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October 10, 2006

Evening spends day in Newport / Photo

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski
Actors Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy appear on the set of the movie Evening, which was filming today at Brenton Point State Park on Ocean Drive.

NEWPORT -- Brenton Point played host to Hollywood today, as the filming of an upcoming Focus Features production continued.

Evening is being shot in Tiverton, Jamestown and Newport, but today was the first time that its production crews have filmed in a such a public location. Actress Clare Danes joined actor Hugh Dancy in filming one of the movie's first scenes.

The movie has an all-star cast, including Vanessa Redgrave, her real-life daughter, Natasha Richardson, and Glenn Close. Meryl Streep and her daughter, Mamie Gummer, also play a mother and daughter.

-- Journal staff writer Richard Salit

Posted by Steve Peoples at 6:26 PM | Comment

Update: Runaway camper turns up at Midwest airport

The Ludlow, Mass., mother who walked away from her family’s campsite in South Kingstown this weekend turned up today, alive and healthy, at an airport somewhere in the Midwest, the police say.

But authorities will not identify where Bonnie Fernandes, 36, landed.

"The family has been through enough,’’ South Kingstown Police Capt. Jeffrey Allen said.

Fernandes family pleaded today for the missing woman to contact them after police learned she spent Sunday night on Block Island.

"I have no clue what happened,’’ said Fernandes’s mother, Roseanne Henry, of Holyoke, Mass.

Fernandes, 36, a mother of four, walked away from her family’s campsite at Worden Pond Family Campground around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Police undertook an extensive search for Fernandes after learning of her disappearance from her husband, Lee, around 5:30 p.m. that day.

Police had planned to resume the search this morning, but that effort was called off after police received a call late Monday from a man who gave her a ride to the Block Island ferry terminal in neighboring Narragansett on Sunday, Police Capt. Allen said.

Police learned through credit card records that she had taken the 1 p.m. ferry to the island and spent the night at The National Hotel, Allen said. She was then identified through a surveillance videotape taken by Interstate Navigation, the company that owns the ferry.

She returned to the mainland around 6 p.m. Monday and took a taxi to an unknown destination, Allen said.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Fernandes’s husband Lee returned to Ludlow with their four children, ages 2 to 14, Allen said. Her parents and siblings remained in the area, with her mother making television pleas for her daughter to touch base.

Fernandes is a stay-at-home mom, and her husband works as a correctional officer. "She may have felt overwhelmed,’’ Allen said.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:47 PM | Comment

Fourth day without verdict in hospital corruption case

PROVIDENCE -- Four days and no verdict.

The jury in the Roger Williams Medical Center corruption case has adjourned for the fourth consecutive day without reaching a verdict.

Deliberations will continue tomorrow morning at 9:30.

Former hospital President Robert A. Urciuoli, Frances P. Driscoll, a former hospital vice president, and Peter J. Sangermano Jr., a partner in the hospital's assisted-living center, are facing conspiracy and mail fraud charges. Prosecutors say the officials conspired to steal the honest services of former state Sen. John A. Celona by hiring him to do the hospital's bidding at the General Assembly.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 4:35 PM | Comment

Carcieri: 'Students should always feel at ease'

WARWICK -- Following a recent series of fatal school shootings across the country, Governor Carcieri convened a "safe school summit" today for Rhode Island law enforcement and school officials to discuss ways to strengthen school safety.

“All of our hearts have been wrenched by what we’ve seen in the past several weeks,” Carcieri told a group of about 200 school officials, state and local police and lawmakers, who met for four hours at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight campus. “Schools are nurturing environments where students should always feel at ease.”

But in places such as Nickel Mines, Pa., Cazenovia, Wis., and Bailey, Colo. -- communities where a principal and several students were killed within one week -- that ease has been destroyed.

One of the biggest challenges is securing school buildings, said Col. Steven M. Pare, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.

Far too many schools allow visitors to enter and walk through hallways without signing in at the front office and wearing a visitor’s pass, he said.

Pare said he plans to work with Tom Powers, the agent in charge of the Providence office of the U.S. Secret Service, to develop training programs for the State Police to perform risk analysis on school buildings.

In addition, Carcieri wants the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education to study this issue and come out with recommendations for improving school safety.

-- Journal staff writer Jennifer Jordan

Posted by Steve Peoples at 4:11 PM | Comment

Full Channel officials get probation in cable theft case

PROVIDENCE -- An unusual case of cable television service theft came to close this morning when two officials from Full Channel Cable TV of Warren pleaded no contest to stealing the Portuguese Channel from rival cable company, Cox Communications.

Michael D. McGonagle, 60, Full Channel's general manager, and David R. Rasmussen, 42, Full Channel's chief engineer, pleaded no contest to obtaining telecommunications services by using an ``unlawful'' device, and conspiring to steal telecommunications services.

The pleas were offered this morning in Superior Court, as their trial was set to begin.
Associate Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia sentenced McGonagle, who also goes by the name Mike Davis, to five years probation. Rasmussen received a deferred sentence, which means he will also be placed on probation.

