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January 16, 2007

New traffic tribunal opens tomorrow in Cranston

CRANSTON -- There's a new place to take care of traffic tickets in Rhode Island.

The state's new 86,650-square-foot traffic tribunal will open to the public tomorrow for the first time at 8:30 a.m.

The $21.8 million building is located at 670 New London Ave., Cranston, at the corner of Howard Avenue, at the entrance to the John O. Pastore Government Center. There are 450 spaces of free parking available.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 6:18 PM | Comment

Update: ACLU critical of proposed political do-not-call list

The General Assembly is proposing a crackdown on unsolicited political phone calls.

Sen. William A. Walaska, the bill's sponsor, said that in the last election cycle, the calls became “a bit abusive” and, he said, it’s time for some relief.

While the calls might be annoying, restricting them could run afoul of the Constitution.

The local affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and others say any such do-not-call lists infringe on the rights of political groups to communicate.

“It’s one thing to have a no-call list for commercial solicitations. They do not have the same value under the First Amendment that political speech does,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU affiliate. “This is attempting to restrict what is a core First Amendment activity: calling a person to discuss politics.”

Walaska, D-Warwick, said he drafted the bill after receiving calls from “a couple of irate constituents.” “I think this election year far exceeded the other years” in the number of calls made, he said.

Under his proposal, residents would put their numbers on a new no-call list maintained by the state Board of Elections. Any political entity -- whether they were calling in support of a candidate, in opposition to an issue such as the casino, or to conduct a poll -- would be prohibited from calling numbers on the list. Fines would be up to $1,000 for each violation.

The legislation also would prohibit calls between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.

Telephone solicitors also would be forced to disclose their names and which candidate, party or issue they are calling on behalf of in the first 30 seconds of a call.

“Now, is it feasible?” Walaska asked. “I don’t know.”

The bill will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

-- Journal staff writer Scott Mayerowitz

Posted by Steve Peoples at 6:16 PM | Comment

Couple donates $2M in furniture to Newport group

NEWPORT -- It’s not every day you can get your hands on a 17th-century Flemish Baroque silver- and brass-mounted ebony red tortoiseshell and giltwood cabinet.

Especially for free.

That’s why the Preservation Society of Newport County is heralding the gift of the cabinet and other pieces of antique furniture worth an estimated $2 million. An out-of-state couple donated the antiques to be put on display in the society’s famous Newport mansions, according to an announcement released today.

Most of the pieces have been placed at The Elms, which was built in 1901 in the style of a French chateau but has been missing many of its original furnishings for many years.

“We’re always trying to improve our collections. We’ve succeeded in re-acquiring many original furnishings that had been auctioned from The Elms, but is always an expensive proposition,” executive director Trudy Coxe said in a statement. “The pieces are of comparable quality and very similar to some of the original furnishings that were lost from The Elms.”

Sam and Annette Mandel, of Palm Beach, Fla., and New York City, donated the antiques to the society from their private collection.

“We are thrilled with the way the pieces are being displayed in the Preservation Society’s houses,’’ Sam Mandel said in a statement. “And we anticipate making additional donations in the near future.”

-- Journal staff writer Richard Salit

Posted by Steve Peoples at 6:09 PM | Comment

Bail set at $25,000 for accused purse snatcher

Deirdre C. Brown, who was arrested last Friday by the Cranston police and charged with stealing purses from three public school buildings, was arraigned today in Kent County District Court, in Warwick.

Judge Stephen Erickson set bail at $25,000 with surety, equivalent to $2,500 cash.

Brown’s case has been referred to the public defender’s office. Her next court date was scheduled for March 8 in Superior Court, in Providence.

Brown is facing five counts of misdemeanor larceny, two misdemeanor counts of cashing fraudulent checks, two felony charges of signing fraudulent checks and one felony count of using stolen credit cards.

She potentially faces charges in several other communities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts related to similar alleged crimes.

-- Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Steve Peoples at 3:38 PM | Comment

Is there anti-Italian bias in the media?

NORTH PROVIDENCE -- Is there an anti-Italian bias in the media? Did news organizations unfairly target Ralph Mollis for attending a mob associate's funeral during Mollis' secretary of state campaign?

Those questions will be addressed during tonight's forum on the "history of anti-Italianism" at the Dillon Council Knights of Columbus Hall at 1675 Douglas Ave.

