The Providence Journal
ATTACK ON IRAN
The United States launched military strikes and “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, President Donald Trump said, targeting the country’s missile capabilities. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
COLD WARRIORS
PROVIDENCE – Bored of board games and feeling cabin fever after a record-setting blizzard, siblings Zack and Danielle Wilbur decided, with the help of a friend, to try a different kind of game. A snowball fight. “And we were like, you know what?...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
POISONOUS LEGACY
WESTERLY – Bradford Dyeing Association used “forever chemicals” to waterproof fabrics for the military over several decades until it closed in 2012. The mill complex’s toxic legacy could last much longer. A recent study by scientists at the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘WINNING’
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump declared the country is booming, his opponents are “crazy” and his administration is engaged in unprecedented levels of “winning” in a marathon State of the Union address that comes as polls showed deep skepticism of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
THE BIG DIG
They came by skis. Or hiked through waist-high snow. But, more likely, they just slept, catching a few fitful hours where they were needed most, and waking to start it all again. They are the doctors who deliver babies at Women & Infants Hospital in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BLIZZARD OF ’26
A powerful storm with “peak blizzard conditions” pummeled Rhode Island Sunday into Monday, Feb. 22 to 23. Forecasters had predicted the storm would rival the Blizzard of ’78, and preliminary reports show snowfall records have been shattered across the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A NEW HEIGHT
Providence’s Neutaconkanut Hill is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At 296 feet above sea level, Neutaconkanut Hill is the highest point in Providence, according to a press release from the Rhode Island State Historic...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Providence's almost SUBWAY
Providence was ascendant in January 1913 when Mayor Joseph Gainer took office with plans to make the city bigger and better. ● Already the jewelry capital of the world and an industrial powerhouse, the city’s most pressing policy challenge then was how...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
IN HARM’S WAY Three Good Samaritans teamed up to stop shooter
Editor’s note: This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation, including suicide methods. If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Always a smile’
Rhonda Dorgan reigned as the joy of the party, always with a smile on her face and a ready laugh. She bonded quickly with a close group of female friends who spent countless hours a week watching their children practice competitive dance at Shannon...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Epstein visited Newport in 2014
Jeffrey Epstein made a trip to Newport in 2014, bringing young women who were told they would be extras in a movie being filmed by Woody Allen, according to records released by the U.S. Department of Justice. Emails released as part of the socalled...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘A CITY IN MOURNING’
Two people were killed and three were injured in a shooting that took place at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket on Feb. 16 in what police are investigating as a “targeted” murder-suicide amid a “family dispute.” Gunshots rang out at 2:28 p.m....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Bill would ban sale of parrots from RI breeders
A bill that would mostly ban the sale of parrots at pet stores in Rhode Island is under consideration by the House Corporations Committee. The committee hosted a hearing on the bill, H7334, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, and held it for further study. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
FUMING AT THE SMELL
NORTH KINGSTOWN – Some people living north of the Quonset Business Park say heavy, noxious odors began infiltrating their neighborhood shortly after an asphalt plant began operations in December – and they’re concerned it’s going to get worse when the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
As we honor a Restaurant of the Year, what’s your favorite?
Rhode Island is full of great restaurants, and I’m sure I’m not the first to tell you that. Even with so many great choices, we all have our favorites, those places we go back to and never get sick of. In some cases, you order the same thing every...
Read Full Story (Page 2)
KNOCKED COLD?
If you think the recent freezing temperatures will have any effect on Rhode Island’s surging tick populations, think again. “One thing people need to know about ticks is they’re not killed by the cold weather,” said University of Rhode Island tick...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
MORE CHANGES AHEAD?
The bathhouses at Easton’s Beach, however beloved, could be next on the chopping block for Easton’s Beach facilities, as a recent report shows significant deterioration and the potential for future structural problems. The City of Newport has released...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GOING HOLLYWOOD
For the filmmaking Kinnane brothers of Little Compton, the message of hope resonates in their new movie, “Solo Mio,” starring Kevin James. The team of eight has been chasing childhood dreams of making movies for years and has had several successes,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
IN HARM’S WAY
PROVIDENCE — Developers buying up properties near Providence College, the endless languishing of the Cranston Street Armory and the demolition of historic schools are a few of the Providence Preservation Society’s 2026 list of most endangered...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘An inspiration to all of us’
PROVIDENCE – The Brown University community came together Feb. 7 to honor the two students killed and nine others injured in a mass shooting on campus late last year, as they collectively journey toward healing and recovery. Through prayer, music and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
LONG DAY IN THE BAY
Super Bowl 60 wasn’t complete by press time. Please check Providencejournal.com for full coverage or the subscriber-exclusive Sports Extra E-Newspaper. See how Journal reporters spent their week in the Bay Area covering the Super Bowl,
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SUPER BOWL 60
Patriots impact children, charities and chefs. Kickoff: Today at 6:30 p.m. at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA Latest game coverage online at providencejournal.com
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A PIECE OF THE PRIZE
When the New England Patriots take the football field for Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Feb. 8, in Santa Clara, California, they will seek to bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy back home to New England for the first time since 2025. Wait, the football fans in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HIGH STAKES
Most Patriots fans traveling to San Francisco to root for their team are paying a pretty penny for the experience. Travel packages easily exceed $10,000 per person. Some include flights; some don’t. Some include tickets; some don’t. They do include...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TOP OF THE LINE
HOPKINTON – What do squash, fishing and surgery have in common? Here’s a hint: There’s one thread that ties them all together. If you’ve ever had stitches, there’s a good chance the doctor sewed you up with sutures made by a two-centuryold twine...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
NOT DIGGING IT
After years of fairly mild storms, Providence is struggling to cope with a heavy dumping of snow that continues to block sidewalks, parking spaces and bus shelters, and has turned roads into one-way streets. Some residents are voicing frustration with...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Peaceful’ or ‘reckless’?
After listening to the news and watching the videos, high-profile Republicans and Democrats in Rhode Island came away with some very different opinions about the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents. When asked,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Swift-Kelce wedding could use 1 million flowers
If Taylor Swift decides to get married in Watch Hill, the first public clue might be two weeks before, when a fleet of trucks full of flowers shows up in Westerly. “If they see large tractor-trailer refrigerated trucks around, that must be a sign,”...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Mental health groups in turmoil
The federal government recently announced it would cut an estimated $2 billion in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grants for programs that provide opioid treatment, youth prevention, homelessness and mental health...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
DIGGING OUT
After years of light snowfall, a mid-winter whopper dumped a load on Rhode Island on Sunday, Jan. 25 into Monday morning, covering the region with a frosty layer of flakes that exceeded depths of 18 inches in some areas. The storm, which came with...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
ROOM TO GROW
EAST PROVIDENCE — In the steel shell of what was once a dormitory and, more recently, a nursing home, water collects in buckets as construction crews hammer and drill, saw and weld, and heavy machinery works to cover a series of underground water...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
MEETING THEIR MEASURE
There was a time when the New England Patriots’ season started in the AFC Championship Game. Or at least that’s how the saying went. We aren’t at that level of confidence with this Patriots team, or their future, but New England is right at home in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
THE RICH
Backers of the decades-long campaign to make the state’s highest earners pay more in taxes gathered again at the Rhode Island State House on Thursday, Jan. 22, to make their most ambitious pitch yet. This year, unlike past years, they have a Rhode...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘A HUGE CONCERN’
Brown University is ramping up campus security in the wake of the Dec. 13 shooting that killed two students and injured nine, and some community members fear that the tragedy could lead to an overreaction. Some worry that new surveillance cameras will...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Frigid temps forecast for much of country
As forecasters warned Jan. 21 of a sprawling snow and ice storm that’s about to hit a large swath of the country, millions of Americans were bracing for frigid weather and potentially dangerous snow conditions. The “extremely cold air mass” spreading...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
W
OONSOCKET – For months, Sharon Lewis went from the World War II Memorial Park in Woonsocket to her job at Walmart and back, working from 2 to 11 p.m. Most nights Lewis, 75, said she would stay up, bundled against the cold and keeping a watch from her...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Kind of surreal’
With classes scheduled to start on Wednesday, Jan. 21, Brown students are starting to make their way back to a quiet yet more fortified campus. ● Since the mass shooting at the Barus & Holley building on Dec. 13, which killed two students and left nine...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
MUTED CELEBRATION
When America celebrated its bicentennial in 1976, Rhode Island marked the occasion with the first-ever Tall Ships Festival. Throngs of visitors packed Newport’s waterfront to see the majestic, elaborately rigged ships, and more than 100,000 spectators...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TRAFFIC ‘NIGHTMARE’
As Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce eye possibly getting married at her Watch Hill mansion, The Providence Journal is surveying various wedding vendors about what it would take for the Ocean State to host a wedding befitting the most popular woman in the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump threatens use of armed forces in MN
President Donald Trump on Jan. 15 threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would give him power to deploy armed forces domestically, as tensions ratcheted up yet further in Minnesota following a second shooting involving a federal agent. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BACK IN BUSINESS
For the second time in less than four months, a federal judge has overturned a Trump administration order that shut down construction of Revolution Wind, a 65-turbine offshore wind farm contracted to start delivering power to Rhode Island and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TRAGIC TWIST I
t was always a precarious notion, but it grew more captivating with each passing day for people who closely track violence in the city of Providence. ● In early December, as a suicidal killer secretly plotted mass violence at Brown University,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘TAKE CARE OF OUR NEIGHBORS’
PROVIDENCE – With the start of the new legislative session, Rhode Island faith leaders gathered at the State House on Thursday, Jan. 8, to implore lawmakers – and budget writers – to “take care of our neighbors and the poor” and protect them from the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
FROZEN IN TIME
If you think this winter is cold, consider this: In the 18th century, Narragansett Bay was so frozen that people traveled over the ice between Newport, Providence and Bristol in horse-drawn sleighs. In an era when climate change is leading to rising...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Rubio takes charge of Venezuela’s future
WASHINGTON – The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife was a personal victory for a key member of Trump’s administration: Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has for years been advocating for the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
CHALLENGES AHEAD
What is the likelihood of a tax increase for Rhode Island’s highest earners – and possibly others – during the new legislative session that begins on Tuesday, Jan. 6? ● The official answer from legislative leaders: “Everything is on the table.” ● But...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
NEW YEAR, NEW LAWS
The Providence Journal and United Way of Rhode Island have partnered to highlight the state’s nonprofits. Each week, a nonprofit identified by United Way will be spotlighted in the Providence Sunday Journal, and the United Way will share how it...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Word spread on online forums in minutes, before official alerts GETTING THE WORD OUT
How did you first learn about the mass shooting at Brown University? Many people in the surrounding neighborhood and the greater Providence area have a story that goes something like this: A friend, or a neighbor, or a family member either works at...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HOME ROOMS
A former elementary schoolhouse in Lincoln has been transformed into an income-restricted apartment complex. The 26 apartments aren’t the most spacious, with four two-bedroom units and the rest one-bedroom apartments and studios, but developers Eric...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BRAVE HEARTS
Like a lot of great traditions, Special Olympics Rhode Island’s annual Penguin Plunge started modestly enough with 11 guys, who just might have “over celebrated” the previous night, following through on their New Year’s Eve pledge to start 1977 by...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘THIS IS JUST NEGLECT’
They moved here three years ago from Lincoln, Coventry and North Providence, to what prospective owners thought would be their dream retirement condos: singlefloor units surrounded by woods and quiet, a mile from the Scituate Reservoir. But disputes...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A CUT ABOVE
For countless Rhode Island politicians, the road to the marbled halls of power involved a stop at a humble Pawtucket barbershop. It’s an unwritten rule of local politics: If you want to run for office, you have to go see “Joe the Barber.” That would...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
2050 VISION
By now, we were supposed to have flying cars and live to be 150. Those predictions about life in 2025 haven’t exactly come true, but we do carry computers around in our pockets, and artificial intelligence is becoming a larger presence in our lives....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
THE KEEPER OF COPYCAT BIRDS
As a wild bird rehabilitator, Sheida Soleimani doesn’t typically rescue parrots, but she has a couple of birds that parrot her – even speaking in her native Farsi. Pluto, a blue jay in Soleimani’s care, also does an impressive impression of a cat, as...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HEALING PAWS
PROVIDENCE – In some ways, Cora is just like any other staff member at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. She wears a badge with her name and photo, has an office space and even gets consulted by doctors and nurses. “She’s considered a Brown University...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Dulgarians’ cameras were crucial
There’s something neither the public nor the press saw during the frantic search for the Brown University shooter. What law enforcement did behind the scenes. But I just got a glimpse of it from Ken Dulgarian and his son Harry. They own properties...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘We never skipped a beat’
Some of the first Providence police major crimes detectives to set eyes on the scene of the Brown University shooting arrived as tactical police officers escorted survivors from the building on Dec. 13. The detectives arrived intermittently in the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HUNT FOR MOTIVE
Forensic psychologist Danielle Rieger acknowledges that the man who authorities say killed two students at Brown University and wounded nine others doesn’t fit the profile of a typical school shooter, but she wasn’t shocked when she learned his...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Social media was at its best, worst during manhunt,
Social media was at its best – and worst – during the days-long hunt for the Brown University shooter. On the one hand, a Reddit post by a concerned citizen identified only as “John” provided the missing connection that led police, in less than 24...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘WE GOT HIM’
The suspect in the Brown University shooting that killed two students and injured nine others was found dead by suicide, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez announced Thursday night. “Tonight our Providence neighbors can breathe a little...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SMILEY IN SPOTLIGHT
In his two decades in Rhode Island politics, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said he has never faced the anxiety, exhaustion and scrutiny that’s come from the Dec. 13 mass shooting at Brown University. “Busier than COVID,” Smiley said from City Hall on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tensions high as search for shooter in 3rd full day
PROVIDENCE — Tensions remained high in the capital city, as the manhunt for the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting — believed to be armed and dangerous — stretched into the third full day, though police provided a few more details about the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
CITY REMAINS ON EDGE
PROVIDENCE − The city was on edge Monday, as the shooter who killed two people and injured nine at Brown University on Dec. 13 remained at large and public officials offered little in the way of new details. The individual, who had been taken into...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘UNIMAGINABLE’ TRAGEDY
Person of interest in custody Providence was thrown into the national spotlight on Saturday when two people were killed and nine injured in a mass shooting at Brown University. The shooting, which took place at 4:05 p.m. at the Barus & Holley...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A HOUSE DIVIDED
Centuries of history collide with modern disputes over ownership and identity
Read Full Story (Page 1)
CIN-FUL OBSESSION
The Market on Broadway opened in 2024 in Newport, occupying a former 7-Eleven location at 95 Broadway. The neighborhood market stocks its refrigerated cases with prepared soups, chilis, pasta and meatballs, and more. They offer breakfast sandwiches and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘AFFORDABILITY FOR ALL’
PROVIDENCE – Gov. Dan McKee will preach the “affordability” mantra adopted by Democrats across the country for his reelection pitch to voters in 2026. Facing a tough battle for another four years in office, McKee is set to propose a set of policies in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP
PROVIDENCE – On Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, director James L. Brooks and stars Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis and Woody Harrelson joined Gov. Dan McKee at the Rhode Island State House to announce the impending start of filming of “Ella McCay,” about an...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
ARTIFACTS FROM NUREMBERG
The International Museum of World War II in Wakefield has thousands of artifacts related to the war, including some that could have been used in scenes for the new movie “Nuremberg,” about the prosecution of high-ranking Nazis after the war. The movie...
Read Full Story (Page 1)