The Providence Journal
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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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‘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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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‘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...
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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...
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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....
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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...
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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...
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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...
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‘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...
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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...
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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...
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‘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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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‘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...
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A HOUSE DIVIDED
Centuries of history collide with modern disputes over ownership and identity
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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...
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‘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...
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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...
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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...
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Political rousting at Brewed Awakenings
WARWICK – Many faces of Rhode Island conservative politics converged at Republican Aaron Guckian‘s gubernatorial campaign kickoff at Brewed Awakenings Cafe this month, from the candidate himself, to past GOP luminaries and party operatives from across...
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SHIFTING TACTIC
Asuspect accused of first-degree robbery is holed up in a basement apartment. And police believe he might have a gun. ● Cranston police officers have made many such arrests safely over the course of their history. But their work on this occasion makes...
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BOWLED OVER
PROVIDENCE – If you ask Scott LaChapelle, he will confess that up to 2017, he went most of his life oblivious to the world of Japanese ramen. “Like most people, I would just associate ramen with cup noodles or something that was in a frozen pack,”...
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FROM SQUIRRELS TO STALKERS
When a movie director yells “action!” somewhere in Providence, it’s a safe bet that Sgt. Michael Martinous isn’t far away. Since 2006, Martinous has been the liaison between the Providence Police Department and the film and television industry,...
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DOGS’ BEST FRIENDS
FOSTER – In a former church on Douglas Pike, Vintage Pet Rescue provides love and hope to a new congregation of the most faithful – homeless elderly dogs. The three dozen humans who serve here heal the sick and help the lame walk. Sadly, they cannot...
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RECOVERY PLAN
SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Things at South County Hospital are looking up, thank you very much, says Aaron Robinson, CEO of the health system that owns the hospital. Robinson, sitting at a conference table, ticks off the hospital’s recent victories. “[We are]...
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‘MORE THAN A RESTAURANT’
The Awful Awful, 24 ounces of New England-style frozen milk and sugar, is an unlikely symbol of regional cultural resistance to corporate uniformity. It is the only one you can order in “Extreme Cookie Monster” flavor. ● But since word got out that the...
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If it’s local you want, we’ve got it.
Our Sunday refresh offers more local news and sports, as well as “Weekend Exclusive” content to help you navigate your lives. So enjoy your Sunday reading filled with stories that will inspire, educate, inform and entertain you. SCAN FOR THE LATEST...
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COOL CATS IN THE HOUSE
PROVIDENCE – On a recent Wednesday night, the Paper Moon Jazz Band was grooving at The Royal Bobcat on Atwells Avenue, an upright bass, guitar, drums and a vibraphone, with a sometimes captive audience, a few people chatting, most people watching and...
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‘I get joy out of it’
For as much as the roads of Newport seem paved with gold, the beating heart of the City by the Sea are the volunteers who keep its vast network of nonprofit, community-focused organizations afloat. From food pantries to programming for seniors, to...
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A WORLD OF THANKS
Depending on which commercials are beaming onto your screens, you might believe you can’t be thankful this season without a dose of football or a dollop of sour cream. I love those things, too, but on this week of Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the...
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HOT PROPERTY
The fire poles are in storage, the holes they were in have been plugged, the air tank filling machine is gone and the fire trucks have been moved out, but the Humboldt Fire Station is still one of the architectural crown jewels of Providence’s...
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LEARNING ON THE MENU
PROVIDENCE – At one of the largest dining halls in one of the nation’s top culinary arts schools, the students with the trays are not the only ones with experience in a Johnson & Wales University classroom. “It’s amazing just to see the fresh crop of...
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Shutdown deal comes with extra provisions
WASHINGTON – Several eyebrowraising proposals are tucked into the bills that were on track to end the longest-ever federal government shutdown. While lawmakers’ attention has centered mostly in recent days around measures to reverse thousands of...
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GETTING TO THE SOURCE
A case in Glocester of drinking water contamination caused by PFAS is a reminder of the threat these so-called “forever chemicals” used in firefighting foam and consumer products pose to groundwater supplies. The well water at three homes in west...
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LIVING ON WILLPOWER
In October, I got a very small taste of what it’s like to rely on SNAP benefits. For five days, I participated in the “SNAP challenge,” which involves living on $6 a day. That’s roughly the average benefit provided by the Supplemental Nutrition...
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AVIAN ‘AMBASSADOR’ W
ith the bald eagle population increasing here and across the country, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island plans to bring a bald eagle to the Ocean State to serve as an “ambassador” to help the public learn about the birds. ● The Audubon Society is...
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Paying respect
The more than 40 memorial monuments at the Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery start greeting visitors as soon as they turn off South County Trail in Exeter and head west into the 280-acre cemetery. Monuments line the short entranceway, and...
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SNAP disruptions could hurt grocers
Like the millions of Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, retailers are bracing for the effects of reduced or delayed funding to a program that typically injects billions of dollars into the U.S. economy each month. The...
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‘GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY’
An elderly woman stashes her diamonds in a bank safe deposit box but forgets to tell her children, so no heirs come forward to claim the jewels after she dies. A man removes his gold watch before undergoing emergency surgery, but forgets to retrieve...
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TROUBLED WATERS
GLOCESTER – The farm where Brandy Bates lives has been a haven for her family since the days of George Washington. Generation after generation, going back to 1792, have called it home. But her rural idyll was shattered when Bates found out that the...
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Vote orders hazing probe
The Smithfield School Committee voted to assign the district’s lawyers to investigate the district’s administrative response and steps taken “to address recent football matters.” Schools officials voted for the investigation late on Monday, Nov. 3,...
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‘A SENSE OF VALUE’
It’s hard to imagine a program that benefits people living inside prison walls and people outside living with disabilities. But that is exactly what the NEADS program does. It transforms lives. For Kimberly Clemens, the arrival of Murphy gave her a...
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS
In the last decade, Newport’s largest forest has lost nearly a third of its trees, opening up the canopy and creating the perfect conditions for invasive plants to flourish. As more light has penetrated to the forest floor in Miantonomi Park, Japanese...
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ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
Rhode Island has placed its hopes, resources and investments in offshore wind energy for years, but recent actions by the Trump administration have put production in peril. What does this portend for the future of renewable energy?
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CASES CLOSED
Two women who died from asphyxiation. Two unsolved homicide cases. Debra Stone was a 24-year-old victim who had grown up in Rhode Island, living in both Warwick and Providence and earning her general equivalency degree. By the time of her 1984...
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CUTS ABOVE THE REST
The annual “House of 1000 Pumpkins” display on Elm Drive in Cranston, which includes around 1,600 craft pumpkins hand-carved by homeowner Tim Perry, is going strong again this year, seen here on Oct. 28.
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READY TO DEAL
PROVIDENCE – Looking to move your food truck into a brick-and-mortar establishment? To open a café? A boutique? What about on Atwells Avenue, one of Providence’s prime commercial thoroughfares? One Neighborhood Builders is trying to fill two to three...
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Response to anti-Semitic incident called ‘egregious’
The mother of a Jewish football player told the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island that five Smithfield football players, all seniors, trapped her son in a bathroom and sprayed him with Lysol while yelling anti-Jewish slurs, according to a...
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MORE THAN A CENTURY
Emma Virgadamo will turn 108 in November, but you’d never guess that she’s one of the oldest people in Rhode Island. A resident of the John Clarke Nursing Center in Middletown, she still husks corn, peels apples, wins at bingo and possesses a sharp,...
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SHORING UP THE BEACH E
AST PROVIDENCE — The beach at Crescent Park is littered with toppled trees. The bluff rising up over the strip of sand on the Providence River is slowly collapsing under the twin forces of rainwater runoff that’s weakening it from above and...
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THE ARCHITECTS OF AMERICAN HORROR
Was it some supernatural force that drew both Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft to Providence’s College Hill? “These two authors are really the architects of American horror,” Matt Burriesci, executive director of the Providence Athenaeum, told The...
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A SPOOKY HOUSE
ABOVE: General Treasurer James A. Diossa, with his daughter Arianna and son Alessandro, join in the fun at the annual “State House Goes Spooky” event on Oct. 23. AT RIGHT: Kamila Lozano of Cumberland shows off her costume at the event.
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Providence’s East Side turkey is causing stir
The eNewspaper is an electronic copy of your print newspaper. Enjoy every page by going to providencejournal.com/enewspaper or scan this code on your mobile device. You will also find late news and sports in the bonus sections. Check it out...
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WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
NEW YORK – You could imagine a different world where Kim English is entering his third season at Georgetown and Ed Cooley is still coaching at Providence. These sliding-doors moments on the sideline are part of what make college sports endlessly...
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MISSING LINK
Engineers hired by the state to find out why the westbound side of the Washington Bridge failed in 2023 concluded that the broken rods that led to the closure had been corroding for more than 15 years. But that conclusion was omitted from the 64-page...
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Finding their way
A recent walking tour of Warwick’s Potowomut neighborhood inadvertently highlighted the many challenges facing the Coastal Resources Management Council, from unpermitted work to sprinklers blocking a shoreline right-ofway. “It’s never boring,”...
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TEACHING TRUMP
Try to imagine teaching a collegelevel class titled “The American Presidency” in the age of President Donald Trump. What would tell your students about the president’s authority to unilaterally fire legions of federal employees, cut congressionally...
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The tangled web of hospital prices
Should an appendix removal cost $2,724 or $14,247, with the same insurance plan? Should a colonoscopy cost $669 or $5,288? Should the hip replacement that gets someone walking again run them $4,324 or $24,784? A Providence Journal analysis of hospital...
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MICHELANGELO UP CLOSE
WARWICK – If you’ve ever wanted to see Michelangelo’s famed frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel but don’t want to take a trip to Italy, a new exhibit at the Warwick Mall might be the next best thing. “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The...
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JUDGE SLAMS ‘BULLY’ TACTIC
PROVIDENCE — A federal judge in Rhode Island is accusing the Trump administration of violating a court ruling by continuing to tie the payment of federal disaster assistance grants to states to their cooperation with immigration enforcement. In an...
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HOME AT LAST
PROVIDENCE – Walking around one of the new apartments at the new fivestory, 176-unit apartment building at 94 Summer St., Godfrey Ojeator said he couldn’t be happier – or more grateful. Formerly homeless, Ojeator will move, likely sometime in...
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CHILLING EFFECT
PROVIDENCE — On a recent weekday morning, the alert went out around 9 a.m.: Three U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles were spotted near the Garrahy Judicial Complex in downtown Providence. A pair of the Deportation Defense Network of...
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‘You are not alone’
Todd Corayer has a message for men, and he’s been using his gift for writing to spread it: Go to your doctor and ask the tough questions. It could make an immeasurable difference to the quality and future of your life. Corayer, whose day job is...
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‘IT’S DISGUSTING’ L
ately, residents of Narragansett have been getting more than a whiff of ocean breeze. Complaints about the smell of sulfur, open sewage and even “something dead” have been circulating online and at Narragansett Town Council meetings. “Never ever, in...
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