Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

CRANSTON -- Col. Stephen McGrath, chief of police, has declared the death of a 19-year-old woman a homicide.

Earlier today, the police blocked off an area of Cedar Street with yellow crime tape. The house is at 16-18 Cedar St., which is on the corner at the intersection with Trainor Street.

A crime-scene investigator's van arrived at the house just before 3:30 p.m. Neighbors said this afternoon that police had knocked on doors this morning, asking if they had heard anything.

The neighbors said that the victim had lived in the neighborhood all of her life. The house in which she lived was owned by her grandfather, who lived next door, they said.
They said officers removed a puppy from the house.

They said the woman kept to herself, and that they did not know her name, though they knew the dog's name.

The home on Cedar Street is about two blocks from the Ralph J. Tate Field and the Hugh B. Bain Middle School.

-- With reports from Journal staff writers Maria Armental and Thomas J. Morgan.

By Gina Macris
Journal staff writer

TIVERTON, R.I. -- The School Committee last night ratified a two-year contract that gives teachers modest raises ranging from $1,100 to $2,500 after added out-of-pocket contributions to the cost of health care in the current school year, and retroactive checks for similar amounts for the 2007-08 academic term.

The settlement was approved on a 4-to-1 vote, with Danielle Coulter opposed. The agreement ends an 18-month labor dispute that had preoccupied the entire town. But it buys labor peace only through the end of the school year, since the just-approved contract expires Aug. 31.

The membership of the union, National Education Association/Tiverton, which represents 188 teachers, had ratified the contract in November. Teachers have been working under court order since September 2007.

Brown University President Ruth Simmons has announced the Ivy League school must reduce annual spending by about $60 million compared to what administrators planned last spring because of anticipated losses in its endowment.

The endowment is poised to lose $800 million. In a message to the university community posted on Brown's Web site, Simmons announced the endowment is expected to be $2 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The endowment stood at $2.8 billion at the end of last fiscal year, according to Journal reports.

"For the last several months, we have had extensive discussion within the University and with the Corporation about how Brown should navigate these challenging circumstances," Simmons writes in her message to the university community. "... We must take immediate action to adjust our sights and our plans to take account of the loss of revenue."

Such massive reductions, Simmons announced, would come from tuition increases; the deferral of all discretionary capital projects; a continued "hiring pause" for staff positions that would help reach a goal of reducing administrative costs by $12 million; no salary increases for nearly all faculty and staff; a $4.5 million reduction in the overall administrative budget; a postponement of planned expansions in the graduate school; and essentially no growth in the number of doctoral students matriculating each year.

Read more in today's Brown Daily Herald.

The Providence Journal/Bill Murphy
Pedestrians take care as they negotiate the snowy sidewalks of Providence this morning.

The Rhode Island State Police reported few problems with the mid-morning commute, although snow was making the roadways slippery along Route 10 and Route 295.

The National Weather Service is warning of a slick commute, as snow hits cold roadways. School has been canceled in many communities. Trucks were out early this morning treating roads.

For other traffic needs, check out the state roadways, via the Department of Transportation's online traffic offerings.

You can find any traffic alerts describing accidents here and browse traffic cams to see real-time photos of the highways.

Also, check out congestion mapping -- i.e., how heavy the traffic is - here and listen to or read the radio reports for the week about traffic and construction on specific roadways.

WARWICK -- The police have recovered a car and purse reported stolen last week from a female bartender when a man followed her back into Track 84 Pub at 84 Kilvert St. at closing time and threatened her with a knife.

The police continue to investigate and say no arrests have been made, Maj. Joseph H. Tavares said this morning.

The police found the car Saturday afternoon in a visitors' parking lot at an apartment complex -- Elmwood Terrace Apartments at 2215 Elmwood Ave. -- after a man found the purse nearby, brought it to his apartment and called the police to report his finding, Tavares said.

An officer recognized the name of the robbery victim as the purse owner and asked the man who found it to show exactly where he found the purse. Once outside with the man, the officer located the car nearby -- "parked properly" in the visitors' spot and "in normal condition with the plates and ignition intact," Tavares said. It was about two miles from Track 84 Pub, Tavares said.

The police towed the car to headquarters, where they processed it for fingerprints. They just gave it back to the victim's family, Tavares said this morning.

People who live near where the car was found told the police they had seen it there for a day or two, leading the police to believe it had been there since soon after the robbery, Tavares said.

According to the police, the bartender said the man who followed her inside the pub threatened her with a knife, bound her and then stole her car and purse. She was able to work her way out of the restraint and call the police a few minutes after closing time.

In other news, the police also continue to investigate an attempted robbery Saturday night at a gas station at 1625 Post Rd. The police are looking at other robberies around the state to see if this incident might be connected to any others. They suspect no connection between the gas station incident and the Track 84 robbery, Tavares said.

Here's a link to an earlier item about that attempted robbery. It's the second item in the police digest.

A story published Saturday, "Searching for guns, police net two gators," incorrectly identified the person who took out a restraining order against Scott A. Walsh of North Attleboro and incorrectly said the police had charged Walsh with one felony count of improperly storing firearms.

The restraining order was obtained by Rae Walsh, the man's mother, and it sought to have him and his wife vacate the residence, North Attleboro Police Detective Lt. David S. Dawes said yesterday. The police are seeking to charge Walsh and his wife, Gail Walsh, with felony complaints for firearms violations. Those complaints have been presented to Attleboro District Court, and it will be up to a magistrate to decide whether to charge them, Dawes said. That process could take weeks.

The information police provided to The Journal for the Saturday story was incorrect.

CRANSTON, RI -- There's no gym class today -- and probably for a couple of days -- for students at Cranston High School East because a steam pipe in the school's heating system froze and then burst sometime early this morning.

The burst pipe sent steam -- and then water -- pouring into a ground-floor classroom near the school's gymnasium, said Joel Zisserson, the director of plant operations for the school department. The leak was discovered at about 5:20 a.m., when there were at least two to three inches of water on the floor in the classroom, Zisserson said. Water spread into two other classrooms, down a hallway and down the stairs into the boys' and girls' locker rooms in the basement of the school, he said.

Maintenance crews immediately began clearing the area, and they were able to isolate the unit so the building still had heat. School opened "with no problems," Zisserson said. The school principal has not returned a call about the incident.

Zisserson said crews are working to dry the entire area. He could not say how much damage the building had sustained, as the insurance company is still trying to determine that.

"None of it went into the gym, thank God," Zisserson said. "We would have had real issues with the floor."

PROVIDENCE -- If you're still relying on analog transmission to watch Rhode Island's PBS television station, you're out of luck because of what the station calls a "catastrophic failure of its cooling system" that has permanently knocked the station off the analog airwaves.

The failure of the cooling system put the station's 23-year-old analog transmitter out of business permanently, according to a statement issued by Rhode Island PBS.

As the country makes the move to digital television transmission, PBS was hoping its analog transmitter would last this final month before the Feb. 17 FCC-mandated date that all TV broadcasters must stop analog transmission. But sometime on the night of Jan. 15, the cooling system for the transmitter developed a leak that drained the water from the transmitter, prompting the failure, according to the station.

"We were hoping the old transmitter would hang in there for just one more month," Rhode Island PBS President Bob Fish said in a statement. "I want to reassure our viewers that we're still here, even if our analog transmitter isn't."

Fish said the loss of the station's analog transmission at this time is a good incentive for viewers who have not yet gotten their digital-to-analog converter boxes to do so.

"What you see on channel 36 will happen on all over-the-air channels in about four weeks," Fish said.

As the clock ticks down to the Feb. 17 deadline for TV broadcasters to shut off their analog signals and go entirely digital, The Associated Press has reported that Congress appears poised to postpone the transition to June. The Obama administration is seeking the delay to give the government more time to fix a subsidy program that has run out of money for coupons that help consumers pay for digital converter boxes for older TVs.

For more information from the Federal Communications Commission about the conversion to digital television, check out this site.

-- with reports from The Associated Press

Correction: An earlier version of this story contained the wrong age for the transmitter, based on inaccurate information from Rhode Island PBS.

Photo courtesy of North Attleboro Police

By Kate Bramson
Journal Staff Writer

The 2½-to-3-foot-long alligators weren't supposed to be in the basement of the single-family home on Bungay Road in North Attleboro, but there they were -- two of them -- in a fish tank.

The North Attleboro Police found the two pet alligators -- not fully grown, of unknown ages -- as the officers were serving a restraining order against Scott A. Walsh.

The restraining order against Walsh, who lived at 158 Bungay Rd. with his wife, Gail Walsh, and their 16-year-old child, required the man to vacate the premises, North Attleboro Det. Lt. David S. Dawes said this morning. His wife had gotten the restraining order against him, Dawes said.

Restraining orders require individuals to turn over any firearms they have to the police. Since the North Attleboro department knew ahead of time that Walsh had firearms, several officers were sent to the home to serve the restraining order, Dawes said.

Although Walsh legally owned about a dozen firearms -- rifles and shotguns -- and had the proper permits for them, he did not have them all properly stored. He has been charged with one felony count of improperly storing firearms because he didn't have the appropriate locks on some of them, Dawes said.

That is the more serious charge the man is facing, but when the police saw the alligators, they needed to act on that issue as well, Dawes said. It is illegal in Massachusetts to possess alligators in a home, according to the police.

The alligators appeared to be well-cared for, Dawes said. He did not know whether Walsh had named the two.

"He didn't have much to say," Dawes said about when the police summoned the Massachusetts Environmental Police, who seized the alligators. "It's just that we knew right away that they were illegal to possess, so we summoned the Environmental Police."

PAWTUCKET -- The police are investigating the stabbing of a 53-year-old man that occurred in the vicinity of 49 Lorraine St. just after midnight.

The victim, Manuel Sousa, whose address was not immediately available, was stabbed several times, Police Maj. Arthur Martins said this morning. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital. The police do not believe his injuries are life-threatening, Martins said.

The police do not know yet exactly what happened. They must interview Sousa again because he was intoxicated, and it was difficult for officers to get clear information from him, Martins said.

Although the incident was initially reported to the police as a shooting, no one was shot, Lt. Cory Jackson said.

No arrests have been made.

-- Journal staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina

The state police have handled a number of accidents this morning on major arteries, but none seem to be too serious at this point.

According to the state Transportation Management Center, an accident at 6:40 a.m. blocked the left lane on Route 95 south at Exit 12B (Route 2 North/Route 113 West). Seven minutes later, the TMC reported an accident on Route 95 north at exit 12A (Route 113 East in Warwick) blocked the left lane. At 6:55 a.m., an accident on Route 95 north at Exit 20 (Route 195 East) blocked the right lane. A few minutes later, another accident occurred at Exit 18 on Route 95 north and then one at Exit 16 shortly thereafter.

There were others, too, according to the Transportation Management Center, but updates indicate that all the accidents have now been cleared.

The state police said there have been no serious injuries.

In any case, you might want to check the state Department of Transportation's traffic cameras of a congestion mapper if you're heading out on the roads soon.

PAWTUCKET -- The police are investigating a stabbing that occurred in the vicinity of 9 Lorraine St. just after midnight.

The victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries, Lt. Cory Jackson said this morning.

Although the incident was initially reported to the police as a shooting, no one was shot, Jackson said.

No arrests have been made.

WARWICK -- The police are looking for a man who allegedly threatened a female bartender with a knife early this morning, bound her and stole her car and purse as she was closing Track 84 Pub at 84 Kilvert St.

The police are also looking for the 2007 black Nissan Versa that was stolen from the bartender, according to Maj. Joseph H. Tavares. He declined to identify the victim, saying he would not release the woman's name since the man is not in custody.

Tavares said the bartender called the police three minutes after the bar's 1 a.m. closing time. She had managed to work her way out of the restraint, Tavares said, but he said he would not release details of how she was bound or how she got out during the investigation.

She told the police she had gone into the bar's parking lot to warm up her car as she was closing the bar. When she went back inside, the man followed her, threatened her with a large kitchen knife and demanded money. The employee had already deposited the night's cash into a drop safe in the bar, and she couldn't retrieve it, Tavares said.

At that point, the man tied her up and left with her car and purse, Tavares said. He's not sure how much money the man got.

The police are investigating and will not say if there may have been a security camera in the bar that would have captured the man's image. They are looking to see if the car has been abandoned.

"We plan on, of course, keeping a check on that location and the surrounding area as the investigation continues," Tavares said.

WOONSOCKET -- A 21-year-old man is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston after he was arraigned yesterday on a first-degree child abuse charge in connection with a broken femur suffered by his girlfriend's 16-month-old daughter.

Lawrence Andrew Hinton gave the police a Providence address of 28 Diamond St., but his girlfriend, Jennifer Martin, said he lives with her at 170 Cumberland St. in Woonsocket, the police said.

The charge against him relates to a Jan. 7 injury to Martin's daughter. He was arrested Friday after the police had issued an arrest warrant for him.

On Jan. 7, Hinton was watching the little girl while her mother took the bus to a Providence doctor's appointment. When she got home, at 1:22 p.m. that day, she found Hinton in the living room holding the baby, who was crying uncontrollably, according to the police. One of the baby's legs was swollen, and she couldn't walk.

Martin called her mother, and the women took the baby to Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, according to the police. Called to the hospital for possible child abuse, the police spoke with the mother and grandmother in the emergency room. Martin said Hinton told her he was playing with the baby, and she fell off the bed after being tossed in the air, the police said.

Hinton was not at the hospital, but he called the police two days later. He agreed to meet with a detective, but when he did not show up for the meeting, the police issued the warrant for his arrest.

The baby was transferred to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, where a doctor spoke with Hinton over the phone. According to the police report, Dr. Amy Goldberg wrote that "the injury is consistent with either physical neglect or physical abuse."

Woonsocket Police Lt. Steven Nowak said the little girl is doing all right. She is in her mother's care, and no charges are pending against the mother, Nowak said.

-- Journal staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina

The Rhode Island Medical Examiners Office has ruled that an 83-year-old Tiverton woman whose body was found in the Fogland Beach area Monday morning died of hypothermia due to environmental exposure, according to the state Department of Health.

Alfreena Blanchette was reported missing Sunday afternoon. The police said her car apparently drove past the end of Fogland Road down a boat ramp into the Sakonnet River. They said that her death appeared accidental.

The Tiverton police also this week found the body of a young man on the Sakonnet shoreline. Today, the state Medical Examiner's Office said the cause of death for Alexander Rothman, 22, of Newton, Mass., is "pending further studies." Rothman's family owns a summer home in the area, according to the police.

By Maria Armental
Journal staff writer

If you're watching the inauguration on television -- whether here in Rhode Island, in Alaska or Africa - you have a bunch of guys from Aquidneck Island to thank for it.

Project manager Mike Martin of Newport and his crew -- which includes T.R. McGrath of Newport, Thompson Booth of Portsmouth and Adam Landers of Newport -- provided the generators and the temporary power that fed the media pool, which then beamed today's inaugural events to the entire world.

The four work at CAT Entertainment Services' regional office in North Kingstown.

The four flew into Washington on Jan. 4 and will stay put through Friday. With the inaugural events now wrapping up -- and no problems to report -- Martin said the work will now shift to retrieving the miles of wires that had been laid.

But first, the four took a break, put their feet up, and munched on some catered beef brisket.

"It's been a lot of hard work, and the last couple of days have been challenging," Martin said, shortly after President Obama concluded his inaugural address; "but we feel pretty good."

By now, however, Martin is sort of a veteran of inaugural events, having also carried both of President George W. Bush's inaugurations. Martin has also provided broadcast power for other major events, including the Olympics in Atlanta and Utah and several Super Bowls.

"The pressure can be very intense because we do realize that . . . if something happens, the world doesn't see it," he said.

"There were some sleepless nights for us -- last night being one of them," Martin noted.

4 guys from RI make broadcast possible
12:18

If you're watching the inauguration on TV -- whether here in Rhode Island, in Alaska or in Africa -- Wakefield resident Amy Quinn is excited to report that her big brother is one of four men from Rhode Island who are responsible for providing the generators and power lines that are making it possible.

She and her big brother, Mike Martin, grew up in Newport, with a father who was a construction engineer. Such hands-on work that Martin is now doing laying out all the power lines in the nation's capital runs strong in their family, she said.

Martin and his crew, who all work for the North Kingstown regional office of CAT Entertainment Services, which has locations around the country, are set up on the south side of the Capitol building, Quinn said this morning in an interview.

"They've been set up there for two weeks," Quinn said. "And every single day they've done a dry run."

They have provided all the generators and the temporary power that goes to the broadcast TV pool, which then beams today's events "to the whole world," Quinn said. As she was watching television coverage of people in Africa watching the inauguration coverage this morning, she thought proudly, "It's four guys from Aquidneck Island" making it all possible.

