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November 20, 2006

Attorney general closes WBUR investigation

PROVIDENCE -- The attorney general's office said this afternoon that it has closed the investigation related to the potential sale of WRNI by Boston-based WBUR, both of which serve as local outlets for National Public Radio.

Last year, after learning that Boston University, which owns WRNI, might sell the station, the office launched "a probe" into the situation, according to an announcement released by the attorney general this afternoon.

The attorney general closed its investigation today because of WBUR's "recommitment to public radio in Rhode Island," evidenced by its "fulfillment of its pledge to hire a full-time general manager for the Rhode Island station, to re-engage with a local public radio advisory board, and to implement consistent allocation of Rhode Island charitable donations to WRNI."

WBUR acquired WRNI 1290 AM in 1998. Its sister station, WXNI 1230 AM in Westerly, was acquired a year later. Combined, the stations serves greater Providence, Fall River, Narragansett Bay, southwestern Rhode Island, and southeastern Connecticut.

"WBUR has taken the critical steps to ensure the viability of WRNI, a valued
charitable institution in Rhode Island," Attorney General Patrick Lynch said in a statement. "Based on these positive developments, I am terminating the investigation."

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:41 PM | Comment

Supreme Court backs Fortunato in Cranston recount

The Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled today that the state Board of Elections must comply with a lower court's order to photocopy ballots that can't be read by machines for manual inspection.

The board had strongly opposed last week's decision by Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. -- which followed a motion from Cranston mayoral candidate Allan W. Fung -- saying it would increase mistakes and facilitate a manual review process that would mirror the tortured presidential election recount of 2000.

Lawyers for Fung, who trails Democrat Michael T. Napolitano by 71 votes, argued that it may be possible to determine the voter’s intent on ballots rejected by voting machines. “The paper ballots are the way to verify that the machines are working properly,” said Fung campaign lawyer, Angel Taveras. “That’s why we have paper ballots.”

Fortunado agreed. And so did the state Supreme Court.

It's unclear what the Board of Election reaction will be. The board already suspended all recounts indefinitely, pending the Supreme Court ruling. Eight contests have been held up by the legal action.

More to come on Projo.com

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Steve Peoples at 4:22 PM | Comment

Mayor to host food drive at his house

PROVIDENCE -- You are invited to Mayor David N. Cicilline's East Side home tomorrow, so long as you are carrying turkeys, vegetables and canned goods that will go to the needy this Thanksgiving holiday.

The mayor's annual food drive -- which typically attracts "hundreds" of donors -- is scheduled for tomorrow from 5 to 9 p.m. at Cicilline's home, 702 Elmgrove Ave., according to an announcement released this afternoon by the mayor's office.

A separate food drive sponsored by the Providence Bruins produced 629 pounds of food for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank today, more than doubling last year's total, food bank spokesman Michael Cerio said this afternoon.

The food bank distributes more than 9 million pounds of food each year, Cerio said, but "it's hundreds of efforts each year like this that make a difference."

Tomorrow, volunteers will be on hand at Cicilline's house to put the donations in baskets, which will be distributed on Wednesday to various organizations that serve those in need.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 4:19 PM | Comment

NY man charged with DUI in fatal Tiverton crash

TIVERTON -- The police believe that a New York man was drunk when he crashed his Jaguar late last week on Nannaquaket Road, killing his female passenger.

Brian T. Fiske, 46, of 61 Filken St., Fairport, N.Y., was arraigned yesterday at Rhode Island Hospital, where he was recovering from an arm injury suffered during the high-speed crash, according to Tiverton Deputy Police Chief Nicholas Maltais.

Fiske was released from the hospital later in the day, and spent last night at the Adult Correctional Institutions, in Cranston, after failing to post the $100,000 surety bail, Maltais said today.

Fiske was charged with driving under the influence, death resulting, and driving to endanger, death resulting. Both are felonies.

Driving a 1999 Jaquar southbound on Nannaquaket Road last Thursday at about 9:30 p.m., Fiske's car left the road north of Leonard Drive, Maltais said. Fiske hit a drainage culvert, went up on a lawn at 299 Nannaquaket Rd., struck a tree and continued south, grazing two ornamental stone walls on the north and south sides of Leonard Drive.

Fiske's car came to a stop several hundred feet from where it initially left the road, Maltais said.

A passenger, Elizabeth H. Ahearn, 59, of 2002 Main Rd., Westport, Mass., was pronounced dead at the accident scene.

Maltais said that although Fiske has a New York address, he had been staying in Westport for some time.

Tiverton police consulted the attorney general's office before charging Fiske, according to Maltais.

-- Projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 4:04 PM | Comment

Bad timing: Winter squash recall issued

PROVIDENCE -- The state Department of Health issued an alert today that 3 million packages of frozen cooked winter squash have been recalled -- just three days before Thanksgiving.

The national food-seller Birds Eye Foods voluntarily issued the recall of the popular Thanksgiving dish -- sold under the Birds Eye brand, which is offered by Stop & Shop -- after detecting the presence of ammonia in some packages.

The presence of ammonia may cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, and irritation of the throat, according to the health department.

The cooked winter squash was produced by Michigan-based Chase Farms, which has ceased production and distribution for Birds Eye Foods while it continues to investigate the problem.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 3:39 PM | Comment

Police ID man hurt in alleged DUI hit-and-run

WARWICK -- The police have identified the 19-year-old Sears employee who was injured on Saturday afternoon when he was hit by an allegedly drunken driver who fled the scene of the accident.

Zachary Hewes, of Narragansett Ave., in Providence, was hit outside the Sears at 650 Bald Hill Road while on a break at about 5 p.m., the police say. He is being treated at Rhode Island Hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman, who would not disclose his condition.

The accident occurred as Hewes crossed Route 113, in front of the Rhode Island Mall. The police have charged the motorist, Robert Saladino, 43, of Liverpool Street, with driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a personal-injury accident.

He was released on $300 bail later on Saturday. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 13 in Kent County District Court, according to police Capt. Matthew Costello.

-- Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

The impact upended Hewes, who landed atop the car’s windshield and then rolled into the street.

The DUI charge is a misdemeanor. The charge of fleeing the scene of the accident is a felony, Costello said.

Though Saladino allegedly fled the scene, the police arrested him shortly after the accident at the intersection of Route 113 and Route 2. The police say Saladino was stopped at a traffic light about 500 feet from where Hewes lay injured when two motorists who had witnessed the accident accosted him and removed his keys, Costello said. The police, who had been alerted by several 911 calls, were already on the way.

“One of the civilian vehicles blocked him in at the intersection,” Lt. Raymond Gallucci, the officer in charge of the Traffic Division, said yesterday. “He just stayed there until the police arrived.”

-- Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Steve Peoples at 1:35 PM | Comment

R.I. priest who helped kids with HIV dies in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The Rev. Angelo D'Agostino, a priest from Rhode Island who opened one of the first orphanages for HIV-positive children in Kenya and fought to make AIDS drugs affordable to the poor, died today of a heart attack. He was 80.

D'Agostino had been hospitalized for a week with abdominal pain and died after surgery, said Sister Mary Owens, who has worked at the Nyumbani Children's Home since it opened in 1992 in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi.

D'Agostino - known at the orphanage as Father D'Ag - opened Nyumbani with just three HIV-positive children.

Nyumbani - which means home in Swahili - now houses more than 100 children, and is also the base for a community-outreach program that provides home care for about 2,000 people suffering from AIDS.

Owens lamented that D'Agostino didn't live to see next week's opening of Nyumbani Village, a community for AIDS orphans who were taken in by a grandparent or other caregiver. The village will help its occupants "sustain themselves through agriculture, poultry, dairy projects as well as handicrafts and external services," according to its Web site.

Two million of Kenya's 33 million people have HIV, although the number of new infections has been declining. In recent years, D'Agostino pushed for cheaper AIDS drugs and sued five primary schools to force them to admit HIV-positive children.

A native of Providence, R.I., D'Agostino spent two years as a surgeon with the U.S. Air Force before joining the Jesuits in 1955. He traveled to Africa as part of the Jesuit Refugee Service, using Nairobi as a base to go to Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zaire, now Congo.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki sent a letter of condolences today, saying D'Agostino "distinguished himself as a great Christian who worked diligently in serving vulnerable members of society and propagating the Christian faith."

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Steve Peoples at 1:25 PM | Comment

Update: Feds detail security plans for holiday travel

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is planning random security checks at rail stations throughout Rhode Island over the Thanksgiving travel week.

The security will include dogs trained to detect explosives and may also include searches of passengers if officials have probable cause to think they're traveling with something dangerous, according to Joseph Salter, the TSA's federal security director for Rhode Island.

TSA and U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente earlier this year asked federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to focus on rail security at Rhode Island train stations during this year’s holiday season, according to Corrente’s office.

This is the first such effort at Rhode Island rail stations, although the TSA has conducted such searches in perhaps a dozen other communities in the past year, according to Ann Davis, TSA's public affairs manager for the New England region.

The agencies are not responding to any “credible threat” against the local rail stations, Salter said. Rather, they’re working to ensure that they’re ready to mobilize if necessary, he said.

Also, Salter is stressing that air travelers can only bring one, one-quart clear plastic bag with liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-on bags. Those containers of liquids, gels or aerosols cannot exceed three ounces.

Passengers must carry the plastic bags separately through security checkpoints so they can be scanned individually.

Larger containers of liquids, aerosols and gels can be carried on planes as long as they’re in checked bags, Salter said.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

This week, 25 million passengers are expected to fly nationally, Salter said, with the largest volume of passengers actually traveling on Thanksgiving Day.

The busiest travel time will likely be before 8 a.m. Thursday, Salter said. He expects some 3,500 passengers will have gone through the airport by that time. In contrast, just 2,751 passengers moved through T.F. Green Airport last Thursday by 8 a.m., he said.

Links to some of Green's largest airline carriers:

Southwest Airlines

U.S. Airways

Northwest Airlines

Posted by Kate Bramson at 1:07 PM | Comment

Man gets two years in prison for killing brother

PROVIDENCE -- For stabbing to death his brother in 2004, Michael O’Connor was sentenced today to 20 years in jail – two years to serve and 18 years suspended with probation and counseling for alcohol abuse and for mental health. Superior Court Judge Mark A. Pfeiffer deferred enforcement of the sentence to Jan. 2.

O’Connor, 30, in August accepted a plea bargain on a charge of manslaughter, admitting he stabbed his brother Daniel in the chest in September 2004, killing him after a night of drinking and arguing. Michael O’Connor claimed he acted in self defense; prosecutors in court said he had acted in anger.

O’Connor’s family spoke in court on his behalf this morning, pleading for leniency, and telling the judge they didn’t want to lose another member of the family.

-- Journal staff writer Mark Arsenault

Posted by Steve Peoples at 12:52 PM | Comment

Suspect to be arraigned in hospital tomorrow

CRANSTON — A justice of the peace will attempt to arraign Joseph Erice at Rhode Island Hospital tomorrow, 10 days after Erice allegedly stabbed a man during an attempted robbery and was later shot by the police.

The police say they have not formally charged Erice because he has not been healthy enough to participate in an arraignment.

“You have to be coherent,” police Commander Kevin Lynch said this morning. “His medical condition has not allowed him to be presented to the court for an arraignment.”

The hospital has declined to describe Erice’s condition. The police arrested Erice on Nov. 11, after he allegedly broke into the Mohawk Trail home of Abraham Boyrazian, 65, around 11 p.m. During the attempted burglary, the police say, Erice stabbed Boyrazian. At some point that night, Erice also stabbed another man, Brian Houle, 23, of Providence, before running away, the police say.

A patrolman, whose name has not been released, shot Erice after Erice bludgeoned an officer while resisting arrest, the police say.

The police say Erice, 25, of 37 Gude St., Seekonk, will be charged with one felony count for assaulting Boyrazian; one felony count for assaulting Houle; and one felony count for assaulting a police officer. They also plan to file charges related to the alleged burglary and a break-in at another house in the area Saturday night.

-- Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Steve Peoples at 12:50 PM | Comment

Gas prices up for second consecutive week

Gas prices across the state rose last week for the second consecutive week, according to a survey released this morning by AAA Southern New England.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded self-serve gasoline was $2.23 -- up four cents from the previous week.

Last year at this time the average price was $2.08.

The higher prices won't deter people from traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the AAA survey. The company found that 80 percent of gas stations surveyed will be open on Thanksgiving, though many will limit their hours.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 11:50 AM | Comment

Providence Fox affiliate won't air O.J. "If I Did It" special

Several Fox affiliates -- including the one in Providence -- have chosen not to broadcast "If I Did It," the two-part special where O.J. Simpson talks in hypothetical terms about his role in the 1994 killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Lin Broadcasting and Pappas Broadcasting, which own a combined nine Fox affiliates, have said they won't air it. Fox has scheduled the Simpson interview for Nov. 27 and 29.

The television special precedes the Nov. 30 publication of a book where Simpson talks about how he would have committed the murders "if he were the one responsible."

Lin Broadcasting owns Fox affiliates in Providence, Mobile, Ala.; Toledo, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Green Bay, Wisc.

The Pappas stations said they were uninterested in helping Simpson profit from the project.

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of murder in a case that became its own television drama. The former football star and announcer was later found liable for the deaths in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Goldman family.

Judith Regan, publisher of "If I Did It," said she considered the book to be Simpson's confession.

The television special will air on two of the final three nights of the November sweeps, when ratings are watched closely to set local advertising rates. It has been a particularly tough fall for Fox, which has seen none of its new shows catch on and is waiting for the January bows of "American Idol" and "24."

The show is expected to draw high ratings among the curious, but there's some question about how much Fox can take advantage of it given an expected reluctance of advertisers to be associated with it.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Steve Peoples at 11:43 AM | Comment

Photo: Cleaning up after a fire in Pawtucket

Journal photo / Bill Murphy
Pawtucket firefighter Steve Small gathers up a hose as crews clean up after a fire at 727 Mineral Spring Ave. this morning.

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:34 AM | Comment

Update: Tractor trailer rollover cleared on 95 North

The tractor trailer rollover at Exit 29 on Route 95 North has now cleared, and traffic is back to normal, the state's Transportation Management Center says.

Posted by Jack Perry at 10:58 AM | Comment

Elderly woman struck, killed walking from church

PORTSMOUTH – The police continue to investigate a Saturday evening accident in which a 90-year-old woman was struck and killed while walking home from church.

Adelia Payton had gone to a 5 p.m. Mass at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 2836 E. Main Rd., which is about a quarter mile from her home at 3137 E. Main Rd., Police Chief Col. Lance E. Hebert said this morning.

The preliminary investigation shows that Payton was in the crosswalk of the moderately busy East Main Road, walking from the church on the west side of the road to the east side when she was struck by a 1993 Ford SUV, Hebert said.

The police have identified the driver as Joseph Loffredo, 57, of 125 Bayside Ave. in Portsmouth. No criminal charges or traffic violations have been filed at this time, although the accident reconstruction team continues to investigate, Hebert said.

That stretch of East Main Road is very straight, and the speed limit is 25 miles per hour, Hebert said. It’s unclear at this time how fast Loffredo was driving, but the investigation may indicate an approximate speed.

Over the years, a few pedestrians have been struck along that stretch of road, Hebert said. In 1998, a 48-year-old woman was struck and killed when she stepped in front of a truck on East Main Road.

And last year, 64-year-old Jean Correia was killed in a crosswalk on East Main Road near her elderly housing complex not far away from Saturday's incident.

The police urge anyone who directly witnessed the accident and has not yet spoken with police to contact the detective division, at (401) 683-0994.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 10:26 AM | Comment

Download today's page one

Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee's election loss has cast some uncertainty on Chafee's nomination of former state Supreme Court Justice Robert G. Flanders Jr. for a seat on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a page one story.

But there was no doubt about the outcome of yesterday's Patriots' game as the Pats rolled, 35-0, over Green Bay. Running back Laurence Maroney, who gained 82 yards rushing, is shown cutting past a Packers' defender in a page one photograph.

Download today's front page.

Posted by Jack Perry at 8:39 AM | Comment

R.I. Guard members returning today after year in Iraq

NORTH KINGSTOWN – Sixteen members of the Rhode Island Army National Guard are expected to return today after one year in Iraq.

Members of the Guard’s Company D, 126th Aviation, are set to arrive at Quonset Point at 5:15 p.m.

The unit was deployed in October 2005 to Balad, Iraq, where they flew C-23 Sherpa aircraft, utility airplanes designed to move light cargo, perform airdrop missions and provide aero-medical evacuations.

The welcome-home ceremony for the troops is open to the public.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 7:56 AM | Comment

Clouds giving way to sun today and for the week

PROVIDENCE – It’s cooler than it has been lately, with a high expected near 47 today.

But this Thanksgiving week looks beautiful. This morning’s cloudy skies should give way to mostly sunny skies later today.

The rest of the week is expected to be mostly sunny, with highs in the high 40s and low 50s. Nights should be clear, with lows ranging from the mid-20s to the mid-30s.

Thanksgiving Day should be mostly sunny, with a high near 51.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts from projo.com.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 7:04 AM | Comment