Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

EAST GREENWICH -- An off-duty Providence police officer today helped local police nab an machete-wielding bank robber shortly after he ran out of the BankRI branch at 1269 South County Trail.

Police Lt. James Poccia said that officers are working to verify the identity of the man they took into custody in the parking lot of a grocery store across the street from the bank.

According to Poccia, the man walked into the bank around noon, brandished a machete and was given an undisclosed amount of cash. The robber than jumped into a stolen car to make his get away. But he had been spotted by the off-duty officer who notified police and followed the suspect to the nearby parking lot of Dave's Marketplace at 1000 Division St.

The suspect tried to run but was apprehended by East Greenwich patrol officers, Poccia said.

He said that detectives are continuing the investigation.

--- Barbara Polichetti, Journal staff writer

Rhode Island District Court calendars will be suspended Monday for the funeral of District Court Chief Judge Albert E. DeRobbio, who died Dec. 22.

"Essential matters" that must get a hearing Monday, will be heard at 2:00 p.m. at the Garrahy Judicial Complex, Providence.

His funeral will be held at 10 a.m. in St. Paul's Church on Broad Street in Cranston.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter advisory for northern Rhode Island with sleet, freezing rain and snow starting after 11 p.m.

For Providence and the southern parts of Rhode Island, the Weather Service says the precipitation will turn completely to rain by 3 a.m. Expect a low Friday night in Providence of 34 with a high Saturday of 50.

The rain will continue across Rhode Island on Sunday and the temperature could hit 60.

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees have reeled in another prime free agent, reaching a preliminary agreement with first baseman Mark Teixeira for $180 million over eight years, the Associated Press and ESPN's Buster Olney have reported.

The AP reported that a person familiar with the negotiations disclosed the agreement, which is subject to a physical.

The Red Sox reportedly had also been in the hunt, if, for nothing else, but to keep Teixeira away from their New York rivals.

By Cynthia Needham and Katherine Gregg
Journal State House bureau

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri today unveiled a federally-approved plan to give the state "unprecedented flexibility'' in how it provides Medicaid-financed health care to roughly 200,000 Rhode Islanders.

It's a plan that Carcieri says could save the state more than $357 million over five years.

But the agreement is just one step in a process that governor now says could take several years to fully implement and likely won't achieve the projected $67 million in savings this fiscal year.

The Carcieri administration is still at least three months away from rolling out some of the more dramatic changes, including the adoption of new eligibility criteria for admission to a nursing home. In the near future, only those considered to have the "highest need'' will be guaranteed Medicaid subsidized admission.

On Friday, Rhode Island became the first state in the nation to secure such a deal -- a controversial five-year agreement which has significant implications for the state's finances and for the elderly and the disabled who receive Medicaid services.

The announcement of an initial deal came after months of negotiations with the federal government.

Rhode Island's top Democrats say they are concerned about the deal the Republican governor has struck with the federal government to free the state from certain Medicaid rules.

Continue reading to see what some of them said this afternoon:

>> Continue reading: Update: Carcieri's Medicaid-savings plan could take years

The snow cancelled high school games. The Providence Bruins moved their game to 1 p.m. And they won. But their were few fans at the Dunk to see it.

Journal photo Steve Szydlowski

By Steve Peoples
Journal State House Bureau

The governor's office announced Friday that it had finalized a "landmark" deal with federal regulators that may change Medicaid coverage of nursing homes, prescription drugs, group homes for the disabled and even transportation for the elderly.

The plan has far-reaching implications for the 180,000 disabled, elderly and low-income residents touched by Medicaid programs last year.

The agreement gives the governor's office unprecedented authority to restructure Medicaid programs, which are now closely regulated by the federal government. In exchange, Rhode Island has agreed to limit Medicaid spending over the next five years to roughly $12.075 billion, which is about $375 million less than state negotiators had hoped.

The cost of Medicaid programs is simply unsustainable, according to the governor, who believes the new deal will allow the state to control costs while better serving residents. Medicaid consumes roughly $1.8 billion in state and federal spending this year, or 25 percent of the total state budget.

Critics, however, fear the new agreement jeopardizes programs that have long been known as "entitlements," because they are guaranteed to people who meet certain income guidelines.

If Rhode Island spends its five-year limit too soon, it would be forced to slash programs or pay for them only with state funds. Currently, the federal government pays about 52 cents of every dollar spent on Medicaid programs in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island is the first state in the nation to secure such a deal -- dubbed a "global Medicaid waiver" -- with the federal government.

Current law gives the legislature 30 days to veto the deal. An Assembly spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The administration noted that major changes to Medicaid programs would still require public hearings and, in some cases, approval from the legislature.

WASHINGTON _ Brown Physicist Anastasia Volovich, an expert in the scientific quest known as ``string theory,'' is at the White House today to receive a special award for young scientists.

Volovich is one of 20 engineers and scientists selected by the National Science Foundation for a presidential award recognizing exceptional promise early in their careers. The award entitles her to support from the agency for five years, according to the university.

Volovich specializes in string theory and related areas in particle physics and general relativity, according to a press release from Brown. ``String theory is the search for a single explanation that describes all the laws in the known universe,'' says the release. ``The theory's main idea is that all matter and forces are made of tiny strands of energy that vibrate in different patterns.''

Volovich is being recognized for her work on a particular method of calculation -- quantum chronodynamics -- that may help scientists to detect evidence in nature that would back up the theory. A potential milestone in the research approaches; next summer in Switzerland, scientists will use the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest particle accelerator, to search for physical corroboration of string theory.

Volovich is also considered a promising teacher. The presidential award committee has cited her work on a science Olympiad for high school students. "Anastasia has demonstrated not only impressive skills as a physicist but also enthusiasm and talent in teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels," said Chung-I Tan, who heads the Brown physics department.

WASHINGTON _ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is on a fact-finding tour of the Middle East, including his second visit to Iraq, his office said today.

Whitehouse is part of a Senate delegation led by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that met today with U.S. officials including Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, who leads the multinational force in Iraq, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker.

Whitehouse said in a statement released by his office that he had a chance to meet and convey thanks to ``our troops spending this holiday season far from home,'' including some Rhode Islanders.

The delegation, which also includes Senators Kent Conrad, D-N.D. and Thad Cochran, R-Miss., also visited Eqypt and Jordan. Whitehouse is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

By David Nowak
Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW -- An African-American exchange student from Rhode Island has been stabbed by unknown assailants in a southern Russian city in an attack officials say may have been racially motivated.

Stanley Robinson, 18, of Providence was in grave but stable condition Friday at Hospital No. 12 in the southern city of Volgograd, the hospital's head doctor said.

Investigators were trying to determine if the Dec. 5 assault on Robinson was a hate crime, said city police spokeswoman Svetlana Smolyaninova. No suspects have been detained, and she said authorities have not ruled out robbery or random violence.

But Robinson's mother, who has spoken twice with her son by telephone since the attack, has no doubts about what motivated the attack.

"I believe it happened because he is a person of color," Tina Robinson said in a telephone interview Friday from her home in Providence. "It was completely unprovoked."

The stabbing took place in Volgograd, an industrial city of 1 million people 900 kilometers (550 miles) southeast of Moscow.

Tina Robinson said her son had developed pneumonia, and said she was trying to arrange his transfer to a Western-style medical facility. "I'm very concerned about the care he's getting there," she said.

The U.S. Embassy declined comment, citing privacy concerns.

In recent years Russia has seen a rising number of attacks against members of non-Slavic ethnic groups, particularly darker-skinned migrants from the Caucasus region and Central Asia. African students and immigrants are also frequent targets of attacks, but attacks on Westerners are rare.

>> Continue reading: Update: R.I. African-American student stabbed in Russia

The National Weather Service today issued a flood warning for Pawtuxet Village in Cranston along with parts of Warwick.