"I thought, that's amazing," she said.

The men working for her brother are T.R. McGrath from Newport, Thompson Booth from Portsmouth and Adam Landers from Newport, Quinn said.

Quinn wasn't sure who was providing the microphones on the National Mall. She just knows that all the broadcast feeds are possible through her brother's work.

"He's my brother, and it's an amazing story," she said. "He's my big brother."

Martin has provided broadcast power for other major events, such as the Olympics in Atlanta and Utah, movies and Super Bowls, Quinn said. She's not sure if he has done another inauguration, but if he has, she certainly didn't hear about it like she has this one. He has been e-mailing pictures from Washington and posting them on his Facebook account, she said.

"I don't know if it's just the Obama fever, but he certainly is moved by it, as much as everybody else," she said. "I don't remember getting daily pictures from him. I think he understands the enormity of what he's involved in and what he's doing."

Just this morning, around 7 a.m., she e-mailed him to wish him luck and he replied that she should turn on her TV -- "it's mayhem," he said.

EAST PROVIDENCE -- The police are investigating a home invasion that took place this morning in the Riverside neighborhood.

Capt. Walter Barlow said the police are interviewing people about the incident, which was reported at 10:22 a.m. He would not provide many details, not even the address of the home. He said no one has been arrested.

"It wasn't a random thing," Barlow said. "It appears that it's an isolated thing where the general public doesn't have to really be in fear."

He said the police do not suspect that someone is moving from home to home in the area, forcing entry.

A home invasion, according to Barlow, is when some level of force is used to enter a home where at least one person is home. He would not say how many people were in the single-family home when it was entered.

The Riverside home is in a residential neighborhood that Barlow described as "usually pretty quiet." The homes are "somewhat apart," but the home could be viewed by neighbors.

The police are asking anyone with any information about the incident to call a police detective at (401) 435-7629.

PROVIDENCE -- An asbestos-removal contractor from Johnston who pleaded guilty this summer to extorting kickbacks from his employees and failing to report about $280,000 in income on his tax returns was sentenced today to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release, during which he must perform 240 hours each year of community service with the poor.

Michael Macaruso, of Bishop Hill Road in Johnston, must also pay a $50,000 fine and $117,840 in restitution, U.S. District Judge William E. Smith ordered in court today.

He is free on bond and must report to prison on Feb. 16.

At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker said the government could prove that Macaruso submitted documents reporting that he was paying his workers prevailing wages but cashed their paychecks himself and then dispensed cash to the workers at significantly less than the prevailing wage.

In issuing the sentence, Smith compared Macaruso's attitude toward his workers to that of a plantation owner's attitude toward slaves.

Macaruso apologized to his workers in court today.

This summer, he pleaded guilty to one count of extorting kickbacks from workers employed in a public works project -- a charge that carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He also pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return -- a charge that carried a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $100,000 fine, prosecutors said.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to recommend a reduction in the offense level for "acceptance of responsibility."

-- with reports from Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

The famous and powerful appear to be every bit as entranced with the moment as the legions of citizens who are massed below them on the National Mall.

After the members of the Senate were ushered to their seats on the Capitol steps, shortly before 11 a.m., U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., stood over a stone railing and gazed wordlessly down on the crowd for a full minute. Moments later, he and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., shared glances at an image on a Blackberry device.

A few yards away, perhaps 50 feet west of where the new president will address the nation in an hour, Barack Obama's newly sworn-in replacement, Sen. Roland Burris, waved a thumbs up to friends in the VIP section below.

Nearby, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., snapped pictures on a camera and kibitzed with his neighbors, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM.

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, grinned and pointed at a sea of flags that began to wave from the distant Mall as the President's Own, the United States Marine Band struck up 'America the Beautiful. '

The cheers rising from the crowd sounded like wind rustling distant trees.

Except for a scattering of mare's-tails and a thinning haze in the west, the skies by late morning were brilliant, pale blue.

A thin winter sunlight glinted off the bronze robes of the American Indian figure who stands atop the Capitol.

Old Glory fluttered against the backdrop of the dome in a northwesterly breeze.

In the standing-room section of the Capitol Grounds, Victoria Rowell, 49, wore a black top hat with a white card on the brim that proclaimed "Maine."

"I was born in Portland and grew up in the foster care system and I never thought I would see a day like this," said Rowell, an actress, author and adoption and family services worker who now lives in California. "I'm thrilled to be here because I believe that Barack Obama is a strong advocate for keeping families unified" and seeing to the care of children whose families have come apart.

WARWICK -- Operations appear normal now at T.F. Green Airport after a man was taken into custody when a "suspicious item" was found in his carry-on bag at about 5:30 a.m.

The second floor of the main terminal was cleared of passengers and a bomb squad from the state Fire Marshal's Office removed the item, which was later found to be safe, said Joseph Salter, federal security director at Green for the Transportation Security Administration.

"It was not explosive," Salter said.

Salter would not identify the item, release the man's name or provide any more information on his identity. The man is being questioned by the police, including federal officials, Salter said.

Salter said other passengers were cleared from the main terminal security checkpoint area and moved downstairs. Some waited outside.

The airport police requested assistance this morning from the state police, who received word around 7 a.m. that their assistance was no longer needed, according to the state police.

As of 7:50 a.m., the situation at Green appeared to be returning to normal. A line of passengers was moving through security relatively quickly. Only 10 minutes earlier, the line had snaked through the terminal, ending near entrance doors.

Bill McInnis, who is returning to Sioux City, Iowa, after visiting his son in Warwick, said he saw a bomb squad when he arrived at the airport around 7 a.m.

Salter acknowledged that some passengers might have missed flights or been delayed, but, he said, if a mistake is to be made, it would be made on the side of safety.

Providence resident Ana Barraza took to the D.C. metro line shortly after 6 this morning, on her way to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from Alexandria, Va., with friends who live in the area.

Her metro car was standing-room only around 6:15 a.m. when she called The Providence Journal. Unsure what time the metro typically starts running on a weekday, she said it opened early today, at 4 a.m.

She expected they'd be arriving at their stop -- she wasn't sure which one -- around 6:45 a.m. or so, and then walking as close as they could get to the inauguration festivities.

"Our plan is to get good positioning, where we'll be comfortable," she said. "To kind of claim our little piece of history, so to speak."

Barraza has been in the D.C. area with friends and sorority sisters -- from Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African-American college women -- through the weekend, and she attended Providence Mayor David Cicilline's pre-inaugural brunch yesterday for Rhode Islanders in the nation's capitol.

"It was nice to see other Rhode Islanders there," she said. "And for some of us, there's just this electric energy here, and everybody's just motivated and it was a really positive experience."

After the brunch, Barraza walked on the National Mall, where she has visited many times -- most recently about six months ago -- and she said the atmosphere is like nothing she has seen in Washington before.

"Everyone is polite and civil," she said. "There's just a different energy. It was crowded, but when people would bump into you, they would say, 'Excuse me,' and just be very cordial."

At past events with large crowds, she said people have been "very indifferent, very self-centered, absorbed in themselves."

That's not the case this time. Last night, as she waited outside for about 35 minutes around 7 p.m. in 12-degree weather to buy her metro ticket for this morning, the people around her were just very patient.

"There's a lot of positive energy in the air," she said.

She doesn't know how close she and her friends will get to the inauguration festivities, but she is ready.

Robert Moorehead Jr., gets ready to hang another EZ Pass sign above a lane today at the Newport bridge toll booth. The EZ Pass system is fully operational at the Newport Bridge. Providence Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

The token-only lanes on the Pell Bridge are history.

That's because the E-ZPass electronic toll-collection system on the span that connects Jamestown and Newport has been completed today, according to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority.

Anyone using tokens on the bridge through the end of this month must use the cash/E-ZPass only lane. Beginning Feb. 1, tokens will no longer be accepted on the bridge, according to the Turnpike and Bridge Authority.

The first E-ZPass lanes on the bridge opened Dec. 16.

Unused tokens can be redeemed at the Turnpike and Bridge Authority administration building in Jamestown (One East Shore Rd.) from Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; at the E-ZPass office next to the agency's office, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and at the E-ZPass satellite office at the Newport Gateway Information Center, 23 America's Cup Ave., Newport, Monday through Friday, from noon to 7 p.m.

Tokens can be credited toward an E-ZPass account or the authority will send a check.

PROVIDENCE -- A three-story woodframe building is uninhabitable after heavy fire broke out early this morning at 55-57 Woodmont St. in the Reservoir neighborhood.

Responding to the 5:10 a.m. call, firefighters found heavy fire on the side and rear of the building, which was not occupied this morning, according to Battalion Chief Joseph Desmarais. The building sustained extensive fire, smoke and water damage throughout, he said. No one was injured.

Battling not only fire but also the cold and overnight snowfall of several inches, the firefighters "did an outstanding job in the adverse conditions" and their "quick work" prevented the fire from spreading to two nearby buildings that were occupied, Desmarais said.

The fire probably began on the first floor in the back of the building, but exactly where it began has not yet been determined, Desmarais said. The fire remains under investigation.

Only the middle level apartment had furniture in it, Desmarais said. Although fire officials learned that two people "reside there at different intervals" throughout the year, those two tenants were not home at the time of the fire, he said.

PROVIDENCE -- The state police said today that two snowplow drivers helped protect a man who was walking early Sunday morning on the right shoulder of Route 95 south, in the area near the Atwells Avenue exit -- in the middle of the weekend's snowstorm.

Snowplow drivers Kenneth Bruno, 24, of North Providence, and Walter Belonos, 27, from Providence, each called the state police around 1:20 a.m. and then pulled their plows over to block the man from traffic to prevent him from getting struck by passing vehicles, State Police Lt. Steven Lefebvre said.

When the state troopers arrived at the scene, Lefebvre said the man's pants were down to his ankles, and he appeared to be "heavily intoxicated and somewhat incoherent." As the police attempted to remove him from the highway, the man became "belligerent and combative," Lefebvre said.

The man -- identified as Charles Riggen, 24, of 35 Clinton St. in Johnston -- was subsequently arrested and charged with one count of disorderly conduct and two counts of assault on a police officer, all of which are misdemeanors. As the police attempted to find someone who could take Riggen from the barracks after he was arraigned, they learned he had been drinking at a residence and left there with a friend. The two apparently argued, and the friend kicked Riggen out of his car on Atwells Avenue.

"He somehow made his way onto the highway," Lefebvre explained.

PROVIDENCE, RI -- More than two hours into the second day of a hearing about what a Medicaid overhaul might mean to Rhode Islanders, at least 25 people remained to testify before the House Finance Committee.

Almost that many had already testified, also, most of them in opposition to the plan.

The hearing is a continuation of one that began Friday and lasted six hours.

Most of those testifying today were advocates for Medicaid recipients, including the poor, the disabled and the elderly.

Governor Carcieri has said the proposal to overhaul Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor, would give the state more leeway in how it spends its Medicaid money, improve services for the state's most vulnerable populations and save millions of dollars.

The trouble, said many who have testified today, is that not enough details about the plan have been released for them to know what will change and how it will affect Medicaid recipients.

Amid the testimony, a theme has emerged. While the health care advocates for those who will be affected by a change in the Medicaid system know the system needs to change to stem the swelling cost of Medicaid, most who have spoken say they are concerned about the lack of specifics in the proposal and what the changes would mean in terms of the care provided for those in need.

"We find it troubling that the state has presented no implementation plan for your committee or the public to review or comment upon, nor do we have the confidence that the state has a realistic comprehension of the extent of the time and effort that will be required to build the infrastructure necessary to transition a population of patients sufficient to meet the ambitious financial goals set forth in the waiver," said Dr. K. Nicholas Tsiongas, president of the Rhode Island Medical Society.

"The devil is in the details," Dr. Elizabeth Lange, a pediatrician at Coastal Waterman Pediatrics in East Providence, told the finance committee.

-- Journal staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from Journal staff writer Cynthia Needham

One of Rocco Baldelli's baseball coaches, Bill Campbell, talks about the newest member of the Red Sox while standing in the Bishop Hendricken High School gym with Baldelli's retired sports numbers on the wall above: #22 was Baldelli's baseball number, and #12 was Baldelli's volleyball number. Journal photo / Kathy Borchers

WARWICK -- Down the hall from the main office of Bishop Hendricken High School, a flat-screen television broadcast a sports Web site's headline all yesterday about Cumberland native Rocco Baldelli joining his "hometown" Boston Red Sox.

Hendricken had added its own headline above: "Congratulations & Welcome Home."

Even Hendricken students who have never met Baldelli know he graduated from the all-boys Roman Catholic prep school in 2000 and look to him as a model of success. They noticed that MLB.com story on what they refer to as the "video board."

"There's no better feeling, no better representation that you can get from our school," said Gian Paolella, a 17-year-old senior from East Greenwich.

NORTH PROVIDENCE -- The police arrested a father and son on drug and other charges last night, claiming that the pair opened up their Clark Street home as a place where people could smoke marijuana.

Following a months-long investigation and complaints of drug activity, the police searched the home at 8 Clark St. in North Providence last night and arrested Richard Vieira, 57, and his 21-year-old son, Jared Vieira, both listed at that residence.

"They basically provided an area for people to come there, be there with them and partake in the festivities of smoking marijuana, for lack of a better term," Police Maj. Paul M. Martellini said this morning.

The Vieras are scheduled for arraignment in District Court, Providence, today on a felony charge of maintaining a common nuisance -- in this case, a narcotics nuisance -- and other drug-related and gun charges, according to the police.

The Vieira home is in a neighborhood that has not had other drug problems known to the police. It's in a residential neighborhood that Martellini described as a "nice" area, with homes that are "pretty close together."

Working under a court-authorized search warrant, the police department's special investigations unit and patrol officers found "blunts and debris in the residence" that led to the charge of maintaining a common nuisance, Martellini said this morning.

Richard Vieira is also charged with a felony possession of a dangerous weapon while committing a crime of violence and a misdemeanor, simple possession of marijuana, for allegedly having an amount for "personal consumption," Martellini said. The crime of violence in connection with the gun charge is the felony charge of maintaining a common nuisance, according to the police.

Jared Vieira is also charged with the felony possession of a narcotic, in this case, Clonazepam, Martellini said.

Additionally, the North Providence police are seeking help from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine if the 9 millimeter handgun seized from the residence has been stolen, Martellini said. When the North Providence police ran searches on the gun, Richard Vieira does not show up as the owner of the handgun, but their records do not list it as stolen either, Martellini said.

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) has released details about how a new flex zone will operate in Pascoag and Slatersville, along with other new winter bus schedules it is posting on its Web site as the planning department finalizes the bus runs.

The new schedules will go into effect on Jan. 17, according to RIPTA spokeswoman Karen D. Mensel.

The new flex zone will help RIPTA passengers who have relied on Bus 9 in the past to get to the Zambarano unit of Eleanor Slater Hospital in the northwest corner of Burrillville. That bus line, which was in danger of being cut altogether, will no longer run all the way out to Zambarano.

The new Bus 9 schedules -- both inbound to Providence and outbound -- have also been posted on RIPTA's Web site.

The flex zone will also allow passengers in the Burrillville and North Smithfield villages of Pascoag and Slatersville -- and points in between -- more flexibility in getting places by bus than they have currently had, according to RIPTA.

JOHNSTON -- A 57-year-old Johnston man who loved to fix anything and everything died when his latest project -- a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am -- fell off a jack as he worked on it.

The car landed on Robert E. Barkan, who lived on Belfield Drive with his wife, Margaret A. "Peggy" Barkan. She arrived home from work last night around 8:45 p.m. and found the car on top of her husband, according to Johnston Police Maj. Ralph Bubar III.

Margaret Barkan called for help immediately, and police and fire crews responded. The fire department helped lift the car off the man, and the state medical examiner's office took his body to conduct an autopsy, Bubar said.

"He liked to fix everything, and that was what did him in," his wife said today. "He'd say, 'Papa can fix it.'"

Barkan has two daughters, Sonya Kicia of Coventry and Heidi Ahlquist of Cranston, and seven grandchildren. He and his wife had a son, also Robert E. Barkan, who died in 1992 when he was 20 in a four-car crash in Warwick.

To those grandchildren, who range in age from 3 to 19, Barkan was "Papa," but the rest of the family often called him that, too, said his son-in-law, Kevin Kicia, who is married to Sonya. If the grandchildren needed to go fishing, he was there, Sonya Kicia said. If one of the older ones was looking for a car, he'd be searching for a deal on e-Bay.

"It didn't matter what broke -- your toaster or your house -- he was there. Mr Fix-It," she said about her father.

He bought fixer-uppers all the time, Kevin Kicia said. Fixing those cars was a hobby for a man who worked as a tradesman. He was in between jobs right now, but he has worked as a handyman, doing electrical or maintenance work, Kevin Kicia said.

The Barkan home, at 63 Belfield Drive, is a "pretty secluded residence" at the end of a long driveway. No neighbors or passing cars would have seen Barkan under the car, Bubar said.

"It seems pretty clear that somehow the vehicle rolled off the jack while he was underneath it and pinned him underneath it," Bubar said.

Funeral arrangements are not yet complete.

Ramona Bass-Kolobe is organizing a Kwanzaa celebration for Sunday at St. Michael Church, in South Providence. Journal photo / Kris Craig

Kwanzaa, the African-American holiday created in 1966 by African-American scholar and social activist Ron Karenga begins today and runs through New Year's Day.

While Kwanzaa is often celebrated privately in homes, at least two public celebrations of the holiday are planned in Rhode Island for this weekend.

The Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket, at 171 Main St., has added two more performances of its 10th annual "A Kwanzaa Song." Tickets for the 3 p.m. shows tomorrow and Sunday are $10. Call (401) 305-7333 to reserve seats. A candle lighting ceremony will follow each performance.

St. Michael Church in Providence, which has hosted Kwanzaa celebrations in the past, is hosting what organizer Ramona Bass-Kolobe calls a Kwanzaa Extravaganza on Sunday. She's working with the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, which has joined with other local organizations to plan the 6 to 8 p.m. event at the church at 239 Oxford St. The extravaganza includes a candle-lighting ceremony of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, a play and a puppet show with a reading and a family sing and move-along.

"Kwanzaa is about families within a community," Bass-Kolobe says. "It's not isolated families. It's about families pulling together, so the community celebration is to reinforce within the family -- what are the values we're taking through the year?"

Is the economy forcing your family to take a different approach toward Christmas this year? Whether because of a personal layoff or the broader economic conditions, are you doing away with gift exchanges in your extended family? Are you finding non-commercial ways to make the holiday special?

Staff Writer Kate Bramson is interested in finding families who are changing how they approach the holidays this year. Please send a short note about what you're doing differently and why to kbramson@projo.com.

Spurred by the economic need in Rhode Island, the state's largest charitable foundation -- and one of the nation's oldest and largest -- announced today that it is giving a $500,000 emergency community grant to three statewide organizations that provide direct service to people in need.

"This is very unusual," Rhode Island Foundation President and CEO Neil Steinberg said this morning, noting that the foundation typically gives out money through a competitive grant process that requires applications and takes time. "We could not ignore the immediate need."

The foundation will give the money immediately to Crossroads Rhode Island on Broad Street, which has become a clearinghouse for shelter space statewide, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and the Salvation Army Good Neighbor Energy Fund. The organizations will share the money equally, Steinberg said.

As Salvation Army Major Doug Burr said and Steinberg repeated this morning, "The need is today."

A couple weeks ago, the foundation's board of directors decided to use money from the foundation's endowment funds to address the core needs in a state that's battling the highest unemployment rate in the country.

Steinberg defined those core needs: "Homelessness. Home heating. Hunger."

The foundation chose agencies with statewide impact that have "withstood the test of time," Steinberg said.

At the Rhode Island Community Food Bank's Providence headquarters and warehouse on Niantic Avenue this morning, Food Bank Executive Director Andrew Schiff pointed to empty shelves behind him.

"You can imagine my relief when Neil called me about this awesome grant," said Schiff, who said the money will buy 350,000 more pounds of food. "That doesn't just fill these empty shelves. That fills this entire warehouse."

State Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis, D-Coventry, said today he's not surprised that Rhode Island ranks as one of the worst states in terms of curbing drunken driving, a designation given last week by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Saying the NTSB findings should be a "wake-up call for Rhode Island legislators," Raptakis said he plans to introduce three bills to help curb the problem of drunken driving. They would:

1) Require a license plate to be confiscated and impounded for up to 90 days if the owner of a vehicle is arrested for driving on a suspended license that was the result of an operating-under-the-influence charge or for refusing to take a chemical breath test; 2) extend what's called a "look back" period for violations of driving under the influence from five years to 10, the amount of time the NTSB recommends; and 3) increase the penalties for those convicted of driving under the influence, resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

Raptakis sponsored a bill last year that would have made it a felony -- punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine -- to drive with a license that has been suspended for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or for refusing to take a chemical breath test. The bill cleared the Senate but died in the House Judiciary Committee.

"The fact that the House Judiciary Committee has become the graveyard of drunk-driving bills is a major concern," Raptakis said in a news release issued this afternoon. "The Rhode Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is calling for leadership on the issue, and it is time for House leaders to send a clear message to their constituents that they are willing to act in the best interest of Rhode Islanders by cracking down on drunk driving."

The NTSB said last week that only three states -- Rhode Island, Michigan and Montana -- are doing so little to curb drunk driving. Those states have enacted just 2 of 11 recommendations set forth by the NTSB to reduce alcohol-related crashes and fatalities.

Vibha Shah and her husband, Fenil Shah, who live in Barrington but are from India, have many family members remaining in India, in the suburbs outside of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) -- both sets of parents, her brother and sister, and aunts and uncles on both sides.

Her husband's parents heard one of the bombs in Vila Parle, a suburb of Mumbai, she said. Fenil Shah's brother, who also lives in Barrington with his family, was in Mumbai at the airport to fly back to Rhode Island when the attack began, she said.

Snehal Shah's plane had not yet taken off when the attack began, but his flight left Mumbai safely and he is now home in Rhode Island, preparing to go out to dinner with his brother's family, Vibha Shah said.

"It's sad. I know people say Bombay has been through this a lot of times, but still, seeing it on CNN all the time, and knowing it was so close to ..." Vibha Shah said, as her voice trailed off. "I just wish it was not there. But I guess everybody does."

Vibha's husband, Fenil, plans to travel to India on Monday, a trip that was planned before the attacks, she said. They've heard nothing of flight delays or anything of that sort, she said.

"It should be fine," she said. "I'm not worried about it."

Vibha Shah describes her family as "lucky," a word others in the local Indian community are probably uttering as well these days.

The Rhode Island Indian community appears not to have direct ties with anyone injured or killed in the attacks in Mumbai, according to the head of a local community service group.

The Indian community here numbers about 5,000 people -- some 1,200 to 1,500 families, said Dr. Amrut Patel of Cranston, who heads Namaskar India, which holds cultural functions, promotes education about India and does charity work within the Indian community.

"So far, to my knowledge, there is no bad news," said Patel, whose organization's name stands for Salute India. "Fortunately, personally here in our community, locally no one's been involved."

Patel knows the Shah family, and he knows another Rhode Island woman whose husband is in Mumbai for a wedding. Yesterday, he saw that man's wife, who did not go to India on this trip, and she said her husband is safe, Patel said.

Patel said most in Rhode Island who are from India fly into Mumbai when they return to their country because that's the international airport.

Patel, who is a medical doctor in private practice in Cranston, said his organization has perhaps 50 to 100 volunteers. He described Namaskar India as "fairly active."

Park and shop in downtown Providence, on Thayer Street or on Atwells Avenue.
Park and dine on Federal Hill, Wickenden Street or South Main Street.
Park and skate in downtown Providence.

Now's the time to do all that and not worry about getting a pesky parking ticket -- as long as you park after 11 a.m. on certain downtown streets.

The city's "relaxed parking program" begins Friday, Nov. 28, and runs through Jan. 1. Between the hours of 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, parking tickets will not be issued for overtime violations at metered parking spaces or at parking spaces with time limitations in the following locations:

Downtown Providence, which is bounded by Steeple Street, west to Route 95; Route 95 south to Route 195; Route 195 east to Point Street; Point Street to Wickenden Street;
north on South Main Street to North Main Street at Steeple Street;

South Main Street, from Wickenden Street to Packet Street;

North Main Street, from Thomas Street to Park Row;

Wayland Square;

Thayer Street;

Atwells Avenue from Bradford Street to Knight Street; and

Broad Street from Public Street to Montgomery Street.

Normal parking restrictions apply before 11 a.m. Cars parked illegally in prohibited areas, including cross walks and tow zones, will be ticketed.

Rhode Island is among 25 states not doing enough to prevent drunken driving, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

This morning, the NTSB's acting chairman called on states that have been "unresponsive to previous NTSB safety recommendations" to make bolder moves in addressing drunken-driving accidents and deaths.

There were 17,000 alcohol-related fatalities across the country last year, representing 41 percent of all highway deaths, according to the NTSB. Rhode Island-specific figures are not immediately available. That national fatality rate hasn't really changed in the last 10 years, NTSB acting chairman Mark V. Rosenker said this morning.

"After significant progress in the 1980s and early 1990s, we appear to have grown complacent," Rosenker said in Washington, D.C., this morning. "But complacency when we lose 17,000 lives a year is not acceptable. Crashes, injuries and deaths from preventable behavior are not acceptable."

Rosenker's comments were Webcast this morning and are available for viewing online.

The Safety Board believes targeting what it calls "hard-core drinking drivers" is the key to reducing the number of people killed by drunk drivers. Such drinkers drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15 percent or greater, or they have been arrested for driving while impaired within 10 years of a prior DWI arrest. In the last 10 years, more than 92,000 people nationwide have died in crashes involving such drivers, according to the NTSB.

The NTSB estimates that a person makes 88 impaired driving trips before being arrested once.

"If an individual is drinking and driving enough times to be arrested twice, then that person definitely has a problem separating his or her drinking from driving," Rosenker said this morning.

>> Continue reading: R.I. falls short of NTSB's request to curb drunken driving

PROVIDENCE -- More than 1,200 amputees have returned from war in Iraq and Afghanistan and other anti-terrorist military action -- of those, 877 have lost major limbs, not fingers or toes. At least 12,000 veterans from the war are suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury, according to U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin.

With better body armor and more advanced emergency response teams available for U.S. troops, more veterans who would have perished in past conflicts are now surviving -- but they need critical rehabilitative care.

Top doctors working to revolutionize amputee health care and dramatically improve limb function will soon be working in a new $6.1 million building on the campus of the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center.

This morning, doctors and political leaders at a groundbreaking ceremony at the Chalkstone Avenue VA facility lauded the VA Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine. The center is a partnership between the Providence VA Medical Center, Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"More than anything, a veteran who has suffered an injury or mental illness would like to return to a normal life," Langevin said. "This center gives our veterans the tools they need to make that transition as smooth as possible - whether by performing all their daily activities, returning to work or running a road race."

>> Continue reading: Officials at VA groundbreaking laud improved care

Providence Journal reporters would like to speak with Rhode Island homeowners who have been affected by the big drop in home prices in the last quarter, July through September.

Have you had to sell or list your home for substantially less than you expected? Have you bought a home at a bargain price?

If you would be willing to share your story, please write to us at pjnews@projo.com. Include your name, e-mail address and a daytime telephone number. Thank you.

PROVIDENCE -- Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-winning actress Mariska Hargitay will speak tomorrow at a luncheon celebrating the local Day One's 35th anniversary.

The organization that began in 1973 as the Rhode Island Rape Crisis Center still has tickets available for anyone hoping to hear the actress, who plays NBC's Law & Order Special Victims Unit Det. Olivia Benson.

Tickets for the noon luncheon at the Westin Hotel are $125. Also, for $500, people can meet Hargitay and have their picture taken with her at a half-hour reception prior to the luncheon. However, those tickets are limited and anyone wishing to attend that reception should act quickly, according to spokeswoman Beth Bailey.

Day One reports that a sexual assault occurs every 90 seconds in the United States -- and most of those crimes are committed by someone the victim knows. Last year in Rhode Island, the agency reports that 605 sexual offenses were reported to police departments.

>> Continue reading: Law & Order's Hargitay to speak at local Day One event

PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Island will not have complete election returns until probably tomorrow.

The state Board of Elections and related staff closed up shop this afternoon without counting mail-in ballots, board executive director Robert Kando said. The estimated number to be counted: 20,000.

The reason the board decided to finish for today without counting the mail-ins, Kando said, is that staff worked until close to midnight Tuesday, Election Day.

"The staff needs to go home tonight," he said.

As for the turnout, Kando said it look as though Rhode Island has set a record. The mail ballot count is expected to confirm that.

After working since this morning, the board has updated its unofficial vote tallies online, to include ballots in Smithfield and Cranston that could not be counted last night.

This afternoon, officials were certifying those mail-in ballots to be sure they were legitimate and properly submitted. They expect to start counting them tomorrow. It's unclear how many mail-in ballots were submitted. Statewide, 26,375 voters requested mail-in ballots.

Although the new numbers on the board's Web site do not include the tallies of mail-in ballots, the Smithfield results thus far indicate a turnover in local control on the Town Council.

Of 13 candidates vying for positions on the Town Council, a seat goes to the top five vote-getters.

It appears that four incumbents -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- from the Democrat-controlled council have retained their seats. The fifth seat now appears to belong to Republican Maxine A. Cavanagh, who is edging out incumbent Democrat Bernard A. Hawkins by 82 votes.

The Smithfield ballots needed to be recounted due to a printing error.

In Cranston, a misfeed double-counted a group of ballots, forcing the recount today. The updated numbers, however, have not affected the outcome of the local races.

-- With reports from Journal staff writers Bruce Landis and Barbara Polichetti

PROVIDENCE -- The state Board of Elections expects thousands of Providence residents who have not registered to vote to turn out tomorrow at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, register and cast their ballots for president.

Throughout the state, anyone who has not previously registered to vote can cast a "same day" ballot for president and vice president if they are otherwise eligible to register to vote. They are not able to vote for statewide or local races tomorrow.
In most places, go to your community's city or town hall to cast a same-day ballot.

However, four cities and towns have set up special locations instead of town hall for such Election Day registration and voting. Those are: Coventry Town Hall Annex, 1675 Flat River Road; Little Compton, Wilbur McMann School, 28 Commons; Providence, Dunkin' Donuts Center, 1 LaSalle Square; and Smithfield Senior Center, 1 William J. Hawkins Jr. Trail.

It's difficult know how many people to expect at such same-day voting locations, but Board of Elections Executive Director Robert Kando based his projection for thousands in Providence this year on past year results. In 2004, more than 3,000 people in Providence who had not previously registered came out to vote, he said. In 2000, more than 2,500 people did so.

If you are registered to vote in Rhode Island but have since moved and not updated your voter-registration records, you have several options depending on when and where you moved, according to Kando.

If you've moved within the same voting district, go to the same polling place.

If you've moved within the same city or town but to a different voting district in the last 30 days, go to the polling place of your previous address or to the Board of Canvassers. If you made such a move 30 days or more prior to the election, go to the polling place of your new address or the Board of Canvassers.

If you've moved from one city or town in Rhode Island to another more than 30 days before the election but less than six months before, go to the Board of Canvassers of your former city or town. You'll be able to vote on a limited ballot, which includes the presidential election, congressional offices and statewide ballot questions. However, if you cannot or don't want to travel back to your former city or town, you can go to your new location's special voting spot for people who are just casting a ballot for president.

Also, if you've moved more than six months ago from one Rhode Island community to another, your only voting option is to vote for president only in your new location, Kando said.

If you are newly registering on Election Day and voting for president only, you may be asked to provide identification, but you are not required to have it, Kando said. If anyone who is not a Rhode Island resident, not a U.S. citizen or not 18 years of age votes, they are subject to prosecution for voter fraud, which is a felony, Kando said.

Whether you go to town hall or a special location, local elections officials will be on hand to help. You can register to vote and cast a ballot in the presidential race on the spot. And you are officially registered in Rhode Island for future elections.

Check out the Rhode Island Secretary of State's web site for last-minute voting options.

PAWTUCKET -- A man suspected of robbing the Shell Mart at 1414 Newport Ave. with a knife early yesterday morning is expected in Sixth District Court today on a first-degree robbery charge.

Around 10:20 last night, Lt. Kevin Crawley said detectives were still questioning the man. Crawley would not identify the suspect.

The robbery took place shortly after midnight Saturday.

Journal photo/ Bill Murphy
After protesting outside, members of Ocean State Action went into the State House this morning to deliver a book to Governor Carcieri, Personal Finance Workbook for Dummies. They met with a member of the governor's staff. Watch the video

PROVIDENCE - About 22 people outside the State House this morning wielded signs opposed to repealing the state income tax and chanted "Fair is fair!" and "Enough is enough!"

"Governor: No more shifting taxes onto our backs!" read the large black type on one of the white signs.

Ocean State Action, an economic and social justice coalition of about 19 groups, organized the rally after Governor Carcieri said in an interview with WPRO radio talk show host John DePetro on Tuesday that he'd rather tax "consumption" than income. Carcieri said he would "love to find a way" to eliminate the state income tax.

Karen Malcolm, the executive director of Ocean State Action, criticized such comments and said the governor was looking for "shock value." Behind her at 8 a.m. today, other signs read: "I shouldn't pay the same amount in Rhode Island taxes as a CEO."

"We're here today because we believe that the governor has just got to the point of being reckless in how he throws his comments around on talk radio," she said as the protest was just getting started. "We are in a crisis situation. We need real plans for helping guide our middle- and low-income families through this economic crisis."

At about 8:25 a.m., the group laid down their signs, marched up the white marble steps of the State House, and waited patiently as Capitol Police checked them through the metal detectors. They had a mission. They were carrying a bright yellow book inside to give to the governor because they said he could use it: Personal Finance Workbook for Dummies.

Governor Carcieri, who was scheduled to be in Exeter this morning, wasn't expected at the State House until about 11 a.m. today. Instead, the group met with his communications adviser, John Robitaille, who promised to carry their message -- and the book -- to the governor.

>> Continue reading: Group protests Carcieri's call for income tax ban / Photo

Test results today show total coliform bacteria is still present in one building at the University of Rhode Island's main campus in Kingston.

With that result, the state Health Department continues a boil-water advisory for URI's Biological Sciences Center, spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth said.

The university is now working with the Health Department to re-evaluate what corrective actions to take and to determine the best action to take, Beardsworth said.

People can continue to use the bathrooms in the building, but they cannot drink the water, Beardsworth said.

-- Journal Staff Writer Kate Bramson

PROVIDENCE -- In a state with a growing percentage of residents who are obese or overweight, Governor Carcieri this morning recognized five innovative programs that promote health and wellness among employees, students and average Rhode Islanders.

Winning the Governor's Awards for Wellness Innovation were Beacon Mutual Insurance Company for its 2007 fitness challenge, the town of East Greenwich for the parks and recreation department's Ramblers Hiking Group, Kent Hospital for its Kids Choose to be Healthy community-outreach program, Mount Hope High School in Bristol for its Healthy Huskies program and Shape Up Rhode Island for its annual statewide wellness and weight-loss challenge.

Addressing the winners at the State House this morning, Carcieri touted the benefits of preventive health care and wellness initiatives in delaying the onset of disease and keeping rising health care costs in check.

Toward that end, he spoke of an incentive program going into effect for state employees. Those who take an online health-risk assessment, visit their primary care physicians, undergo certain cancer and other health screenings will receive a $500 reduction in what they pay for their health-insurance premiums.

"I'm hoping $500 will really get people's attention," Carcieri said.

Such a program won't result in savings right away -- but will in years to come, said Dr. David R. Gifford, state health director.

One of the organizations recognized today for the wellness innovation award pays close attention to federal data on obesity and health issues. At Shape Up Rhode Island, senior consultant Ray Rickman said the percentage of Rhode Islanders who are overweight or obese has risen from 57 percent in June 2005 to 61 percent in June 2007, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PROVIDENCE -- Colorful plastic balls and gauzy, brightly hued scarves go whizzing through clear plastic air tubes as children -- and their parents and grandparents -- propel them through the curlicued structure that reaches toward the ceiling.

The balls pop out and bump people on their heads. The scarves dance out of the tubing and gracefully float to the ground or onto a child's head.

"This is so cool, Mom!" children shouted this morning as they gazed in wonder but also continued moving, rather frenetically, around the new Play Power exhibit that opened at 9 at the Providence Children's Museum.

This morning's rain was a welcome beckon back to the museum for children and parents who have missed one of their favorite indoor play spaces.

The museum closed for eight weeks so crews could replace nearly all of the building's aged windows, paint the entire inside of the museum, re-carpet the space, touch up old exhibits and build the latest installment at the museum.

Play Power greets the museum's visitors as soon as they walk inside. Today, by 10:40 a.m., about 100 people -- maybe 120 -- had already swept though the doors, admissions desk clerk Nick Curran guesstimated.

Without access to the museum the last two months, 3-year-old Rumi Spatzenegger describes what he did for fun recently in this way: "I stayed home for a long time."

Matteo Mazzenga, 4, was actually the first child back in the museum after its closure.
"We've just been waiting," said his mom, Pamela Mazzenga. "And Tuesdays are the day he doesn't have school, and it was raining, so what better day to come?"

Mazzenga worked diligently at his play -- creating chutes and tunnels along the curved steel wall so that he could drop a ball at the top and watch it wend its way down the piping he had set up.

"He loves this kind of thing," his mother said.

Video: Take a look inside the renovated Providence Children's Museum for yourself.

PROVIDENCE -- Nurse Debbie Beck believes this morning was the first time her young charge, Dante Pendleton, rode on a swing.

At the just-named Alan G. Hassenfeld Boundless Playground at Roger Williams Park, she lifted him out of his wheelchair and placed him on a reclining plastic swing with a firm protective chest and waist bar.

Safely secured in the red and yellow swing, Dante seemed to enjoy the back and forth motion. As his sneakers started to touch the ground, Beck moved quickly to rearrange him in the seat so he wouldn't bump those small feet.

Dante's smile grew larger and larger, captivating those around him. Beck was visibly excited.

Pendleton was among 12 children from the Meeting Street school's Bright Futures program, an infant through preschool program that integrates special needs children into the classroom.

The children came to play on what used to be known as the Hasbro Boundless Playground, which has undergone renovations and just re-opened this morning to fanfare as the city of Providence -- and Mayor David Cicilline -- renamed it in honor of Pawtucket-based toymaker Hasbro's retired chairman and CEO.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- University of Rhode Island police have been asked to probe what the school's provost calls "insensitive, inappropriate, and degrading messages relating to the race/ethnicity" of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama that were left on two public-access computers on campus.

"This type of behavior will not be tolerated in our community," Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald H. DeHayes wrote in a three-paragraph e-mail yesterday to the university community.

"While each of us is entitled to our own political views, none of us should be allowed to openly and maliciously insult others on the basis of race or religion without consequences," he said.

DeHayes said he has asked campus police to investigate the matter.

DeHayes initially wrote that the message "may rise to the level of a hate crime," but in an interview this afternoon, he characterized it as a form of hate speech.

DeHayes would not provide the exact contents of the message. He said the messages were found on a computer at Memorial Union, which is the student life building, and Swan Hall. The computers are accessible to the public, and the messages weren't necessarily left by a student, according to DeHayes.

He said the issue was brought to his attention by a student.

In his e-mail, he asked anyone in the university community to cooperate if they have information that may help URI identify who is responsible "for this despicable behavior."

"Such actions serve only to hurt members of our community and many others outside of our campus," DeHayes wrote. He closed his memo by apologizing to anyone who may have been hurt by the messages.

Calls to URI for more information last night were not returned. This morning, a URI spokeswoman said comments would come only from DeHayes.

About a dozen students surveyed on the Kingston campus today said they had no knowledge of what the computer messages might be. Some who had seen the e-mail from the provost said they were surprised by it, and friends they had checked with didn't know about the messages either.

Others hadn't even seen the e-mail from the provost, saying they get many e-mails to the community and didn't always pay attention to them.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- The University of Rhode Island's Kingston campus continues to rely on bottled water as the boil-water advisory issued Sunday remains in effect.

However, the most recent water samples tested by the university's lab were negative for any presence of bacteria. Tests last week revealed fecal coliform bacteria in the water system, which prompted the university to super-chlorinate its water system, beginning Friday.

The lack of bacteria in the latest water samples "confirms that the super-chlorination of the system at the BSC [Biological Sciences Center] was effective," according to the most recent statement issued by the university.

The bacteria found in the campus water system was located in the BSC building. Since that discovery, the campus has had to rely on bottled water or boiling any water before use. Bottled water continues to be available to resident students using the dining halls. A bottled water station at the Memorial Union will remain open through tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for students, faculty and staff.

The boil-water advisory is confined to the university's water system, which is separate from the system that serves nearby communities.

The state Department of Health said the university's water system remains safe for showering, bathing and washing, according to the university statement.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more about today in history.

WEST WARWICK -- Fire crews have responded to the report of a rollover car crash at 15 Bridge St.

Reports indicate people are trapped in the vehicle, according to West Warwick Police Capt. Mark Knott.

The accident happened around 1:45 p.m., he said.

A West Warwick fire dispatcher said the department had sent "all my equipment."

NORFOLK, Mass. -- More information may emerge today about how a 17-year-old Plainville girl died after attending a drinking party Friday night after her high school's homecoming football game.

The Norfolk District Attorney's Office is anticipating preliminary autopsy results as early as this afternoon, according to spokesman David Traub.

Taylor Meyer's body was found yesterday morning on the third day of a massive search for the teen, who was reported missing after a party at the abandoned Norfolk Airport.

Meanwhile, at King Philip Regional High School, where Meyer was a senior, counselors are meeting with students today.

Meyer's family has asked the district attorney's office to request privacy for the family, Traub said this morning.

WARWICK -- Jury selection is expected to resume today in the retrial of James Richardson, who is accused of killing Margaret Duffy-Stephenson of Warwick in 2005.

Richardson is charged with first-degree murder and burglary. Last year, his first trial ended in a hung jury. Jury selection in the new trial began yesterday.

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

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

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski
Students carrying flowers enter King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Mass., this afternoon. Grief counseling and a memorial service for senior Taylor Meyer were scheduled there tonight.

NORFOLK, Mass. -- A 17-year-old girl was found dead this morning by searchers in a swampy area thick with trees, near where she had been part of a drinking party after a high school football homecoming game Friday night.

"There were no visible signs of trauma," Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating said, on the body of 17-year-old Taylor Meyer of Plainville, Mass.

The Medical Examiner's Office in Boston will conduct an autopsy to determine Meyer's cause of death, Keating said.

Meyer, a senior at King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, was last seen Friday night at an outdoor party and bonfire with about 20 to 25 young people at the abandoned Norfolk Airport.

They had gathered there after her school's homecoming game, Keating said. He added that police reports indicated she had gone to the game, in which the school's unbeaten team posted another victory, over Fairhaven.

Meyer was reported missing Saturday afternoon; the search started that evening, according to the Norfolk police.

She had decided to leave the party and had started to walk away from the group and was in the process of calling for a ride, Norfolk Police Chief Charles H. Stone Jr. said today during a news conference.

"Everybody assumed that she went with someone else," Chief Stone said, "and that's why there was some delay" in reporting her disappearance.

Meyer was supposed to have spent the night at someone else's house, Keating said.

Police say Meyer placed a couple calls with her cell phone, but the last call was so garbled it was incomprehensible.

Authorities, including a metro SWAT team, used boats, dogs and a state police helicopter in the search.

Today, the high school was offering grief counseling to students, according to a notice posted on the school's Web site. Counselors will be available in the school's library this afternoon and this evening.

A memorial service has also been set at the school tonight, from 7 to 9 p.m.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from The Associated Press

>> Continue reading: Update: Searchers find body of missing Mass. teen

PROVIDENCE -- An unidentified male was shot early this afternoon inside a house in the city's Wanskuck neighborhood.

The police have no suspects at this time but believe there was one shooter, Det. Capt. Hugh T. Clements Jr. said.

The man was shot in the abdomen at about 1:30 p.m. today, inside a 2.5-story house at 39 Vandewater St., and he is in serious condition, according to Clements. The police would not say how many times the man was shot.

"We're working the investigation," Maj. Paul Fitzgerald said. "We do have some leads."

The victim was taken to the operating room at Rhode Island Hospital, according to the police.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

NORFOLK, Mass. -- The search for a missing Plainville, Mass., girl continues this morning in the vicinity of the closed Norfolk Airport, as state and local police search for the 17-year-old high school senior who was last seen Friday night.

Taylor Meyer, who attends the King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, attended an underage drinking party at the site of the former airport. She was reported missing Saturday afternoon, which prompted the search to start that evening, according to the Norfolk police.

Norfolk is northeast of Rhode Island, north of Wrentham, Mass.

Authorities, including a metro SWAT team, have used boats, dogs and a state police helicopter in the search. They say Meyer placed a couple calls with her cell phone, but the last call was so garbled it was incomprehensible.

The Norfolk Airport, at 61 River Rd., has been closed for a number of years.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from The Associated Press

PAWTUCKET -- Pawtucket-based Hasbro, Inc. today reported third-quarter net revenues of $1.3 billion, an increase of $78.9 million from a year ago.

That's an increase of 6 percent, or 5 percent, excluding the favorable foreign exchange impact of $19.4 million.

The company reported net earnings for the quarter of $138.2 million or $0.89 per diluted share, compared to $161.6 million or $0.95 per diluted share in 2007. The 2007 results for the quarter include a favorable tax adjustment of $29.6 million or $0.17 per diluted share. Excluding the impact of the favorable tax adjustment, 2007 net earnings for the quarter would have been $132.0 million or $0.78 per diluted share.

The growth in revenue is attributable to Star Wars, Playskool, Nerf, Furreal Friends, Baby Alive, trading card and board games, including Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Additionally, Transformers and Littlest Pet Shop continued to contribute significantly to the segment in the quarter, according to Hasbro.

PROVIDENCE -- If you haven't used your car's heater yet this season, today could be the day if you're driving anywhere early. It's chilly out there.

Luckily, though, it will warm up, and today may be the warmest and sunniest day of the week, so try to get outside and enjoy it a bit.

Expect a high near 58 degrees and sunshine. Tomorrow could be warmer, but rain is in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts from projo.com.

By Kate Bramson
projo.com staff writer

A couple willow trees grace Providence's Willow Street.

The city has intentionally planted Elms on Elmgrove Avenue.

And by now, five Sargent cherry trees should be reaching for the blue sky from their newly dug holes on the little one-block Sargent Avenue.

More than a dozen Sargent residents took a couple hours off from work today, played hooky from school or otherwise cleared their schedules to help the city plant about 15 trees in all on the residential street. They're part of the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program, which is planting some 30 trees today and which plants between 400 and 500 trees each year, according to Thomas Morra, the city's tree resource manager.

Planting started around 10 a.m. today.

Neighborhoods must organize and promise to help plant the trees and take care of them for the city to select them as planting locations. Residents aren't charged for the trees, which are planted on public land.

The city is particularly encouraging residents in certain neighborhoods to apply for trees because they have the most need for trees, according to program director Liz Downing. Those neighborhoods are Elmwood, Federal Hill, Olneyville, Reservoir, Smith Hill, Upper and Lower South Providence, Valley, Washington Park and the West End.

PROVIDENCE -- If you enjoy commuting in the moonlight, we hope you're working the early shift today. The sky was crisp and clear with a waning gibbous moon amid the stars shortly after 6.

We can expect a sunny day with a high near 63 today. Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a high near 54, according to the National Weather Service. This weekend looks like it will be chilly -- in the mid-50s -- but sunny, or at least partly sunny. Sunday might be a good day for a hike.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts from projo.com.

Mike Ritz, with slides in the background showing forms of interrogation, speaks to Johnson & Wales students today at the school's Pepsi Forum in Providence.

By Kate Bramson
projo.com staff writer

As the CEO of a program that tortured people who wanted "authentic military experiences," former U.S. Army interrogator Michael Ritz is well-versed about the controversial tactic known as waterboarding.

Today, more than 200 Johnson & Wales students watched a video in which he and others chained a willing participant down on his back, gripped a wet washcloth over his mouth, and poured water from a military-style water canteen and bucket onto his mouth and chest. By simulating drowning with this method, captors hope to encourage a captive to talk, Ritz explained.

Ritz first drew people to his Team Delta program while he was still in the U.S. Army, where he was an Arabic and Spanish interrogator. He left active duty in 1999 and continued to create a POW interrogation resistance program, similar to one used by the Army.

Now, Ritz still focuses on waterboarding and torture, but in a very different way. After training hundreds -- more men than women -- to withstand torture and other interrogation techniques, he said today he hasn't held a training for about two years.

Instead, he speaks out so that people can understand what happens when military personnel engage in torture.

"It doesn't work," he said today. It isn't reliable, and he's concerned about it being a viable option.

"I want it to be taken off the table," he said.

And instead of running a program on how to resist interrogation, Ritz now works as a fundraiser for The Genesis Center here in Providence, whose mission is to help people of diverse cultures become self-sufficient through education and services.

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PROVIDENCE -- With potential rain showers this afternoon, today likely won't be as nice a day as yesterday was.

Nevertheless, take advantage of the high near 69 if you can. The days are only getting colder as we head toward the weekend.

This morning's patchy fog may clear by 8 a.m., but the sky's likely to remain cloudy and gray.

Highs tomorrow and through the weekend will be in the mid- to high-50s. Lows will likely be in the high 30s and maybe up to 40 on Sunday.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts from projo.com.