end of September.

The 24,664-square foot, brick-and-stone country manor has 12 bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms. Lila Delman reports that the mansion at 75 Gray Craig Road has recently been restored "to the highest standards," including a state-of-the-art heating and air conditioning system, a new gym and "wiring for today's technology."

Cage's purchase of the property last year ranked the home among Rhode Island's most expensive residential purchases. Newport's Miramar mansion on Bellevue Avenue sold for $17.15 million in December 2006.

Delman sales associate Robin Nicholson said the firm is still showing high-end properties despite the current economic downturn. They get "a lot of interest from New York," she said.

"It's interesting to note that the people that we are showing the highest-end properties to are from the financial world," Nicholson said. "They're a very good bellwether, showing us what a good time it is to buy."

Delman said those smart buyers know the market won't be down forever and smart buyers are "bucking the trend" and buying now.

"Timing the bottom [of the market] is what they do," Delman said.

By the time experts start predicting that it's a great time to buy again, Delman said, "it's too late."

>> Continue reading: Update: Actor Nicolas Cage selling Middletown estate

LITTLE COMPTON -- The Little Compton Police Department is investigating whether one of its officers broke any department policies before his department-issued handgun, uniform and badges were stolen this week, Little Compton Police Chief Sidney Wordell said.

The officer -- whose identity Wordell would not confirm, citing the investigation -- has been reassigned to administrative duty.

He was hired in March 2005 and had been back to work for three months following a one-year tour of duty in Iraq.

Wordell said the officer, whose service so far he described as "exemplary," had agreed to work an over-time shift Monday at 7 p.m. Between 5:30 and 6:45, Wordell said, the officer put a camouflage-syle duffel bag (containing his equipment) by the passenger seat of his pickup truck parked in his driveway.

Officers typically put on their uniforms at work, Wordell said.

Moments later, however, a "family issue" came up and the officer called his supervisor to let him know he wouldn't be able to work that shift. In addressing the family affair, Wordell said, the officer forgot he had left his equipment in his unlocked vehicle.

On Tuesday around 11:45 a.m., the officer went back to his vehicle and noticed several items missing, including the bag, which contained the department-issued gun (loaded), three clips of ammunition, the officer's bullet-proof vest, the uniform and two badges.

The Portsmouth police are investigating that and other larcenies in the area. A Little Compton detective is assisting, Wordell said, as some of the items stolen belong to the town of Little Compton.

The officer reported to work, as scheduled, yesterday at 7 p.m. and was placed on administrative duty. His status is expected to be reviewed Monday, when the investigation into whether the officer broke any department policies is expected to conclude.

"The policy dictates that (the gun) must be under his control, and if not in his immediate person, that it must be secured," Wordell said.

"I bet they didn't even realize what they took," Wordell said of the thieves, adding, "I also don't want to see somebody dump this thing because they are afraid and they don't know what to do with it."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Portsmouth police at (401) 683-0300 or Little Compton police at (401) 635-2311.

PROVIDENCE -- Volunteer advisers are offering free financial advice this afternoon from a bus at Washington Street and Cookson Place along Burnside Park in downtown Providence.

The yearlong Your Money Bus Tour is sponsored by TD Ameritrade Institutional, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors Consumer Education Foundation and Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine to help people across the nation with alarming rates of debt, negative savings and other economic concerns.

The bus, which recruits local advisers at each stop, has attracted hundreds of people seeking answers. Free tool kits have information about debt reduction and saving.

The bus will be on site today until 3 p.m.

-- Journal report

NEWPORT -- The hull of the Oliver Hazard Perry, which will serve as Rhode Island's own sail training tall ship, is on its way to the Ocean State.

The 132-foot hull is being towed from Ontario to Narragansett Bay and will be berthed at Bowen's Wharf. It's expected to arrive in Newport Friday afternoon.

The nonprofit Tall Ships Rhode Island bought the steel hull in September and intends to build it into a 207-foot, three-masted, square-rigged 19th-century warship replica named after Rhode Island's naval war hero, Oliver Hazard Perry.

Perry, who was born in Rhode Island and lived in Newport, was a Navy commodore who led the U.S. fleet to a key victory on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. During the battle, he captured the HMS Detroit. The Canadian group built the hull for a planned replica of the Detroit, before having to abandon the project due to lack of support.

Once design work is completed, it will be brought to Blount Boats in Warren, where a deck will be installed and interior work completed. The vessel will return to Newport for its spars, rigging and hardware.

The goal is to have the Oliver Hazard Perry sailing by 2010.

-- With Providence Journal archival reports

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Data storage company EMC Corp. said today its net income dropped 17 percent in the third quarter, a decline caused by a big one-time gain from the sale of VMware Inc. shares in the year-ago period.

The Hopkinton, Mass.-based company's profit still exceeded Wall Street's expectations, a sign that demand for EMC's machines held up well despite the ailing economy and trouble among competitors.

Its shares jumped 6.7 percent in morning trading.

Disappointing storage numbers last week from IBM Corp., one of EMC's biggest rivals, and indications this week that Sun Microsystems Inc. will write down the value of its storage business raised fears about the health of the broader industry.

EMC is the world's No. 1 maker of external disk storage machines, a business that's in a good spot because companies need more storage to manage the explosion of digital information. But it's also heavily reliant on healthy information technology spending among corporations, an area that's been wounded by the credit crunch.

EMC helped ease some of those fears by reporting net income of $411.3 million, or 20 cents per share, for the July-September period, 2 cents per share higher than the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The profit was 17 percent below year-ago earnings of $492.9 million, or 23 cents per share. Last year's figures were boosted by EMC's one-time sale of 6 million of its shares in VMware, a virtualization software maker, to Cisco Systems Inc.

VMware was a wholly owned subsidiary of EMC until its initial public offering of stock in August 2007. EMC still owns 84 percent of VMware.

EMC's sales in the third quarter rose to $3.72 billion from $3.30 billion a year ago. That was in line with the average analyst forecast.

Revenue in EMC's storage business rose 11 percent to $2.9 billion.

The Associated Press.

>> Continue reading: EMC 3Q profit drops but beats forecast

FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Six residents were displaced by a fire early this morning in Fall River, the police said.

No one was hurt, and the residents are being temporarily relocated by the Red Cross, Fall River Police Sgt. Paul Bernier said.

The fire broke out at around 1:09 a.m. at 574 William St., a three-family residential building.

A preliminary investigation by William Silvia, the city's fire/arson investigator, found the electrical fire started in a wall between the second and third floors' kitchens. It appears it may have been caused by a kitchen appliance that failed.

WARWICK -- A jury of 11 women and five men this morning is expected to visit the home where the body of murder-victirm Margaret Duffy-Stephenson was discovered in 2005.

Opening statements in the retrial of James Richardson, who is charged with first-degree murder and burglary, are expected to begin this afternoon.

The first trial of Richardson ended in a hung jury.

Duffy-Stephenson, 37, a teacher's aide for special-needs students in East Greenwich, was found stabbed to death on Nov. 18, 2005, after she returned home early from a family wedding in Florida. Her husband and the couple's 3-year-old son, Robert, had stayed in Florida to visit with relatives.

Duffy-Stephenson was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs with stab wounds to the neck and body. The police said her attacker ransacked a downstairs office and took $11,000 from a locked safe.

A preliminary list of witnesses for the prosecution includes John Duffy, the father of Duffy-Stephenson, and James Stephenson, the husband of Duffy-Stephenson.

The trial is expected to go on for about three weeks.

On this day in 1797, French balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet.

Read more about today in history.

It's going to be windy and cold today, with highs topping near 51 and wind between 15 and 18 mph., with gusts as high as 33 mph., the National Weather Service forecasts.

Showers are possible.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts from projo.com.

Today's front page features the news that Rhode Island has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 8.8 percent.

Download a copy of the front page in .pdf format.