The forum, which is sponsored by the Italian American Historical Society and the Sons of Italy-Loggia Vittoria, will begin with the showing of the film, Anti-Italianism: Discrimination and Defamation in the History of Italian Americans, from 7 to 7:30 p.m., followed by a discussion led by John Pantalone, a professor of journalism at the University of Rhode Island.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:38 PM | Comment

Photo: Sharing a story of recovery

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., left, talks about his recovery from alcoholism and what it did for his career to become sober at a press conference after the hearing at the State House today on parity for mental health care. Ramstad and U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, right, are the sponsors of a bill that would make it illegal for insurers to impose limits on the number of outpatient visits or inpatient days covered, or charge higher deductibles, higher out-of-pocket limits, for mental health and addiction treatment than they do for other types of medical treatment. They are traveling around the country to gather testimony to build momentum for the passage of the legislation. The first hearing was this morning at the Rhode Island State House.

Posted by Jack Perry at 2:26 PM | Comment

Master plan for City schools would cost $792M

PROVIDENCE — An education consultant has recommended sweeping changes to the city’s 42 public schools that would cost at least $792 million and calls for building seven new schools during the first phase of construction.

DeJONG, the education planners hired by the city in March, released a master plan today that outlines which schools should be closed, which should be renovated and which should be built from scratch. The 10-month study not only looked at the conditions of the city’s public schools but at the need to create dynamic new environments for teaching and learning.

“This is a plan of hope, of direction, a facility master plan which can lead to a new generation of schools in the city of Providence,” DeJONG wrote in its 80-page report, released today.

The plan calls for building 19 new schools, mostly elementary; closing five schools, including Perry Middle School and converting Del Sesto High School into a middle school.

Hope High School would be renovated, not closed. One of the original options proposed closing the building, which is in poor condition, and building two smaller high schools, possibly on the same campus.

-- Journal staff writer Linda Borg

During the first phase of contruction, DeJONG proposes:

-- Replacing Nathan Bishop Middle School with a new 6-8 school

-- Building a new alternative high school for 200 students. Renovating an existing commercial or retail space is also possible.

-- Replacing Mount Pleasant High School with two smaller high schools. One would be a career technical school focused on the construction trades. The total enrollment at both schools would equal 1,200 students.

-- Building the following new elementary schools: George West, Alan Shawn Feinstein, Asa Messer and Laurel Hill Annex.

In its report, DeJONG concluded that many of the existing school buildings, while structurally sound, are larger than what is needed and would be expensive to convert into contemporary schools.

“The balance between renovation of older structures and construction of new buildings will need to be determined,” the consultants wrote. “The final solution is likely to be a combination of new and renovated schools.”

The school facilities plan is premised on the idea that schools should be smaller. DeJONG recommends no more than 600 students at the elementary level, 750 at the middle level and 900 at the high school level.

After listening to parents and other community leaders, the consultants have embraced the concept that elementary and middle school students should be able to walk to school.

They also acknowledged that a project of this magnitude faces numerous challenges, including the lack of land available for new construction. One possible solution, DeJONG said, is to locate new schools on park sites and then convert the school property into parks. This would allow new construction to begin without disrupting the lives of students at existing schools.

In making its recommendations, the consultants took into account the age of the existing buildings, their condition and the projected enrollments. Almost half of the city’s schools were built prior to 1930 and 78 percent are in poor condition.

Many schools are no longer located in neighborhoods where public school students actually live, so the new plans reflect those demographic changes. Elementary school enrollments are expected to increase over the next 10 years, middle school enrollments are expected to rise slightly and high school enrollments are expected to decline starting in 2008-2009.

When they began, the planners divided the city into six regions with roughly equal numbers of children in each area. Four options were developed for each of the regions and each option typically included a mix of new construction, renovations and school closings.

During the planning process, DeJONG held four meetings to solicit feedback from the community. Teachers and staff participated in a number of workshops in which they crafted what schools should look like during the 21st Century.

Educators stressed that they wanted a variety of middle school options, including the traditional grade 6-8 configuration and K-8 schools, a model favored by Supt. Donnie Evans. As a result, middle schools were designed to accommodate the classic 6-8 model as well as a K-8 design.

DeJONG also recommends breaking most of the city’s large comprehensive high schools into smaller learning communities, where each student is well-known and stable relationships between students and teachers can be cultivated.

One model breaks a 1,200-student high school into three smaller schools; the other calls for a small high school of no more than 750 students that would also be divided into smaller units.

The master plan proposes dividing the renovations into four phases, with 6 to 8 schools per phase until all of the schools scheduled for work are renovated or replaced.

Both Mayor David N. Cicilline and the Providence School Board will have to approve the plan. A series of public hearings will be held next month to explain these recommendations to the community and DeJONG will arrange to meet with various community groups.

-- Journal staff writer Linda Borg

Posted by Steve Peoples at 1:06 PM | Comment

Medical experts testify about choking in murder trial

TAUNTON -- Two medical personnel who treated Karen Cordeiro immediately after she was accused of fatally stabbing Courtney Sau in Fall River in February, 2005, testified today that they saw no evidence that Corediro suffering any neck trauma as a result of her fight with Sau.

Cordeiro, on trial for murder in Taunton Superior Court, has claimed self defense, saying that, at one point in the battle, she was choked by Sau, who had traveled from a Providence nightclub to Fall River to confront Cordeiro over a boyfriend.

Dr. Arthur Carter of Charlton Memorial Hospital, who used three stitches to sew up a cut on Cordeiro's chin on the morning of her arrest, testified that her neck showed no evidence of tenderness. But Judge E. Susan Garsh would not allow prosecutor Steven Gagne to pursue the question of whether Carter was familiar with cases where someone had been choked.

James Lewis, a physician assistant at Charlton, testified that when he treated Cordeiro for a chest pain the following day, "my findings were her neck was normal."

The trial continues this afternoon.

-- Journal staff writer C. Eugene Emery Jr.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 12:08 PM | Comment

Trial starts for man charged with killing girlfriend

A pool of 49 prospective jurors reported to Kent County Superior Court this morning as the murder trial of Gerardo E. Martinez begins.

Martinez, a Cranston High School West graduate, has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly slitting his 23-year-old girlfriend Lindsay A. Burke's throat in his Warwick home in 2005.

Attorneys will narrow the jury pool down to 14 in the coming days before opening statements begin. Today, the prospective jurors were sworn in and began filling out a 10-page questionnaire.

Attorneys also began arguing a motion to suppress evidence before Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr.

After the killing, the police say, Martinez drove Burke's 2001 Subaru to Canterbury, N.H., where he crashed into a tree in what authorities characterized as a suicide attempt.

Inside the car, New Hampshire police officers discovered a note in which Martinez appeared to take responsibility for the killing, according to affidavits filed by the police in Warwick and New Hampshire.

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

Posted by Steve Peoples at 11:59 AM | Comment

Langevin's mystery guest: Michael J. Fox

The word is out.

Rep. James R. Langevin has released the name of the "mystery guest" who will accompany him to President Bush's State of the Union address next week.

Longtime actor Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, will join Rhode Island's junior congressman for the Jan. 23 high-profile speech.

"Congressman Langevin is a tireless champion for the advancement of medical research, and I am honored to join him next week at the State of the Union," said Michael J. Fox in a statement released by Langevin's office. "Jim has been a leader in the recent passage of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. I have often said diseases and disorders are a non-partisan issue that requires a bi-partisan solution. Jim Langevin is part of that solution."

Fox is perhaps best known for his role as Alex P. Keaton on NBC's "Family Ties." He also starred in all three Back to the Future movies.

Langevin's previous guests include Dana Reeve, the wife of Christopher Reeve. Langevin said he tries to invite people who can "help raise greater awareness about important issues..."

"In 2005, the late Dana Reeve attended as my guest to highlight the importance of pushing embryonic stem cell research forward," Langevin said in a statement. "I am sure Michael will help to further Chris and Dana's legacy and underscore for the President just how serious I am about pursuing the promise of stem cell research."

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 11:46 AM | Comment

Mercury falling

PROVIDENCE -- Colder weather moves into the region today with the temperature in Providence expected to drop from 37 degrees this morning to 28 degrees by 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.

The day will also start out cloudy but become partly sunny. The wind will blow from the north between 9 and 14 mph.

The temperature should drop to about 11 degrees tonight and reach only 23 degrees tomorrow.

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

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:01 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page includes photographs and a story on Rhode Islanders celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and a story about a Rhode Island inventor who was awarded $20 million after a jury found that his designs for a medical device were stolen.

Download today's front page in .pdf format.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment