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August 18, 2006

4 R.I. beaches re-opened

The state Department of Health has recommended re-opening four beaches that had been closed to swimming this week due to high bacteria levels.

They are Conimicut Point Beach and Oakland Beach in Warwick, Camp Grosvenor in North Kingstown and Warren Town Beach.

Water tests showed bacteria levels within acceptable limits, according to an announcement released this afternoon by the heath department.

Gorton Pond Beach in Warwick remains closed.

Because beach closures change daily, beachgoers are encouraged to check the health department's Web site.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:38 PM | Comment

Update: 3 shot in head in Central Falls, suspect charged

CENTRAL FALLS -- Two women and one man were shot in the head early this morning, and the man suspected of shooting them was found lying face down among the victims, police said this afternoon.

Adelino Duarte, 38, has been charged with various criminal charges, including three counts of assault with the intent to commit murder. The three victims are listed in critical condition at Rhode Island Hopsital.

Duarte was the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims, Elizabeth Orellana, 37, who lived at the scene of the crime, 712 High St. Orellana's 20-year-old daughter, Kristal Duarte (no relation to the suspect), and 23-year-old Octavio Calcagno were also shot.

When police arrived at the scene at about 2:30 a.m. they found Adelino Duarte face down on the floor in the same room as the bleeding victims, according to the police.

The police noticed that Duarte's hand was under a mattress. They restrained him and discovered a .25 caliber hand gun -- believed to be the weapon used in the shootings -- under the mattress.

Duarte will be held at the Central Falls police station pending a court appearance Monday morning.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina

The High Street home where the shootings took place is a vinyl-sided, neatly maintained Colonial with four living units. Although about a block around the home was cordoned off with yellow police tape, there is no sign on the street early this afternoon that anything was amiss.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:43 PM | Comment

Update: Man in Slater park was not armed

PAWTUCKET -- The police confirmed this afternoon that the man they found in Slater Memorial Park this morning was not armed, despite initial reports that he was carrying a cache of weapons including a crossbow and knives.

Authorities evacuated the park for over an hour this morning as the police searched for the man, whose family contacted police fearing he would hurt himself or someone else.

The park was closed from 8:45 to 10 this morning, according to Cindy Medeiros, a clerk in the park office.

Before leaving his home this morning, the man told a family member "that he was suicidal and he wanted to die," said Pawtucket police Maj. Arthur Martins.

The suspect is being held on criminal charges, Martins said, though he would not release the suspect's name or the charges he is facing.

Police discovered a small Swiss Army knife on the man, but no other weapons. A subsequent search of the park revealed nothing else, Martins said.

-- projo.com staff writers Steve Peoples and Kate Bramson

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:29 PM | Comment

Judge overturns $10M verdict against Custer Battles

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge has overturned on a technicality a $10 million jury verdict against military contractor Custer Battles, accused of defrauding the U.S. government in the initial months of the Iraq war.

The verdict, awarded in March against Custer Battles LLC, had been the first civil fraud verdict arising from the Iraq war. Custer Battles, which also operated out of Fairfax, Va., based most of its operations in Rhode Island.

A former Custer Battles employee filed the lawsuit under a whistleblower statute, alleging that Custer Battles used shell companies and false invoices to vastly overstate its expenses on a $3 million contract to assist in establishing a new currency to replace the old Iraqi dinar used during Saddam Hussein's regime.

The verdict reached $10 million because the law calls for triple damages, plus penalties, fines and legal costs.

But U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, in a ruling made public today, ruled that Custer Battles' accusers failed to prove that the U.S. government was ever defrauded. Any fraud that occurred was perpetrated instead against the Coalition Provisional Authority, formed shortly after the war to run Iraq during the occupation until an Iraqi government was established.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:20 PM | Comment

Tomorrow's Pats game won't be on local TV

FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Patriots' exhibiition game tomorrow night will not be shown on local TV. Instead, the game against the Arizona Cardinals will be carried nationally on the NFL Network.

The 8 p.m. home game will be carried by Boston's Channel 5 in Massachusetts, which the NFL considers the extent of the team's home market.

"This is an NFL decision. We don't like it. But they are pretty much going to do what they are going to do.'' said Jay Howell, president and general manager of WPRI-TV and Fox Providence, Channel 64.

Viewers in Rhode Island may be able to get Channel 5 with an antenna. NFL Network is available on at least one of the satellite services and on Cox Digital Cable, channel 137.

"The Patriots tried to get us this game,'' said Howell, adding that the team's last two exhibition games will be carried on Channel 64.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 1:30 PM | Comment

Update: Bishop recalls Channel 10's White as man of faith

Journal photo / Kris Craig
Mourners watch the funeral procession for White make its way down the steps of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral after the service this morning. They include colleague Gary Ley, center with red tie.

PROVIDENCE -- The Most Rev. Robert E. Mulvee, bishop emeritus of Providence, recalled Channel 10 news anchor Doug White as a man of strong, simple faith during White's funeral Mass this morning at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Mulvee recalled going to White's house to administer the Sacrament of the Sick and noticing that White, a telegenic figure for Rhode Islanders since the 1970s, still had a twinkle in his eye.

White, 61, died Tuesday at his Warwick home after a battle with cancer. He had worked at Channel 10 since 1978 and started his Rhode Island broadcasting career at Channel 12 in 1972.

Many of those who turned out for White's well-attended funeral were newsmakers or, like White, news reporters.

Among those in the church were Governor Carcieri, U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Lincoln Chafee; U.S. Reps. Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin; Attorney General Patrick Lynch and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline.

Many of White's Channel 10 colleagues filled the pews, including investigative reporter Jim Taricani and anchor Gene Valicenti.

White's sons, Matthew and Jonathan, also spoke during the Mass, recalling their father as a family man and sharing memories of growing up.

Extras: See Channel 10's coverage of White and his career. To share condolences and memories, go to an online guest book.

-- With reports from Journal television writer Andy Smith and staff writer Richard Dujardin

Posted by Jack Perry at 1:08 PM | Comment

Deadline extended for seats for Laffey-Chafee debate

The deadline to reserve seats for the debate this Wednesday between Republican primary opponents U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee and Cranston Mayor Stephen P.Laffey has been extended until 5 p.m. today.

The debate, co-sponsored by The Providence Journal and WPRI-TV, will be held at Tollgate High School at 575 Centerville Road, Warwick, at 8 p.m.

To register to attend, e-mail your full name, address and daytime phone number to debates06@projo.com.

Reservation requests also can be dropped off to The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain Street, in Providence. Reservations are limited to 200 seats and two names per request. Registrants will be notified by phone this Monday.

The debate will also be broadcast live and commercial free at 8 p.m. on WPRI (Channel 12) and be picked up by C-SPAN. It will also be available as live streaming video on wpri.com and projo.com.

The debate is third in a series of four between Chafee and Laffey.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 11:52 AM | Comment

Princeton is first, Brown 15th in magazine's rankings

Princeton University broke a three-year tie with Harvard to become the top college for undergraduates in the nation, according to the influential U.S. News & World Report rankings released today.

Harvard ranks second and Yale University came in third. Brown University maintained its ranking as 15th highest among the 50 best national universities.

For the 11th year in a row, Providence College ranks as one of the top colleges granting master's degrees in the north region. The private liberal arts college run by Dominican Friars shares the number-two spot with Loyola College in Maryland. Villanova University ranks number one out of 85 institutions in that category.

Several other Rhode Island colleges saw their rankings improve in the survey's myriad listings.

Bryant University moved up a spot this year, to 19th place, and Salve Regina University jumped from 44th place last year to 37th this year, both in the same category as PC.

Roger Williams University climbed from 13th place to 10th in the category of comprehensive colleges granting bachelor's degrees in the north region.

For a complete list of U.S. News and World Report's 2007 rankings, visit: www.usnews.com.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Jennifer Jordan.

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:37 AM | Comment

Missing Cumberland toddler is found

CUMBERLAND – A missing 20-month-old boy has been located by a police and fire search crew in briar bushes not far from a Massachusetts Avenue home.

The police are looking into whether the boy, who was reported missing about 9:30 a.m. and was found 10 to 15 minutes later, had wandered away from the home, Cumberland Police Lt. James P. Coyne said this morning.

About 10 police officers and 10 firefighters responded quickly to the scene and combed the area for the boy, Coyne said.

No more details are yet available.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 9:52 AM | Comment

Police: Driver hits cars, but can't run from retired cop

PROVIDENCE -- A 28-year-old Warwick man will be arraigned this morning in Sixth District Court, Providence, after several alleged hit-and-run accidents last night in Warwick and Cranston, according to the state police.

Troy Procaccianti, of 145 Bakers Creek Rd., was caught by a retired Providence police officer who chased him down on foot after a crash on Route 10 in Cranston, State Police Sgt. Nicholas M. Tella said.

Procaccianti is charged by the state police with possession of a stolen vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident with an occupied vehicle, driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit to a chemical test and operating on a suspended license, Tella said.

He is also expected to be charged by the Warwick police with two counts of leaving the scene of an accident with an occupied vehicle for two hit-and-run accidents that prompted Warwick to issue a bulletin about the car last night, Tella said.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

The state police got involved around 8 p.m. last night when the Warwick police broadcast that a maroon Dodge minivan was involved in two hit-and-run accidents. A few minutes later, several 911 calls came in reporting an accident where Route 95 North and Route 10 intersect in Cranston, Tella said.

When a state trooper arrived at that accident, the trooper saw that a Dodge minivan and a small white Mazda had collided, with evidence that the minivan had hit the other car, Tella said. The Warwick police were there, and a man was in custody. He was turned over to the state police, who had jurisdiction in that area, Tella said.

After that accident, Procaccianti fled out the passenger side of the minivan, across the exit to Elmwood Avenue, Tella said. He jumped over a guardrail and ran down the embankment toward Wellington Avenue, Tella said.

But he was caught while running down that embankment by the retired Providence police officer, who had witnessed the crash, Tella said.

The Dodge was stolen out of Cranston, Tella said.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 8:08 AM | Comment

Sun will burn off this morning's patchy fog

After morning fog burns off, southern New Englanders should enjoy mostly sunny weather today with a high near 83 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass.

The weather service is advising drivers that patchy, dense fog will reduce visibility to less than one-half mile in areas this morning, primarily along and south of a line from Providence to Plymouth, Mass.

The fog should burn off by 8 a.m.

For more weather and regular updates, see projo.com/weather.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment