Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Fairfield University student who died under the wheels of a bus in Newport in 2004 had enough alcohol in his bloodstream to affect his balance and judgment, a toxicologist testified today during a civil trial in Superior Court.

Toxicologist Dennis C. Hilliard, a criminalist at the University of Rhode Island, testified this morning during the trial in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of Francis J. Marx V, who died in Newport May 20, 2004, when he was run over by a bus.

Former URI student Jarrad Rocheleau, of Cumberland, and Loren Welsh, of New Jersey, are accused in the suit of scuffling with Marx, contributing to his death.

Hilliard, who has done research into alcohol and its effect on the central nervous system, testified that Marx's blood-alcohol content was .249. He estimates that Marx would have consumed 17 to 18 drinks to reach that level. As a result, Marx's critical judgment could have been affected, Hilliard testified. He might have also suffered from a loss of balance and slurred speech, he said.

Under questioning from the family's lawyer, Hilliard was asked whether he was aware of reports that Marx was having no problem walking or talking and that he was in a good mood that night.

Marx, of Richboro, Pa., was in Newport attending a Wheaton College formal with his girlfriend. Rocheleau and Welsh were among 300 URI students in town for a pub crawl as part of Senior Week festivities.

-- Reported by Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Marx's blood-alcohol level.

Read coverage of yesterday's testimony.

St. Joseph Health Services and the Roger Williams Medical Center are announcing this morning that they have finalized their plans to affiliate.

The two hospitals have formed a holding company named CharterCare Health Partners and applied for approval from the state attorney general and Health Department. Their 27,000-page application is expected to take months to review.

If successful, the resulting company will command about 15 percent of the state's hospital marketplace and employ about 3,200 people.

St. Joseph is a Catholic hospital that includes Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence and a specialty hospital in Providence, for a total of about 220 beds. Roger Williams Medical Center, with about 170 beds, is a mid-sized teaching hospital in Providence affiliated with the Boston University Medical School.

The hospitals plan to maintain separate medical staffs and governing boards, while the holding company will work on back-office efficiencies such as a unified laundry service.

Kenneth Belcher, Roger Williams president, will also head CharterCare Health Partners. John M. Fogarty will remain president of St. Joseph and also serve as executive vice president and chief operating officer of CharterCare. To the extent possible, other employees of the corporate office will also be hospital employees doing "double duty," Belcher said.

Hospitals officials estimate that the affiliation can reduce expenditures by 3 percent to 5 percent. Roger Williams ended the last fiscal year with a break-even bottom line, while St. Joseph lost what officials described as a "significant" amount of money.

Under the plan, St. Joseph would remain affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence and would continue to display religious symbols and also offer pastoral care. Roger Williams would stay a secular, academic hospital. To meet the demands of Catholic law, Roger Williams promised never to perform abortions, to destroy embryos in stem-cell research, or to allow euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (both currently illegal). Roger Williams is allowed to perform other procedures that the Church opposes, such as sterilizations. Belcher said the hospital did not have to change anything to satisfy the Catholic rules and that both hospitals currently have similar approaches to end-of-life care.

By John Kostrzewa
Journal Business editor

An economic stimulus bill will pass the U.S. Senate after changes made to the wording that will calm worries about protectionism, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, said this morning in an interview with CNBC.

"The direct investment in infrastructure, targeting tax credits for working families, all that is designed to get people back to work," Reed told the financial news channel.

The bill is being ""reformulated" in the Senate to avoid setting up a "symbolic battle between nations" on trade, he said.

For breaking Business news, see the Biz Blog.

TIVERTON (AP) - A state representative wants the replacement for the dilapidated Sakonnet River Bridge to be named after a local man who died serving in Iraq.

Rep. John Edwards, who represents Tiverton and Portsmouth, said Tuesday he's filed legislation to name the bridge after Staff Sgt. Christopher Potts, of Tiverton.

Potts was a marine mechanic in the Rhode Island National Guard who was killed manning a checkpoint in Iraq in Oct. 2004 on his 38th birthday.

The Herald News of Fall River reports the current span has been scheduled for replacement for years. No construction date is set.

Potts's widow could not be reached for comment.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Seattle police say they have arrested a soldier from Rhode Island for investigation in a Jan. 10 armed robbery in Seattle's University District.

In a statement Wednesday night, the police said they believe 21-year-old Raymond Burrows of Central Falls, R.I., participated in the robbery with two other soldiers from Fort Lewis.

The other two were arrested earlier this week for investigation in a Jan. 17 robbery and assault that targeted three University of Washington students. The police allege Burrows was present for the Jan. 17 robbery but did not participate.

In the Jan. 10 incident, the police allege that the three soldiers robbed two male victims at gunpoint. Burrows has been booked into the King County Jail for investigation of robbery.

Booked into the jail Tuesday for investigation of robbery and assault were 19-year-old Chad A. Braden of Etna, Ohio, and 20-year-old Robert E. Lucas of Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Today's front page features a story about the recommendations from the Governor's tax panel, including a proposal to eliminate the corporate income tax in an effort to attract businesses and create jobs.

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

It's just 3 degrees in the Providence area this morning, but it feels even colder -- 11 degrees below zero -- when you factor in the wind, which is blowing from the northwest.

The weather service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the bitter cold.

Expect mostly sunny skies today, but don't expect it to get much warmer. The temperature will reach just 18 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, and the wind will blow between 10 and 14 mph. with gusts as high as 26 mph.

The temperature should drop back down to about 6 degrees.

Journal photo/ Bob Breidenbach
Employees at Tarbox Hyundai clean snow off two of the 300 cars in the dealership's lot on Route 2, Warwick, after a storm that started yesterday and continued into this morning. The forecast calls for a mostly sunny afternoon in Warwick with a high near 28 degrees. Even colder weather is on the way tomorrow before it warms up Friday and climbs into the 40s this weekend.

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Providence Mayor David Cicilline this morning joined a chorus of his colleagues from around the country in calling for senators to put aside partisanship and pass an urgent spending bill to stimulate the ailing economy.

Speaking outside the White House after a meeting with some of President Obama's top economic advisers, Cicilline said senators should "get into a room and resolve these differences" that have emerged over the first two days of Senate debate on an economic stimulus bill with a price tag that now exceeds $900 billion. The Providence mayor said senators should "understand the urgency of acting now."

Cicilline said it may be worth considering proposals by a group of middle-of-the-road Republicans and Democrats to trim some spending that would not result in immediate job creation, if that is what it takes to win Senate passage of the overall bill.

"The most important part of this package is putting Americans back to work," Cicilline said.

At the same time, however, Cicilline said he supports Mr. Obama's efforts to blend in this bill the goals of short-term job creation and longer-term policy initiatives to save energy and combat global warming.

"This is about making an investment in jobs now," Cicilline said, "while leaving something behind that creates new infrastructure for the future."

As for job creation in the City of Providence, Cicilline said the most direct contribution that the Congress could make is in increasing the City's allocation of Community Development Block Grants that help to pay for a range of municpal projects from job training to the operation of senior citizens centers. Cicilline estimated that the City's Community Development account for this year is about $5 million and stands to increase by 25 percent under the version of the emergency spending bill that passed the House of Representatives last week.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- An advisory panel soon issues its final recommendations for changing Rhode Island's tax code in ways that are supposed to attract businesses and retain jobs.

Governor Carcieri created the group in May. The panel is expected to release its ideas during a meeting Wednesday morning at the State House.

Carcieri has pledged that he will not raise personal income, corporate or sales taxes as the state faces a tanking economy and massive budget deficits. Carcieri has said he would support lowering Rhode Island's corporate tax to make the state more competitive with neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Read Journal Business editor John Kostrzewa's column: Tax overhaul key to jolting U.S., R.I. economy.

Read a story on the issue by Journal Moneyline columnist Neil Downing: Carcieri panel to urge overhaul of Rhode Island taxes

The sky is clearing after a snow storm that started yesterday and continued into this morning, but some schools have been delayed because of slippery roads.

For example, schools in Cumberland, Coventry and Attleboro, Mass., have been delayed for an hour.

There's still a chance of snow showers, mainly before 8 a.m. After that, it should be partly cloudy with a high of 27 in the Providence area.

Tonight it will be mostly clear with a low of 7 degrees.

Check on school delays, closings.

Today's front page features a story on an organization that's hiring in Rhode Island: The state's unemployment office.

And it reports on a protest by workers who lost their jobs when an East Providence jewelry manufacturer closed.

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

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Evidence including steroids, OxyContin, mariujuana and other illegal drugs, plus about $10,000 in cash, were spread out on a table at a press conference this afternoon at State Police Headquarters in Scituate.

By Richard C. Dujardin and Maria Armental
Journal staff writers

SCITUATE, R.I. -- The state police today arrested 30 people they allege are active in an organized criminal enterprise.

Troopers, working with officers from Warwick, Cranston, West Warwick, Coventry and South Kingstown and with the Massachusetts State Police, conducted early morning raids at 25 addresses with arrest warrants for offenses including racketeering, narcotics, extortion, bookmaking and firearms..

Lt. Col. Stephen O'Donnell, second in command at the Rhode island State Police, said the arrests came as a result of an investigation that began last June. It is a continuation of last year's investigation, named "Mobbed-Up," that produced 25 arrests.

O'Donnell said the current investigation employed wiretaps on the phones of Donald St. Germain, 54, of West Warwick, and Adolf "George" Eunis, 67, of South Kingstown.

Through the intercepts, he said, the police concluded that St. Germain was involved in bookmaking and narcotics distribution and that Eunis, whom O'Donnell called a close associate of the Patriarca crime family, was involved in bookmaking activities.

According to O'Donnell, St. Germain and Eunis decided to teach a lesson to a man who owed them a lot of money and they approached a number of people -- including state police Detective Christopher Zarrella, working undercover -- to assault the borrower.

The assault, arranged by someone other than Zarrella, occurred Jan. 19 at a Shell station on Quaker Lane in Warwick. according to the police. The allege that it was carried out by Michael Sherman, 35, and Michael Lilli, 33, both of West Warwick, and that Jeremy Lavoie, 36, of West Warwick, was with them as a lookout.

Zarrella was singled out for his work in infiltrating the alleged criminal organization.

Two people are still being sought.

>> Continue reading: Update: 30 more nabbed in 'Mobbed-Up' investigation

Journal photo/ Kathy Borchers
Snow falls on ducks today in a small pond at Roger Williams Park, Providence.

PROVIDENCE -- A layer of snow is covering cars in parking lots and on side streets this late afternoon. Whether you're heading home or heading out this evening, plan to take it slow.

The National Weather Service is warning of heavy snow between 6 and 9 p.m., with snowfall rates of about an inch an hour.

And it's updated its winter weather advisory, saying the region should get 3 to 6 inches before the snow stops early Wednesday.

The fast-falling snow will be matched with 25 mph winds, reducing visibility to about a quarter mile.

The weather service advises that "travel will be hazardous on most untreated surfaces through early tonight as temperatures fall through the 20s and snow continues."

The state Emergency Management Agency is urging motorists to use "extreme caution."

The powdery snow is expected to "stick around for quite a while and will need removal to afford safe travel for Wednesday morning's commute," the advisory says.

Evening activities at several schools have already been cancelled, while communities are putting parking bans into place. Check this listing for the latest on such closings and bans.

By Mark Reynolds
Journal staff writer

JOHNSTON -- The union representing local teachers has forced the school district to back away from its effort to help bring dramatic improvements in science and math education across Rhode Island, officials said today.

The schools' assistant superintendent, Kathryn M. Crowley, said she has told state officials that union job actions will keep Johnston from participating in a $12.5-million project funded by the National Science Foundation.

The project will employ the state's universities in a five-year campaign to steeply upgrade math and science lessons taught in Rhode Island's middle and high schools. Teachers will receive instruction from university educators and take their new knowledge into the classroom along with advanced technological tools for teaching.

Johnston was the first of six school districts identified for the project because it was the first to commit an administrator. It was the only school named as a pilot when Governor Carcieri announced the statewide effort in a news conference at Johnston High School last fall.

But since then, the town's high school and middle school principals have been told that their science teachers will not carry out any preparations for the program and they will not participate in required coursework this summer, Crowley said. The principals were told that they cannot do the work because it is not required by their contract.

The district's contract with the Johnston Federation of Teachers, Local 1702, expired Aug. 31.

Johnston still has a chance to participate in the program down the road, but it will lose its leadership position. It won't immediately benefit from the grant, schools Supt. Margaret Iacovelli said.

"We could have gotten things that we normally could not afford, especially in this economy that we're in," Iacovelli said. "I'm really disappointed."

By Amanda Milkovits
Journal staff writer

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Rachin A. McCoy, the 21-year-old man accused of beating his 6-week-old daughter to death, was ordered held without bail on a murder charge this morning in Newport District Court.

More than a dozen of McCoy's family and friends from Festival Field Apartments, where he lived with the baby and her mother, stood at the back of the first-floor courtroom. Some wore shirts with the baby's face and her name, Naiomi.

The Newport police say McCoy told detectives that the baby had suffered a fractured skull and ribs when she fell off the couch while he was watching her, but the medical examiner's office determined this weekend that the baby died of "fatal child abuse syndrome," suffering from blunt trauma to her head, torso and extremities.

McCoy, dressed in a baggy black T-shirt and baggy jeans, said little in court except to answer the judge's questions.

He is also being held without bail as an alleged probation violator for a conviction of assault and possession of marijuana.

McCoy is scheduled for a bail hearing on Feb. 17. As he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs, his mother, Lori Moody, whispered to him, "I love you. Stay strong."

PROVIDENCE, RI -- A House committee will hear testimony today on two bills that would prohibit texting while driving, and another that would restrict the use of mobile telephones while driving.

The House Committee on Corporations will hear testimony at the Rise of the House in Room 203.

Two of the bills -- 2009-H 5021, by Rep. Joseph M. McNamara (D-Dist. 19, Warwick, Cranston), and 2009-H 5022, by Rep. Joanne M. Giannini (D-Dist. 7, Providence) -- would outlaw reading, writing or sending text messages while driving.

Another bill -- 2009-H 5242, by Rep. Peter F. Kilmartin (D-Dist. 61, Pawtucket) -- would prohibit drivers from using a mobile phone that is not equipped with a hands-free device. The bill would also make it a violation to drive while wearing earphones or a headset that covers both ears.

Richard C. Dujardin
Journal staff writer

A 27-year-old Swansea man was convicted on a charge of first-degree murder Monday in connection with the slaying of John Oliveira, who was found shot to death at a residence at 2021 GAR Highway in Swansea on July 5, 2006.

Derek Woollam, whose last known address is 330 Maple Ave., Swansea, was already being held without bail, was found guilty after jurors deliberated only two hours in Taunton Superior Court.

Woollam was arrested soon after the slaying and charged with multiple counts of illegally owning firearms after state troopers discovered a sawed-off shotgun, a rifle and four handguns inside a locker Woollam allegedly had rented in a storage facility in Fall River.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- State lawmakers vote today on a bill restricting the changes Governor Carcieri can make to a health care program for the poor, elderly and disabled.

Carcieri secured a deal with the Bush administration in December that capped Medicaid spending at $12 billion over five years.

House lawmakers plan to vote on legislation forcing Carcieri to seek their approval for changes to the Medicaid program.

Read a previous story.

A storm should drop two to five inches of snow on much of the region today into tonight but could drop seven to eight inches in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service has issued a winter weather advisory for 9 a.m. today until 3 a.m. tomorrow. The advisory includes all of Rhode Island, northern Connecticut and Massachusetts except for the northwest and far southeast.

Snowfall is supposed to start out light this morning, and light to moderate snow is expected to fall this afternoon into tonight. This evening's commute could be slippery.

A low pressure area is expected to track east of Nantucket today and the total snowfall amount depends on whether the track shifts east or west. A shift to the west would mean more snow, according to the weather service.

For more weather, see projo.com/weather.

Today's front pages a story about Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and the reaction of fellow swimmers to revelations that Phelp's has smoked marijuana.

Today's front page features a story about Maira Farfan Maldonado, an immigrant arrested last year, who has been granted asylum based on the fear that her husband would kill her if she returned to Guatemala.

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

The price of gasoline in Rhode Island has now increased five straight weeks and has hit the $1.90 mark, according to AAA Southern New England.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline at the self service pump has increased six cents in the past week to hit the $1.90 mark, according to AAA's weekly survey.

The price has risen 26 cents over the past five weeks, AAA said.

Rhode Island drivers are nevertheless paying $1.13 less than the $3.03 they were paying a year ago.

Rhode Islanders are paying two cents more than the national average of $1.88.

The Providence Journal/ Mary Murphy
A cross-country skier is out early this foggy morning on the Rhode Island Country Club golf course taking advantage of the mild temperature and snow that is still on the ground. The temperature should reach 47 degrees under partly sunny skies today in Barrington, according to the National Weather Service.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa, Pa. (AP) -- The world's most famous groundhog has seen his shadow which, legend has it, means this already long winter will last for six more weeks.

Punxsutawney Phil's forecast was announced in front of thousands of revelers gathered at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. They gathered Monday morning in near freezing temperatures, with many revelers buoyed by the Super Bowl victory by the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night.

German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.

Since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 15 times, and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) -- Police chiefs in Rhode Island are moving to meet a key provision of a state law intended to track racial profiling.

The state's police chiefs association is announcing Tuesday a standardized process and complaint form to investigate when drivers allege that they were stopped because of their race.

It is also encouraging individual police departments to adopt uniform policies and procedures for eliminating racial profiling.

The association is holding a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Cape Verdean American Community Development building in Pawtucket to announce its plan.

Rhode Island's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said last year that data shows blacks and Latinos are twice as likely to have their cars searched as whites in Rhode Island, even though police found more contraband in the whites' cars.

(Correction: An earlier version of this story said the announcement was scheduled for today.)

The National Weather Service is warning of black ice and patchy fog this morning, so be careful on your commute.

Today is Groundhog Day and it should be partly sunny with a high near 46 degrees in the Providence area.

There's a slight chance of snow tonight before 11 p.m. Light to moderate snow is expected tomorrow.

Watch AP video to see if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow.

Today's front page features a photograph of the Super Bowl winning Pittsburgh Steelers.

There's also a story reporting that school uniforms may be making a comeback, as educators try to boost student achievement and make classrooms safer.

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

By Neil Downing
Journal MoneyLine Columnist

A.H. Belo Corp. of Dallas plans to cut about 500 jobs - more than 14 percent of its overall workforce - from its media operations, which include the Providence Journal and Dallas Morning News.

The company also plans to stop contributing to its employees' 401(k) retirement-savings accounts.

The plans were announced today in a letter to employees by Robert W. Decherd, A.H. Belo's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

"While these are difficult steps to take, they are necessary and reflect economic conditions far more uncertain than anyone anticipated even three months ago," Decherd said.

A.H. Belo's planned job cuts will represent the third reduction in the company's workforce in five months; the company completed a voluntary buyout offer in September, then laid off additional staff in October.

A.H. Belo had 3,460 employees as of Sept. 30, a company spokeswoman said today. Thus, a further cut of 500 jobs would trim the company's workforce by more than 14 percent.

>> Continue reading: Update: Providence Journal owner plans job cuts

Expect more melting today as the high reaches about 36 degrees in the Providence area.

As of 7 a.m., it's only about 18 degrees, but the temperature should double, making for a relatively pleasant late-January day. It will start out mostly sunny, but clouds will increase, according to the National Weather Service. The wind will be calm from the southwest at 6 to 9 mph.

Tonight there's a chance of showers between 10 p.m. and midnight.

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

Today's front page features the story of Yugo, the pit bull mix whose 'great disposition' won him a reprieve after he was found burned and rescued from the side of the road in East Providence.

The front page also includes stories about proposed changes in state pensions, the Town of West Warwick's inability to repay victims of The Station fire and the reduction of a prison sentence for a convicted drunken driver involved in a crash that seriously injured a woman.

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

Joshua Lipton, right, and his lawyer, Kevin Bristow, appear before Judge Daniel Procaccini on a motion to reduce his sentence for the drunken driving accident in 2006 that seriously injured Jade Combies. Combies, below, who was hospitalized for three months with brain trauma and fractures to the femur, hip and collarbone, has undergone four surgeries and physical therapy, cried in court today with Mayra Diclo, a victim's advocate from the Attorney General's Office. Providence Journal photos / Mary Murphy

By Katie Mulvaney
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- A Superior Court judge this morning cut six months off the sentence of a former Bryant University student who was convicted of drunken driving in a 2006 crash that severely injured a Lincoln woman.

Joshua Lipton asked Judge Daniel A. Procaccini to reduce the sentence just days after the Parole Board denied his request for parole.

Lipton gained nationwide notoriety when a picture of him at a Halloween party wearing a "jail bird" prison jumpsuit appeared on the Facebook social networking Web site just weeks after he was charged in the drunken-driving crash.

In May, Procaccini sentenced the former student from Fairfield, Conn., to 10 years in prison, with 2 to serve.

In reducing Lipton's sentence today, Procaccini noted his good behavior in prison.

Procaccini said that before court, he entered Lipton's name in the Google search engine and found numerous references to his picture on Facebook.

Procaccini said, "This defendant will have a constant reminder of his serious errors in judgment for many years to come."

Lipton will now be eligible for release May 27.

The Rhode Island Attorney General's Office opposed the reduction.

The woman who was badly injured in the crash, Jade Combies, attended the court session and cried.

Afterward she said, "I thought he was going to go home today, but he didn't. Justice was served."

Combies has limited use of her right arm and a scar across her forehead from the crash.

Lipton had asked Procaccini to reduce his sentence last month, but the judge continued that hearing until after the Parole Board's hearing. On Monday, the board refused to grant parole to Lipton.

By Tracy Breton
Journal staff writer

The Town of West Warwick doesn't have the money to pay the $10 million settlement offer it has made to the victims of The Station nightclub fire and is looking to the state to pick up $6.5 million of the tab -- the amount not covered by its insurance.

In an interview earlier this week, Town Solicitor Timothy A. Williamson, a Democratic state representative from West Warwick, told The Providence Journal that "we're looking to see whether the state could possibly take $6.5 million off our backs." If legislators don't look favorably upon that idea, he said, "we're looking to see if the General Assembly would approve the town issuing a 30-year bond instead of a 20-year note.

That may be too expensive in the long run for the town though, Town Manager James Thomas said today. "Rome is burning right now and we need help," he said.

The State of Rhode Island -- which was also sued by the fire victims -- has agreed to kick in $10 million towards the $176 million federal court settlement agreement. Governor Carcieri wants to delay paying the money until July.

Read a special report on The Station fire.

Journal photo/ Mary Murphy
A San Miguel Transportation Co. van slid into a fire hydrant in front of Kelly's Mobil Station on Charles Street, Providence, this morning, shearing off the fire hydrant at its base. According to Providence Fire Department firefighters at the scene, no one was injured. Icy conditions have made travel difficult around the state this morning.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A trial is expected to start today in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of a college student who was crushed by a bus used for a pub crawl.

Francis Marx V, a senior at Fairfield University in Connecticut, was killed May 20, 2004, when he either fell or was pushed beneath a bus carrying University of Rhode Island students on a pub crawl in Newport.

Marx was out with friends after attending a formal dance at one of the city's mansions. Police say he became involved in a confrontation with a group of URI students.

His family is suing two people who allegedly scuffled with Marx. No criminal charges were filed.

The trial was supposed to begin yesterday, but it was postponed because of a sick juror.

Today's front page reports that Rhode Island house prices have fallen to 2003 levels.

It also reports on a Westerly man who stirred a controversy in his neighborhood when he decided to fly his American flag upside down to signal that he's distressed because he and his wife are unemployed.

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

After yesteday's wild weather, today should be much calmer.

It will be mostly sunny with a high near 38 degrees today, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service is warning of black ice, primarily on side roads, that resulted from yesterday's snow, rain, melting and then freezing again over night.

For more weather, see projo.com/weather.

Jim Ryczek, executive director for the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, left, lights a candle for Frank Champ in memory of one of the homeless people who died last year. Ryczek and Champ attended a service this morning at Beneficent Church in Providence in memory of homeless people who died in 2008. Watch the video of the memorial service. Providence Journal photo / Kathy Borchers

By Paul Davis
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The poor and the homeless gathered at Beneficent Congregational Church today to remember more than 30 Rhode Islanders who died last year, some in shelters, some on the street.

Friends, family, advocates and ministers read aloud the names of the dead. Afterwards, they lit candles for those on the list.

Some read in a halting voice, their heads bowed. Others cried.

"Steve Perry," said one participant.

"Jeff Wells," said another.

"Bobby J."

"Brenda."

Bob Pangborn died in his bed at the Crossroads shelter, said Mike, a friend. His last act was to get a blanket for someone else.

Paul Langlais, 56, formerly of Coventry, died beneath a bridge during a night of bitter cold. The former corrections officer "would give you the shirt off his back," said Michelle Schlefelbein, a friend. "I needed a pair of shoes one day, and he found me a pair. He was a really nice guy, but he didn't want to live in a shelter."

The memorial helps, said Schlefelbien, who stays at an overnight shelter at the Providence Rescue Mission. "I would want to know that if something happened to me -- God forbid -- people would gather and remember me."

"We are here to memorialize the far too many people who have died this past year from the affliction of homelessness and poverty," said the Rev. Beverley Edwards, pastor of Beneficent Church. "It's a sad day." But, she added, "God has always had a place for the poor."

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Opening statements have been postponed in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of a college student who was crushed by a bus used for a pub crawl.

Francis Marx V, a senior at Fairfield University in Connecticut, was killed May 20, 2004, when he either fell or was pushed beneath a bus carrying University of Rhode Island students on a pub crawl in Newport.

Marx was out with friends after attending a formal dance at one of the city's mansions. Police say he became involved in a confrontation with a group of URI students.

His family is suing two people who allegedly scuffled with Marx. No criminal charges were filed.

The trial was to have started Wednesday but was postponed because of a sick juror. It will now begin Thursday.

Journal Business staff

General Dynamics Corp., owner of Electric Boat at Quonset Point, this morning said fourth-quarter earnings jumped nearly 6 percent as higher profits in business jet and shipbuilding units outweighed an earnings drop in the company's division that makes armored vehicles and tanks for the military.

The defense contractor based in Falls Church, Virginia, said it earned $612 million, or $1.57 per share. It earned $579 million, or $1.42 per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 4.5 percent to $7.85 billion.

Without one-time charges connected to the sale of assets in Spain, it earned $630 million, or $1.62 per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a profit of $1.59 per share.
General Dynamics expects to earn $6.70 to $6.75 per share this year. Analysts expect $6.71 per share.

For breaking Business news, see the Bizblog.

Light snow has started to fall in the Providence area and a winter weather advisory is in effect until 2 p.m.

Snowfall could be heavy at times, and it's expected to accumulate between three and five inches, but the temperature is forecast to warm to 38 degrees and the precipitation is supposed to turn to rain after 4 p.m.

Many school districts have cancelled clases, and the National Weather Service warns of a slippery morning commute.

The Providence region is expected to get snow, freezing rain and sleet before 3 p.m., then rain or freezing rain between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Before that, the region is expected to get a mixture of snow, freezing rain and sleet

Coastal areas should see a change to rain by late this morning.

Check here for closings and parking bans.

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

Today's front page features reports that state officials are trying to ensure that Rhode Island's anticipated share of the federal economic stimulus package will help create and save jobs in the Ocean State.
The front page also includes a report that the police believe an organized ring could be responsible for the theft of snow plows and sanders in the region.

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

By Paul Grimaldi
Journal Business writer

Malls in Rhode Island reset their hours of operation recently as shopping returns to a pace typical of a non-holiday period.

One shopping center, Warwick Mall, cut its operating time by one hour a day in response to the economic downturn, according to one of its managing partners. The mall's concourse will close one hour earlier than previously each day.

"We know that last hour is a non-productive hour, especially during the week," said Aram Garabedian.

Starting Feb. 1, the mall will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Garabedian said the move is intended to save money on labor and utilities for the mall and its stores.

"it's a move that I can't say is drastic, but it makes sense," he said.

The move follows one by Simon Property Group, which operates malls in Massachusetts and throughout the country.

For breaking Business news, read the Bizblog.

>> Continue reading: Malls reset hours in aftermath of the holidays

PROVIDENCE -- A Superior Court magistrate has sent the brother of a Providence College basketball player who walked onto the court to challenge a referee during a game earlier this month, behind bars.

Jonathan Xavier, 24, of 30 Leonard Jenard Drive in Pawtucket, has been taken to the Adult Correctional Institutions, where he is being held without bail on the allegation of being a probation violator. Superior Court Magistrate William J. McAtee made the ruling at the request of the Attorney General's Office and over the objection of Xavier's public defender. McAttee said Xavier could be determined to be a probation violator on a previous drug conviction, pending a future hearing.

At the request of the Attorney General's Office, the Providence Solicitor's Office dismissed a charge of disorderly conduct against Jonathan Xavier this morning in Municipal Court. Then, he was immediately taken into custody by representatives of the Attorney General's Office.

He was then brought to District Court, Providence, where he pleaded innocent to a disorderly conduct charge brought by the Attorney General's Office.

During the arraignment, Xavier turned to prosecutor Bethany Macktaz and said, "Is it really that serious, man? Is it really that serious, man?"

Judge Michael A. Higgins imposed a $10,000 surety bail and scheduled a pre-trial conference date of Feb. 13.

Xavier's brother, Jeff, is a star player for Providence College.

On Jan. 17, Jonathan Xavier walked onto the court during the nationally televised PC-Marquette University game and confronted a referee after his brother was struck in the face by the elbow of an opposing player and fell to the court in pain.

No foul was called.

Jeff Xavier had been helped back to the bench by the time his brother emerged from the stands. A video shows Jonathan Xavier speaking to a referee; Xavier did not touch him.

Dunkin' Donuts Center security men moved in and escorted Jonathan Xavier from the court. He was charged by the Providence police with disorderly conduct and released until his scheduled arraignment this morning in Municipal Court.

After his District Court arraignment, Xavier appeared before McAtee in Superior Court, where Macktaz presented him as a violator of probation on a Superior Court drug conviction that resulted from a Pawtucket police arrest in September of 2004.

McAtee ordered him held without bail and also scheduled a determination of attorney date for Feb. 3 and a violation hearing for Feb. 10.

According to Healey, the Attorney General's Office would have been barred from having Xavier declared a violator of probation if he had been prosecuted in Municipal Court.

"The baseline condition of anyone's probation is to keep the peace and be of good behavior," Healey said. "In plainspeak, stay out of trouble. So what's driving this is the attorney general's belief that Jonathan Xavier's conduct was not only offensive but dangerous and, therefore, cannot be tolerated."

Video: Jonathan Xavier in Providence Municipal Court this morning.

-- Reported by Journal staff writer Gregory Smith/ Photograph by Journal staff photographer Mary Murphy

By Tracy Breton
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams today called the appeal of Derick Hazard "a very troubling case." But whether the convicted murderer will get a new trial based on his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel is another story.

In oral arguments this morning, all five justices of the state's highest court peppered Hazard's new lawyer with questions concerning evidence his former lawyer failed to present at his trial -- and whether it would have made any difference in the outcome of the case. They also pointed out repeatedly that a lower court judge who had heard Hazard's claims of being denied adequate representation had determined that Hazard and family members who testified for him in a 2006 Superior Court hearing were unworthy of belief.

