Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Tracy Breton
Journal Staff Writer

A court-appointed master has proposed a plan for distributing $176 million in settlement money to those who lost loved ones or suffered injuries in The Station nightclub fire.

The plan of distribution devised by Duke University Law Prof. Francis E. McGovern would give everyone who sued a share of the money, including those who suffered mental trauma but never sought medical treatment for their injuries.

Under the plan, the survivors who were most badly burned and were hospitalized the longest will receive more money than several of the families who lost loved ones in the fire.

Although McGovern's plan has not yet been submitted for court approval, victims of the fire have been meeting with their lawyers in recent days to review it. None of the victims has been given precise figures on what he or she might actually receive once attorneys' fees and expenses are subtracted. Some have been told that they can expect to receive several hundred thousand dollars, while others may receive less than $20,000. Some are expected to receive more than $1 million.

The Providence Journal has obtained a copy of the proposed plan that is being circulated among the more than 300 plaintiffs in the 11 federal lawsuits brought in connection with The Station fire. The fire was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. One hundred people died in the blaze on Feb. 20, 2003; more than 200 others suffered injuries.

>> Continue reading: Station fire victims reviewing plan for cash settlements

By Paul Edward Parker, Journal Staff Writer

Is the sky falling? Or is a cloud passing overhead?

People passing by One Citizens Plaza around lunchtime today offered varying opinions on the shakeup in the financial markets. Citizens Plaza is the headquarters of Citizens Financial Group. It is also home to branches of UBS Financial Services and to Merrill Lynch, which is one of the firms whose woes helped touch off today's Wall Street sell off.

"I think it's pretty scary," said Stella Martin, an assistant to the treasurer at Citizens. "We don't know what the future brings, and I know a lot of people have been affected by this, and it's very negative."

Ron Loeser, of Merrill Lynch, had a brighter take on things. "The market is going to find a way to fix itself. It always does, it always has in the past, and it'll continue to do so."

Diane Longo, of Citizen's Bank, wasn't so sure. "It's very disturbing, I think, what's happening on Wall Street. It's affecting some many lives, and I wish that the people that are responsible for this, hopefully, they plan on doing things better in the future so these things don't happen again."

Jeff Bucci, also of Citizens, also thought the future looked dim for investors. "Of course they should be afraid. From what I read, there's not as much volatility coming through as everyone expected, but the government's not going to step in on this one. If we have too many mergers like that, eventually you're only going to have two or three world banks running the whole world market, and the next thing you know, they can't bail each other out anymore."

But Joe Cipolla, a financial adviser at UBS, had a more measured reaction.

"These are scary times, of course, uncertain, and people are concerned, plenty of troubles within the industry, now and in the near future," he said. "I wouldn't panic, that's for sure, and I think people should use common sense in this kind of a market, stay away from speculations, and it's common sense, when prices go down the way they are, that's a time you can pick up some good values. As I say, good companies should be bought here. Many of them have dropped just because of emotion, not because of fundamental reasons."

By Richard Salit,
Journal Staff Writer

Three communities will be reporting their election results the old-fashioned way tonight.

Most cities and towns will be conveying their vote counts electronically, sending the information via phone lines to a computer system at the state Board of Elections. But Burrillville, Charlestown and North Smithfield will have to deliver their results by automobile to the elections board headquarters in Providence, according to executive director Robert Kando.

Kando said that a telecommunications glitch is responsible. The three communities have switched to digital phone systems, but the elections board computer system can only interact with analog systems.

Kando said that the board has cautioned communities about the problem of switching to digital systems and that most have heeded the warning by retaining an analog phone line to transmit election tallies.

"I'm told these communities were assured [by vendors] they would get an analog line, but they didn't," he said. "We expect these communities will have an analog line by the general election."

Tonight, however, the three communities' final results will be delayed. Kando said a state trooper will drive the results in from Charlestown, the community farthest from the election office. Election officials in Burrillville and North Smithfield will drive into Providence with the votecount.

Still, Kando said, given communities with much larger turnouts, "I don't expect these to be the last" numbers coming in tonight.