Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE -- They're compositions by some of the great serious composers -- but on Halloween they're just more spooky tunes.

Tonight, at five minutes before midnight, a concert of organ music by such lights as Bach and Messiaen, provides a soundtrack to Halloween, at Brown University.

Bring your own pillows and blankets. Admission is free. It's at Sayles Hall on the Main Green, accessible from Waterman and George Street.

For more to do, check out our online calendar, projothebeat.com.

Make sure you feel well all winter -- drop into one of a handful of participating walk-in clinics around the state tomorrow and get vaccinated against the flu.

The state Department of Health has collaborated with primary care providers, mass immunizers and others to hold Rhode Island's first Flu Vaccination Day.

"Getting a flu vaccination every year is one of the easiest and most effective things you can do to protect you and your loved ones from getting the flu," said Dr. David Gifford, the director of the Department of Health. "Most insurances, including Medicare and Medicaid, cover the cost of it."

For some people, the flu can lead to more serious health complications. Those at risk include people 50 or older, those who have a long-term chronic health conditions, pregnant women, and those whose immune systems are compromised.

Eleven clinics will be open to the public:

• Cranston: Family Health Services, 1090 Cranston St., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Middletown: Newport County YMCA, 792 Valley Road, 1 to 4 p.m.

• Pawtucket: Boys & Girls Club, 1 Moeller Place, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
and Hillside Avenue Family & Community Medicine, 2 to 4 p.m.

• Portsmouth: Visiting Nurse Services, 1184 East Main Road, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• Providence: DaVinci Center, 470 Charles St., 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

• Scituate: Scituate High School, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Wakefield: Wakefield Mall, noon to 3 p.m.

• Warwick: Rhode Island Mall, 9 a.m. to noon

• Woonsocket: Our Lady of Martyrs Church, 1409 Park Ave., 9 a.m. to noon

• Flu clinics at Coastal Medical in Cranston (9 a.m. to noon) and Lincoln
Pediatric Associates (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) will be open only for their patients.

-- Journal staff writer Amanda Milkovits

PROVIDENCE -- The police this afternoon have identified a woman who was critically injured in a hit-and-run yesterday evening as 38-year-old Providence resident Michelle Nicholson.

Nicholson, of 170 Benedict St., remains in critical condition at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.

The incident happened at 8:20 p.m. near 589 Cranston St., the police said.

The police say the car that struck Nicholson was a 2005-07 model-year light-blue Mercury Grand Marquis.

The Providence police ask anyone with information to call (401) 272-3121.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

SWANSEA, Mass. -- Swansea Lounge Inc., the company that owns the Venus de Milo restaurant, will pay $160,000 in restitution and a $50,000 penalty to settle allegations the company failed to comply with Massachusetts' tip law.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's office announced the settlement today. The office started investigating in 2006 after getting a complaint that employees were not getting the proper amount in tips. Central to the investigation was whether the company had failed to distribute tips to the correct wait-staff employees, in violation of the tips statute.

The restitution will be paid to 345 current and former employees.

The company did not admit to violations of law, but agreed to the settlement to avoid more litigation, according to the Attorney General's office, which is charged with enforcing wage and hour laws that include wage and tip statutes.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

As Rhode Island suffers from the highest unemployment rate in the country, the state Department of Labor and Training's call center will be open to take regular and extended unemployment insurance claims every Saturday in November.

Hours will be 8 a.m. to noon.

The Saturday openings are in addition to regular call center hours:

* Mondays, Tuesday and Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

* Fridays: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Rhode Island had an 8.8 percent unemployment rate in September, surpassing Michigan for the highest rate in the country. More than 50,000 Rhode Islanders were unemployed in September.

To avoid times of high phone traffic, the department said it encourages Rhode Islanders filing for regular unemployment insurance claims to file online at www.dlt.ri.gov.

By Richard C. Dujardin
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The state's Roman Catholic bishop announced he plans to join with the anti-abortion group 40 Days for Life in praying outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Point Street at noon today.

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said he and others plan to pray the Rosary in memory of those "children whose lives have been ended by abortion and to promote a culture of life and a change of hearts in society."

"Abortion, the intentional killing of a human being before birth, can never be justified. 40 Days for Life is one of the many ways those who support a society that respects life may peacefully and prayerfully advocate on behalf of the unborn," he said. "As Rhode Islanders prepare themselves to vote, I pray that they will consider a candidate's position on the protection of innocent, human life prior to casting their vote."

According to the 40 Days for Life Web site, the group has participants in 179 communities in 47 states as well as the District of Columbia, American Samoa and two Canadian provinces who have been praying and fasting since early October for an end to abortion in America. The Planned Parenthood clinic at 111 Point St. is one of the places in the city where abortions are performed.

By Alisha A. Pina
Journal staff writer

EAST PROVIDENCE -- The contract for the city's about 500 teachers expires tomorrow on Halloween, creating the possibility of a teacher strike Monday.

Further mediated negotiations between the school district and local teachers union were cancelled after a session concluded late Wednesday night.

"We were unable to come to an agreement," confirmed Jeanette Woolley, who is a negotiator for the East Providence Education Association. "Obviously, the membership has to be informed of the situation and we'll do that Sunday."

The weekend meeting at noon in the East Providence High School auditorium will decide the next step the teachers want to take. Woolley would not comment about a potential strike.

"If they strike, we'll be in court and they'll go back to work in a day or two or they'll get arrested," School Committee member Anthony Carcieri said today. "What else are we going to do? There's no money and they've been living large for a long time and now we can't afford it."

East Providence has a growing $4.2 million school deficit, and the district recently filed a Caruolo action lawsuit against the city because it said the City Council didn't give them enough money.

>> Continue reading: E. Providence teacher talks stalled as contract expires

Democrat Barack Obama powered to an overwhelming presidential victory this week among thousands of Rhode Islanders -- except that they can't really vote for him yet.

Obama carried 72.07 percent percent of the votes in the state's Student Mock Election. Republican John McCain got 24.24 percent. Perennial third-party candidate Ralph Nader got 1.11 percent, and the rest of the presidential candidates each mustered below 1 percent.

Many schools in the state held mock elections as part of a national project, sponsored locally by Newspapers in Education program of The Providence Journal. It was the first time students could cast their ballots online. The online ballot included statewide referenda questions and a survey on what students believe is the most important issue in the campaign.

According to final tallies, from yesterday and today, 17,426 students voted in the mock election for president and state and local offices, with: 9,225 paper ballots, 4,483 on the National Student/Parent Mock Election Web site, and 3,718 on projo.com/nie's Web site.

Video: Rhode Island youngsters having their mock say in the voting booth.

Click continue for more tallies:

>> Continue reading: R.I. students give Obama landslide victory

CHARLESTOWN -- A 4 p.m. deadline passed today, and still two of the four Charlestown Town Council members did not attend a special meeting, leaving unresolved who will represent the town in a landmark Indian tribal land case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Town Solicitor Robert Craven said this afternoon that the Supreme Court is going to discuss the dilemma tomorrow morning. He thinks the court will issue some sort of direction on how to resolve it.

The nation's high court is scheduled to hear the case Monday.

Contrary to assertions from Governor Carcieri and state Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, Craven said he does not think the court will dismiss the case because the council could not meet today.

Earlier today, the governor and attorney general cited alarm "at the prospect of the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear the land-trust case because of the intransigence and narcissism of the Town of Charlestown's part-time lawyer," Joseph Larisa Jr.

Carcieri wants former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson to argue the case.

An emergency Charlestown council session set for 10 this morning on the issue was canceled because of a lack of a quorum. The 3 p.m. special session, originally scheduled to discuss a related land purchase, was on hold as town officials tried to locate the two council members.

Craven cited a provision that members could postpone the meeting in order to "compel" the other councilors to attend. Town Clerk Jodi LaCroix tried to contact Councilwomen Harriet A. Allen and Katharine H. Waterman to do so.

But it was to no avail.

Waterman declined to comment earlier today on her morning no-show. Allen did not return messages today.

More on today's case developments ....

-- projo.com staff writers Maria Armental and Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Randal Edgar

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Carl V. Dupre of Coventry, right, winner of the Scare Rhode Island competition, shares a jail cell today with filmmaker Michael Corrente, at the old Cranston Police Headquarters, where Corrente would like Dupre's movie to be filmed.

By Michael Janusonis
Journal arts writer

Michael Corrente today was at the abandoned Cranston Police Station to announce that Carl Dupre of Coventry had won the movie director's ScareRI competition with Shift Change, a horror movie set in a police station.

If the film is eventually made, Corrente said he would like to film it in the old Cranston lockup, the place where he had filmed an episode of the Brotherhood cable TV series.

Dupre beat out 319 other hopefuls, who had pitched their ideas to Corrente and his staff in September 2007. After three months that field had been narrowed to 58 who were then asked to write a script outline. Those writers were eventually whittled to 19; by the end of July, Corrrente and his staff "started to read and dissect'' those scripts, narrowing it down to Shift Change.

Now, said Corrente, he will work with Dupre on rewrites "to make the screenplay better.'' He hopes to produce 10 low-budget horror movies in a row, with budgets of $1 million or less, on Rhode Island locations starting possibly next spring.

Corrente said City Lights Productions, which released his last film, Brooklyn Rules, has come up with half the budget for the first film, with the other half from local investors. The idea is that once the first film is released, profits from it will finance the next film and so on down the line. He added that Shift Change would be fourth in line on the horror movie assembly line. Corrente said three other scripts that were not in his ScareRI project were already set to go.

>> Continue reading: Coventry screenwriter wins Corrente horror film contest

By Timothy C. Barmann
Journal staff writer

A toilet pipe in a bathroom became clogged at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston on Wednesday, causing disruptions for nearly 400 inmates in the minimum security facility.

The pipe overflowed, spilling waste water and fecal matter onto the floor of one bathroom in minimum security, said Tracey Poole, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. Some of the water leaked through the floor and into the light fixtures of a bathroom below, she said.

Water to the bathroom where the problem occurred, as well as to the bathrooms directly above and below, was shut off. There are 138 inmates in the unit where the overflow occurred, 110 inmates in the unit above, and 140 inmates in the unit below.

Poole said the incident happened Wednesday morning, and an outside company was on the scene between 11 a.m. and noon to clean up the mess and to fix the plumbing problem.

An hourly restroom run was established for inmates to use restrooms in other parts of the building, she said.

Poole said officials did not yet know what caused the blockage.

PROVIDENCE -- The mother of a 22-day-old baby girl hospitalized Saturday with a fractured skull and facial injuries was arraigned in District Court, Providence, and released on personal recognizance.

Stephanie Marques, of Malvern Street, Pawtucket, is charged with child neglect and obstructing a police investigation. She was arrested Wednesday. She is next due in court Dec. 18, according to the District Court clerk's office.

Marques' boyfriend, Michael Patriquin, 23, the father of the baby, was charged Saturday with first-degree child abuse in connection with the case.
The police charged Patriquin after they were called to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence Saturday for a report of possible child abuse. According to a release from the Pawtucket police, medical staff at Hasbro say the baby, born Oct. 8, is recovering.

The Department of Children, Youth and Families has taken custody of Marques' 2-year-old daughter.

By Gina Macris
Journal staff writer

TIVERTON -- The teachers union, whose 200 members have been working more than a year without a contract, says its negotiators have given the School Committee what it wants, but the committee keeps changing its position.

School Committee vice chairman Michael Burk says the union's math doesn't add up, although the two sides were "very close" when the committee made its latest proposal on Tuesday.

Union president Amy Mullen said negotiators reached a tentative agreement at the bargaining table Oct. 15, but Schools Supt. William F. Rearick reneged on his promise to ask the full committee to vote on the pact. The union cast a "no confidence" vote on Rearick last week.

School Committee chairwoman Denise deMedeiros, meanwhile, said "it is no coincidence that this is coming six days before the election."

deMedeiros and another incumbent, Sally Black, are seeking re-election. Teachers who live in town have signs on their lawns promoting other candidates, deMedeiros said.

Mullen said, "We just want a fair contract."

Meanwhile, the committee on Tuesday approved an administrators' contract with a year's retroactivity. It provides for 2 percent raises in each of the first two years and links salaries to whatever teachers might be paid in the third year, 2009-10. Beginning this year, administrators will pay 15 percent of the cost of health insurance. They have yet to ratify the agreement.

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.
Journal staff writer

BARRINGTON -- Because Halloween is tomorrow, students are out of school Tuesday for Election Day, and Wednesday marks the anniversary of a tragic auto accident in town, the police department will be stepping up its party patrols over the next several days, said Chief John LaCross.

Last Nov. 5, Jonathan Converse, then a junior at Barrington High School, was killed on New Meadow Road. He was a passenger in a car driven by an intoxicated classmate, who slammed the vehicle into a tree. It was one of a series of alcohol-related incidents that racked the town last year.

"Some people grieve by drinking," said LaCross. "We want to make sure the kids are safe."

The patrols check on parks, wooded areas that serve as hangouts, beaches and the East Bay Bike Path for instances of underage drinking, drug use or other problems. The officers who work extra hours for the patrols are mostly paid from federal funds.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today it is fining Arkwright Inc., now renamed Océ Imaging Supplies, Inc., up to $200,000 for violating the Clean Air Act at its facility in Coventry.

The company makes coatings for paper, film and other media to make them compatible with computer printers. The plant, in Coventry's Fiskeville section, is under new ownership and doing business as Arkwright Advanced Coating, Inc.

The EPA alleges that Arkwright, now known as Océ, failed to adequately capture pollution emitted by two coating lines, resulting in excess emissions of volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants.

The company continued to operate one of the coating lines for approximately three and a half weeks after it learned that the capture system was not functioning as required. In addition, The company failed to submit timely and accurate compliance reports.

The inspection took place over several days in May 2007, the EPA said. The company was sold after that time.

The EPA says exposure to hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds can pose a serious risk to workers and the public. Volatile organic compounds also contribute to the formation of ozone (smog), which can damage lung tissue and reduce lung function. Children, the elderly, people with lung disease, and people with asthma are most susceptible.

-- Journal staff report

WARREN -- An East Greenwich man is accused of robbing a 27-year-old woman at a bus stop in Warren Monday. He allegedly theatened to shoot the woman if she did not give him money.

Steven Bishop, 24, of 37 Castle St. was arrested on a warrant yesterday and charged with second-degree robbery, the Warren police said today. Bishop was arraigned in District Court, Providence, and bail was set at $25,000 with surety, which means posting 10 percent of that in cash or the full amount in property.

The woman -- who was not identified -- called Warren police headquarters Monday at about 10:05 p.m., and said that while she was waiting for a bus at Main Street and Miller Street, a white male wearing a hooded sweatshirt told her he had a firearm in his pocket and demanded money.

She initially resisted, but Bishop allegedly threatened to shoot her, according to the police. He fled with cash, the police said.

The police said they found witnesses and a videotape from a local business, which led to Bishop's being charged.

The police have not recovered a gun.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Head to Brown University for a sonic experience tonight.

Known as "Automatic Nervous Response," the ongoing project is said to explore extreme states of body interaction with sound. Lyn Goeringer (video, sound) and James Moses (spatialization, EQ, sound). It is at 8 p.m. at Grant Recital Hall, corner of Hope Street and Young Orchard Avenue in Providence.

Projothebeat.com, the Journal's online calendar of things to do, describes it as a concert/installation that explores the limits and boundaries of sound for the listener by "bypassing the hearing mechanism listening experience" and pushing sound directly into the body using frequency control and volume.

PROVIDENCE -- At least 500 members of the city's six unions turned out Wednesday evening to protest a change in their health care benefits.

The protestors confronted Mayor David N. Cicilline's when he arrived at a downtown fund raiser at a restaurant in Waterplace.

Cicilline's administration this month awarded two separate three-year contracts, one to United Health Care to administer its medical benefits and another to CVS/Caremark to handle its prescription drug coverage.

The decision to break the city's decades-long relationship with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island in favor of the two-way split will save about $7.8 million over the life of the contracts, according to Cicilline's administration.

But the unions, which together represent municipal employees, teachers, police officers, firefighters, school clerks and administrators, are critical of the deal. Among concerns is city employees will not have as many options in choosing doctors under United, a fear that city officials say is unfounded.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Philip Marcelo

By Tatiana Pina
Journal staff writer

PAWTUCKET -- The mother of a 22-day-old baby girl hospitalized Saturday with a fractured skull and facial injuries has been charged with child neglect and obstructing a police investigation.

The police said they charged Stephanie Marques of Malvern Street, Pawtucket, today. Marques is being held at the Pawtucket police station for a District Court arraignment tomorrow.

Her boyfriend Michael Patriquin, 23, the father of the baby, was charged Saturday with first degree child abuse in connection with the case. Patriquin is a private first class with the Rhode Island National Guard, 56th Troop Command.

Police charged Patriquin after they were called to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence Saturday for a report of possible child abuse. According to a release from the Pawtucket Police, medical staff at Hasbro say the baby, born Oct. 8, is recovering.

The Department of Children, Youth and Families has taken custody of Marques' 2-year-old daughter.

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.
Journal Staff Writer

SOMERSET, Mass. -- A long-running controversy over property once owned by a former town official came to an end today. A Superior Court judge ruled that Somerset's building inspector correctly granted permits to build homes on four parcels.

Judge Richard T. Moses rejected allegations by the Planning Board that the permits were illegal because special permission should have been sought to put the homes in the town's water resource protection district. The decision means homeowners on the North Street properties will not have to seek retroactive approval from the Planning Board.

Board Chairman Timothy Turner said he would not seek to appeal the ruling, but said his board was right to challenge the legality of the development. Former Zoning Board member Arthur Gagnon, the developer, used a loophole in the bylaw to bypass water resource protection district rules, he said.

Gagnon, whose interpretation of the bylaw has now been supported by both his former colleagues on the Zoning Board of Appeals and by Judge Moses, said this afternoon he was not surprised by the ruling.

"It should never have gone to court. The building inspector was the authority, he said the land was good, and he gave permits," said Gagnon. "It was all political."

By Bruce Landis
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darrigan this afternoon dismissed ethics charges against former Senate President William V. Irons, ruling that a Constitutional provision intended to protect legislators from outside interference bars the state Ethics Commission from prosecuting Irons because of his votes and other legislative activity.

If the decision stands, it could demolish the commission's ability to prosecute state legislators for violating the state Code of Ethics based on their votes or other legislative activity.

Robert Arruda, the Operation Clean Government member who filed the complaint against Irons in 2004, called the ruling "absurd" and said it will "open up the possibility for so much abuse" by legislators.

Commission lawyer Jason M. Gramitt said he expects that the commission will appeal Darrigan's ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Earlier this month, Irons learned from federal prosecutors that he was no longer a target of the State House influence-peddling investigation called Operation Dollar Bill.

JOHNSTON -- Fifteen acres of Mathewson Farm will be preserved now that the state Department of Environmental Management has obtained the land's development rights.

The land will be used for agricultural purposes and as open space, the DEM said in a news release today.

The Mathewson family "provided a significant donation of land value" because the cost of acquiring the development rights -- a method used by many agencies and organizations to protect land from development -- was $100,000, even though the development rights are appraised at $735,000. The DEM said that farms remain working farms and in private ownership when the state obtains the development rights. In force are easements, which mandate that a piece of land remain an agricultural use.

Mathewson family members have owned the farm for more than 200 years. According to the National Register of Historic Places, the DEM said, as a well-preseved family farm, it is significant to the town's agricultural history.

There's the farmhouse, for instance, built in the late 18th century, which the DEM said is a "fine example" of a rurally-located building "displaying the symmetry and details of Federal style architecture." And there's the barn complex, an example of timber-frame building, that was put up in the first half of the 20th century.

On the property as well are a family burial ground, a silo and a henhouse.

Matt Tracy and Catherine Mardosa lease three of the acres from the Mathewsons to grow organic vegetables under the name Red Planet Vegetables, which was founded in 2004 and sells organic products to some Providence-area restaurants and at farmers markets. They also use 2 wooded acres for what the DEM called a maple syrup venture.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

By Tatiana Pina
Journal staff writer

WOONSOCKET -- The police have arrested a 19-year-old Woonsocket man in connection with the killing of 22-year-old Robert Jones, found shot in his apartment at 425 Diamond Hill Road around midnight Sunday.

Jones was taken to Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, where he was later pronounced dead.

The police said they arrested David A. Montero, of Cottage Street, late Tuesday night. Montero was held overnight at the Woonsocket Police station.

This morning, Montero was taken to District Court, Providence, where he arraigned on charges of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary. Montero will be held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, pending a bail hearing Nov. 12 in District Court.

The police declined to give further details saying they did not want to jeopardize the investigation of the case.

DURHAM, N.H. -- The U.S. Forest Service and state agencies across the Northeast say residents can help protect forests by buying and burning only local firewood this winter.

They say moving firewood long distances can speed up the spread of invasive pests that can devastate forests.

Foresters recently found an Asian longhorned beetle infestation in firewood that had been hauled from Worcester, Mass., to Rhode Island.

Vermont Forest Health Specialist Jay Lackey said many people haul firewood to seasonal homes for hunting or skiing and summer vacations. He said it's important that the word get out to leave firewood at home.

-- The Associated Press

By Tatiana Pina
Journal staff writer

CENTRAL FALLS -- A 24-year-old woman is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions after she allegedly punched a six-month-old baby in the eye, and also assaulted the baby's mother and the grandmother Sunday evening, according to the police.

The baby and mother sustained minor injuries and were taken to Hasbro Children's Hospital, according to Capt. Kevin Guindon.

Crystina Rosario, of 250 Rand St., Central Falls, was charged Monday in District Court, Providence, with two counts of simple assault and a felony count of battery by an adult on a child under 10 years old. The police said she had an outstanding bench warrant in Superior Court.

Rosario was arrested Sunday around 6:29 p.m. at her apartment after she allegedly provoked a fight with the 23-year-old mother of the baby. After visiting her 69-year-old grandmother, the mother decided to visit a friend on another floor with her baby when she ran into Rosario in a hallway.

Rosario, who the police say weighs 300 pounds, began yelling at the woman and wanted to fight her. The woman told the police she tried to calm Rosario and told her she would not fight with a baby in her arms.

Rosario approached the woman and punched the baby in the left eye with a closed fist, the woman told police. She said the baby gasped for air and looked stunned and she gave the baby to her grandmother. Rosario punched the mother's face and pushed the grandmother while she was holding the baby, according to the police. The grandmother refused medical attention.

The American Civil Liberties Union's Rhode Island chapter asserts in a federal lawsuit that the city of East Providence violated former state Sen. Michael J. Damiani's rights by requiring him to pass a physical exam before becoming an assistant harbormaster.

The City Council last year violated his rights under employment and anti-discrimination laws, the ACLU argues.

Damiani, a longtime Democrat who was a 10-year District 18 senator, retired from the General Assembly in 2006.

Members of Harbor Commission and City Council asked him to be an assistant harbormaster, which, the Journal reported in May, pays $2,500 annually. The appointment came before the council in April 2007, and another councilman, Robert Cusack, allegedly raised concerns about Damiani's health.

Damiani has said Cusack, who was the board's only Republican, broke several laws while discussing his medical condition in public. The council unanimously appointed Damiani, but with the proviso that he be cleared medically with a physical and other tests, the Journal reported.

The ACLU news release today said that at the time, there was no requirement for assistant harbormasters to undergo a physical exam before appointment. The lawsuit asserts that a month later, the council approved two other nominees for the position without the requirement.

The ACLU argues Damiani's rights were violated under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the state Fair Employment Practices Act. On July 17, the state Commission for Human Rights issued a finding that "probable cause" existed to believe his rights had been violated under state law, according to the ACLU.

"Specifically the commission found that the plaintiff had proven that he was subjected to disparate treatment on the basis of disability or perceived disability," the lawsuit says.

The suit seeks a court order declaring the city's actions illegal, allowing Damiani to take the job, and awarding damages and lawyers' fees.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with Journal archival reports

LITTLE COMPTON -- A Little Compton officer whose police gear was stolen last week while off duty in Portsmouth has been suspended without pay for 48 "working hours" and put on six months' departmental probation, a police department news release states.

An internal affairs investigation determined the officer, Costantino G. Natale, 32, of Portsmouth, had inadvertantly forgotten his equipment. According to the police report, the items stolen included his department-issued gun, his leather duty belt, a baton, handcuffs, department-issued pepper spray, three magazines containing 12 bullets each, his uniform, badges, bullet-proof vest, backpack, running shoes, and credit card.

The suspension is equivalent to one work week plus eight hours, the news release from Police Chief Sidney Wordell said. The probation is effective as of yesterday.

The weapon and other equipment were stolen in Portsmouth from the pickup truck of Natale, who was off duty at the time last week. The gun and the other items have been recovered, the police have said.

Natale inadvertantly forgot the equipment after preparing to go to work for a last-minute overtime shift, but having to cancel from the shift, he "failed to secure his firearm per department policy," the statement says.

Natale had been on administrative leave, as is standard procedure, pending the conclusion of the internal investigation, which was conducted by Lt. Antone Marion III.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with Journal archival reports

Extra: Read the police report

>> Continue reading: Police officer suspended after gun, uniform stolen

Journal photo / Frieda Squires
Kris Maynard, 20, left, and Danny Descosiers, 19, right, special needs students at Hope High School, get help from teacher's assistant Harold Pace, center, as they get ready to stock 14 bags with food donated by Whole Foods at their new food bank.

By Linda Borg
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Whole Foods is putting its money where its mouth is. The high-end natural foods store has opened its first food bank in a public high school, Hope High School.

The idea grew out of a conversation between a marketing representative from Whole Foods and a couple of teachers from the school on the city's East Side. Chelsea Barton-Karnes, of Whole Foods, had approached Hope's Arts Community about displaying student work at the Waterman Street store.

During their conversation, the teachers mentioned that Hope has many children whose families struggle to make ends meet. In fact, 80 percent of the 24,000 students in Providence's public schools receive free or reduced price lunches, which means they live at or near the poverty line.

"We need to do something about this," Barton-Karnes said, and the idea for a food pantry was born.

Guidance counselors, who typically have the closest relationships with students, identify which teenagers are struggling financially. Twice a week, teachers from Hope pick up boxes of mostly non-perishable food items that are then distributed to about 20 teenagers in innocuous-looking backpacks.

Adding a special touch to the program, the food pantry will be managed by a dozen special needs students, who painted the storage room, built and stocked the shelves and packed the bags.

At today's official kick-off for the program, Barton-Karnes said she hopes this will spur similar partnerships between Whole Foods stores and other schools.

WARWICK -- Jurors in the retrial of James Richardson, accused of murdering Margaret Duffy-Stephenson of Warwick in 2005, today are hearing a police detective talk about blood stains, footprints and hair found at the scene.

Under cross examination in Kent County Superior Court, Warwick Det. Barbara Frazier said hairs and fibers were found in the body bag in which Duffy-Stephenson was placed. One hair matched Margaret Duffy-Stephenson and another, Richardson.

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

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

Defendant Richardson worked for the landscaping business owned by Duffy-Stephenson's husband, James Stephenson III, and he routinely house-sat for the family when they went on vacation.

Richardson is charged with first-degree murder and burglary. His first trial, last year, ended in a hung jury.

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

By Gregory Smith
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The police are paying special attention to an armed robber who has held up two apparel shops on Thayer Street and roughed up a store clerk.

The suspect, according to detectives, might be responsible for at least two more holdups, of another apparel shop, on Douglas Avenue, and a Dunkin' Donuts, at 50 Admiral St.

The robberies being investigated, among others, occurred at Nava and Foreign Affair, on Thayer Street, which were held up last week.

Detective Lt. Robert Lepre said today that extra police have been assigned to patrol the East Side in the hope of catching the robber. In the process, he disclosed, they caught a mugger at Hope and 12th streets in an unrelated incident Oct. 22.

ATTLEBORO, Mass. -- A homeless man who stole a $1 bill and a bag of empty cans from a 10-year-old girl has been sentenced to nine months in jail.

Robert Rowell Jr. pleaded guilty on Monday to larceny in Attleboro District Court, and was credited with three months already served while awaiting trial.

Authorities say the 44-year-old Rowell was one of two men who robbed the girl as she was headed to a local market to cash in the cans on July 16.

The case against his co-defendant, 50-year-old Kevin Egan, is pending. He is free on bail and due back in court Nov. 20 for a pretrial hearing.

-- The Associated Press

(Information from: The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro)

TIVERTON -- There was an electrical accident in Tiverton today in which a man came into contact with a power line, according to National Grid spokeswoman Debbie Drew.

Further information was not available. A Tiverton police dispatcher said officers who could speak to the press are gone for the day. A message left at the Tiverton Fire Department has not been returned.

By Mike Stanton
Journal staff writer

Thomas A. Lynch, the former Warwick state senator and $250,000-a-year chief lobbyist for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, has been notified by federal authorities that he is no longer a target of the State House corruption probe, Operation Dollar Bill.

A spokesman for U.S. Atty. Robert Clark Corrente confirmed today that a letter was sent to Lynch last week, informing him that he is no longer the target of a federal grand-jury investigation in the case.

In 2002, Lynch urged skeptical subordinates at Blue Cross to bankroll a public-access cable television show on health care co-hosted by a powerful state senator, John Celona, who chaired a Senate committee regulating health care. Celona's cable show became must-see TV for federal corruption investigators, touching off a wide-ranging influence-peddling probe has resulted in the convictions of Celona, former House Majority Leader Gerard M. Martineau and former Roger Williams Medical Center president Robert A. Urciuoli.

Operation Dollar Bill also resulted in landmark agreements between federal prosecutors and Roger Williams and Blue Cross, in which the companies admitted to wrongdoing by executives, implemented internal reforms and paid millions of dollars toward affordable health care in Rhode Island.

The scandal also resulted in the resignation of former Senate President William V. Irons, another target -- but last earlier this month Irons also received a letter from the U.S. attorney's office stating that he is no longer a target of an investigation into his insurance dealings with Blue Cross and CVS.

>> Continue reading: Alert: Lobbyist Lynch no longer target of corruption probe

BOSTON -- An Attleboro manufacturer will pay $2.3 million to settle allegations it broke state pollution laws in the second largest environmental protection settlement in Massachusetts history, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office announced today.

The chemical plant, owned by Somerset, N.J.-based Zinsser Co. Inc., makes a range of materials used in the production of everything from pharmaceuticals to varnish.

The state accused it of inaccurately reporting its emissions of certain organic compounds that can cause smog. It also said the plant didn't accurately report its use of toxic chemicals and dumped polluted wastewater into the nearby Ten Mile River.

"Companies that use dangerous materials and emit pollutants into the environment have to be held to a very high standard of care," Coakley said.

Zinsser's executive president of operations, William Whiting, said the company continued to "have substantial differences of opinion on the merits of the claims." He said the plant was "a small or minor source of regional emissions."

"Importantly, any emissions from this facility have been brought into compliance," Whiting said.

He added the company was pleased to resolve the issue in a way that benefits local residents. The payment includes a $2 million civil penalty and $300,000 for two local environmental projects - one involving a riverbank and water improvement project in downtown Attleboro and another that would cut down pollution by idling diesel locomotives.

-- The Associated Press

By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- A former organizer for the Laborers International Union of North America and a Seekonk-based contractor were charged in a federal criminal complaint this afternoon with conspiring to make and receive kickback payments from employers to labor union officials.

Harold Tillinghast, 44, of Cranston, the one-time union organizer, and Gerald Diodati, 59, of Seekonk, were each charged with conspiracy to make illegal payments to a union official. They appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond, who released them on $25,000 unsecured bond.

Tillinghast is the nephew of mob hitman Gerald Tillinghast, who was released from prison last year after spending 30 years behind bars for a gangland slaying. Upon his release, Diodati hired Gerald Tillinghast to work for his construction company.

In 2002, the FBI launched an undercover investigation and formed a construction firm, Hemphill Construction, in a business plaza in Johnston off Route 6.

In 2003, an undercover agent, posing as a Hemphill official, met with Tillinghast and Diodati, according to an affidavit filed in support of the case. Diodati agreed with others to make payments to Tillinghast, the affidavit says. A few months later, Tillinghast told Diodati that he would try to get Hemphill a demolition contract with a redevelopment project in Providence.

According to the affidavit, in May 2003, Tillinghast met with Diodati and the undercover FBI agent in Hemphill's offices. After discussing the project, Diodati gave Tillinghast an envelope containing $2,000.

The FBI, federal Department of Labor, Rhode Island State Police and Providence police worked on the investigation. It is being prosecuted by Scott Lawson and Vincent Falvo, of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section.

By Philip Marcelo
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Mayor David N. Cicilline presented this morning a wide-ranging plan that would reduce the city's contribution to global warming, see city spending in alternative sources of energy, and position the city as a leader in the emerging green-collar economy through workforce training and investment in energy efficient constructions.

The 45-page Greenprint Providence outlines a number of initiatives in eight key areas, including energy, green buildings, public spaces, transit, recycling, purchasing, water and green jobs.

The announcement at the Gordon Avenue Business Incubator in Elmwood was Cicilline's first mention of the strategic plan for creating a more sustainable city, a process that has been going on for the past year, he said.

"This is a really important step to being a part of a larger effort in this country to wean ourselves from dependence on foreign oil and take better care of our environment. This has the potential to transform or local and state economy," Cicilline said. "Our past leaders led the Industrial Revolution. Now we have the chance to lead this revolution."

The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority received a $500,000 check this morning to help with "development, design and installation of the E-ZPass" toll system on the Pell Bridge.

David Darlington, the authority's chairman, said in a statement from U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy's office that E-ZPass is "on target" to begin in mid-December. It will be the first place that the electronic toll system is used in Rhode Island. Darlington credited Kennedy in helping obtain the federal money.

The bridge authority will start taking E-ZPass applications on Nov. 3 at its administration office next to the Jamestown toll plaza.

A driver sets up an account, prepays tolls and attaches a small electronic device to his or her vehicle. Tolls are automatically deducted from the prepaid account as an E-ZPass customer passes through the toll lane.

Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, presented the check to the authority today, saying in the statement: "The E-ZPass program is a proven winner. It is user friendly and will move traffic quickly over the Pell Bridge."

During November, E-ZPass applications will also be available at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, in Newport, and at Building 80 and the Community Cllege of Rhode Island's Newport Campus.

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center will be open Nov. 4, 6, 13, and 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. The CCRI Newport Campus will be open Nov. 6 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Nov. 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Nov. 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Applications will be online starting Dec. 8. For information, go to www.ritba.org.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

BANGOR, Maine -- A 49-year-old Florida man is going to prison for 76 months for his involvement in a crack cocaine scheme in Maine.

Pedro Julio Rosario of Groveland Park, Fla., was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

According to court documents, Rosario and another man were arrested in September 2007 while attempting to deliver nearly 4 1/2 pounds of crack cocaine to another person in Brewer, ME. Rosario and his co-defendant had driven from Rhode Island to make the delivery.

Rosario pleaded guilty in March. After serving his prison sentence, he will be under five years of supervised release.

-- The Associated Press

There's a chance of rain tonight, but betting on that chance becomes much less of a gamble during the day tomorrow, when the National Weather Service forecast shows 90 percent likelihood of precipitation.

The weather service says strong winds in southern New England are expected late tomorrow and into tomorrow night. The wind advisory is in effect from 2 p.m. tomorrow to 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Southwest winds are expected to rapidly increase between 2 and 5 p.m. tomorrow -- sustained winds will average 20 to 30 mph with 50 mph wind gusts possible, the weather service said.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts at: projo.com/weather

By Gina Macris
Journal staff writer

BRISTOL -- The Rhode Island Veterans Home, sharply criticized in a recent report for past management practices that intimidated some residents and alienated their families, has turned a corner.

That was the message from The Governor's Advisory Council on Veterans Affairs, which held an emergency meeting today to discuss the recent release of a caustic report from a Special House Commission to Study Potential Administrative and Functional Improvements to the veterans' home.

All agreed with a recommendation that the state needs a new veterans home, but members of the advisory council took issue with the way the report characterized the facility as "dilapidated," one saying that "old and tired" is more like it.

In many respects, the emotional climate that gave rise to the Special House Commission and its investigation no longer exist at the veterans' home, by all accounts.

In August 2007, the state Department of Human Services replaced the long-time administrator, David Kirchner, with an interim director, William Camara.

Camara, now acting deputy director of DHS, turned over day-to-day operations to a new permanent administrator, retired Brig. Gen. Rick Baccus, in August of this year.

The special commission, which released its final report a couple of weeks ago after an intermim report in July 2007, applauded the appointment of Baccus, who said today that the veterans' home has been "moving forward" with changes recommended by the study panel for more than a year.

>> Continue reading: Council: R.I. Veterans Home has turned a corner

The state Health Department today lifted the boil-water advisory in all but one of the buildings at the University of Rhode Island's main campus in Kingston.

The advisory stays in force at the Biological Sciences Center on the campus's north end. Water in all other buildings is safe for drinking and cooking.

Annemarie Beardsworth, a Health Department spokeswoman, said although the problem has been isolated in the Biological Sciences Center, it is still not clear what exactly was causing the contamination.

The advisory was in place all of last week and through the weekend before today's announcement. It went into effect after tests turned up fecal coliform bacteria in the campus water system.

Initially on Friday, officials sent out a statement saying they expected the advisory to remain at least through Tuesday, but that was before state health officials approved a plan by URI to install an isolation valve to contain the suspected source of the contamination.

URI replaced water taps and "problem plumbing connections" in the center, and installed the valve that prevents water from flowing back into the campus water system from the building's service line.

"The mechanisms they put in place are producing the results we want," Beardsworth said. But those in the center still need to boil water until there are three days of all clear testing, she said.

J. Vernon Wyman, URI's assistance vice president for business services, declined to say what might have caused the contamination in the Biological Sciences Center.

He said he was advised by the Health Department not to speculate as to the cause because doing so may lead people not to follow the boil-water directive, he said.

Officials said they needed three clear test results in the area outside of the building to lift the general water advisory. The boil-water advisory is limited to the university's water system, which is separate from the system that serves nearby communities.

The university's dining services is working with vendors to re-establish ice- and drink-machine services.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney and Journal staff writer Timothy C. Barmann

A Portsmouth youth who is one of four teens accused in the theft of a police officer's weapon and other gear from a truck parked in his driveway is due back in court tomorrow on a previous charge.

Judge Stephen P. Erickson today in District Court, Newport, set bail at $10,000 for
Kyle Atkinson, 18, of 208 Water St., Portsmouth. Atkinson was charged with receiving a stolen firearm, conspiracy to steal a firearm, and a felony count of receiving stolen goods. The other charges also are felonies. It could not be determined immediately whether he had posted bail.

Atkinson is slated to return to court tomorrow to face proceedings from a previous case, one in March where he was charged with a misdemeanor count of larceny. The court in that case set the charge aside for a year, meaning that it would have been dismissed and Atkinson's record would have remained clear had he remained out of trouble with the law during that period.

The weapon and other equipment were stolen from the pickup truck of an off-duty Little Compton police officer last week.

The gun and the other items have been recovered, the police said. No details were given on how or where they were found.

-- Journal staff writer Thomas J. Morgan and projo.com staff writer Maria Armental

>> Continue reading: Update: Teens arraigned in theft of officer's gun, gear

By Lisa Vernon-Sparks
Journal staff writer

EAST GREENWICH -- Tomorrow, town officials plan to dedicate a new 13-acre waterfront park at the site of a former landfill on Crompton Avenue during a small ceremony at the site, marking the completion of a $1.6 million landfill capping project that voters approved in 2006.

The park that features majestic vistas of Greenwich Cove in Narragansett Bay doesn't even have a name yet. It's not scheduled to open until late next month.

It will have benches, picnic tables, parking, foot paths, landscaping and an abundance of trees. Ultimately, state Department of Transportation officials will build a bridge over the Maskerchugg River connecting the Warwick-East Greenwich Bicycle Path to Forge Road in Warwick. The bicycle path, a part of the statewide bicycle network, is only partially completed along Post Road.

"The state will build a bike path along the perimeter of the [former] landfill. Right now we have a walking path," Town Manager William Sequino Jr. said. "It's more of a scenic overlook than a park. It will provide a wildlife habitat. You'll have the views of the cove and the boats. It will be fantastic."

NEWPORT -- Organizers of the Newport International Film Festival warn the annual event may be shut down unless they can raise tens of thousands of dollars in the coming weeks.

Last summer's festival ended $60,000 in debt, and organizers say they need an additional $40,000 in startup costs for this year's event.

Alan Weiss, the chairman of the board, told The Newport Daily News he is seeking $100,000 to cover debt and operating expenses. He says the festival is in bad shape because of dwindling ticket sales and fewer sponsors.

The film festival started in 1998 and has hosted actors including Claire Danes and Nick Nolte.

-- The Associated Press

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.
Journal staff writer

BARRINGTON -- It was billed as a student assembly to celebrate the school's science test scores. But that was just a ruse.

Instead, the students and faculty cramming the multipurpose room at the Hampden Meadows School were treated with the announcement that Jennifer Theroux, a fifth grade teacher, had been awarded the $25,000 Milken Educator Award in Rhode Island.

"Anyone who knows me knows I'm never speechless," said Theroux, surrounded by beaming students, Governor Carcieri and state and local education officials. "But in front of all these people, I am a bit nervous."

She said she was overwhelmed by the honor, but "I feel extremely lucky to teach in a building [where the staff] collaborates constantly."

"Mrs. Theroux is awesome," student Margaret Miniati said. "She always has new challenges for us and she always makes learning fun and energetic, and she sings and lot and dances, and we just have a lot of fun."

By Tatiana Pina
Journal staff writer

CENTRAL FALLS -- Two men were stabbed early Sunday during an apparent altercation as people were leaving El Chapin Restaurant, the police said.

Jose Figueroa, 28, of 70 Spring St., Marlborough, Mass., and Melvin Calderon, 26, of Cross Street, Central Falls, were taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. Figueroa suffered a puncture wound to a lung, according to Police Chief Joseph Moran. He was in fair condition, Moran said. Calderon received a stab wound to his arm.

The incident happened around 1:16 a.m. as people were leaving the restaurant bar at the corner of Dexter and Rand streets.

The police are investigating a possible connection between the stabbing and a car with people inside that was seen in the vicinity, Moran said. No weapon has been recovered, he said.

Rhode Island sold some $25 million in bonds today to individuals and small businesses in the state, according to General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio's office.

The remainder of the $350 million issue of tax anticipation notes was sold through institutional investors, the treasurer's office said.

The bonds were priced to yield 2.2 percent, below initial estimates last week of 3 percent because of the heavy demand, the treasurer's office said.

PAWTUCKET -- The father of a baby girl has been charged with first-degree child abuse after the infant was hospitalized with serious head trauma, including a skull fracture and facial injuries, the police said this afternoon.

Michael Patriquin, 23, of Malvern Street, Pawtucket, was arraigned in District Court today and ordered held on $100,000 bail, the police said in a statement.

Police were called to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence on Saturday for a report of possible child abuse that happened in Pawtucket.

The infant, born Oct. 7 and now 20 days old, is in serious, but stable condition at the hospital and released from the Intensive Care unit today, according to the police.

The police said that, at this time, she is expected to recover from the injuries but testing continues at the hospital.

Patriquin lives on Malvern Street with his girlfriend, who is the child's mother, the child and a 2-year-old daughter.

Investigators from the state Department of Children, Youth and Families have taken custody of the 2-year-old.

Pawtucket police and DCYF are continuing the probe. Police said the names of the mother and the children are being withheld.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

A majority of school bus drivers and aides who work for First Student Inc. and serve North Smithfield voted today to unionize.

They will form the union with District 1199 Service Employees International Union, according to an SEIU New England news release.

According to the union, the result came in a secret-ballot vote supervised by the National Labors Relations Board. The employees could choose between two unions, District 1199 SEIU and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 618, or choose no union. The union said the vote was: 20 votes for District 1199 SEIU, 4 for ATU Local 618 and 10 votes for neither union.

By Katie Mulvaney
Journal staff writer

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has suspended a former state senator accused of mishandling his clients' mortgage money from practicing law.

Chief Disciplinary Counsel David D. Curtin alleged in a petition to the court that Patrick T. "Tim" McDonald of Narragansett "engaged in serious professional misconduct" by misappropriating $163,087 in two home purchases he handled this year.

The petition was scheduled to be heard by the court in conference last Thursday, but McDonald did not file an objection and waived his right to appear, Curtin said.

The court ordered Curtin to take possession of McDonald's files and accounts, according to a news release. The interim suspension will be followed by the filing of formal disciplinary charges, Curtin said.

The state police are also investigating.

McDonald represented South Kingstown and Narragansett from 1996 through 2002 before being defeated by James C. Sheehan in the then-newly reconfigured District 36.

Tonight's scheduled demolition work on the old Route 403 bridge, at exit 7A over Route 4 in East Greenwich, has been postponed.

The state Department of Transportation said today that half of the bridge's deck was removed last night. The rest was slated to be removed starting at 9 p.m. tonight and continuing to 5 a.m. tomorrow, and possibly tomorrow night.

But the DOT said in a new advisory that tonight's work is postponed, without saying why. The statements said the DOT will send out another news release with details "as they become known."

Once the deck is removed, the bridge's steel girders will be taken apart. That should be done by week's end. Next week the concrete center pier and the bridge's abutments are expected to come down, the DOT said.

For project updates and road openings and closings, go to RIDOT's Web site at www.dot.ri.gov. RIDOT's customer service office can be reached at 401-222-2450 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

A Providence County grand jury has found the actions of East Providence police officers were "lawful and legally justified" in the death of a man while in custody earlier this year.

The announcement was issued this evening by Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's office.

Leonel Farias, of East Providence, died while in police custody on Feb. 27. In July, the Office of State Medical Examiners said Farias died because of "sudden death complicating Excited Delirium Syndrome due to chronic schizophrenia." A state Health Department spokeswoman said at the time that Excited Delirium Syndrome is a "life-threatening medical condition characterized by acute delirium due to, in Mr. [Leonel] Farias' case, schizophrenia."

Farias waved a knife at the police and struggled with them after he had a violent outburst in his home at 153 James St., East Providence.

In February, sisters of Farias did not deny that he waved a knife at the police and struggled with them, but they did express criticism of the police, asserting that officers continued to beat Farias even after they begged them to stop.

East Providence's police chief in a March 1 Journal article defended the actions of the officers. Chief Hubert J. Paquette said in a statement at the time that his officers "exercised great restraint during this potentially deadly encounter."

The chief added in that statement: "Rather than use deadly force, the officers risked great personal injury in an attempt to restrain [Leonel] Farias" and said that "unfortunately, Mr. Farias fell unconscious and sometime later expired following a violent struggle in which officers sustained injuries."

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with Journal archival reports

JOHNSTON -- A Johnston woman must serve 11 months of probation and pay $1,000 for muzzling her two pit bull dogs with tape and leaving them without food or water while she went to the hospital to give birth.

Diana Tetrault pleaded no contest Friday to a misdemeanor count of unnecessary cruelty to animals. A judge ordered her to continue mental health counseling.

The police said neighbors heard the dogs whimpering and told investigators they hadn't seen anyone visit the woman's apartment for two days. An officer found the animals emaciated and suffering from wounds from electrical tape wrapped around their snouts.

Tetrault did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

-- The Associated Press

NEWPORT -- The city has received more than $430,000 in federal funding to repair seawalls damaged by a major storm last year.