This is the second time that the Rhode Island Supreme Court has considered an appeal by Hazard, who is serving a life sentence for a 1996 Providence murder that he insists he had no part in. Hazard contends that witness and documentary evidence support his claim that he was in Columbus, Ohio, when the slaying occurred and that he should be given a new trial because his former lawyer, Vincent J. Oddo, provided ineffective representation at his 1998 trial.

Troy Lassiter, a co-defendant who admitted firing the bullet that killed David S. Andrews on a South Providence street the night of July 18, 1996, served 7 ½ years in the ACI as part of a plea deal -- after his conviction was overturned based on errors by his trial judge. He is now a free man.

Hazard's new lawyer, former state prosecutor J. Richard Ratcliffe, who is representing Hazard for free, argued today that a jury probably would have acquitted Hazard for Andrews' murder if Oddo had investigated Hazard's claim that he was in a car, heading west, that was stopped by a New Jersey state trooper hours before Andrews was assassinated while walking on West Clifford Street.

Ratcliffe maintains that Oddo's performance fell below the minimum standard required by the Rhode Island Constitution, but Superior Court Judge Edwin J. Gale disagreed. In a 2006 decision, Gale wrote, "Even if the evidence of the car stop had been uncovered by an investigation by Oddo, this court finds that the car stop would not have reasonably changed the result of the trial."

In arguments this morning, this was something that some of the justices jumped on in questioning Ratcliffe.

>> Continue reading: Judge Williams is 'very troubled' by Hazard case

PROVIDENCE -- The Providence police this morning dismissed a charge of disorderly conduct against Jonathan Xavier, 24, the man who walked onto the court at a Providence College basketball game 11 days ago to speak with a referee.

His brother, Jeff, is a star player for Providence College.

Xavier (left) was placed in manacles following this morning's session in Municipal Court and taken into custody by two representatives of the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office.

Xavier has criminal convictions on his record stemming from at least two separate drug cases and has been free on a suspended sentence with probation.

Michael J. Healey, a spokesman for Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch, had previously said Lynch's office would consider asking a Superior court judge to declare Xavier a violator of his probation as a result of the incident.

Xavier, who lives in the Gallego Court housing complex in Pawtucket, walked onto the court during the nationally televised PC-Marquette University game on January 17 and confronted a referee after his brother was struck in the face by the elbow of an opposing player and fell to the court in pain.

No foul was called.

Jeff Xavier had been helped back to the bench by the time his brother emerged from the stands. A video shows Jonathan Xavier speaking to a referee. Xavier did not touch him.

Dunkin Donuts Center security men moved in and escorted Jonathan Xavier from the court. He was charged by the Providence police with disorderly conduct and released until his scheduled arraignment this morning.

Video: Jonathan Xavier in court

-- Reported by Journal staff writer Gregory Smith/ Photograph by Journal staff photographer Mary Murphy

Today's front page reports that Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch will not seek criminal charges in the death of Hiu Lui "Jason" Ng, a Chinese national who spent his final months at at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls.

The front page also features the third and final part in a series on the rise in premature births.
Download a copy of today's front page in .pdf format.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama took aim Monday at the lofty but long elusive goal of making the nation more energy independent, ordering reviews that could lead to tougher auto emission standards in states and higher pressure on automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Attacking a Bush administration policy, Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to re-examine whether California and other states, including Rhode Island, should be allowed to have tougher auto emission standards to combat a build up of greenhouse gases.

Obama also directed his administration to get moving on new fuel-efficiency guidelines for the auto industry in time to cover 2011 model-year cars.

"For the sake of our security, our economy and our planet, we must have the courage and commitment to change," Obama said in his first formal event in the ornate East Room of the White House.

"It will be the policy of my administration," he said, "to reverse our dependence on foreign oil while building a new energy economy that will create millions of jobs."

California and at least a dozen other states, including Rhode Island, have tried to come up with tougher emission standards than those imposed by the federal government, but Obama said that "Washington stood in their way." The president wants the EPA to take a second look at a decision denying California - and the other states that want to follow its model - permission to set tougher tailpipe emission standards.

More broadly, Obama sought to show he was not waiting to put his stamp on energy policy, which has both near-term implications on the sagging economy and long-range effects on pollution, climate change and national security.

"Year after year, decade after decade, we've chosen delay over decisive action," Obama said. "Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense. Rhetoric has not led to the hard work needed to achieve results - and our leaders raise their voices each time there's a spike on gas prices, only to grow quiet when the price falls at the pump."

The Clean Air Act gives California special authority to regulate vehicle pollution because the state began regulating such pollution before the federal government got into the act. But a federal waiver is still required; if the waiver is granted, other states can choose to adopt California's standards or the federal ones.

In 2007 the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency denied California's waiver request, gaining praise from the auto industry but touching off a storm of investigations and lawsuits from Democrats and environmental groups who contended the denial was based on political instead of scientific reasons.

Obama on Monday directed the EPA to re-examine the decision. That does not yet overturn anything. But still, the states' wanting their own power considered it a victory.

"The federal government must work with, not against, states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Obama said. He added: "The days of Washington dragging its heels are over. My administration will not deny facts; we will be guided by them."

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch issued a statement this afternoon lauding Obama's action.

"The swift and decisive action taken today by President Obama is a breath of fresh air -- literally -- for all who have been harmed by the Bush administration's disdain for and indifference to regulating greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to pollution, threaten public health, and increase the impacts of global warming," Lynch said.

California's proposed restrictions would force automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016.

At least 13 other states - Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - have already adopted California's standards, and they have been under consideration elsewhere, too.

Under California's approach, car makers would need to boost fuel efficiency in new vehicles to about 36.8 miles per gallon in the states that chose to adopt the California standards.

Automakers, which sued to block the state regulations, argued that it could require dealerships in some states to limit sales of large trucks in order to meet the standards. They have pushed for a single national standard.

Requiring automakers to build cars that get more miles to the gallon will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the tailpipes of vehicles.

-- With staff reports

>> Continue reading: Obama's order may lead to tougher emission rules in RI

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The sentencing of a former hospital president convicted of hiring a Rhode Island state senator to do his bidding at the State House has been postponed.

Robert Urciuoli, former president of Roger Williams Medical Center, is now scheduled to be sentenced on March 31 instead of March 6.

His lawyers requested the delay so they could attend a conference in San Francisco for attorneys specializing in white collar criminal defense.

Urciuoli was convicted in October of conspiracy and 35 counts of mail fraud for buying the influence of former state Sen. John Celona.

It was his second trial after his convictions from the first in 2006 were reversed by a federal appeals court.

Read a special report on Operation Dollar Bill, a federal corruption investigation.

Journal Business staff

Lillian Singerman Ross, of Cranston, a co-founder of Ross-Simon Jewelers, died on Saturday. She was 88.

Born in Peabody, Mass., she was a daughter of the late Louis and Sarah Singerman and had been a resident of Rhode Island for 65 years. She was the wife of the late Sidney T. Ross.

Mrs. Ross worked with her late husband in their family business, Ross-Simon Jewelers, which she helped him found in 1952. They worked side by side for almost 50 years.

Funeral services will be held at Sugarman-Sinai Memorial Chapel, 458 Hope St., Providence on Tuesday at 12:00 Noon. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the Sidney and Lillian Ross Scholarship Fund, C/O the Bureau of Jewish Education, 130 Sessions St., Providence, RI 02906. Shiva will be observed at her late residence Tue. 7-9 and Wed. and Thur. 2-4 and 7-9 PM.

Read Mrs. Ross's obituary.

For breaking Business news, see the Bizblog

Gasoline prices increased one cent in the past week, marking the third straight week that prices have gone up, according to AAA Southern New England.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $1.849 per gallon at self-service pumps in Rhode Island, according to AAA's weekly survey.

The price has increased 20 cents over the past three weeks, according to AAA.

Still, Rhode Island drivers are paying $1.20 less per gallon than they were at this time last year.

AAA advises drivers to shop around for the best price. AAA found a 21-cent price range in its survey with the lowest at $1.749 and the highest at $1.959.

Search for gas prices on AAA's Web site.

PROVIDENCE -- Overpass demolition work is expected to close sections of Route 95 in Providence late at night this week.

The state Department of Transportation plans to close Route 95 South from Exits 22 to 19 tonight and tomorrow night so they can demolish two overpasses. Officials say the closures will start at 11 p.m. and last until 5 a.m., ending before the morning commute.

Drivers are being advised to bypass the traffic via Route 295 or Routes 6 and 10.

On Wednesday and Thursday nights from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m., officials will close the northbound side of Route 95 between Exits 19 and 22.

Some lanes on both sides of Route 95 will be closed starting at 8 p.m. this week in advance of the full closings. The lane closings will affect traffic between Exits 18 and 22. Closings will also affect traffic at Route 195 West at the northbound merger to Route 95.

The work is part of the IWay project relocating the interchange between Interstates 95 and 195.

Check the DOT's Web site for more information.

-- With Associated Press and staff reports

It's only 12 degrees in Providence shortly before 7 a.m., and the temperature will reach just 28 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

It will be mostly sunny with a northwest wind of 3 to 6 mph.

The low should drop to about 9 degrees tonight.

Snow could move into the area Tuesday night and Wednesday.

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

Today's front page reports the death of a soldier from Swansea who died in an accident in Iraq.

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

By John Hill
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- A Warren man pleaded not guilty this morning to charges that he murdered his parents, dumped their bodies in a backyard cesspool and then used their credit cards to go on a 12-day shopping spree with his girlfriend last July.

James W. Soares, Jr., 24, (right) of 14 Baltimore St., pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of failure to report a death in connection with the murder of his parents, James, 60, and Marian Soares, 53, on or around July 7, 2008. He was also charged with 64 counts related to the illegal use of his dead parents' credit cards from the time of their murders to his arrest July 25. He has been held at the Adult Correctional Institutions since then.

Also charged with 64 identical financial crime counts was his girlfriend, Nicole Pacheco, 20, (left) of 41 Thompson Ave., Bristol. She was not charged in connection with the killings, and "at this time there is no evidence she had any role in the murders," said Michael Healey, spokesman for Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch.

Superior Court Associate Justice William E. Carnes ordered Soares held without bail. He set a $100,000 surety bond for Pacheco, pending a Feb. 6 pre-trial hearing. Pacheco's bond amount on the financial charges is academic, however, said Healey, because she is also being charged as a parole violator on two previous misdemeanor convictions, and parole violators are held without bail.

Lynch was in the courtroom for Soares' arraignment, sitting behind three rows of members of the dead couple's extended families. Lynch said they did not wish to comment on the proceedings.