Indeglia dismissed five other related counts against both men on the recommendation of Special Assistant Attorney General Dawn L. Huntley.

McGonagle and Rasmussen declined to comment to a reporter at the court proceeding.

Linda Jane Maaia, chief operating officer of Full Channel, could not be reached for comment.

"At the end of the day, the case was about two senior leaders at Full Channel conspiring to steal our services," said John Wolfe, vice president of government and consumer affairs for Cox Communications. "They pretty much admitted that was the case."

The attorney general's office had alleged that Rasmussen, at McGonagle's direction, installed a tap on Cox Communication's network near Full Channel's signal-processing center on Serpentine Road in Warren.

A cable from the tap went into Full Channel's facility, and the Portuguese Channel was taken from that feed, and rebroadcast onto Full Channel's network.

The alleged theft took place between September and December 2003.

Full Channel has been fighting for survival for the past four years, ever since Cox Communications began offering service in its three-community area. Full Channel had been the sole provider of service for Barrington, Bristol and Warren for 20 years before Cox's entry.

Posted by Tim Barmann at 3:21 PM | Comment

Young seal released back into wild

CHARLESTOWN -- A young seal that has been receiving medical treatment after being found this summer off Rhode Island is back in the wild after being released this morning in Charlestown.

The female hooded seal was first spotted Aug. 13 in the water off Green Hill Beach in South Kingstown. It then swam into the Charlestown Breachway and entered Charlestown Pond.

Connecticut's Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration has been treating it.

The 65-pound seal was dehydrated and had mistakenly eaten sand. During the seal's treatment, it had a seizure that led to brain swelling and pneumonia. The seal's condition slowly improved with antibiotics and assisted feedings.

Hooded seals live in the icy northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes they head south to visit parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut in the winter.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Steve Peoples at 3:20 PM | Comment

Southern New England on tap for mild winter

WASHINGTON -- Good news for southern New Englanders. A weak El Nino under way in the Pacific Ocean should contribute to a mild winter for much of the United States, the National Weather Service reported today.

"The strengthening El Nino event will influence the position and strength of the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean, which in turn will affect winter precipitation and temperature patterns across the country," Michael Halpert, lead forecaster at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, said in a statement.

Expected to have warmer-than-normal winter temperatures are the West, Southwest, Plains states, Midwest, most of the Northeast and northern mid-Atlantic, as well as most of Alaska.

Readings are forecast to be close to normal for parts of the Southeast, while below-average temperatures are anticipated for Hawaii.

The outlook is for equal chances of warmer or cooler than normal for Maine, the southern mid-Atlantic, Tennessee Valley and much of Texas.

Full story ...

Posted by Jack Perry at 3:08 PM | Comment

Whitehouse leads Chafee in two new polls

The man hoping to oust incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee is leading in two new polls released today.

Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse has a 10-point lead in the poll conducted by the national independent pollster Rasmussen Reports. He leads Chafee 49 percent to 39 percent with 8 percent undecided and 4 percent supporting other candidates.

A separate poll released by Rhode Island College's Bureau of Government Research and Services found that Whitehouse leads by 3 percentage points, 40 percent to 37 percent with 23 percent undecided.

Both polls have a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. Rasmussen surveyed 500 likely voters on Oct. 4. RIC surveyed 459 registered voters Oct. 2 and Oct. 4.

The race is being watched nationally because it is one of a handful whose outcome could affect the balance of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate. The election is four weeks away.

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:48 PM | Comment

Update: Carpio gets life without parole

PROVIDENCE -- Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause today sentenced Esteban Carpio to life without parole for the 2005 murder of Detective Sgt. James L. Allen.

On top of that, Krause gave Carpio an additional life sentence for the use of a firearm while committing a crime. The judge also sentenced Carpio to 20 years in prison for the assault on Madeline Gatta, now 84.

"It would appear to the court, Mr. Carpio, that you are incorrigible," Judge Krause said. He went on to say that to allow Carpio even the possibility of parole would be antithetical in a civilized society.

Before the sentencing, Carpio told the court: "I was doing all right until one day I woke up and there was something wrong with me."

In his first public statement, Carpio today said that he was unable to control himself the night at the police station when he killed Sgt. Allen with the detective's gun.

Carpio, who began to cry during his statement, also addressed the Allen family. "I am truly sorry for what has happened to the victims and the victims' families," he said.

His lawyer, Robert L. Sheketoff, said he will appeal the conviction and sentence.

Carpio never denied that he killed the officer. He pleaded not guilty by virtue of insanity, a rare defense that was not accepted by the jury.

Attorney General Patrick Lynch issued a statement this afternoon praising the ruling.

"I thank the Court, I thank Judge Krause, for this sentence. There is no greater punishment, no tougher penalty, than that which Judge Krause just -- and justly --imposed: life without the possibility of parole," Lynch said.

"Clearly, Esteban Carpio's crimes, of which he was convicted in June, qualify as the worst of the worst. In the event that the defendant pursues his Constitutional rights and appeals his conviction, and this sentence, I will fight to the very end to ensure that they stand. To do any less would dishonor the memory of one of the best officers ever to wear the badge of the Providence Police Department."

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline also weighed in.

"Although today’s guilty verdict concludes an important chapter in the criminal proceedings, it’s important to remember that the loss of Detective Allen continues to be a great source of pain the Allen family, Police Department and the city of Providence," Cicilline said in a statement. "The sacrifices Detective Allen made on behalf of the residents of this city will never be forgotten."

-- Gregory Smith, Journal staff writer

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:39 PM | Comment

Tractor trailer rollover clogs 295 South

The state Department of Transportation has issued an alert this afternoon that a garbage truck rollover has snarled traffic on Interstate 295 South.

The accident occurred at about 2 p.m. at Exit 6 in Johnston, causing officials to temporarily close the exit.

"Motorists are advised to seek alternate routes and to expect delays," according to the DOT alert.

In is unclear if anyone was injured in the accident.

More to come on projo.com...

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:18 PM | Comment

Cranston group to protest construction project

CRANSTON -- A citizens group in Cranston is planning a large protest today at City Hall to pressure Mayor Stephen P. Laffey to stop the construction of a controversial concrete batching plant.

The group, Cranston Citizens for Responsible Zoning and Development, wants the mayor to invalidate a building permit issued in March for the Cullion Concrete Corp. project on Marine Drive. The group says the proposed plant would pollute waterways, lower air quality and pose health risks for nearby residents.

-- Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:17 PM | Comment

New poll shows voters oppose casino

PROVIDENCE -- For the second time in less than three weeks, an independent poll has shown that the majority of Rhode Islanders oppose an effort to change the state Constitution to bring a Narragansett Indian casino to West Warwick.

The latest poll, released today by Rhode Island College's Bureau of Government Research and Services, shows that 56 percent of likely voters oppose the casino, while 33 percent support it; 10 percent are undecided.

In contrast to a previous Brown University poll that reported similar findings late last month, the RIC poll mentioned that casino tax revenue would be used for property-tax relief, just as the ballot question will.

RIC pollers asked, "Thinking now about the proposed casino, will you vote for or against the constitutional amendment to authorize a resort casino in West Warwick, to be privately owned and operated in association with the Narragansett Indian tribe, with casino taxes used for property-tax relief?"

The survey of 459 randomly selected registered voters was conducted Oct. 2 to Oct. 4 and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

Last month's Brown University poll found that casino opponents outnumber supporters 55 percent to 36 percent.

The election is four weeks away.

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 1:31 PM | Comment

Gas prices drop again

PROVIDENCE -- Gasoline prices in Rhode Island have dropped again.

The state Energy Office says its latest survey finds prices dropped 11 cents since last week to an average $2.25 per gallon of regular gas.

AAA Southern New England says its survey found a slightly higher average price -- $2.28 per gallon.

Prices are averaging 59 cents lower than at this time last year, when the nation was still recovering from the affects of hurricanes hitting the Gulf Coast.

But prices are 30 cents more than two years ago at this time.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:14 AM | Comment

Sentencing hearing this morning for Carpio

PROVIDENCE -- A presentencing hearing is scheduled this morning for Esteban Carpio, the man convicted of killing Providence Police Det. James Allen.

Carpio faces a sentence of life in prison without parole after being convicted last June of murdering Allen with the detective's own gun.

Jurors rejected Carpio's insanity defense in finding him guilty of first-degree murder and other charges.

A prosecutor and defense attorney are expected to make arguments at 9:30 a.m. about Carpio's sentencing. Then, Superior Court Judge Robert Krause will announce when he'll impose the sentence.

Life in prison without parole is the toughest penalty possible in Rhode Island, which doesn't have the death penalty.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 8:53 AM | Comment

Jury to resume deliberations in hospital corruption case

PROVIDENCE -- The jury in the Roger Williams Medical Center corruption case will resume deliberations this morning, marking its fourth day trying to decide the case.

The jury adjourned Friday without reaching a verdict, putting the case on hold for the Columbus Day weekend.

Former hospital President Robert A. Urciuoli, Frances P. Driscoll, a former hospital vice president, and Peter J. Sangermano Jr., a partner in the hospital's assisted-living center, are facing conspiracy and mail fraud charges.

Prosecutors say the officials conspired to steal the honest services of former state Sen. John A. Celona by hiring him to do the hospital's bidding at the General Assembly.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:01 AM | Comment

Partly cloudy today, high near 66

Another nice day is in store for southern New Englanders with a high near 66 degrees under partly cloudy skies, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service is warning drivers of thick fog in areas this morning. The fog should burn off by 8 a.m., the weather service says.

Tonight should be mostly cloudy with a low near 51 degrees.

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

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment