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April 5, 2006

R.I.'s Vieira poised to replace Couric on Today

Rhode Island native Meredith Vieira is considered the front-runner to replace Today show host Katie Couric, who today announced plans to become the next CBS Evening News anchor.

Vieira currently hosts the TV shows The View and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Vieira started her career as a news announcer for WORC-Radio in Worcester, Mass., in 1975. Next, she worked as a television reporter and anchor for WJAR-TV in Providence.

Journal TV writer Andy Smith will have more tomorrow on projo.com and in The Providence Journal ...

Posted by Steve Peoples at 6:52 PM | Comment

Mall guard fired after exchange with TV reporter

A spokesman for Allied Barton Security Services confirmed this afternoon that the company has fired a Providence Place mall security guard accused of threatening a television reporter yesterday.

Channel 6 reporter James Hummel and cameraman John Guice filed a complaint today against the guard and a parking attendant who tried to block the news team from filming a security vehicle dangling from the mall parking garage's fourth floor.

The security guard -- whose name has not been released -- allegedly threatened the television reporter, according to Hummel's statement to police. "Sometime when I don't have this uniform on and you don't have that camera and I run into you, you're dead. I will kill you,'' the security guard said, according to Hummel.

Providence police are investigating the incident.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:49 PM | Comment

Treasurer joins AG in bid to reduce judge's pension

PROVIDENCE -- State General Treasurer Paul Tavares joined Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch in filing a complaint today in Superior Court urging the judiciary to reduce the pension of embattled former traffic judge Marjorie Yashar.

Yashar's pension was established at $120,310, though some state officials believe the figure improperly included eight months of unpaid leave -- a move that boosted her pension by more than $38,000 annually for life.

Today, Lynch and Tavares filed their complaint in Superior Court, asking a judge to rule that her pension should be based on actual service of less than 20 years.

"Plaintiffs further seek a declaration that defendant Yashar's pension be reduced ... and that she be ordered to repay the state any overpayments she has received from the date of her retirement to the date her pension is properly reduced," reads the filing.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:33 PM | Comment

TV reporter files complaint against mall guard

PROVIDENCE -- Channel 6 reporter James Hummel and cameraman John Guice filed a criminal complaint today against a Providence Place security guard and parking attendant whom they accused of pushing their TV camera and threatening.

The group exchanged words during an argument yesterday over whether Hummel and his cameraman could stand on a sidewalk while a security car dangled from the fourth floor of the mall garage.

Hummel alleges in his complaint that the Allied Barton Security Services guard threatened to kill him. "Sometime when I don't have this uniform on and you don't have that camera and I run into you, you're dead. I will kill you,'' the security guard said, according to Hummel's complaint.

At another point during the exchange, the complaint says, a parking garage employee told the cameraman to stop recording.

"After we told him 'no,' he grabbed the camera and shoved it while John was looking through the viewfinder and attempting to videotape," Hummel wrote.

Aside from the alleged death threat, much of the exchange was caught on tape, which was given to police when Hummel filed the complaint.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 4:49 PM | Comment

Weather concerns delay bridge demolition

Demolition teams require three successive days of good weather to destroy the old Jamestown Bridge.

State officials announced today that the demolition planned for next Tuesday has been postponed for a week because forecasts are calling for poor weather. And they warned that further delays may be follow.

The state "knows that this demolition is anxiously anticipated, but weather and safety have been, and will continue to be, factors in taking the old Jamestown Bridge down," said Department of Transportation Director James R. Capaldi in a statement.

Demolition experts require "three continuous good weather days" to go forward with the controlled detonation of 350 explosive charges that will dismantle the old bridge.

Authorities will divert traffic from the new Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge for about four hours on the morning of the demolition -- now planned for Tuesday, April 18. Motorists are urged to avoid the area.

Read more about the project, in a Sunday Providence Journal story...

Posted by Steve Peoples at 4:32 PM | Comment

Demolition of old Jamestown Bridge postponed

Demolition of the old Jamestown Bridge has been postponed for a week.

The demolition was scheduled for next Tuesday with a controlled detonation of 350 explosive charges, but now won't happen until April 18, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Weather was cited as a reason for the postponement.

-- Journal staff writer Arthur Gregg Sulzberger

Posted by Jack Perry at 3:03 PM | Comment

R.I. youths speak out on Kick Butts Day / Photo

Journal photo / Frieda Squires
Codi Ethier, a senior at Chariho High School in Richmond, and a Teen as Teacher, talks to students at Chariho Middle School about making decisions about the use of tobacco.

Youth leaders and educators planned events throughout the day to celebrate the 11th annual Kick Butts Day, which is sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

At Chariho Middle School, students from the high school group Teens as Teachers taught decision-making skills about tobacco. Students wrote their feelings about tobacco on a “graffiti wall.”

At the state Capitol, youths planned to display 1,200 empty pairs of shoes to symbolize the 1,200 Americans who die every day because of tobacco use. At Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Providence, soccer team players from Brown University and Lifespan Community Health staff planned to hold a rally for fourth- and fifth-graders.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 2:32 PM | Comment

Johnston mayor to deliver state of the town address

Johnston Mayor William R. Macera plans to make his seventh annual state of the town address at 7 tonight in the Johnston Municipal Court.

In this election year, there’s plenty to talk about in Johnston. As Donald Trump is seeking to bring a casino to town, the Town Council is poised to meet tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Court to consider ratifying a “letter of intent” related to the gaming proposal.

Town and school leaders also face a school deficit, at a time when the high school just got word that it will maintain its accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The school had fought since July to convince the association not to pull its accreditation.

Macera’s talk will be televised on Cox Cable at a date to be set. Residents can call the mayor’s office, at 553-8800, next week to find out when it will air.

The talk will also be posted on the town’s Web page tomorrow.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 2:25 PM | Comment

Workshop to dig up giant pumpkin-growing secrets

Scott Palmer nearly squashed the world record last year. The Coventry farmer won top honors (and $3,500) at the 12th Annual Rhode Island Giant Pumpkin Championship with a pumpkin that weighed 1,443 pounds (the world record was 1,446 pounds).

The state Department of Environmental Management hopes to entice more Rhode Islanders to shoot for the world record this year.

DEM has announced a giant pumpkin-growing workshop for April 15.

The event, which will include exhibits and a question and answer period, will be held at Frerichs Farm on Kinnicut Avenue in Warren, beginning at 1 p.m. Many of New England's top giant pumpkin growers will be on hand to share their secrets. Free seeds will be available.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:07 PM | Comment

Bishop to lead 'rosary for life' tonight at RIC

PROVIDENCE -- The bishop of Providence will lead a student right-to-life group tonight in an evening of prayer at Rhode Island College.

The student group, called RIC 4 Life, is hosting the Rosary for Life, led by the Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

The event will be at 7 p.m., regardless of the weather, at the school's Quad. It's been approved by the college and is open to all, according to the diocese.

Posted by Jack Perry at 1:50 PM | Comment

Norovirus sickened school-dance attendees

The state Department of Health has confirmed that norovirus is what sickened about 20 Cumberland parents and schoolchildren who attended a father-daughter dance last weekend.

Norovirus is very contagious when people come into contact with vomit or feces of an infected person, the Health Department said. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and low-grade fever.

The Health Department began investigating after receiving complaints Sunday from people who attended the dance at the Bocce Club Restaurant in Woonsocket on Friday night. The dance was organized by the Parent Teacher Organization at the Cumberland Hill Elementary School.

Posted by Jack Perry at 12:28 PM | Comment

Doctor's trial on hold as judge queries jurors

WARWICK -- A judge wants to know what impact an expert witness's testimony had on jurors in a sexual assault trial against a former Kent Hospital anesthesiologist.

In agreeing to a request from Dr. Russel J. Aubin's lawyer, Judge Melanie W. Thunberg said she would question each juror about yesterday's testimony from Dr. Kathleen C. Hittner, a veteran Rhode Island anesthesiologist and the president and CEO of Miriam Hospital, in Providence.

The trial was abruptly halted yesterday when Aubin's lawyer, Robert D. Mann, objected to an answer from Hittner.

Mann said he initially requested a mistrial during a meeting in the judge's chambers, but decided against pursuing that request today. He instead asked the judge to question the jurors to determine how much Hittner's testimony had influenced them.

-- Journal staff writer Zachary Mider

During cross-examination yesterday, Mann asked Hittner about an article in a medical journal about a patient who reported sexual hallucinations while sedated. While hallucinations might be a side effect of drugs used in anesthesia, Hittner said, "in my professional opinion, that is not what is responsible in this particular case we're talking about today."

That prompted Mann's objection. Thunberg told the jurors to disregard the statement and stopped the trial.

-- Journal staff writer Zachary Mider

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:56 AM | Comment

Nurse to sign up for medical marijuana program

PROVIDENCE -- A nurse with multiple sclerosis who worked to pass the state’s new medical marijuana bill planned to turn in her paperwork to register for the program this morning at the state Department of Health.

Nurse Rhonda O’Donnell planned to join another patient who worked to pass the bill, Warren Dolbashian, and the bill sponsor, Rep. Thomas Slater, D-Providence, according to the organization the Marijuana Policy Project.

At 11 a.m., they were set to meet at the main entrance of the Health Department, 3 Capitol Hill in Providence.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 11:24 AM | Comment

Defense may seek mistrial in doctor's sex-assault case

WARWICK -- After an abrupt halt to the trial yesterday, a hearing was scheduled this morning in the case of a former Kent Hospital anesthesiologist accused of fondling a patient during her surgery.

The defense in the case of Dr. Russel J. Aubin appeared likely to ask the judge for a mistrial after defense lawyer Robert B. Mann objected yesterday during testimony by an expert witness for the prosecution.

The hearing was to begin at 10 a.m.

Read more in today’s Journal.

More to come on projo.com...

Posted by Kate Bramson at 10:21 AM | Comment

Photo: Spring snow

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

Angela Harnois of Harrisville brushes snow from her car this morning so that she can take her sister to a doctor's appointment. She had to use her hand, because she put away her snow brush last week. The National Weather Service is calling for periods of snow before 1 p.m. and then rain.

Posted by Jack Perry at 10:12 AM | Comment

Tax debate today: Good or bad?

PROVIDENCE -- A debate on taxes is set to take place today before the General Assembly's Permanent Joint Committee on Economic Development.

The committee is expected to meet from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Senate Lounge at the State House.

Experts from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and the Poverty Institute of Rhode Island will offer views at the opposite end of the spectrum.

The hearing will be televised live by the General Assembly’s Capitol TV and can be viewed on Channel 15 by Cox Cable and FullChannel subscribers.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 8:49 AM | Comment

EMC collaborates with Japanese company

TOKYO -- NEC Corp. and the U.S. data storage company EMC Corp. are expanding their partnership to work together in developing, making and selling future data storage technologies and products, the companies said Wednesday.

Japanese electronics maker NEC and EMC, based in Hopkinton, Mass., will license technologies from each other for new products made by both companies, they said.

They plan to develop jointly ways to manage and store data to help customers better address regulatory compliance and security to sell them globally, especially in Japan.

Read the full Associated Press story.

Posted by Jack Perry at 8:46 AM | Comment

Gay marriage debate in House today

Supporters and detractors plan to testify today before the House Judiciary Committee on legislation that would allow same-sex marriage in Rhode Island.

The committee will meet around 4:30 p.m. in Room 313 of the State House.

The bill removes gender-specific language from the section of the state’s general laws that governs eligibility for marriage.

According to the organization Marriage Equality RI, the legislation has never been voted on in the 10 years it has been introduced.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 8:40 AM | Comment

Safety on agenda for fishing show in Providence

PROVIDENCE - Commerical fishermen and others from the industry will gather at the Rhode Island Convention Center today for Fish Expo WorkBoat Atlantic, the largest and longest-running East Coast commercial fishing show, according to its organizers.

The show will feature workshops on industry trends and safety, including a safey drill.

It runs from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. today and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. tomorrow. Admission is $20.

For more information, check the show's Web site.

Posted by Jack Perry at 8:16 AM | Comment

Snowy in Burrillville, more to come elsewhere

It’s snowing in Burrillville and has been for about an hour, a police dispatcher in the heart of town said at 6:40 this morning. Nothing was sticking at that point, but look out.

The National Weather Service is predicting scattered snow showers throughout northern Connecticut and northern Rhode Island during the morning commute. A coating of an inch or two of snow may accumulate on grassy surfaces and car tops until about 10 a.m.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts from projo.com.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 6:56 AM | Comment

Mrs. Carcieri returns to the classroom

PROVIDENCE -- First Lady Suzanne O. Carcieri will return to her teaching roots today as a guest teacher at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence, where she will discuss the danger of alcohol abuse.

Mrs. Carcieri, a former science teacher, will teach two 6th grade science classes, starting at 9:15 a.m. and 10:12 a.m.

Mrs. Carcieri is a member of the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, a coalition of governor's spouses dedicated to preventing alcohol abuse among 9-to-15-year-olds.

Posted by Jack Perry at 6:50 AM | Comment