Elsewhere, the commute was awful especially in parts of the East Bay where a park and ride lot in Barrington and intersections in Bristol were a foot underwater.

At greatest risk, the Weather Service says, are homes and businesses on Wellington Avenue and Avery Road in Cranston and Pioneer Avenue, Bellows Street, Venturi Avenue and a portion of River Street in Warwick.

At 9.5 feet, The river had already crested its banks at 6:30 a.m. The Weather Service warned the Pawtuxet could reach 11 feet by Friday afternoon. Flood stage is 9 feet.

The Weather Service hydrology graph shows the Pawtuxet falling back below its banks overnight.

With up 5 inches of rain forecast for some areas of Rhode Island, the Weather Service also issued a moderate flood warning for parts of the Blackstone River.

The Barrington River was over its banks at the White Church on Route 114 and the Providence River is flooding sidewalks in Waterplace.

In Newport harbor, the water was lapping at top of the sea wall near the Marriott on Long Wharf. King Park and Wellington Avenue were underwater at high tide Friday morning.

"Do not allow children to play near swollen rivers, streams or culverts," the Weather Service warned. "Swiftly moving water can pose an imminent threat to life."

What is the best thing that happened on or near Christmas to you or a loved one?

Was it an unexpected visitor or gift? Someone lost in the past reappearing? A marriage proposal? A spiritual or religious experience?

Staff Writer G. Wayne Miller doesn't know what the story is, but he'd like to retell it for a feature to run on or shortly before Dec. 25. Please send a synopsis to gwmiller@projo.com

BOSTON -- Officials say the Massachusetts public pension fund lost about 13 percent of its value or about $5 billion in October.

The Pension Reserves Investment Trust has lost about 27 percent of its value this year and was worth about $40 billion as of Oct. 31.

The state Treasurer's Office says the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index fell 17 percent in October and is down 33 percent for the year, while the average large pension fund has lost about 28 percent.

--- The Associated Press

MOST PEACEFUL PLACE: Staff writer G. Wayne Miller is looking for the most peaceful place in Rhode Island or nearby Massachusetts, and someone to take him there for a story and video. Do you know of such a place -- a place of tranquility in these worrisome times -- and would you be Miller's guide on the journey there?

Write him at gwmiller@projo.com

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.

Journal staff writer

BARRINGTON - The School Committee and the teachers union have agreed to a new three-year contract requiring most teachers to pay more for their medical insurance and raising pay by 2 to 2.95 percent annually.

The pact, which doesn't take effect until Sept. 1, also says that both sides will consider renegotiating salary scales if there is a severe cut in state aid. The talks would be designed to avoid layoffs or cuts in programs.

"We hope it doesn't come to that," said Patrick Sullivan, president of the 290-member teachers union, NEA Barrington. "Getting through these difficult times requires some collaboration with the administration, and that's something we have always been receptive to."

School Committee Chairman Patrick A. "Buzz" Guida said the agreement means Barrington teachers will be paying 20 percent of their health insurance premiums, the highest among teachers in the area. Currently, only new teachers pay that amount. Those hired before Sept. 1, 2006 have been paying 15 percent.

With no education funding formula in the state and Rhode Island having the dubious distinction of having the worst economy in the U.S., "you have a perfect storm," Sullivan said this afternoon. "We felt this was something we could work with over the next three years."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PROVIDENCE _ The state Water Resources Board today fired its general manager Juan Mariscal.

William Penn, the new water board chairman, and J. Michael Sullivan, director of the state Department of Environmental Management, who sits on the board, instigated the action. The vote was 5 to 4.

Penn, Mariscal's leading critic, said the board was not doing enough to develop new water supplies.

Mariscal's defenders said that Mariscal did a good job, adding that water supply efforts will now be hampered because today's action cuts the beleaguered agency down to a staff of just three. It had nine employees three years ago.

One board member, retired state Planner Daniel Varin, called the dismissal an "outrage."

Robert A. Urciuoli holds his wife's hand as he leaves court this morning after a jury convicted the former Roger Williams Medical Cente president and CEO of all 36 counts against him.
Video: Watch a video of responses from Urciuoli's lawyer and Frances Driscoll's daughter after the verdict Providence Journal photo by Steve Szydlowski

PROVIDENCE -- A jury this morning convicted former Roger Williams Medical Center president and CEO Robert A. Urciuoli of all 36 counts against him, but acquitted former vice president Frances P. Driscoll of the one count against her.

The pair were accused of stealing the honest services of former state Sen. John A. Celona of North Providence, hiring Celona to do political favors for the medical center.

Urciuoli was convicted of one count of conspiracy and 35 counts of honest-services mail fraud. Urciuoli remained stoic as the jury announced its verdict. One of his lawyers held his hand against Urciuoli's back.

Driscoll was acquitted of the only charge against her -- one count of aiding and abetting the alleged conspiracy. Family members gasped when the jury cleared the 69-year-old grandmother who shattered her arm when she fell on the courthouse steps Sept 22, delaying the trial for almost a week.

The jury had started its fifth day of deliberations when it reached its verdict.

Outside the courthouse this morning, an attorney for Urciuoli said he was disappointed with the verdict but confident it would be overturned on appeal.

The jury's verdict "is completely against the evidence that was presented in this case," said attorney Howard Cooper of Boston.

Urciuoli stood near Cooper. He was hugging his wife, the former Donna Paolino. The Urciuolis declined comment.

Cooper emphasized trial testimony that James McGuirk, an attorney for the Roger Williams Medical Center, had said that it was OK for Urciuoli to hire Celona. He noted there was also a state Ethics Commission opinion supporting his legal advice.

Cooper said he's confident the verdict will be overturned, as it was the first time.

This was a retrial for both Urciuoli and Driscoll. They were convicted in their original trials in October 2006, but the convictions were overturned on appeal. Celona testified at that trial, but did not testify at the retrial, which started with opening statements on Sept. 9.

U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, also speaking in front of the federal courthouse, said the jury made the right decision regarding Urciuoli.

In regards to Driscoll, he said, "I'm not disappointed. We respect what the jury comes up with."

He commended the two prosecutors: Luis A. Matos and Dulce Donovan, both assistant U.S. attorneys.

Corrente was asked whether not having Celona testify made a difference. "I don't think it played an awfully big role," he said.

Evidence presented in the trial showed that Urciuoli hired Celona despite the concerns of Driscoll and others at the hospital. The prosecution introduced faxes and e-mails from Celona to Driscoll in which the senator said he had worked to kill or promote certain legislation.

Celona was hired by an assisted living center affliated with the hospital, The Village at Elmhurst, and was paid $260,000 from 1998 through early 2004.

Prosecutors say that Celona took steps to kill bills deemed harmful to Roger Williams and to advance legislation that Urciuoli considered favorable.

Celona worked to kill legislation that would have prohibited hospital officials from serving on the board of a for-profit hospital in the event of a merger, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors said Celona also helped Urciuoli pressure medical insurance companies to increase their reimbursements to Roger Williams for health care services.

But the defense countered that there was nothing illegal in the relationship and that Celona, who was paid between $700 and $1,000 a week, exaggerated his claims. Celona is in prison, serving a 30-month sentence after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges.

Urciuoli remains free on bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for March 6, 2009.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, conspiracy and 17 of the mail fraud counts carry maximum penalties of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Eighteen of the mail fraud counts have maximum penalties of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

In the original trial, Urciuoli was convicted of all the counts against him, while Driscoll was convicted of one count.

The two appealed the convictions, their lawyers arguing that Senior U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres gave the jury instructions that allowed them to convict Celona for work he did that was legal.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston overturned the convictions in January 2007.

Both were free on bail pending the retrial.

-- Journal staff writer W. Zachary Malinowski

projo.com photo/ Brandie Jefferson
Providence firefighters extinguished a fire at a three-story house at 610 Union Avenue this morning.

PROVIDENCE -- An early morning fire in the Silver Lake neighborhood filled a three-story house with smoke. All the residents escaped safely.

Firefighters arrived at 610 Union Avenue at 7:19 this morning. It took several companies about 45 minutes to put the flames out.

The fire appears to have started on the first floor.

Amara Ezeamama, who owns the house with her husband, Bright Onye, said she woke up to the smell of smoke, and the sounds of their house being destroyed.

"We heard the cracking of windows before the fire department got here," Ezeamama said.

She woke Onye, who had just gotten home from work.

"I was fast asleep when my wife started waking me up and telling me "'there's smoke, there's smoke,'" he said.

"I quickly got up, looked at our apartment; there was smoke. I went down to the second floor, there's more smoke. I was like, 'where is my tenant?'"

The tenant, Pedro Cabral, who lived on the second floor, said the smoke was "really thick" when he got out.

He said he wanted to go back in to get his stuff, but, he said, "I knew better." Cabral said this is the second time he's had to escape from a burning house.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson

Today in history: In 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Mass.

Lizzie Borden, Andrew Borden's daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, though she was later acquitted.

A.H. Belo Corp. of Dallas, Texas, whose holdings include The Providence Journal and Dallas Morning News, plans to reduce company-wide employment by the equivalent of 500 full-time jobs -- about 14 percent of the company's work force.

Howard G. Sutton, publisher, president and CEO of The Providence Journal, today told editors that the staff reductions here would be less than 5 percent.

If the company does not reach the target number through a voluntary severance program to be completed by mid-September, "an involuntary reduction-in-force will be necessary,'' the company said in a letter to shareholders issued today.

A.H. Belo also said it also will cut marketing and overall promotion expense, as well as travel costs and other discretionary expenses, and reduce the width of the newspapers in Providence and Riverside, Calif.

Robert W. Decherd, A.H. Belo's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a letter to employees today that these and other steps are a response to "the unprecedentedly adverse business environment facing the newspaper industry -- and the related, negative perception of the industry's future prospects.''

The company announced the steps on the same day it posted a second-quarter net loss on a 15-percent drop in revenue.

For the three months ended June 30, A.H. Belo posted a net loss of $3.19 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with a net profit of $12.3 million, or 60 cents a share, for the comparable period a year earlier.

Second-quarter revenue fell 15.1 percent, to $163.25 million.

A.H. Belo is among a number of media companies nationwide that are being affected by a drop in overall advertising revenue as many readers and advertisers migrate to the Internet.

Just before mid-day today, A.H. Belo stock was trading at $6.09, down 31 cents a share.

-- Journal staff writer Neil Downing

Journal reporter G. Wayne Miller is looking to write a story of a bride-to-be's last day as a single woman -- i.e., the day before her wedding.

The story would include still photographs and a video for projo.com. Miller wants to capture this moment on the day before a wedding anytime from the week of Sept. 8 through the end of October.

If interested, please respond to Wayne Miller, gwmiller@projo.com

What male and female Rhode Island high school scholar-athletes will receive this year's Providence Journal High School Honor Roll awards?

Who will be named the 2008 Dick Reynolds Correspondent award winner?

The three scholarship recipients will be revealed Sunday in ProJo Sports and online at hsgametime.com/rhodeisland.

The Providence Journal Honor Roll Girl and Boy will each receive a $5,000 Wendy's/Peter Bennett Scholarship. The Dick Reynolds Correspondent award winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship

State education officials today are expected to celebrate a special “green” certification for a new 367-bed residence hall at Rhode Island College.

The Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education will take part in the celebration at 5 p.m. on the college campus with outgoing RIC president John Nazarian and incoming president Nancy Carriuolo.

The new residence hall is the largest building in Rhode Island to receive the so-called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It is also the first residence hall in Rhode Island to earn the designation.

The 127,500-square-foot building was designed by RGB, a Providence-based architecture, engineering and interior design firm.

Energy efficient design is expected to save more than $115,000 annually in heat and air conditioning costs. The building was sited to minimize the clearing of natural vegetation and more than 750,000 tons of trash from the construction work was recycled.

-- Journal environment writer Peter B. Lord

PROVIDENCE -- City schools Supt. Donnie Evans is no longer a finalist for the Cincinnati school district now that the Cincinnati School Board has decided to keep looking.

Evans said he was disappointed but not surprised that the school board decided to launch a new search, adding that the board had told him that it was unhappy with the search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. Evans did say, however, that he was talking with another search firm about applying for three other superintendent openings, which he declined to name because of the confidential nature of the searches.

According to The Cincinatti Enquirer, the board decided to re-open recruitment because its members felt that neither finalist would receive a 5-2 majority. The other finalist, Diana Bourisaw of St. Louis, withdrew her candidacy late last month, citing personal reasons, which left Evans as the sole candidate.

“We don’t want our new superintendent to start with a factionalized board,” school board president Eve Bolton told The Enquirer. “We’ve done that before.”

The Cincinatti board is expected to name an interim superintendent July 14.

Meanwhile, Providence’s new superintendent, Thomas Brady, is scheduled to arrive here on July 14. Brady, the interim superintendent of Philadelphia, was hired this winter approximately a week after Evans announced that he would not be seeking a second three-year term in Providence.

Brady spent 25 years in the military before entering the educational field and he has held top administrative positions in Fairfax, Va., and Washington, D.C.

-- Journal staff writer Linda Borg

Repair work is under way on the Henderson Bridge and that means those who wish to cross the bridge on bicycle or on foot must use a sidewalk on the westbound side of the bridge.

The first phase of construction is on the bridge’s eastbound lanes. Cars headed east are limited to one narrow lane, according to a Department of Transportation news release today.

Bicycles and pedestrians are banned from the east side of the bridge during construction. On the westbound side, bicyclists must walk their bikes along the sidewalk and across the span.

The bridge connects Waterman and Angell streets on Providence's East Side to Massasoit Avenue in East Providence.

A detour for bicyclists and pedestrians headed to East Providence is in place from Waterman Street up Butler Avenue to a right on Angell Street, where they can access the sidewalk next to the bridge's westbound lanes.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

PAWTUCKET -- The Division Street Bridge is being reopened to two-way traffic, seven months after it became one-way, and an elaborate set of detours was put in place, when a weight limit was imposed on part of Route 95.

The bridge, now one-way eastbound, is expected to reopen to two-way traffic Wednesday morning, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m.

State Department of Transportation maintenance crews are busy painting stripes, working on traffic signals and repaving the roadway, Kazem Farhoumand, DOT’s acting chief engineer, said today in an interview.

The work, necessary before two-way traffic is restored to Division Street, has taken longer than expected, Farhoumand said, because of delays by private utility companies relocating wires from utility poles on the city-owned bridge.

The Division Street Bridge has been one-way between George and Prospect streets since Nov. 28, when the state transportation department imposed a 22-ton weight limit -- later lowered to 18 tons -- on the bridges that carry Route 95 over the Pawtucket River.

The weight limit was intended to prolong the life of the bridges, built half a century ago as part of the interstate highway system. The detours imposed as a result of weight limit involved diverting traffic through Pawtucket’s labyrinthine network of streets.

There were concerns, when the detours took effect, that they would cause traffic jams in the city and wear and tear on Division Street Bridge, which was built 130 years ago and rehabilitated in 1985.

But the traffic jams didn’t develop. Most trucks too heavily loaded to cross the Route 95 Pawtucket River Bridges legally detoured onto Route 146 or Route 295.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

PROVIDENCE -- The swirly-shaped compact fluorescent light bulbs have become the darlings of those who care about saving energy and combating climate change, except for one nagging problem.

When they break, they release tiny quantities of highly toxic mercury.

Now, a team from Brown University believes it has developed a solution. It has discovered a material that rapidly absorbs mercury gases and could be used as the packaging for mercury bulbs or as a tool for cleaning up broken bulbs.