In a press conference outside the Superior Court courthouse after Saores and Pacheco were taken from the courtroom, Lynch said the state's theory of the crime is that Soares killed his parents, dumped their bodies in the family's backyard cesspool and then went on a multiple state "spending spree" using his parents' credit cards.

The financial charges for both Soares and Pacheco include 20 counts of credit-card fraud, 29 counts of obtaining money under false pretenses, nine counts of computer fraud, four counts of conspiracy and two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime outside of the state of Rhode Island.

Lynch said the couple used the cards to buy goods, such as televisions, at stores and on the Internet and then they either used the items themselves or tried to sell them to others for cash. Lynch said the purchases were worth "thousands" of dollars.

Though Lynch said Pacheco was not charged with participating in the murders, he said the state believes she knew the cards were being used illegally.

Lynch praised the work of the Warren Police Department and the state police in developing the case. He wouldn't say much about a possible motive.

"Motive doesn't matter in murder," Lynch said. "Two people are dead and we have an indictment for murder ... It may be that it was just greed."

Soares and Pacheco were charged in a sealed indictment that was opened this morning in court. Healey said the indictment was sealed because the state didn't want Pacheco to know she was going to be charged ahead of time. Pacheco turned herself in at the State Police barracks in Lincoln this morning.

About 18 family members were in the courtroom for Soares' and Pacheco's pleas, some with their eyes tearing but all silent, during the proceedings.

Lynch aid the family was "torn apart" because of having lost two loved ones and seeing a third charged with their deaths.

"This is a tough day," he said.

-- Journal staff photos by Gretchen Ertl

By Richard Salit
Journal staff writer

WARWICK-- Allegations that students at Gorton Junior High School were improperly given certain advantages while taking statewide standards tests are being investigated by the state Department of Education, according to officials.

Education Department spokesman Elliott Krieger today confirmed that a lawyer within the agency is investigating alleged "improprieties" in the administration of the New England Common Assessment Program at Gorton in October. Due to the probe, the school's test results were not released yesterday with the rest of the schools in the state, he said.

"I'm not characterizing what this particular allegation concerned," said Krieger. But he did note that "this is the first time we've withheld test scores" and said "if it was some kind of mistake in the handling of documents it wouldn't take three months to look into all of the facets of it. It's of a higher order, a more serious allegation."

School Committee member Paul Cannistra said that the investigation originated with complaints by faculty members.

"Some of the allegations were that some of the kids were given too much time to take the test or were redirected to potentially complete sections more than they might have completed," he said, emphasizing "that's all strictly allegations."

Krieger said although the Gorton test scores were not released to the media for publication, they are now available on the Education Department's Web site.

"The distinction is that we aren't certifying them or accepting them at this point," Krieger said.

In addition, the scores can't be used to classify the school's performance, a requirement of the No Child Left Behind initiative which could result in sanctions against poorly performing schools.

Krieger said that scores for individual students should be mailed to parents as usual.

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the tests will not be given again to Gorton students, he said.

"We'll keep the public informed of the results...It will be transparent," Krieger said.

PROVIDENCE --- The Providence police are investigating an incident in which a 20-year-old Providence man says he was the victim of a drive-by shooting.

According to Maj. Thomas F. Oates III, police were called to 167 Oxford St. shortly before 9 p.m. There they interviewed Gregory Patton, of Mawney Street, who told them he'd been shot in the left leg while walking on Oxford Street.

Patton was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where he told detectives he'd been shot on Broad Street, Oates said.

The police recovered a .22-caliber handgun from the floor at 167 Oxford St., according to Oates.

It's only 22 degrees at 7 a.m. in the Providence area, but it should warm to a relatively balmy 40 degrees under partly sunny skies today, according to the National Weather Service.
The colder temperatures return this weekend with the high reaching 31 degrees tomorrow and just 24 degrees despite sunny skies Sunday, according to the weather service.

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

Today's front page features the news that two actors with Rhode Island ties have been nominated for Oscars.

But there's also bad news. The unemployment rate in Rhode Island has climbed to 10 percent, a level not seen here in 34 years.

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

PAWTUCKET -- Firefighters quickly extinguished a fire at a commercial building this afternoon, averting the potential for a "major incident," according to the Pawtucket Fire Chief.

A section of the two-story brick building -- which houses among other businesses the Supreme Court Judicial Records Center -- caught fire after insulation was ignited by a torch workers were using to melt ice on the roof, according to Pawtucket Fire Chief Timothy McLaughlin.

The fire started on the roof of the shipping and receiving garage for Liberty International Inc., which lists its headquarters at 470 Main St. and warehouse at 3 Hill St. Hill Street runs perpendicular to Main Street.

The fire then spread to a second-floor wall in the records center, located at 5 Hill St.

Portions of the wall had to be knocked down, what firefighters call overhaul operations, to ensure the fire was completely extinguished. No state documents were damaged, said Craig N. Berke, a court spokesman.

State workers were sent home for the day, Berke said. It hasn't been determined whether the center will reopen to the public tomorrow.

The police closed Hill Street and a section of Church Street, from Pine to Hill streets, while firefighters fought the blaze and cleaned up. Church runs parallel to Main and is perpendicular to Hill Street.

Firefighters put out the blaze within about 20 minutes, according to McLaughlin.

McLaughlin said quick action by firefighters "averted what certainly could have been a major incident with the type of the building and the age of it."

Nobody was injured. Firefighters initially thought one worker was missing but the worker was found safe.

-- Reported by Journal staff writer Maria Armental

The New England Patriots unveiled an anniversary logo today as they prepare to celebrate their 50th season in 2009. The logo will be used throughout the year to brand the team's anniversary activities, according to a press release from the team.

Do you like the Patriots' 50th anniversary logo?

Work on Routes 95 and 195 in Providence will affect traffic today.

Workers will be on the highway restriping lanes.

On Route 95 south, some lanes will be closed between exit 22 and 18 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

On Route 195 east, some lanes will be closed between exit 2 and the Washington Bridge between 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Check the DOT's Web site for updated traffic information.

Today in Rhode Island history:

A year ago today: U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announces that he will retry Roger Williams Hospital executives Robert A. Urciuoli and Frances P. Driscoll, whose convictions on charges that they paid a state senator to promote the hospital's agenda at the General Assembly were overturned by an appeals court.

5 years ago today: Karen Robidoux goes on trial in Taunton for murder. A member of a religious sect in Attleboro, she has been charged with starving her infant son to death.

25 years ago today: Researchers at Brown and Harvard Universities release a study that declares most Providence high schools and middle schools -- public, private and Catholic -- do a poor job of teaching. The report cites inept teachers, low teacher salaries, out-of-date teaching materials and a lack of support for teachers.

On the national front:

Thirty-six years ago, on Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down its Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion.

It's only 18 degrees at 7 a.m., but the temperature should sneak above the freezing point today, reaching a high of 33 degrees under partly sunny skies, according to the National Weather Service.

The wind will blow from the west at 7 to 16 mph. with gusts up to 28 mph.

It will drop back down to 22 degrees tonight, and warm up to 40 degrees tomorrow with a slight chance of rain and snow showers tomorrow night.

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

Today's front page features coverage of President Obama's first day on the job and a story reporting that an A.T. Cross Company pen that Mr. Obama used to sign inaugural documents was actually manufactured in China, but engraved with Mr. Obama's initials and the presidential seal in Lincoln.

There's also a story reporting that Rhode Island lawmakers are leery of a program that would loan $25 million to small businesses.

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

By ANDREW MIGA
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was released from the hospital on Wednesday morning after suffering a seizure during an inaugural luncheon.

Kennedy's office confirmed that the senator left Washington Hospital Center, where he had been resting overnight for observation.

A Kennedy representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not official, said the Massachusetts senator was in good spirits and that doctors wanted him to get some rest.

Doctors on Tuesday had blamed fatigue for the seizure. Kennedy, who has been under treatment for a brain tumor since last spring, suffered the seizure during an inaugural luncheon after attending the swearing-in of President Barack Obama.

He talked with family and friends and felt well while he was at the hospital, according to a statement released by his office on Tuesday.

The 76-year-old Democrat was diagnosed last May with a particularly aggressive type of brain tumor and has been treated with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

Kennedy's seizure at the inaugural lunch was witnessed by fellow senators. Longtime friend Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., quoted Kennedy as saying, "I'll be OK, I'll see you later" as he was put into an ambulance on Tuesday.

Kennedy had appeared in good health and spirits a few hours earlier when he stepped out of the Capitol and onto the inauguration platform where Obama took the oath of office. At the luncheon, Obama told lawmakers his prayers were with the senator and his family.

Kennedy has pledged to forge a breakthrough on health care reform working with Obama and Democrats who control Congress. Kennedy has been a leading champion of health care reform for decades.

A doctor not connected with the senator's care, Dr. Matthew Ewend, neurosurgery chief at the University of North Carolina, said it's not unusual for patients recovering from brain tumors to suffer seizures.

The state Department of Transportation has postponed plans to close a section of Route 95 south in Providence at night this week for road work.

The DOT had initially planned to close a section of the highway between exits 22 and 19 tonight and tomorrow night, but the agency says it won't close the section until Sunday, Jan. 25.

It's also likely that the section will be closed the week of Feb. 1.

The DOT must close the section of highway to remove steel beams for the Pine Street and Friendship Street overpass, but cold and snow earlier this week delayed demolition of the Pine Street bridge's deck, which must be completed before the steel beams can be removed, the DOT says.

The DOT will continue bridge deck demolition this week, and drivers can expect lane restrictions on both sides of Route 95 and on the Route 195 and Route 95 north connections at night.

Also, the DOT will close lanes on sections of Route 95 and Route 195 in Providence during the day tomorrow to restripe lanes.

On Route 95 south, some lanes will be closed between exit 22 and 18 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

On Route 195 east, some lanes will be closed between exit 2 and the Washington Bridge between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Check the DOT's Web site for updated traffic information.

The Providence Journal/Bob Breidenbach
Toby Duffany stands before District Court Judge Jeanne E. LaFazia to answer a charge that he abandoned more than 200 rats on the side of the road in Foster.

WARWICK -- A 22-year-old Providence man accused of abandoning more than 200 rats on the side of a road in Foster will have to provide 50 hours of community service after he pleaded no contest today in District Court.

Judge Jeanne E. LaFazia said she wants Toby Duffany to provide his community service where he can help educate people about alternatives to abandoning animals.

Duffany, of 5 Woodfall St., was arrested Jan. 2 and charged with one count of abandonment of animals after 208 rats, 72 of them dead, were found crammed into eight containers on the side of Hemlock Road, Foster, according to the police.

E.J. Finocchio, a veterinarian for 45 years and president of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, called the dumping "the grossest, most sickest thing I've ever seen in my life."

But a public defender told Judge LaFazia that Duffany had been under pressure. He was told he must get rid of the rats before bringing home his newborn daughter. The public defender said Duffany had tried without luck to find a home for them with several pet stores.

The public defender said Duffany lives with his mother and fiancee and that the rats belonged to his mother.

Duffany must also pay $1,000 restitution to the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The charge against Duffany was placed on file, meaning it will be dropped after a year if he stays out of trouble.

-- Reported by Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney. Archival reports were also used

Today in Rhode Island history:

A year ago today: A film crew begins work on Hachiko: A Dog's Story. The movie, staring Richard Gere and Joan Allen, is to be shot in Bristol, Woonsocket and other parts of the state.

5 years ago today: Workers of the Dimeo Construction Co. rescue a cat that had become trapped behind a wall during a renovation of the Burgess Building on Westminster Street in Providence. They must cut seven "good-sized" holes in a wall on the fourth floor to find the feline. It is thought that the cat climbed unnoticed into the open wall, which was then sealed by a work crew installing window trim.

25 years ago today: Comatose heiress Martha "Sunny" vonBulow is incompetent to manage her $75-million estate because of "irreversible brain damage," a judge rules. The 52-year-old woman has been in a coma since December, 1980, when she was injected with an overdose of insulin.

On the national front:

On this day in 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

Read more about today in history from the Associated Press.

The Providence Journal is publishing a commemorative edition of the newspaper today focusing on the historic inauguration of President Obama. It is wrapped in the cover you see above, and includes several features on how Rhode Islanders marked the day -- at home, in Washington, in stories and in photos. You may download, and share, a copy of the cover in larger PDF form by clicking here.

Check out front pages from around the country and the world.

Good news. There's no snow in the forecast today.

It will be sunny with a high near 26 degrees and a northwest wind around 10 mph., according to the National Weather Service.

Tonight will be mostly clear with a low around 15 degrees. The wind will blow from the west at 6 to 8 mph.

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

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal staff writer

Cliff Montiero, president of the Rhode Island branch of the NAACP, drove through the snow on Sunday, for what turned out to be a 12-hour trip.

This morning, he got separated from his wife and daughter in the crowd. They all had tickets to get in, but Montiero was trying to get to a seated section, and stood in another line. Ultimately, his wife and daughter returned to their hotel after they got turned away at the gate. Montiero sat in the podium "right up front."

Dressed in Obama sweatshirts, Montiero and his family arrived at the security gates at 6:15 and had to wait in line. "They didn't open the security gates until 8 o'clock. Then you had to stand in line for an hour and forty-five minutes. I was in one section, and my wife and daughter were in another," said Montiero. "I finally got in there, but before I got to my seat, I had to show my ticket to at least seven people. On the ticket, there was a presidential seal ... I kept calling my wife and daughter, but they were stuck in some tunnel.

At 11:30, they couldn't get in, and they closed all the gates. They'd stayed in the same spot from 6:30 until 11:30. So they took a cab back and went to the hotel. They tried to get into Union Station and watch there, but they couldn't get in because a private party had reserved it."

"I was very excited, but every time now I'm calling my wife (and saying) 'Where are you? Are you okay?" If I had envisoned what would have happened, I would have given up my sit-down seat, and stood up with my wife and daughter." At 1:30 p.m., Montiero said he was leaving the crowd and heading back to the hotel, to be with his family.

He also said he'd called his mother, who is 90 and lives in Johnston. "She was just happy to see this before she died."

By Gina Macris
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Islanders may enjoy Girl Scout cookies sold by local troops without worrying about the salmonella outbreak under investigation by federal officials, according to the Girl Scouts of Rhode Island, Inc.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers to avoid all products containing peanut butter or peanuts ground into paste until the completion of an investigation into a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 474 people in 43 states.

It's believed that four Rhode Islanders have been sickened in the outbreak, according to the state Department of Health.

But Nicole Kelly, assistant executive director of the Girl Scouts of Rhode Island, says that advisory is aimed at consumers who may not know the source of the peanut butter in the products they consume.

The peanut supplier for Girl Scout cookies sold in Rhode Island, Hampton Farms Peanut Co. of Severn, N.C., has received a clean bill of health from the FDA during the last week, according to Kelly.

A letter from Hampton Farms, posted on the Internet, said the company tests and documents every batch it produces to "ensure that the product we make is safe for consumption."

The FDA tested production samples and inspected company records on Jan. 12, the company said. Company officials received notice on Friday that "all records, procedures and product samples were found to be in order," they said.

Hampton Farms provides the peanuts used by ABC Bakers/Interbake Foods, the baker which makes Peanut Butter Patties and the Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies sold by Girl Scouts in Rhode Island.

The salmonella investigation by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention center around a single plant in Georgia owned by the Peanut Corporation of American, which has no connection to Hampton Farms.

By Amanda Milkovits
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- "Happy Obama Day!" Officer Kenneth Simoneau greeted a visitor as she walked through the metal detector at the Providence Public Safety Complex at about 8:30 this morning.

A copy of the New York Post was on the desk where he checks bags. The front page was large type of the oath of office that Obama would take in just a few hours.

On the third floor, the Providence police were holding their weekly staff meeting discussing the crime that occurred last week in the city. Six cell phone robberies, with several ending in arrests. Three guns grabbed from suspects in the last week, bringing the tally to five guns seized off the street since Jan. 1. Drug dealers caught with pounds of marijuana. An absentee landlord, whose tenants cause trouble. The sons of career criminals, getting arrested for the same reasons as their fathers have been. Shots fired into a house, leaving a woman inside grazed by broken glass.

The high-ranking officers, the detectives, and the officials from the schools and agencies each talked about how they were handling crime in the city.

Outside the conference room, the buzz was about Obama. Inside, it was about crime. The only mention about the inauguration was that the street workers who intervene in trouble and mediate problems were in D.C. for the event.

Before the meeting ended, the police chief paused. "I want to thank you as the new year begins," Chief Dean M. Esserman told the group. "You worked hard last year. You saved the city from a lot of stuff. Please know that people are grateful."

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

One friend of the president-elect wants him to "take a breath."

"I want him to enjoy this because he's getting ready to work his buns off," said Pauletta Washington, a professional singer who is sitting in the VIP section with her husband, actor Denzel Washington.

"He is the first president that looks like me," said Washington, bundled against the cold in a fur coat and a red scarf bearing a rhinestone Obama 2008 pin. "He's also the first president that I feel so connected to as a human being. Barack just seems to connect to everybody as a normal person, to help us all feel better as part of the human race."

"Just look at this," Washington said, sweeping her arm out to indicate the sea of faces stretching under the sunny skies down the length of the National Mall.

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the VIP section, gazing down from below Obama's rostrum to the throngs stretching to the Lincoln Memorial, singer Smokey Robinson, wearing a black stocking cap, a full-length fur coat and a gold stud in his left ear, said, "This is a wonderful day for all of us, a wonderful day for the world. It's going to reinstate our image around the world and reinvigorate our Constitution."

Berry Gordy, Jr., Motown Records founder, said until this morning, the greatest day in his life was in 1938 when he was eight years old and Joe Louis defeated Max Schmeling for the heavyweight boxing championship of the world.

"He was black like me," said Gordy. "And that was Nazi Germany against the land of the free and the land of the free won."

"But today engulfs all of that," said Gordy.

"Just to be here as a fly on the wall, so to speak, and to see this greatest day not only in my lifetime, but in our history is magnificent. This is the greatest day in American history."

Gordy said his only regret "is that all of the wonderful pioneers that came before us -- Dr. King and all the freedom fighters who had to die for our rights -- cannot be here today. But for the rest of us, this day is magic."

Since hours before dawn today, the capital city has been like Exodus in reverse with tens of thousands of visitors streaming in surprisingly cheerful lines through virtually every street downtown.

Visitors who had to cross the Potomac from northern Virginia reported packed subway cars and platforms from the earliest hours of the morning. Yvette Logan, of North Kingstown, said her train got her to a metro station about two blocks from the Smithsonian Institute Museums, about a third of the way between the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial.

It took her party another 40 minutes to clear the security lines and secure a spot in front of one of the Jumbotron TV screens at the end of the Mall.

"I picked a little spot for myself because I am short," said Logan. "But I am here. I can see the Capitol and I have my Jumbotron. It is wall-to-wall people."

Many tens of thousands of citizens remained lined up outside the access points to the Mall and the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route in the late morning hours. They faced disappointment, but the overall mood was unremittingly buoyant.

People groped for comparisons to the outpouring of humanity. "This is 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' " one visitor exclaimed to his neighbor as they inched through a half-mile long tunnel beneath the Mall that -- instead of the usual four lanes of automobile traffic -- was packed with pilgrims.

At 9:50, the live program began at the foot of the Capitol steps with a rendition of "America" by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and San Francisco Boys Chorus

"This is America's coming of age," said boxing promoter Don King, who presented his customarily flamboyant images -- his arms outstretched, wild hair brushed high and back, red white and blue necktie and a denim jacket emblazoned with a map of the United States and rhinestone highlited images of Mount Rushmore.

By Paul Grimaldi
Journal Business writer

People walking in to Blue State Coffee on Thayer Street in Providence today spoke with quiet optimism about the dawn of a new era in U.S. politics.

"I'm hopeful it will change the country," said Kathryn Boonstra, an international relations student at Brown University.

Boonstra referred to the election of Barack Obama and his inauguration later today as the nation's 44th president. She was among the few early morning customers at an East Side coffee shop that wears its politics on its cup sleeves. Made from recycled paper, the cardboard cylinders are printed with the slogan: "Drink liberally".

Like other Blue State customers who spoke to a Journal reporter, Boonstra will make time to watch or listen to some of today's events in Washington, D.C.

"I've got my whole day blocked off," said Boonstra, who plans to watch TV at home when Obama addresses the nation.

By Tim Barmann/Projo.com producer
Projo.com producer Tim Barmann found this line at about 6:30 a.m. as he and his family try getting to the inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. They're waiting in a tunnel that has been closed to traffic. "Getting up at 4 a.m. wasn't early enough," Barmann said.

Today in Rhode Island history:

A year ago today: Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts announces recommendations to avoid another near-catastrophe such as occurred the previous Dec. 13, when thousands of cars, trucks and school buses were stranded for hours during a snowstorm.

5 years ago today: President Bush, in his state of the union address, recites parts of a letter written to him by Ashley Pearson, 10, of Lincoln.