Eight hundred linear feet of seawalls along Ocean Avenue, a major tourist attraction in the city, were eroded by an April 2007 nor'easter.

The state transportation department said Friday it had helped Newport get $431,600 from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The city will be administering the project.

-- The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE -- Two men in the vehicle that police said tried to run over an East Providence police officer yesterday -- leading the officer to fire at the vehicle -- were arraigned in District Court, Providence, today.

Zachary Q. Hazard, 20, of East Providence, pleaded no contest to conspiracy to the attempted larceny and injuries, attempted larceny under $500 and tampering with a motor vehicle. He received a one-year suspended sentenced and one year's probation.

Ro O. Flowers, 21, who originally gave a Providence address when arrested but said he was living in Kansas at arraignment, had bail set at $25,000 surety, which means posting 10 percent of that in cash or the full amount in property, according to East Providence Police Chief Hubert Paquette.

Flowers is charged with felony assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless/eluding high speed pursuit, operating on a suspended license, conspiracy to attempt larceny, tampering with a motor vehicle, and attempted larceny under $500.

Patrolman Ryan Vose has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, which is standard procedure, Paquette said.

Vose was working undercover when he fired at the vehicle as it tried to run him over in a parking lot off Veterans Memorial Parkway yesterday afternoon, the police have said.

Hazard and Flowers were not injured and eluded the officer but they were arrested minutes later near Exit 7 on Route 195, near the Massachusetts line. Their vehicle had a flat tire.

The incident happened about 4:30 p.m. as the officer did surveillance of the lot, that overlooks the bike path and Narragansett Bay. He was on foot and in plain clothes, Paquette said yesterday. He had been assigned to the area in response to a recent car breaks and larcenies.

The officer at first saw two women stretching and preparing for exercise on the bike path. Then, the police said, Vose saw a vehicle enter the lot and park, and saw one man get out of it, run to another vehicle and smash the window.

Vose approached and displayed his badge, according to the police, and the man returned to the vehicle. Then, the driver aggressively drove toward the officer.

No one, including the officer, was injured, according to the police.

The vehicle sped away.

Police Lt. Bruce Kidman spotted the suspects and their vehicle about 15 minutes later and called for support. Officers converged on the vehicle near the Route 195 exit and made the arrest.

The men were arrested without incident.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney and Journal staff reports

A boil-water advisory will remain in force through at least Tuesday at University of Rhode Island's Kingston campus while officials wait for three consecutive days of water testing to turn up negative for the fecal coliform bacteria that led to the boil-water advisory and precautions throughout this week.

The Rhode Island Department of Health today received a test result that was positive for fecal coliform in URI's water system. The advisory does not affect water systems of surrounding communities.

The university's dining halls shut down the soda fountain and coffee and milk machines and sanitized them. They have not been put back into service, and the university is giving out water bottles and cartons of juice. Water fountains have signs posted on them that they're not in service.

A bottled-water station in the Memorial Union will remain open through today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for students, faculty and staff.

The bacteria that led to the boil-water advisory this week was found during routine weekly tests in the Biological Sciences Center building. The advisory is limited to the university's water system -- separate from the system that serves nearby communities.

The Health Department recommends all water be boiled for one minute and allowed to cool before using to kill bacteria and other organisms in the water. Bottled water can also be used.

Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth or food preparation.

However, students can use water for showering or bathing unless they have an open wound. Any questions about showering or bathing with this water should be directed to a person's healthcare provider.

The boil-water advisory will end when there are negative water test results for three consecutive days. Daily testing is done at multiple points in the URI water system.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney with Journal staff reports

WARWICK -- Officials are gathering here this afternoon to celebrate preservation of 41 waterfront acres of the former Rocky Point amusement park.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. James Langevin, Mayor Scott Avedisian and other officials attended.

Since the park went bankrupt and its assets were auctioned, the city has sought to have much of the shoreline and a large piece of the 120-acre tract preserved for the public.

Purchasing the 41 acres resulted from cobbling together more than $4 million in state, local and federal grants.

The state Department of Environmental Management provided $1.4 million and Reed secured a $2.25-million federal grant. The city contributed $800,000.

"This is truly a landmark acquisition. We didn't purchase the Tilt-a-Whirl or the Flume, but the greatest attraction of Rocky Point has always been the view of Narragansett Bay. That view, along with the shoreline and these scenic 41 acres, is what we were able to save and preserve for future generations," Reed said in a statement.

Langevin said in the statement: "I was happy to help obtain federal funding for this project through the years. For too long the Rocky Point property has been closed to the public but with the hard work of federal, state and city leaders that is changing today."

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Jane Olszewski of Corporate Accountability International watches as state senator and restaurant owner, Joshua Miller tastes different bottled waters to see whether he could tell the difference between tap water and bottled water. linkWatch the video: Many people can't tell the difference. Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

By Peter Lord
Journal environment writer

The owners of four Providence restaurants joined a national campaign today by agreeing to not serve bottled water to their patrons.

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline also announced that he plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday banning the use of city funds to purchase single-use bottled water in city offices.

Cicilline said bottled water is wasteful because companies charge 1,000 to 10,000 times more for it than city tap water, and about 25 percent of all bottled water actually comes from the tap. Also wasteful, he said, is the cost of transporting the bottles and disposing of the empties.

Deborah Lapidus, national organizer of the Think Outside the Bottle Campaign, said corporate water bottlers use advertising to make people question the safety of tap water, even though tap water is more regulated than bottled water. She said, "Corporations are transforming water from a low-cost public resource to a high-priced luxury."

Participating restaurants are Local 121, Trinity Brewhouse, the Hot Club, and Benders Caffe.

By Mark Reynolds
Journal staff writer

EAST PROVIDENCE -- The police have taken two men into custody after an undercover officer fired two shots in their direction late this afternoon.

The incident happened about 4:30 p.m. in a parking lot near the East Bay Bike Path and Veterans Memorial Parkway, the police said.

The officer was conducting undercover surveillance when he saw a suspect break into a vehicle. A confrontation ensued. The suspects got inside their vehicle and drove at the officer, prompting him to take two shots at the driver of the vehicle, the police said.

The men, who were not hurt, fled the scene in the vehicle, the police said. They were caught by East Providence police about 15 minutes later on Route 195 east near exit 7.

The police have not identified the police officer or the two suspects.

The suspects' arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow morning in District Court, Providence.

The incident had caught the attention of evening commuters, who saw several police cars gathered on Veterans Memorial Highway, and an area by the bike path that had been roped off. A state Transporation Management Center alert about a lane being closed near Exit 7 had linked it to shots fired.

TIVERTON -- Getting gas service restored for some 826 affected North Tiverton customers -- both residences and businesses -- is a task that apparently will last through the night, according to a National Grid spokesman.

National Grid officials had been working to pinpoint and resolve a distribution system problem that resulted in a dramatic gas pressure drop.

To fix the problem, National Grid personnel will have to go to each affected address, turn off the gas meter, monitor what is going on in the residence or business, then return to the address and turn the gas back on, officials said at a 4 p.m. media briefing in Tiverton.

As part of the process, the system, which is full of air, has to be purged so that gas can be put back into the system. Once the system is re-pressurized with gas, then personnel go back to each and every customer to turn the service back on.

Shortly after 7 p.m., National Grid spokesman David Graves said about 10 customers still remained to have gas shut off. Because many meters are inside residences, accomplishing that takes more time because people may not be at home.

The fire department and emergency management officials planned on working through the night.

The disruption comes at a time when the National Weather Service is forecasting a freeze warning, starting at 10 p.m. Temperatures are expected to drop into the mid-20s to lower 30s overnight, through much of southeast Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts.

Tiverton Fire Chief Robert Lloyd emphasized at the briefing that there is no danger to people.

However, many people may not become aware of the problem until they arrive home to find there is no gas.

Tiverton officials learned this morning there was a problem with low gas pressure in the distribution system. The affected customers are in the North Tiverton area, from the town's Stone Bridge section to the Fall River, Mass., line.

Sakonnet Bay Manor on Main Road, where some 150 elderly people live, is among those affected by the loss of gas. However, there are backup systems there, including electrical heat and another system.

Marisa A. Albanese, a Rhode Island Red Cross spokeswoman, said the Red Cross is offering shelter at Tiverton Middle School on Quintal Drive. Albanese said she did not anticipate large numbers of people seeking the shelter.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer W. Zachary Malinowksi

>> Continue reading: Update: Getting gas back in Tiverton may take all night

A car -- apparently related to an incident in which shots were fired at East Providence police this afternoon -- was stopped in the exit 7 area of Route 195 east, closing the right lane in that area, the state Transportation Management Center reported at 4:40 p.m.

That is the exit for Route 114, which goes through East Providence and into East Bay communities.

In East Providence at this hour, several police cars and what appears to be a crime-scene van are gathered at a location on Veterans Memorial Parkway. A section of the bike path, which runs parallel to the parkway, has been cordoned off.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Linda Borg

PROVIDENCE -- A New Jersey man today was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison for money laundering, after immigration agents last year followed him to South Kingstown, where he picked up a bag containing more than $220,000 tied to drug trafficking.

Charlie Vu, 46, of Jersey City, N.J., was sentenced to 30 months in prison by Judge Mary M. Lisi in U.S. District Court in Providence, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente's office.

Vu pleaded guilty in April to money laundering.

Prosecutor Mary E. Rogers said at the plea hearing that the government could show that, on May 11, 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents trailed Vu, who was driving his Nissan Pathfinder from New Jersey to a South Kingstown parking lot, where he made a cell phone call and met with an unidentified man in a restaurant parking lot.

After the two spent about a half hour in the restaurant, the man handed a duffel bag to Vu, who put it in the back of his SUV and started to drive back to New Jersey. State Police stopped Vu's SUV and, after he consented to their searching it, seized the bag and found inside it five bundles of cash totaling $220,270.

Vu at first denied knowledge of the bag, but later at the Hope Valley State Police barracks, conceded to ICE agents that he was to be paid $1,000 for the trip to Rhode Island and suspected that it was connected to something illegal, either drugs or money, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

At the barracks, a dog detected presence of drugs in the duffel bag.

Vu admitted he had made a similar trip to Massachusetts, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Vu was allowed to leave Rhode Island at the time. In October 2007, a grand jury indicted him on one count of money laundering.

Vu has been free on bond and must report to federal prison on Dec. 9. Immigration and Customs Enforcement forfeited the cash to the government. The money will go toward financing future criminal investigations, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Traffic appears to be backing up on Route 95 north through Providence, where the state Transportation Management Center reported at 3:45 p.m. that a car accident was blocking the right center lane at Exit 23.

TIVERTON -- "Many" residences and businesses that have natural gas heating here have been affected today by a disruption to a portion of National Grid's gas distribution system, according to a National Grid spokesman.

The disruption comes at a time when the National Weather Service is forecasting a freeze warning for tonight, starting at 10 p.m. Temperatures are expected to drop into the mid-20s to lower 30s overnight, causing freezing conditions through much of southeast Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts.

Spokesman David Graves said a media briefing is scheduled at 4 p.m. at 85 Main Road in Tiverton with the town's fire chief.

He said National Grid does expect to have a timeline at some point later this afternoon for restoring service.

More details were not available from Graves.

According to Jocelyn Cashman, bartender at Buddy's Place, a Portuguese restaurant at 79 Main Road, the gas pressure was too low to light the pilot light on the stove around 11 this morning when workers were preparing to open the restaurant, and they did not know why.

Cashman said management at Buddy's, which is right next to the fire station at 85 Main Road, has been told service may not be restored before Friday night.

The loss of gas service affects Buddy's "tremendously," Cashman says, but they do have a grill going outside to prepare food for patrons.

"A lot of people have no idea," there is no service for many natural gas customers in town, Cashman says, "because they're still calling for takeout."

At Coastal Roasters, a coffee shop at 1791 Main Road, where they roast their own espresso beans to serve espresso to patrons and to sell wholesale, they had planned to roast 30 to 50 pounds of beans today, according to barista Ian MacNaught. But the coffee roaster runs on natural gas, and they have been unable to roast any today, he said.

So far they've been able to meet their customers' demand for espresso, MacNaught says, but they are now running low on beans.

Most every appliance in the coffee shop is electric except for the roaster and the heat, but with everything on, the temperature in the shop is comfortable for now, MacNaught says.

PROVIDENCE -- A person was reported shot in the vicinity of 220 Lenox Ave. today.

Providence rescue was sent to the area at 12:50 p.m., according to James Taylor, chief of communications for the Providence Fire Department, and the victim brought to Rhode Island Hospital.

It was not known whether a male or female had been shot or the person's condition.

Earlier this week, a 27-year-old man was shot once in the chest as he and two other men sat in a sport-utility vehicle parked partially on a sidewalk. The Journal reported the shooting arose from a robbery attempt Monday afternoon at Elmwood and Lenox avenues in the city's Elmwood section. It was one of several shooting incidents in Providence at the start of the week.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

At a time when Rhode Island holds the dubious distinction of having the highest-in-the-nation unemployment rate, Governor Carcieri says he will convene an economic forum to come up with solutions to pull the state "out of the recession," create jobs and economic growth.

The Nov. 6 forum will be at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, two days after the national and local elections, the Republican governor announced today.

Economists, business, labor, and community leaders, as well as elected officials, will participate, the governor's office said.

"As the state and the nation continue to face difficult economic times, we must intensify our efforts to improve the Rhode Island economy," Carcieri said in the statement. "The challenge of the next few weeks is how we, as leaders, put Rhode Islanders back to work, advance Rhode Island's economic recovery, and ease the burden on taxpayers."

Carcieri said he's asked Rhode Island's top business and labor leaders, policy makers and academics to work with his office to "identify the root cause for Rhode Island's historical pattern of being the first to feel a national recession and the last to pull out from economic downturns. We need to better understand what is broken if we are to fix the problem."

The forum's goal, the governor's office says: Identify clear priorities and initiatives to help advance the economy. Some initiatives developed as a result of the forum may need the General Assembly to return to the State House for immediate action.

But, Carcieri said, "We cannot wait until January to have this discussion."

in a report today, The Journal surveyed several business and community leaders on their ideas for dealing with the financial downtown, and what can be down to help turn it around in the next 90 days.

A federal report released Tuesday said Rhode Island's unemployment rate of 8.8 percent in September ranked highest in the country, just ahead of Michigan's. The Journal reported that Rhode Island has often recorded jobless levels near the top, but this is the first time it ranked highest in the country since comparable data started being compiled 32 years ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

NORTH KINGSTOWN -- Rhode Island motorists have a new way of reaching the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown.

The state Department of Transportation Thursday opened another segment of Route 403, connecting Route 4 to the state's largest industrial park, where about 8,500 people work.

Work on the $130 million project began in 2001 and officials say work will continue for about another year on two ramps.

Governor Carcieri hailed the new highway as "a key part of the economic infrastructure of our state."

Read today's Journal story: Drivers on Route 403 now have direct access to Quonset Business Park

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Police and firefighters have responded to a report of a spill of about 70 gallons of home heating oil inside a Taunton Avenue liquor store, according to the police.

A portion of the road in the area of the Jordan's Liquors at 199 Taunton Ave. has been blocked off so that crews can get on scene.

PROVIDENCE -- Andrew T. Bessette, a Lincoln teenager charged in a 2007 car accident in which his 15-year-old cousin died, will be tried as an adult in Superior Court, after a Family Court judge waived the case out of his jurisdiction.

Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. said today the defendant had not adequately demonstrated that keeping the case in Family Court would sufficiently rehabilitate Bessette.

Jeremiah said he was also troubled that on the morning of the accident Bessette had been lectured by one of his teachers about the dangers of speeding and how he might kill somebody by driving fast.

That conversation was spurred, the police said, when a teacher heard Bessette bragging how he had driven more than 100 mph on Route 95.

The accident happened on Oct. 15, 2007, when, the police said, Bessette's car struck a tree on the side of Wilbur Road, killing one of his passengers, cousin Marissa A. Lorea, a Lincoln High sophomore.

Another passenger, Lincoln High student Amanda Coderre, fractured her neck.

Police statements gathered at the scene said that Bessete estimated he was traveling at about 70 mph in a 25-mph zone. A police reconstruction of the accident agreed with that estimate.

Bessette is facing felony charges of driving to endanger, death resulting, and reckless driving, serious injury.

Bessette is one of the "gap kids," 17-year-olds charged during a six-month period in 2007 when a new Rhode Island law mandated that 17-year-olds be treated as adults by the courts.

The state Supreme Court ruled this July that dozens of gap kids charged as adults during the 130 days are entitled to Family Court hearings to see if they should be tried in adult courts.

-- Journal staff writer John Hill and projo.com staff

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

The 7:30 event is at McCormack Family Theater

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-- With Journal archival reports

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

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

The prosecution says Richardson knew the safe contained money.

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

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

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

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

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

By Tom Mooney
Journal staff writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes, your honor," he replied.

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

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

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

Tonight at 7 at Brown University, catch the Missiles of October , presenting viewpoints on the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

The film examines President Kennedy's task of avoiding war without compromising national security. It's a 1974 made-for-television dramatization that may briefly remind one of social studies class.

For more of what's happening, go to projothebeat.com.

By Barbara Polichetti
Journal staff writer

WARWICK -- A clerk in the city's tax collection office has been accused of tampering with a city computer to show that a relative's account was paid to date when it was actually delinquent, according to police.

Maj. Joseph H. Tavares said that Tammy Crabtree, 41, of 84 Gayton Ave. in Warwick, was arrested today at City Hall and taken to the police station where she was charged with the felony offense of tampering with a city computer.

Tavares said the investigation is continuing, but apparently Crabtree's sister gave her money to pay her tax bill a while ago. But, police allege, Crabtree kept the money as she tried to resolve personal financial problems.

Tavares said that Crabtree then allegedly accessed the city's tax records so she could produce documentation that would make her sister think the taxes were paid.

The amount of tax money in question is a little over $1,000, Tavares said, but the sister has declined to press charges.

Crabtree is being held at the Warwick Police Station to appear before a bail commissioner sometime tonight.

The boil-water advisory remains in force at the University of Rhode Island's main campus in Kingston, the state Health Department said this afternoon.

As of today, not all of the URI water system's waters samples taken Sunday turned up negative for fecal coliform bacteria. The advisory will be lifted when test results for three consecutive days turn up negative for the bacteria.

A Health Department news release says testing is daily at "multiple points" in the URI water system. Results take 24 to 48 hours to get.

Updates on the boil-water advisory will be posted on the Health Department's Web site. Or call the department's information line at 1-800-942-7434, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

By W. Zachary Malinowksi
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The brother of Mayor David N. Cicilline reported to a federal prison in Massachusetts today to begin serving an 18-month sentence for participating in a shakedown scheme to grab $150,000 from a couple that was arrested on drug charges.

John M.Cicilline, a prominent defense lawyer, surrendered to the authorities sometime before 2 p.m. at the federal prison at Fort Devens, which is in central Massachusetts about 20 miles north of Worcester.

At his sentencing last month in U.S. District Court in Boston, Cicilline, 51, who has three daughters, asked that he serve his sentence where his family could visit him on a regular basis. Fort Devens, which has 1,109 inmates in its medical center and 103 prisoners in its prison camp, is the closest federal prison to Rhode Island.

Other notable Rhode Islanders who have spent time in Fort Devens are Frank Corrente, director of administration for ex-Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., and Joseph Pannone, a tax official in Cianci's City Hall. Mobster Anthony "The Saint" St. Laurent also has spent years in Fort Devens.

Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., another well-known Rhode Island lawyer, who also pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from the scheme, reported today to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. He is serving a sentence of 21 months.

That prison, which houses 2,558 men and women, is near Gowanus Bay between 2nd and 3rd Avenues on 29th St.

Cicilline, 51, of Narragansett, and Bevilacqua, 59, of West Warwick, both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements.

As part of their plea agreements, both lawyers, who were once law partners, have surrendered their licenses to practice law.

The criminal case against Cicilline and Bevilacqua dates to 2002 when federal agents and local police seized more than $1.3 million in cash and nearly five pounds of marijuana from John C. Mendonca and his wife, Jacqueline. They were arrested outside a motel in Warwick.

>> Continue reading: Brother of Mayor Cicilline reports to federal prison

PORTSMOUTH -- A semiautomatic handgun owned by an unidentified Little Compton police officer and several other items, including a baton, handcuffs, ammunition, two uniforms and a badge, were stolen from the officer's parked car while he was off duty here.

The police reported the theft about 5 p.m. They declined to name the Little Compton officer, say where the car was parked or to release other details of the theft.

-- Journal staff writer Gina Macris

WARWICK -- A jury of 11 women and five men has been selected for the retrial of James Richardson, who is charged with first-degree murder and burglary in the slaying of Margaret Duffy-Stephenson of Warwick in 2005.

Jury selection finished today in Kent County Superior Court. Lawyers' opening statements may begin tomorrow afternoon, but first the jury is slated to view the house where Duffy-Stephenson's body was discovered.

The first trial of Richardson ended in a hung jury.

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

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

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

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

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford

It is anticipated an autopsy will be conducted tomorrow on a 17-year-old Plainville, Mass., girl who was found dead in the wake of a drinking party at an abandoned airport, according to a spokesman for the District Attorney's office.

Law-enforcement officials said yesterday that there were no visible signs of trauma.

On Friday night, law-enforcement officials said, Taylor Meyer, a senior at King Philip Regional High School, in Wrentham, watched her school's unbeaten football team post another victory, over Fairhaven, at the annual homecoming game.

Afterward, they said, the girl was among 20 to 25 young people who drove to an airstrip at the abandoned Norfolk Airport where they gathered around a bonfire, drinking.

At some point that night, it is believed Meyer left the party and started to walk away from the group and that she was using her cell phone to call for a ride.

She was reported missing on Saturday afternoon. Law-enforcement authorities searched over the weekend, including a metro SWAT team, boats, dogs and a state police helicopter.

Yesterday, in a swampy, wooded area north of Miller Street, just southeast of the abandoned runway, search dogs picked up a scent and, at midmorning, about 100 yards north of that road, they found Meyer's body.

CRANSTON -- A Pawtucket man is charged with kidnapping and felony assault after he allegedly threatened several people with a small handgun, forced a woman he was dating into a car and drove into Providence this morning, according to the police.

Derek Taylor, 31, of 20 Armistice Boulevard, is scheduled to be arraigned in District Court Wednesday in Warwick.

He also faces others charges in the alleged incident, including carrying a dangerous weapon when committing a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a crime of violence, according to the police.

At 9:45 a.m. today, Cranston police went to 244 Montgomery Ave. after a 911 call reporting a male forcing a female into a vehicle and fleeing. People who knew Taylor and knew his car made the call, according to the police.

A short time later, Providence police spotted the car. Providence and Cranston police found Taylor at 46 Payton St., Providence. The victim, whose name the police did not disclose, was found unharmed at the same address, the police said.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

By Tatiana Pina
Journal staff writer

CUMBERLAND -- A young woman and her 86-year-old grandmother were taken to the hospital after the young woman lost control of the vehicle they were in and went into a gully off West Wrentham Road.

The accident happened at noon today when Nicole Crawley apparently lost control of her vehicle at the bend of the road, according to Deputy Chief Michael Kinch.

The Fire Department used its hydraulic system to pry Nicole's grandmother, Irene Crawley, of Scarborough Road, from the car, which had flipped on its side, Kinch said.

The elder Crawley, who complained of pain, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. A hospital spokeswoman said Crawley's condition was unavailable.

Nicole Crawley, also of Scarborough Road, was taken to Landmark Medical Center after complaining of minor pain. She was listed in stable condition, a spokeswoman said.

Kinch said that police had filed no charges.

WEST WARWICK -- A silver Nissan hit a fire hydrant, continued for about 30 feet, struck a parked truck, went into the air and flipped over this afternoon on Bridge Street.

The driver and front-seat passenger have been taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.

The car was heading on Bridge Street toward Providence Street when it drifted onto the other side of Bridge Street, struck the hydrant, and came to a stop in front of 13 Bridge St.

The two men in the front seats were unconscious and taken to Rhode Island Hospital. A man in the rear seat who had minor injuries and complained of some pain was taken to Kent Hospital.

The crash pulled back the car's roof, and responders used an extrication device to cut passenger-side door beams, which had pinned a passenger.

The West Warwick police are working to determine whether speed may have played a role. Bridge Street's limit is 25 mph.

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

>> Continue reading: Update: W. Warwick car crash takes a toll

PROVIDENCE -- The police today identified the man shot in a 39 Vandewater St. house in the Wanskuck neighborhood yesterday as 37-year-old Michael Ricci.

Ricci was said to be in stable condition today after surgery at Rhode Island Hospital.

The shooting happened between 1 and 1:30 p.m. yesterday in a 2½-story apartment house. Ricci lives in a first-floor unit. It was the first of two shootings within a few hours in the city; the second was during a robbery attempt.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

PROVIDENCE -- A 17-year-old Providence male has been charged with shooting a man he was trying to rob, in an SUV occupied by the victim and two other men.

The victim, Hector Alicea, 27, of 42 Academy Ave., Providence, is at Rhode Island Hospital with a wound that is not considered life threatening,

According to a police reports and police Capt. Keith Tucker, commander of the Youth Services Bureau, the shooting happened at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday at Lenox and Elmwood avenues.

Alicea and two other men were in the cream-colored SUV when the youth slid into a seat and used a phrase indicating he wanted them to turn over money.

There was a struggle, during which Alicea was shot. When the police arrived, one of the other occupants of SUV had the 17-year-old pinned down outside the vehicle.

The teen is charged with three felony counts of assault with intent to rob, one count of possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm by a minor.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

The Red Sox will have to wait till next year, but the New England Patriots' season goes on with tonight's game against the Denver Broncos at 8:30.

Check out projo's PatsBlog for pre-game analysis and more. Journal sports writer Robert Lee delves into a key question: Figuring out a way to get to Denver quarterback Jay Cutler. Look at a stats matchup.

For other happenings of local interest, go to projothebeat.com.

PROVIDENCE -- A male has been taken to Rhode Island Hospital this evening, in the second shooting in the city within hours.

Providence rescue was dispatched to Elmwood Avenue and Lenox Avenue at 5:38 p.m. today, according to James Taylor, chief of communications for the Providence Fire Department, for the victim.

His age and condition were not yet known.

There was another shooting in Providence early this afternoon inside a house in the city's Wanskuck neighborhood. A man was shot in the abdomen at about 1:30 p.m. in a house at 39 Vandewater St.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- If no fecal coliform bacteria turns up in three consecutive rounds of water supply tests at the University of Rhode Island's main campus, then a boil-water advisory will be lifted and handouts of bottled water no longer necessary, according to a URI facilities official.

Jerry Sidio, the university's facilities director, said this afternoon that the hope is to have the water situation resolved by the end of the week.

Bottled water was made available today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of URI's Student Union for students, faculty and staff. Sidio said he went by in the early afternoon, and "there was a steady stream of folks coming by."

The boil-water advisory says water from the tap should be boiled for one minute before using. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, cooking, food preparation, brushing teeth, making ice and bathing infants.

The university began adding chlorine to its system Friday afternoon after a test discovered the bacteria in the campus's biological sciences center building. Notices were placed on every campus building and on the school's Web site and its emergency storm line.

Today, super-chlorinating began at the affected area of the water-supply system, which will continue overnight. Water lines in the affected area were drained first.

"We did not want to wait for the results -- we wanted to continue to take action that would ensure that we do get positive results" in the testing, Sidio said.

Test results have not come back yet.

Fecal coliform bacteria is found in human or animal waste and may show up in storm water or water discharged from treatment plants.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

WARWICK -- Jury selection will resume tomorrow 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 today.

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 of stairs with stab wounds to the neck and body. The police said her attacker ransacked a downstairs office and $11,000 from a locked safe.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.
Journal staff writer

SOMERSET, Mass. -- Planning Board member John W. Toulan was arraigned today on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol after he was spotted swerving along busy Route 6 Saturday night.

Toulan, 60, an engineer who was first elected to the board last year, told police he had had "a couple of beers" after he was pulled over around 9:20 p.m. as he was heading down the onramp to Route 195, which leads to Fall River.

He failed three out of four sobriety field tests, refused to submit to a breath test, and became belligerent while being booked, according to police.

A driver using a cell phone alerted Swansea police that a white Buick Century had swerved over the double solid line of Route 6, where the speed limit is 50 mph, and had nearly struck some other cars. Swansea Ptlm. Sheila Valero found the car and followed it into Somerset, stopping Toulan after witnessing erratic driving.

Toulan was arraigned today in Fall River District Court, released on $10,000 personal recognizance and ordered to return for a hearing on Nov. 25.

RICHMOND -- Some 486 acres of the Tuckahoe Turf Farm here will be safeguarded through the purchase of the land's development rights, the state Department of Environmental Management and land preservation officials are set to announce Wednesday.

The land is on the east and west sides of Switch Road and has frontage on the Wood River and Meadowbrook Pond, where there is a public fishing area.

The farmland connects the state's Carolina Management Area and other protected farmland, bringing to 3,000 the contiguous areas of conservation land.

Also nearby is the Nature Conservancy's Carter Preserve, some 850 acres south of the Tuckahoe property.

The announcement is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Tuckahoe Turf Farms, by the DEM, the state Agricultural Land Preservation Commission and the Nature Conservancy.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Work on the Route 195 relocation project known as the Iway is expected to affect commutes in the region for the rest of the year, according to the state Department of Transportation.

The DOT said most significant this fall will be a new ramp from Route 95 south to Route 195 east. Currently there is a left-hand exit, but the new off-ramp will be on the highway's right side. The ramp is expected to open in December, and with it, access will be closed to the old Route 195 east. Traffic heading east on Route 195 will use the Iway.

Here's what to expect in the region:

* Wednesday, Oct. 29: The DOT will open a temporary ramp from Blackstone Street to Route 95 south, accessible from Allens Avenue. The ramp is being built to provide more access to Route 95 south for Providence outbound traffic because of ramp closings, including closing the Broad Street on-ramp.

* Friday, Nov. 7: The DOT will close the Broad Street on-ramp to Route 95 south to allow final construction of the new ramp from Route 95 south to Route 195 east. When the Iway project finishes, the DOT will build a permanent replacement on-ramp to Route 95 south at Point Street.

The DOT suggests these detours because of the Broad Street on-ramp closing:

-- Drivers west of the Route 95 corridor can use Point Street, Richmond Street, Eddy Street, and Allens Avenue to get to the new temporary ramp from Blackstone Street.

-- Drivers farther west from Route 95 or closer to the Route 6/10 connector can follow Westminster Street or Broadway to the Route 6/10 connector at Tobey Street. The ramp allows access to Route 6 west and Route 10 south only. Route 10 south connects to Route 95 north and south in Cranston.

-- Drivers downtown who may have used the Broad Street on-ramp should use the Dorrance Street on-ramp to old Route 195 west or use Memorial Boulevard to either Route 95 south or the Route 6/10 connector.

* In early December, the DOT plans to open the new on-ramp from Route 95 south to Route 195 east. The switch will happen during overnight hours when traffic is lightest and the new ramp will be open in time for the morning commute. Route 95 south drivers will no longer have access to exits 1 (Downtown) and 2 (Wickenden Street) on the old Route 195.

The DOT suggests these detours because of the closing of old exit 20 from Route 95 south:

-- For the downtown, use exit 22 (Downtown) to Memorial Boulevard or Exit 21 (Atwells Avenue).

-- For the courthouse area, use exit 22 (Downtown) to Memorial Boulevard.

-- For the Jewelry District, use exit 21 (Atwells Avenue) and follow the southbound Service Road to Point Street or use Exit 19 to Eddy Street.

-- For College Hill/Fox Point/Lower East Side areas, drivers should take new exit 20 to the Iway and use exit 2 (India Street). India Street allows access to Gano Street on the west and South Water Street to the east.

-- Route 95 south drivers who miss the new exit 20 should use exit 18 (Thurbers Avenue) to change direction and get access to the Iway at exit 19 from Route 95 north.

The DOT said it encourages drivers to plan ahead as much as possible and watch for road signs about changes. Check out DOT's Web site at www.dot.ri.gov. Information can also be found by calling 511 and by listening to the Highway Advisory Radio System on 1630 AM. Drivers may also call DOT's customer service office at (401) 222-2450 on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

PROVIDENCE -- The state Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Providence man who beat and kicked 16-year-old Errol Clinton the night another man murdered Errol three years ago.

Danilo A. Cerda was not implicated by prosecutors in the shooting death of Errol, but was found guilty of using his hands and feet to assault Clinton in late July 2005, in the city's Elmwood section.

Eddie Gonzalez of Providence pleaded no contest to committing second-degree murder and to other charges -- and received a sentence of 50 years, 33 of them to be served in prison.

Cerda's appeal to the state's highest court contended the trial judge's denial of a motion for a new trial "constitutes reversible error" and went against the "weight of the evidence and failed to do substantial justice," the Supreme Court opinion says.

The murder happened after Errol Clinton, his younger brother, Julius "L.J." Clinton, and a third teenager were turned away from a party at a South Side recreation center off Thurbers Avenue. The center was filled to capacity, so they decided to walk to a house party Julius Clinton had heard about in a Balcom Street triple-decker.

Outside the triple-decker, loud music played and a large crowd gathered. Errol Clinton was shot to death as he tried to run from a fight outside the party. The three were knocked to the ground and beaten.

Read the court's decision.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with Journal archival reports

The forecast is calling for a fine, fall weekend, just the right kind of weather to be traipsing around outdoors.

Tomorrow, there's a Great Barns of Glocester Tour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It starts at Glocester Manton Library in the Chepachet section. It's a self-guided tour from there. There are 12 barns on the tour -- one dates before 1800.

Also tomorrow, there is an India Point Park Bridge Fest from 1 to 4 p.m. in Providence.(Rain date is Sunday). The parade begins on the at Fox Point side and will cross newly opened pedestrian bridge to the park. Halloween costumes, music, food, and more.

The 11th Annual March to End the Silence is also tomorrow -- a candlelight vigil and march in memory of women, men and children who die each year from acts of domestic violence. It is at 2 p.m. and starts at Beneficent Chruch, 300 Weybosset St., Providence.

On Sunday, the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk -- with as many as 10,000 walkers taking part -- is from 7 a.m. to noon in the Roger Williams Park area of Providence.

Sunday night, a distinguished UCLA professor will discuss at Brown University the topic "Repatriation and Healing the Trauma of Native American History." It begins at 6:30 p.m.

To plan your weekend and next week, check out projothebeat.com, our new online database of events around our region.

PROVIDENCE -- A former hospital president found guilty of buying the influence of a state senator has asked a judge to throw out the convictions.

Robert Urciuoli says in court papers filed Wednesday that federal prosecutors didn't present enough evidence to support his convictions earlier this month of one count of conspiracy and 35 counts of mail fraud.

Urciuoli, the former president and chief executive of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, was convicted of hiring former state Sen. John Celona to do the hospital's bidding at the State House. A co-defendant, former hospital vice president, Frances Driscoll, was acquitted of the one corruption count she faced.

Urciuoli is scheduled to be sentenced March 6.

-- The Associated Press

By Gregory Smith
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- It is the police equivalent of "Uncle Sam wants you."

City officials today announced the Police Department's annual recruiting drive, as the police are looking for candidates for their next four-month training academy, which is scheduled for March. Each academy includes 20 to 30 recruits.

The department currently has 484 officers, which is about 5 fewer than budgeted, and by the time the next academy graduates, more vacancies are expected.

In an effort to make the largely white police force more reflective of a city composed mostly of racial and ethnic minorities, the department is trying to attract minorities. For example, it will place advertisements in newspapers that circulate in minority neighborhoods and spread the word through organizations that cater to minorities.

Charles Wilson, chairman of the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, was one of several minority group leaders who participated in the announcement of the drive at the Public Safety Complex.

He said that if someone has an issue with law enforcement, then this is the perfect opportunity to become involved in the process and improve it.

A job as a police officer is "almost recession-proof," to boot, Wilson added.

Employment applications will be received from Oct. 17 through Nov. 14. Application forms are available at City Hall, at the police station and through community organizations, as well as online, at www.providencepolice.comcq.

The minimum eligibility requirements are: to be at least 21 years of age upon academy graduation, a graduate of a high school or a holder of a GED, a U.S. citizen, and to possess a valid Rhode Island driver's license. All candidates must submit to a criminal background check.

PORTSMOUTH -- The stretch of East Main Road between Turnpike Avenue and Boyds Lane will be striped as a three-lane road, with work starting Monday, the Department of Transportation said.

When done, the road will have one lane in each direction plus a wide turning lane for drivers waiting to make left turns.

The project is slated to begin Monday night when the old striping will be removed. New striping will be applied Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

By Barbara Polichetti
Journal staff writer

CRANSTON -- Philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein today announced that he is increasing the reward for any information that will help police solve the August hit-and-run accident in Warwick that killed 23-year-old Michael R. Russo.

On Thursday, Russo's family said they are saddened that no one has come forward since the Aug. 2 accident and that they are offering $1,000 for information that helps close the case. Saying he was touched by the family's loss, Feinstein yesterday said he was boosting the reward to $10,000.

"I'm shocked, I just can't believe it, " Michael H. Russo said today upon hearing of Feinstein's pledge. "I never met Mr. Feinstein. Someday I'd like to shake his hand."

The younger Russo was killed in the early-morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 2, when he was struck in the eastbound lane of Toll Gate Road near the West Warwick line. Police have said he spent the hours before partying with friends and may have been standing or lying in the middle of the road at the time of the accident.

Anyone with information, can call the Warwick police at 468-4200.

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.
Journal staff writer

SOMERSET, Mass. -- It's not exactly what Jesus would do, but a man driving a car with a "Jesus is Lord" bumper sticker ransacked and robbed a house on Riverside Avenue this morning.

Then he found out what police would do if they trapped him in the house: the cops broke in and arrested him.

A neighbor spotted 39-year-old Michael D. Vandenburgh kicking in a basement window at the unoccupied house around 9:30 a.m., police said. The neighbor called the cops. Ptlm. Scott Comfrey showed up, peeked in a window and spotted Vandenburgh at work. In no time, nine officers, including the police chief, had converged on the building.

When Vandenburgh finally spotted police, "he kept running around the house trying to escape, but he was surrounded," said Capt. John Solomito. When officers couldn't talk him into coming out, they kicked down a door and nabbed him in the kitchen.

"The entire house had been ransacked. He had pulled out every drawer," said Chief Joseph Ferreira.

Vandenburgh's car, sporting the bumper sticker, was parked next to the house, police said.

Vandenburgh, of 119 Niagara St., in Westport, Mass., was charged in Fall River District Court with two counts: breaking and entering in the daytime and attempting to commit a larceny. He was ordered held on $5,000 cash bail until his return on Nov. 14.

CHARLESTOWN -- In an effort to forestall the potential for a casino here, the Town Council said it decided today in closed session to enter into a purchase and sale agreement for 81 acres next to the Narragansett Indians' tribal land, pending town voters' approval.

The council came out into open session to announce that it will ask voters to support $5.5 million at referendum for purchase of the land off Route 1 owned by Charlestown developer Larry LeBlanc.

The referendum should take place within 90 days, according to Town Solicitor Robert E. Craven.

The decision was driven by concerns that the property would be bought by the Narragansett Indian Tribe or a partner -- allowing it to be placed into federal trust, outside of state and local control. Behind the concern is worry the land could become home to a casino.

The 81-acre parcel neighbors the tribe's 31 acres that are the subject of a pending U.S. Supreme Court appeal over whether the land can be put into federal trust. Town officials have speculated that if the tribe or a partner bought the land, the Narragansetts could add it to the rest of the federal trust property, providing enough land land for a large development such as a casino.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney and projo.com staff writers Michael P. McKinney and Maria Armental

>> Continue reading: Charlestown council to ask voters to OK $5.5M land deal

PROVIDENCE -- Want a home? Got $10? Brown University may have a deal for you, but there's a catch.

The Ivy League school is selling three 19th-century houses on Providence's historic East Side for $10. Here's the fine print: Each buyer must relocate their new abode somewhere else.

The sales come as Brown clears space on its campus for the planned Mind Brain Behavior Building. The three homes are in the way.

According to an ad from the university, the houses are at 127, 129 and 135 Angell St.

"The sale will be contingent upon the ability of the applicant to remove the structure(s) before July 31, 2009, preserve the historic fabric of the building exterior, and enhance the destination street and neighborhood," the ad says.

Preference will go to locations on the East Side that are "in keeping with the architectural scale and character of the buildings." And the route that would be used to move the buildings will be "carefully evaluated," the university says, to see what impact it might have on trees, residents and businesses.

Mike McCormick, Brown's assistant vice president for planning, design and construction, said tearing down the homes would be cheaper, but Brown wants to preserve them.

The school is offering up to $1 million to assist with relocation expenses, depending on the buyer's aims and finances. But the total cost of moving the three houses may exceed that.

-- The Associated Press and projo.com staff reports

Not among those Red Sox fans holding out for their team to come back against Tampa Bay tonight and stay in the playoffs?

You might find this more harmonious: A recital by Rhode Island College music faculty at 8 tonight. The performances are in Sapinsley Hall in the John Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts.

For listings of more to do tonight, tomorrow and through the weekend, take a look at projothebeat.com, The Journal's online calendar of events.

By Mike Stanton
Journal staff writer

Federal prosecutors have dropped a grand-jury investigation into former state Senate President William V. Irons and his ties to the giant CVS drugstore chain.

A lawyer for Irons confirmed today that he has received a letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Providence stating that Irons is no longer the target of a federal corruption probe.

Investigators had looked at Irons' insurance work for Woonsocket-based CVS, which had reaped him several hundred thousand dollars in commissions since the late 1990s.

Irons resigned nearly five years ago, after Providence Journal stories revealing the financial dealings of another senator, John Celona, led to questions about Irons' ties. Irons abruptly resigned, declaring that he had done nothing wrong but that he would not disclose the identity of his corporate insurance clients.

The Journal subsequently reported that Irons, a close friend of CVS CEO Tom Ryan's, had collected commissions on a Blue Cross policy for CVS employees in Rhode Island. During the same period, Irons had opposed pharmacy choice legislation that CVS also opposed.

Irons subsequently became one target of a wide-ranging federal corruption probe, Operation Dollar Bill.

John A. Tarantino, Irons' lawyer, told The Journal today that he received a letter this morning from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"We have been notified that he is no longer a target of a federal grand-jury investigation,'' said Tarantino.

Tom Connell, a spokesman for U.S. Atty. Robert Clark Corrente, confirmed that the letter was sent.

Irons was happy to hear the news.

"My family and I are pleased that I am no longer a target,'' said Irons. "It's been a difficult 4-1/2 years.

"I'm pleased that the U.S. Attorney's Office came to that conclusion -- I think it was the right one. I respect the Justice Department and the work that they do. Now I want to move on with my life.''

But Irons doesn't see politics in his future.

"No, I had 20 years, and it was a wonderful experience, but now it's time for other leaders to deal with the problems facing our state and our nation,'' he said.

Irons still faces a conflict-of-interest complaint before the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. Tarantino, however, has challenged the commission's authority, and the matter is pending in court.

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.
Journal staff writer

BARRINGTON -- The battle to block a wind turbine on town-owned land in hopes of saving on Barrington's electric bill has gone multimedia.

Opponents have begun circulating a professional-quality 16-minute video blasting the $2.4 million proposal, accusing the town of rushing into the project without fully assessing the costs and benefits. It also asserts that the spinning blades, high on a peninsula at Brickyard Pond near the East Bay Bike Path, will generate too much noise for neighbors and kill birds.

The committee developing the project, which has posted its analysis in detail at BarringtonEnergy.com, says the nearest home would be 1,000 feet from the turbine, the noise will be no greater than a bubbling brook, the blades will kill fewer than five birds per year, and the town stands to save $3.9 million in energy costs -- and possibly a lot more -- over the next 20 years.

Tony Caner, a member of Citizens Wind Watch of Barrington, said the group produced the anti-windmill video because the town committee's presentation has been slanted in favor of the turbine. The video is available on YouTube and will be aired Monday at 6:30 p.m., and at other times throughout the week, on Channel 9 of the Full Channel cable system.

The Town Council has scheduled a hearing on the proposal for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the high school auditorium.

A Bristol man who admitted to tax fraud involving a kickback scheme tied to his Internet services company was sentenced today to one year, plus one day, in federal prison and ordered to pay more than a half-million dollars in back taxes, IRS penalties, interest and a fine.

Louis G. Xifaras, 58, will follow his prison time with one year of supervised, electronically monitored home confinement, under the sentence imposed by Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Conn., according to a news release from Acting Connecticut U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy.

Xifaras pleaded guilty on May 2 to one count of filing a false income tax return, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Xifaras formerly owned Innovative Network Solutions, a company in Pawtucket that provided Internet services including server installations. In 1999, a Southwestern Bell Communications employee proposed that he would ensure Innovative Network Solutions got subcontracting work from SBC in exchange for kickbacks being paid to the SBC employee. The kickbacks were paid to the SBC employee by putting the employee's wife on Innovative Network Solutions payroll as a "no-show" employee, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

>> Continue reading: Bristol man gets prison time, hefty penalties for tax fraud

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has denied state Sen. Stephen D. Alves' request for an appeal of his Democratic primary loss, ending his quest for a new election and cementing Michael J. Pinga as the winner, according to Alves' lawyer.

The move means that Alves, a longtime incumbent and powerful Finance Committee chairman, will lose his Senate seat.

Alves had lost the Sept. 9 primary election for the West Warwick Senate District 9 seat by 17 votes to Pinga, political newcomer.

Citing 18 questionable ballots, 10 of them cast by registered Republicans, Alves called for recounts and appealed to the state's highest court for a new election.

The court denied the cert -- the petition that asked the court for an appeal -- and upheld the state Board of Elections decision, which found Pinga had won after recounting ballots.

Pinga said today: "Now I can really say I'm excited because it's over."

Today's decision came after state Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg held a conference in chambers to consider Secretary of State Ralph Mollis' emergency motion to lift a Supreme Court stay of the Board of Elections ruling, a state Judiciary news release said.

As the clock ticked toward the Nov. 4 general election, the court had issued the stay and continued the matter to Oct. 23 to give State Police time to investigate alleged irregularities in the primary. Now it won't be necessary to meet Oct. 23.

The Judiciary statement said Justice Francis X. Flaherty did not participate in the District 9 appeal.

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

The mosquito population has all but bid goodbye to the year, and the season's last test results from around Rhode Island found no West Nile Virus or Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

Due to colder weather and there being very few mosquitoes hanging around, no more traps have been set since the week of Oct. 7, the Department of Environmental Management said today.

Still, the DEM said in a news release that Rhode Islanders -- especially those hiking in the woods -- should be mindful that when the weather is warmer and the air still, there can be occasional mosquitoes biting.

NANTUCKET, Mass. -- The co-president of financial services company Goldman Sachs is trying to sell his Nantucket estate for a record $55 million.

Jon Winkelried's asking price for the 5.75-acre property, which includes two shoreline parcels, is more than double the record sale of $26.5 million set last year.

The main house includes a wine room, billiard room, four fireplaces, a swimming pool and five bedrooms. The property also has a guest house and two garages.

Winkelried bought the two parcels in 1999 for just under $7 million and built the main house afterward.

The taxes are nearly $68,000 annually.

Winkelried owned $345 million worth of common stock when he took over as co-president of Goldman Sachs in 2006. His compensation last year was $67.5 million.

-- The Associated Press