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« June 21, 2006 | Today | June 23, 2006 » June 22, 2006CCRI, RIC fees up for last-minute increaseIn an unusual, last-minute move, tuition and fees at two Rhode Island public colleges will increase beyond the rates set last fall, if the Board of Governors for Higher Education approves the changes at a meeting next week. Students at the Community College of Rhode Island would have to pay $216 more in tuition and fees for the coming academic year, an 8.7-percent increase, for a total of $2,686 a year for in-state students. Originally, the Board of Governors said the increase would be 3.3 percent, or $74 a year. But sluggish enrollment growth and reduced state funding means that CCRI faces a deficit of about $2.5 million in the coming year, according to budget projections by the Office of Higher Education. Rates also would be higher at Rhode Island College, which is facing a $3.1-million shortfall next year. Instead of a 4.9-percent increase, or $208 more a year for in-state students, tuition and fees will increase by $282 a year, or 6 percent, for a total of $4,958. The 6-percent increase set for in-state students at the University of Rhode Island will be unchanged. The Board of Governors is expected to vote on the proposed budget changes at its 5 p.m. meeting on Thursday, June 29. -- With reports from Journal education writer Jennifer Jordan Posted by Mike McDermott at 6:23 PM | Comment Update: Lit incense started Pawtucket apartment firePAWTUCKET -- Fire broke out in a basement apartment at Trenton Street this afternoon, city fire officials said, when incense lit in a bathroom ignited toilet paper. The fire was within a 12-apartment complex made up of two connecting buildings. No injuries were reported, though minor smoke and water damage was sustained to the apartment and one next to it. Several Fire Department crews responded to the scene at 127 Trenton St. after the call came in around 2:45 p.m. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:52 PM | Comment Carpio trial: Testimony ends, closing arguments next
Dr. Martin Kelly, a Boston psychiatrist, testified today that, in his opinion, Carpio showed no signs of mental illness or defects before, during or after he shot Detective Sgt. James L. Allen last year at Providence police headquarters. But Carpio's lawyer, Robert L. Sheketoff, questioned during cross-examination why Kelly did not interview Carpio's mother or girlfriend, or other people who had seen the defendant shortly before he shot Allen, in making his assessment. Kelly was called as a rebuttal witness by prosecutor Paul F. Daly Jr. in Carpio's murder trial. Kelly said he found no evidence of mental illness from police reports, transcripts, videotapes and his own interview with Carpio. Kelly said he relied on reports from police interviews of people close to Carpio, and did not think it necessary to talk to them himself. Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline attended the proceedings for part of the afternoon. About a dozen police officers, including Cmdr. Paul Kennedy and Maj. Stephen Campbell, were also there. This morning, neuropsychologist David Faust testified that Carpio grossly exaggerated on a test last November meant to identify mental disorders. Faust also accused the defense's expert witness of incorrectly scoring the 500-question true-false test and of using outdated texts to interpret the results. On cross-examination, Sheketoff accused Faust of being a professional witness, and cited a book that Faust wrote that is a handbook for lawyers on how to attack expert witnesses. Also today, Sheketoff said that police soon after the shooting simultaneously interviewed Carpio at the hospital and his girlfriend, Samein Phin, and that both spoke of Carpio's hearing voices and behaving strangely in the weeks before the shooting. The implication was that they could not have agreed on what to say ahead of time. The defense is arguing that Carpio was insane and cannot be held legally responsible for the death. Prosecutors began challenging that assertion yesterday, after the defense rested.
Posted by Mike McDermott at 5:44 PM | Comment W. Greenwich boy, 12, dies from accident injuriesA 12-year-old boy has died from injuries he sustained when he collided head-on with his younger brother in a cycle accident on a wooded trail at the Coventry-West Greenwich line. The Coventry Police Department said today that Taber Kelley, 12, of West Greenwich, was pronounced dead shortly after arriving yesterday at Kent Hospital, in Warwick. His 11-year-old brother, Preston Kelley, was taken to Hasbro Children's Hospital with severe injuries to his left forearm and lower left leg. The brothers were riding on a wooded trail off Mishnock Road with two other boys. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Lisa Vernon-Sparks One of the other boys, Jake Bercham, 14, of West Greenwich, injured his right shoulder in a secondary collision. The fourth boy, Zakery Duclos, 15, of East Greenwich, was not injured; he attempted to perform CPR until help arrived, the Coventry police said. It was not clear this afternoon what type of cycle the boys were riding. All four, however, were wearing protective equipment and helmets, police said yesterday. The police said the state medical examiner's office will perform an autopsy tomorrow. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Lisa Vernon-Sparks Posted by Mike McDermott at 5:21 PM | Comment Update: Bill gives Senate OK over Beacon gubernatorial appointeesPROVIDENCE – A bill requiring Senate approval of gubernatorial appointees to the board of the Beacon Mutual Insurance Company is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Labor today. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Roger Badeau, D-Woonsocket, comes at a time when Governor Carcieri is engaged in a court battle with two board members, George Nee and Henry Boeniger, over his right to remove them from the board. Both had been appointed by former Gov. Lincoln Almond. In April, an independent report on Beacon by a team led by Almond turned up evidence that the insurer, among other things, gave preferential insurance rates to some large companies and maintained "inappropriate relationships" with certain insurance agents. The governor has accused Nee and Boeniger of presiding over the mismanagement of Beacon for more than a decade. Beacon spokesman Bill Fischer said the bill – which was posted last night for hearing -- was not a Beacon bill and that he does not know where it came from. In a press release this afternoon, Governor Carcieri denounced the bill, saying it contained two specific flaws. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Lynn Arditi He said the separation of powers amendment to the state constitution requires the governor to make all appointments to state boards and commissions. The bill also appears to be "a veiled attempt" to allow current board members to stay on the board until after their appointments expire, Carcieri said. Appointees hold their seats until a new appointment is made, according to the governor's office. “This bill is an outrageous and unconstitutional attempt to stop the reforms being implemented at the state’s largest workers compensation insurer,” Carcieri said. Posted by Andrea Panciera at 4:58 PM | Comment Providence aims to take the bite out of summerPROVIDENCE -- The city Department of Public Works announced today that it will treat 11,370 catch basins throughout the city with a larvicide to prevent mosquitos from hatching. The larvicide will be released slowly throughout the entire mosquito-breeding season, and will only have to be applied once. The city says it is important for residents to limit their own exposure to West Nile and other mosquito-borne illnesses by using insect repellent with DEET, keeping standing water off their properties, wearing long pants and long sleeves at dawn and dusk, and putting screens on windows and doors. Click here to see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's tips for avoiding mosquito bites. Posted by Mike McDermott at 4:27 PM | Comment Cleanup plan for W. Kingston Superfund site to be airedThe state Department of Environmental Management and the federal Environmental Protection Agency have scheduled a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday to present the cleanup plan for the West Kingston Superfund site. The hearing will be at the University of Rhode Island's Kingston campus in the conference room, 210 Flagg Rd. The 18-acre parcel includes the old West Kingston dump and the URI disposal area. It was placed on the Superfund priority list in 1992, after chemical contamination was detected in the groundwater in and around the site. The land is contained within more than 100 acres that URI would like to buy for $1.35 million, in what would be the most expensive land purchase in recent university history. The Superfund land is being carved out by its current owners and will be given to the Town of South Kingstown. There will be a public hearing on July 26, where people will be able to comment on the plan. Posted by Mike McDermott at 4:17 PM | Comment DEM advises: Batch of rabies vaccine being recalledThe state Department of Environmental Management said today that it is alerting veterinarians, pet shops and others of a voluntary manufacturer's recall of a batch of rabies vaccine. Animals that received the recalled vaccine should not be considered properly protected against rabies until they have received another shot, the DEM said. The manufacturer, Fort Dodge Animal Health, a division of the pharmaceutical company Wyeth, has recalled all existing RabVac 3 TF (serial 873113A) vaccines produced and distributed from Nov. 1, 2004, through the product expiration date of June 29, 2006. The DEM says that the company has notifed veterinarians who bought the vaccine directly and suggested that they notify the owners of pets that received the vaccine. Animal owners can check their pets' rabies certificates; these often include the manufacturer and serial number for the product. A 13-month-old dog in Connecticut that received the vaccination ended up contracting rabies less than a year later. Posted by Mike McDermott at 3:43 PM | Comment Study: 'Graduated' driving laws for teens help save livesTeenage driving laws like Rhode Island's that limit nighttime driving and enforce passenger restrictions save lives, according to a study released today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The study compared crash rates and patterns of teenage drivers in Oregon, which has nighttime and passenger restrictions, with those in Ontario, which does not mandate such restrictions. The study also surveyed a random sample of 1,000 teens -– half of whom had been involved in a car crash and half of whom had not been. What the researchers learned is that death and injury crash rates for 16-year-old drivers were 20 percent lower in Oregon where those restrictions exist than in Ontario, where they do not, according to AAA. Rhode Island’s “graduated driving laws,” which is the term for laws that allow teens to build experience behind the wheel before encountering complex driving situations, prevent newly licensed drivers from being on the road between 1 and 5 a.m. and require new drivers to limit those under-21 passengers to one. Just last summer, the Rhode Island General Assembly decided to limit 16- and 17-year-old drivers with provisional licenses from transporting more than one passenger under age 21. Brothers and sisters are still able to drive with older siblings. A bill pending in the General Assembly would forbid drivers younger than 18 from using cellular phones. Repeat offenders could potentially lose their licenses until their 18th birthdays. Heading into the summer months, AAA also reports that July and August are the deadliest months for 16- and 17-year-olds. In Rhode Island, 20 teens ages 16 or 17 died in car crashes that killed a total of 58 people from 1995 to 2004. AAA offers tips for teaching teens to drive on its Web site. Posted by Kate Bramson at 3:30 PM | Comment No indictment in shooting by Pawtucket police officerA statewide grand jury has completed its investigation and issued no indictment in the death of 47-year-old John D. Martins, who was shot and killed by a Pawtucket police officer while fleeing the scene of a robbery. The Pawtucket Police Department said after the April 18 shooting that the officer, Jeffrey S. Allen, had followed protocol in the case. Allen has been on administrative duty since the incident. The police said that Martins threatened a clerk and grabbed money from a cash register at the Cumberland Farms store at 711 East Ave. Allen, who was nearby, arrived at the scene quickly after someone who heard commotion called the police. Allen tried to use his cruiser to block Martins in the parking lot of the store. The police said that Martins rammed the cruiser two times with his car before driving out of the lot. Allen then fired through his open car window; Martins' car crashed into seven other cars in a service station parking lot before flipping over. He was pronounced dead at the scene; the police later said that he died from a single gunshot. Posted by Mike McDermott at 1:06 PM | Comment Poll: Chafee, Laffey running neck and neckA Rhode Island College public opinion survey of the state Republican primary voters shows that U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey are locked in a dead heat for the GOP Senate nomination. The survey of 256 likely Rhode Island primary voters conducted between June 19 and 22 shows that 39 percent support Chafee and 38 percent would back Laffey. The poll carries a margin of error of 6 percent. Laffey leads among men, 44 percent to 34 percent, while Chafee has the edge among women, 37 percent to 35 percent. The survey, conducted by veteran RIC political science professor Victor Profughi, also shows that Chafee does better among independents, who are eligible to vote in the GOP primary. Chafee does much better with independents than he does with base GOP voters. For example, among unaffiliated voters, Chafee betters Laffey 49 percent to 31 percent. Among registered Republicans, Laffey leads Chafee 45 to 28. Posted by Peter Phipps at 12:57 PM | Comment Update: U.S. soccer team sent packing
NUREMBERG, Germany – The U.S. World Cup team fell to Ghana, 2-1, in today's The result, coupled with Italy's 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic, means that Italy wins Group E, while Ghana also advances as the second team in the group. Their opponents will be determined later today, when Japan plays against Brazil while Croatia takes on Australia. The American team, which came in with a high international ranking and high hopes, goes home. Rick Siravo of South Kingstown, public relations director for Soccer Rhode Island, says he was "very disappointed" by the result. "I feel that the U.S. team should be on the forefront of soccer, and therefore it is certainly disappointing when we can't advance to the second round and we lose to teams that we should be able to defeat." He said the U.S. team showed no offensive ability during its three first-round games, and that its defensive strategy was a mistake. But he predicted that the result would not dampen enthusiasm for the game in this country, and that the attention drawn by the World Cup would "only enhance the level of play and participation, particularly at the youth level." Interact online with other readers and tell us whether you're watching the World Cup. -- projo.com and Associated Press reports Posted by Kate Bramson at 12:24 PM | Comment Senate rejects Democratic efforts to withdraw troopsWASHINGTON -- The Republican-led Senate today rejected two Democratic efforts to put the United States on a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, further hardening a partisan split that reflects the American public's division and looms as a major issue in November's elections. "Withdrawal is not an option," Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said shortly before this morning's votes. "Surrender is not an option." With Rhode Island's Democratic Sen. Jack Reed among the leaders of the opposition, the Senate first rejected a liberal Democratic bid to withdraw all U.S. combat troops by July 1 of next year. Then in a closer but still decisive margin, the Senate killed a more modest troop-withdrawal resolution by Reed and Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan and other Democrats. That measure fell, 60-39. Reed's fellow Rhode Island senator, Lincoln Chafee, was the only Republican to vote with Reed-Levin. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, who faces a primary challenger opposed to the war, was one of the six Democrats who voted against the Reed-Levin measure. The vote to kill Kerry's amendment to the 2007 Senate defense authororization bill was 86-13. It followed two days of highly charged partisan debate on the wisdom of setting any specific timetable for a pullout. Reed and Chafee both voted against the Kerry amendment. The GOP had denounced both measures as embodiments of a Democratic strategy to "cut and run" from Iraq – a charge the Democrats hotly disputed -- John E. Mulligan, Journal Washington bureau Posted by Andrea Panciera at 12:17 PM | Comment Winning lottery tickets have not been cashedLottery tickets totalling $145,250.62 have yet to be claimed by the lucky ticket holders, the state Lottery Commission announced today. The richest prize by far was an $85,250.62 Wild Money winner, sold at the County Farms on Pocasset Avenue, in Providence. That drawing was Tuesday night. Rhode Island had two big winners in Saturday's PowerBall drawing. A $40,000 winner has been traced to the Express Food Mart on Post Road, in Warwick, while a ticket sold at Douglas Wine and Spirit on Wampanoag Trail, in East Providence, was worth $10,000. The state's hot streak continued during last night's PowerBall drawing; someone who bought a ticket at the Liberty Market on Main Street, in Woonsocket, will be $10,000 richer when they claim their prize. Posted by Mike McDermott at 11:44 AM | Comment Update: Central Falls police cracking downCENTRAL FALLS – The police department is telling residents on Darling Street that it won't put up with anymore fighting after arresting nine people this week, Police Chief Joseph Moran III said this morning. The trouble started Tuesday after a fight broke out between two women who live in separate apartments at 103 Darling St. The police returned to the scene multiple times. The incident drew 100 people who screamed at police, threw full plastic soda bottles, pushed the police away and tried to stop the arrests, Moran said. The police responded with pepper spray and a pepper ball gun that fires plastic balls with pepper-like powder, Moran said. The department met yesterday with people in the neighborhood to deliver a zero-tolerance message, Moran said. “People can either be one of two things over here in Central Falls. They’re either part of the solution or part of the problem,” Moran said. “The ones that are part of the problem, we’re going to straighten out.” The police have towed a few cars from the neighborhood that weren’t properly registered, they’ve taken license plates that have expired off at least one car, and they’ve sent the city’s minimum housing officer to the area to issue citations for housing code violations as well, Moran said. “We told them that they’re not going to do anything to try or attempt to embarrass the police department by acting like fools,” Moran said. “They understand. The people in the city are smart. They know when they overstep their boundaries. We’re not tolerating people’s garbage, not people living in a way that’s inconsistent with the way the good people of Central Falls want to live.” --- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson The police arrested 8 people Tuesday evening and issued an arrest warrant for one more person wanted on charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer. The police tracked down that man, Billy Hernandez, 27, of 89 Broad St., Cumberland, and arrested him late last night. He is also charged with a felony possession of crack cocaine from last night, Moran said. Central Falls called for assistance and got it from Cumberland, Lincoln and Pawtucket police departments, Moran said. The Central Falls officers pulled back a bit until help arrived, he said. The following were also arrested Tuesday night: Rosemarie Ayala, 25, of 126 Sumner Ave., Central Falls, was charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest; Gloria Santiago, 32, of 88 Sylvian St., Central Falls, was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and simple assault for punching Sgt. John Laboissonniere; Eliseo Hernandez, 19, of 55 Darling St., Central Falls, was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; Jesus Ayala, 27, of 213 Hunt St., Central Falls, was charged with disorderly conduct; Gloria Ayala, 53, of 266 Lonsdale Ave., Pawtucket, was charged with disorderly conduct; A 17-year-old Central Falls girl was charged with disorderly conduct. Posted by Kate Bramson at 11:00 AM | Comment Zoo's online auction extended until 5 todayYou just know you were sitting there with this weekend’s weather forecast wishing you could get away. Well, how about taking a South African Photo Safari in the same location where Kim Basinger and pals filmed “I dreamed of Africa”? Here’s your chance. You’ve got until 5 p.m. to bid on that 6-day travel package and other cool items available on Roger Williams Park Zoo’s Zoobilee Online Auction. The auction is part of the zoo’s annual fundraising effort, Zoobilee: Feast with the Beasts, which is Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. Don’t forget, as the zoo prepares for the party, they’ll close the zoo early Saturday, at 2 p.m. to set up. They promise, too, that even if it’s raining, they’ve got indoor fun and extravaganza planned.
Posted by Kate Bramson at 10:30 AM | Comment Workforce Board of R.I. meets todayWARWICK -- The Governor’s Workforce Board of Rhode Island holds its annual meeting this morning from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Radisson Airport Hotel. The board works at upgrading the skills of Rhode Island's existing workforce in order to compete in the global economy. Governor Carcieri is expected to attend the meeting.
Posted by Kate Bramson at 8:30 AM | Comment Rain likely -- and then more rainPROVIDENCE – The delicate white wisps of clouds in the robin’s-egg-blue sky this morning likely won’t last long. There’s a chance of showers after 9 a.m., and it’s supposed to be partly cloudy today with a high around 83. We’re not looking at a very pleasant forecast over the next few days. Showers and thunderstorms expected tomorrow could produce heavy rainfall, perhaps up to half an inch of rain. Then, with a 90 percent chance of rain on Saturday and a 60 percent chance on Sunday, the weekend’s looking like a good time to tackle some inside projects. Isn’t it time to clean your basement? Check back at projo.com for the latest conditions and forecasts. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006