25 years ago today: A five-year-old boy dies in Rhode Island Hospital, 10 days after a collision between a kindergarten bus and a truck on Route 44 in Rehoboth. The two drivers were killed instantly.

On the national front:

On this day 48 years ago, John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president of the United States.

Listen to part of the Kennedy speech in which he delivered the famous line, "Ask not what your country can do for you..."

Watch out for slippery roads and walkways early this morning as moisture on the ground freezes, the National Weather service warns.

It's about 25 degrees at 7 a.m. in Providence, and the weather service is forecasting a partly sunny day with a high near 32 degrees and a north wind between 7 and 11 mph. with gusts as high as 21 mph.

There's another slight chance of snow showers tonight between midnight and 2 a.m., the weather service says.

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

Today's front page features stories and photographs looking ahead to today's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.

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

By Steve Szydlowski / Journal staff photographer
Neel Lanou, of Keene Street, Providence, spends the morning shoveling snow from in front of her home. Two storms over the weekend left 7 to 10 inches of snow over much of the state. The region could get another inch of snow tonight, according to the National Weather Service.

Gas prices in Rhode Island have increased for the third straight week, according to AAA Southern New England.

The average price for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline has increased nine cents to $1.839 at the self-service pump, according to AAA's weekly survey.

The price has increased 19 cents over the past three weeks, when prices began increasing again after they started to decline on Labor Day.

Rhode Island drivers were paying $3.07 at this time last year.

Search area gas prices.

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- There's still two full days of Obama-celebration to go, but Joe Paolino is already a frontrunner for the 2009 Inaugural Ubiquity Award, Rhode Island Division.

The former Providence mayor is everywhere.

On Friday night, Paolino was among the pre-inaugural revelers at Georgetown's posh Cafe Milano. Retauranteur Franco Nuschese, who is prominent in Italian-American affairs in the nation's capital, hosted a party that honored famed AIDS researcher Robert Gallo , the glitterati included Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, television talk show personality Starr Jones, a healthy smattering of U.S. representatives and a large flock of lobbyists, including Pawtucket native Tom Quinn.

Then on Saturday morning, readers of the Washington Post op-ed page were greeted by "Fast Train to the 21st Century," Paolino's essay advocating a renewed push for high-speed passenger rail. Paolino recalled an Amtrak train trip that he took to Boston to promote high-speed rail with Massachusetts Governor (and Democratic presidential candidate) Mike Dukakis.

Then yesterday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Paolino was among the notables on hand for the "We Are One" concert in the VIP section. Paolino hobnobbed with attorney general designate Eric Holder, and Massachusetts Sen. (and former Democratic presidential nominee) John Kerry.

Paolino is viewing Obama's inaugural through the eyes of youth. For young people today, he said, "This is what John Kennedy was for us."

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington bureau

WASHINGTON -- David Cicilline and his guests will have plenty to chat about at the Providence mayor's pre-inaugural brunch this morning at a Georgetown hotel.

Many of them fought mazes of security checkpoints and chill winds off the Potomac yesterday to join hands with a few hundred thousand of their closest friends at ``We Are One,'' the concert at Lincoln Memorial that officially kicked off the welcome for President-elect Barack Obama.

Many more inaugural revelers from Rhode Island were en route to the capital city via car, train and, in some cases, snow-delayed airplane. So far the logistical challenges have been a mere hint of what's expected beginning a few hours after midnight as pilgrims begin to trek to the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol grounds to find choice perches for the swearing-in of the 44th president.

``We've had more than 400 R.S.V.P.s'' for this morning's brunch, Cicilline said yesterday afternoon as he walked along Constitution Avenue toward the ticket-holders' entrance through the chain-link fence guarding the western half of the Mall.

``Bruce Springsteen is, obviously, my favorite,'' said the mayor, looking ahead to the musical acts. ``It's an important time, and we're facing a lot of tough challenges, especially in our cities, but it's very exciting to be here for this celebration,'' Cicilline said, correctly foreshadowing the concert's counterpoint between sober contemplation and wild jubilation.''

Anthony Robinson, 37, who works at the General Assembly for House Speaker Bill Murphy, said he was struck by the sight of ``all the young faces'' streaming toward the gathering along the ice-glazed Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Obama, he said, has inspired the young ``to do their homework and take a good look at the people we elect.''

The afternoon's program was ambitious, as pop concerts go, in attempting to link themes of self-sacrifice and national unity to the symbolism of the stone monuments around what actor Denzell Washington called, ``This sacred site.''

Time and again, the speakers enunciated ideas that were reflected in the images on the giant TV screens around the grounds, and echoed in the music from the stage at the feet of Lincoln's seated form.

Obama and his co-celebrants ``tried to mention race without making this just about race,'' said Rosemary Kennedy, 47, a lawyer and nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital who was here visiting friends and came to the opening ceremony on a last-minute whim.

For Kennedy, the beauty of the day lay in ``all the smiling faces everywhere you went'' and in the juxtaposition of moments joyful and poignant. The greatest moment of poignance, Kennedy said, was when the Irish singer, Bono, and his band, U2, struck up his anthem to the assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., ``Pride (In the Name of Love).'' The song laments King's murder in Memphis 40 years ago last spring, while hinting at the great preacher's doctrine of non-violent resistance to wrong.

Near the close of the concert came a bridge between the sounds of the civil rights movement and the gathering of visitors from around the country. Mayor Cicilline's favorite - Springsteen -- introduced the white-bearded folksinger, Pete Seeger, for a giant sing-along of Woodie Guthrie's ``This Land is Your Land.''

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Rhode Islanders across the state are honoring the slain civil rights leader.

Ray Watson, director of the Mount Hope Neighborhood Association in Providence, is the keynote speaker annual MLK Day Woonsocket, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Woonsocket High School. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch will speak after lunch.

Watson says he wants to set the tone for a day of reflection on the message of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the hope that everyday people will go out and live their lives as King did -- educating themselves and working hard for the benefit of their community.

He says his sense of hope in the future has been rekindled by the election of the first black president of the United States -- Barack Obama, who will take the oath of office in Washington tomorrow.

MLK Day is a day of service. Here's how you can help.

Read a list of events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

With reports from Journal staff writer Gina Macris

Today in Rhode Island history:

5 years ago today: Icy roads, along with lack of sanding on many streets, helped to produce dozens of fender-benders throughout the metro area. On Taunton Avenue in East Providence, a recycling truck slid into a pedestrian while nearing the ramp leading to westbound Route 195 at about 9:30 a.m.; he was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with bruises to his arm.

25 years ago today: Arlene Violet declared she had resigned as a nun and would run for attorney general.

On the international front: On this day 28 years ago, the United States and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months.

Look for a partly cloudy day today with a high near 34 degrees and a low of 20 degrees.

After a snowy weekend, any lingering flurries should move out this morning, according to the National Weather Service, providing at least a few snow-free hours until 9 p.m., when there's another slight chance of snow.

The wind will blow from the north at 3 to 7 mph.

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

Today's front page features a look Tuesday's inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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

Aided by her mother, Elnora Prucha, and several town employees, Katherine A. Higbee gave birth to her daughter Cheyenne, Thursday in the family car in the Charlestown Town Hall parking lot. Mother and daughter are both doing well today at South County Hospital. Photo courtesy of South County Hospital

By Donita Naylor and Jack Perry
Journal staff writers

The job description of the tax collector at Charlestown Town Hall broadened beyond dollars and cents yesterday when she and some of her colleagues rushed out to the parking lot to help deliver a baby.

Tax collector JoAnn Santos, town clerk Jodi LaCroix and Lyndsay Shader, of the parks and recreation department, grabbed blankets, coats and first aid kits and rushed out into the cold when they learned that a 24-year-old Wyoming, R.I., woman was giving birth in a vehicle in the town hall parking lot.

Elnora Prucha, 54, was trying to get her daughter to South County Hospital. She had to pull over to deliver her granddaughter, Cheyenne, in the front seat of the family's car.

Katherine A. Higbee, 24, had heard that natural childbirth was painful, "but I didn't feel anything" when her second daughter was born Thursday morning in the passenger seat of a '98 Saturn in the parking lot of Charlestown Town Hall.

Prucha, 54, of the Wyoming section of Richmond, pulled her granddaughter out by the shoulders after running into Town Hall to seek police assistance for her daughter, who knew the baby was coming and couldn't wait any longer.

The police department is no longer at Town Hall, but the first person that Prucha saw was recreation department assistant Shader, 27, who knew what to do. She called for an ambulance and ran outside with Prucha. Higbee said her water broke and the baby crowned.

"It was all very fast," Higbie said yesterday from a room at South County Hospital, where she was resting comfortably and little Cheyenne Dahlila Higbee tested her new vocal abilities.

"I was sitting in the parking lot," Higbee said, "and there she was." Higbee remembers nodding her head when anybody said anything, but she doesn't remember much else, except being cold.

It was about 11 a.m., and snow was coming down pretty hard. The temperature was 15 degrees.

"I was just in shock, not in pain. I didn't have any painkillers."

Shader, on her cell phone, relayed instructions from Charlestown Police Dispatcher Tammy Belden, who told them to make sure the baby could breathe, then close the car doors and get the engine going to keep mother and baby warm. Prucha laid Cheyenne on Katherine's stomach and covered them both with her wool jacket.

LaCroix climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. Prucha and Shader got in the back seat, and as they waited for the ambulance, they answered through the car door window as people offered help. A small audience of Town Hall workers gathered at the recreation department window to watch.

The ambulance came, cut the umbilical cord and delivered both mother and child to the hospital, where the baby was warmed in an incubator before being cleaned up and measured.

Yesterday morning, during a storm that had already dropped three inches of snow, Prucha was driving Higbee, of Nooseneck Road, to South County Hospital. Shortly before 11 a.m., Higbee's labor pains turned into active labor, so they pulled into the town hall parking lot looking for help, Charlestown Police Lt. Patrick J. McMahon said in a news release.

By ANDREW MIGA
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Plans to build the nation's first offshore wind farm in the waters off Cape Cod cleared a major hurdle Friday, winning environmental approval from a key federal agency.

The proposal has sparked a bitter public fight begun more than seven years ago.

The wind farm's foes, including Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., argue it will harm the environment and hurt the tourism and fishing industries.

But the new Minerals Management Service report said developer Cape Wind Associates' plans pose no major environmental problems.

Various federal and state agencies have been reviewing the proposal for 130 windmills across 25 miles of federal waters in Nantucket Sound since 2001.

Supporters say it will provide cheaper energy, reduce pollution and create green jobs.

The new Obama administration will decide the project's fate. President-elect Barack Obama, who wants to double alternative energy production over the next three years, was visiting an Ohio company that makes parts for wind turbines on Friday. He takes office Tuesday.

>> Continue reading: Feds: Cape wind farm OK for environment

By Business staff

Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank by assets, this morning posted its first loss since 1991 and cut the dividend after receiving emergency funds from the government to support the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

The fourth-quarter loss of $1.79 billion, or 48 cents a share, compared with net income of $268 million, or 5 cents, a year earlier.

Results didn't include a $15.3 billion loss at Merrill, acquired this month. The 32-cent dividend was slashed to a penny.

The losses, coupled with the government lifeline of $138 billion, raise doubts about the future of Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, who engineered takeovers of unprofitable New York-based brokerage Merrill and ailing mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. during the worst market slump since the Great Depression.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the biggest banks in Rhode Island, with 48 branches and about 3,900 employees.

The Providence Journal reported today that Bank of America is laying off 121 employees at its facility in Lincoln. Read more at projo.com or in today's newspaper.

Journal photo/ Steve Szydlowski
The building at 380 Westminster Street in Providence, which sold recently, houses the IRS, bankruptcy court along with the Navy and Army recruiters office.

By Journal Business staff

A building that houses federal offices in downtown Providence has sold for $22 million, according to city property records, one of the few sales of large office buildings in the city to be completed in recent months.

Ownership of 380 Westminster Street changed hands when an Australian business sold off a group of properties in this country to a New York City firm that specializes in urban real estate.

Rubicon American Trust of Australia sold the Providence property, along with 12 other office buildings and a distribution center spread around the United States, for $485 million to UrbanAmerica LP, of New York.

The properties are almost entirely leased to U.S. government agencies and are located in cities including Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Denver, San Diego and Huntsville, Alabama. The buildings have 3.1 million square feet of total space.

The purchase is the biggest single acquisition for closely held UrbanAmerica, which was founded in 1998.

By Bob Thayer/ Journal photographer
With arctic air descending on Rhode Island, the temperature dropped into single digits last night. "I'm so glad to have this place," this formerly homeless man says of his residence at the Amos House Transitional Shelter on Somerset Street in Providence. "It's great to be warm," he says. He says Amos House is helping him transition back into society, and is helping him get employment. "Thank God," he says. "Thank God for this place."

On Jan. 16, 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

Read more about today in history.

Today's front page features a photograph and report on the dramatic crash landing of a U.S. Airways jet in the Hudson River, including a local angle about a Rhode Island ferry helping with the rescue.
There's also a report on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cancelling a contract with the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility for denying medical care and legal access to a detainee who died in custoday.

Another story looks at yesterday's widespread school cancellations, although little snow fell in many of the communities that closed school.

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

By Bruce Landis
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The recently opened ramp from Route 95 southbound to Route 195 has reduced travel time and increased average speeds, the state Department of Transportation said this morning.

The new ramp, opened a month ago, replaced a left exit from Route 95 with a right exit, a new Exit 20, eliminating a sometimes-confusing situation near downtown.

The ramp is part of the DOT's biggest construction project, the relocation of a section of Route 195 and construction of the new arch bridge over the Providence River. It completes the links with Route 195 eastbound.

The DOT said it measured travel times and speed from Exit 26 (Lonsdale Avenue) to the Washington Bridge, about 5 ½ miles, comparing them with the week before the new ramp opened on Dec. 6.

During the afternoon commute, the agency said, it found that travel time was reduced by almost 17 percent and average speed increased by about 16 percent. Since the ramp opened, travel times were reduced by more than 20 percent and average speeds were almost 10 percent higher. Some of the times were affected by rain and snow storms, and the DOT said it expects that the travel times and average speeds will improve further after the winter.

"These numbers help show that the improved traffic flow using the Iway is contributing to a shorter commute with less congestion during the afternoon rush hour," DOT Director Michael P. Lewis said. "We are seeing the promise of safer, more efficient highway travel in Providence coming to fruition."

By Katherine Gregg
Journal State House bureau

Governor Carcieri has now officially notified legislative leaders that he is not going to make today's legal deadline for submitting his state budget proposal for the year that begins July 1.

Under state law, the governor is required to present his tax-and-spending plans by the third Thursday in January.

Late yesterday, however, Republican Carcieri sent the General Assembly's Democratic leaders a letter in which he "respectfully'' requested an extension until Tuesday, Feburary 10 at the latest.

"Thank you for your consideration and for your continued work on behalf of the people of Rhode island,'' he wrote.

While lawmakers were unavailable to comment on his not unexpected request, they are unlikely to object, having just started hearings this week on Carcieri's $357-million deficit-cutting plan for this year.

Journal photo/ Bob Thayer
A homeless man covers his eyes to keep the bright light away and hide his identity as he and 21 others found spots on the floor of the overflow room at Crossroads Rhode Island. Because of the cold, about twice as many showed up last night as compared with the night before, shelter workers said. The temperature was 15 degrees at midnight last night and is just 10 degrees at 7:45 a.m. today. Even colder weather is on the way. The National Weather Service forecasts a low of two degrees tonight.

On this day in 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.

Read more about today in history.

Watch video highlights of today in history.

Today's front page features a report on the big chill moving into the region and tips for staying warm and safe.

There's also a story from New York City on a memorial service for Martha "Sunny" von Bulow and a report that the General Assembly will not block Governor Carcieri's plan to revamp how the state provides health care for the elderly, poor and disabled.

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

PROVIDENCE -- Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline proposed today that city residents be given a strong preference in hiring for the Police and Fire Departments.

Ten points would be added to the score that a candidate achieves in the competition to land a spot in the training academy of each department. The last time the Police Department assembled and ranked an academy class, the top-to-bottom scoring spread among the candidates ranked in the top 50 was 5.66 points.

"It is potent," said Maj. Steven M. Melaragno, commander of the police Administrative Division.

Cicilline framed the preference primarily as a residency issue, but the move is likely to boost the numbers of racial and ethnic minorities in the public safety forces. The majority of the Providence population is composed of people from racial and ethnic minority groups.

The preference would be enacted as an ordinance, and in order to do that, the mayor needs the approval of the City Council. Some council members have complained off and on for years that taxpaying residents don't land enough of the jobs in municipal government.

Cicilline, who announced the idea in the District 7 police substation on Douglas Avenue, said that he submitted a proposed ordinance to the council today.

Today's front page features a story on the emotional School Committee meeting in East Providence, where teachers are protesting a pay cut.

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

On this day in 1784, the United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War.

Read more about today in history.

On this day in 1794, President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union.

Read more about today in history.

Today's front page features a column by Bill Reynolds on former Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice's election to baseball's Hall of Fame.

There is also a report on the increase of crime in Providence.

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

By Art Martone
Journal Sports Editor

Jim Rice was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame today, in his final year on the writers' ballot.

He earned 76.4 percent of the vote, more than the 75 percent standard needed for election.

Rickey Henderson also earned elected in this, his first year on the ballot.

Rice becomes the 18th Hall of Famer who spent a significant portion of his career with the Red Sox. The others include Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Jimmy Collins, Lefty Grove, Herb Pennock, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, Ted Williams, Red Ruffing, Harry Hooper, Rick Ferrell, Bobby Doerr, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Dennis Eckersley and Wade Boggs. The only players in that group to spend their entire careers with the Red Sox are Rice, Williams, Doerr and Yastrzemski.

Rice's career statistics.

Rice says he wasn't going to wait by the phone

More to come . . .

The Rhode Island court system will have another vacancy with the retirement in March of Superior Court Justice Mark Pfeiffer.

Judge Pfeiffer, 60, has served on the bench for 20 years and is the fifth-most senior member of the Superior Court, according to Craig Berke, a court spokesman.

Judge Pfeiffer's last day will be March 27th. In retirement, he will be eligible to college 75 percent of his current salary, which is $161,224, according to Berke.

Judge Pfeiffer informed the governor of his plans in a letter sent Jan. 7, Berke said.

Judge Pfeiffer has indicated that he's been planning his retirement for some time, according to Berke, and it's not related to the governor's attempt to terminate the guaranteed 3 percent annual pension hikes for judges and other public employees who do not retire by April 1.

Judge Pfeiffer's retirement follows the retirements earlier this month of State Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams and Family Court Judge Howard I. Lipsey.

In December, two judges died. Family Court Judge Gilbert T. Rocha, 77, died Dec. 19 after a brief illness, and District Court Chief Judge Albert E. DeRobbio Sr., 79, died three days later.

-- With reports from Katherine Gregg of the Journal State House bureau.

After dropping steadily since Labor Day, gas prices have now increased for the second straight week, according to AAA Southern New England.

The average price for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline is $1.749 at the self-service pump, an increase of eight cents per gallon in the past week, according to AAA's weekly survey.

The price has increased 10 cents over the last two weeks.

Rhode Island is still five cents below the national average.

Drivers in the Ocean State were paying $3.11 per gallon at this time last year.

The start of school for Cumberland children has been delayed one hour because of icy roads.

The morning session of kindergarten has been cancelled.

Check on other delays or closings.

On this day in 1969, the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

The Jets' brash young quarterback Joe Namath had guaranteed that his Jets, from the fledgling American Football League, would beat the powerful Colts. It was the AFL's first Super Bowl victory, and the game was one of the greatest upsets in professional football.

Read more about today in history.

Today's front page features a photograph of a Cumberland man blowing snow from his driveway after yesterday's storm.

There's also a story on the increasing theft of recyclable materials, including bottles and cans left in roadside bins.

And there's a report on President-elect Barack Obama's call for stricter monitoring rules on the balance of the $700 bailout.

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

PROVIDENCE -- We are starting the day on the chilly side, with temperatures mostly in the 20s. Given the overnight freeze, there is a possibility for black ice on some roads, so use caution when driving or walking.

By early afternoon, we should reach a high near 34 degrees, although it will still feel like it's in the low 20s due to the northerly winds, which will blow 8 to 16 mph. with gusts as high as 26 mph.

Our focus, however, is on the next snowstorm, which is expected to hit the area Saturday afternoon.

The National Weather Service has already issued a winter storm watch, which will go into effect Saturday afternoon and expire Sunday morning. Forecasters are pedicting 5 to 10 inches of snow.

For the latest weather conditions, visit projo.com/weather.

On this day in 1987, the White House released a memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan in January 1986 that showed a definite link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

Read more about today in history.

Today's front page reports that Cumberland's Rocco Baldelli has signed a contract to play with the Boston Red Sox next year.

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

By Cynthia Needham
Journal State House Bureau

The House Finance Committee will meet Tuesday, Jan. 13, to review Governor Carcieri's mid-year budget repair plan, unveiled yesterday.

House spokesman Larry Berma