« June 8, 2007 | Today | June 12, 2007 »

June 11, 2007

You, too, can read full Assembly budget proposal

The governor and House Finance Committee have sparred over what should be in the state budget. The unions and special interests have added their two cents, too.

Now it's your turn, if you consider yourself a watchdog, curious or just have a lot of time on your hands.

Click here to go to the text of the General Assembly's budget bill , revealed on Smith Hill on Friday.

It's listed under items to be taken up this Friday, June 15. The main bill number is H 5300 SUB A, plus 42 parts, known as articles.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:32 PM | Comment

Man to be arraigned in 'cold case' Fall River murder

A former Fall River man, accused of committing a "cold case" murder that is more than two years old, will face a judge a week from tomorrow.

Jermaine Holley, 23, will be arraigned in Fall River District Court on a first-degree murder charge, the office of Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said today.

Holley, formerly of 671 Durfee St., has been charged in connection with the April 2005 stabbing of 23-year-old Suzy Goulart in her Pleasant View apartment.

Holley has been serving an unrelated jail sentence in Plymouth County -- a sentence due to end early next month, according to the news release.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this blog item incorrectly said the arraignment was tomorrow.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:16 PM | Comment

Cianci's nephew issues no-trespass order / Photo

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski
A view of the front of the home owned by Cianci's nephew and where he is due to live next.

An East Greenwich couple is apparently finalizing its plans to accommodate a well-known house guest, former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.

Cianci's nephew Brad Turchetta and his wife, Cathy, faxed a "no trespass order" to The Providence Journal this morning, saying "you are being advised not to enter upon the premises or curtilage" of their property at 360 Kent Drive, East Greenwich.

Cianci has been living at a halfway house in Boston since his release from federal prison, but has taken a job at a Providence condo complex and is soon expected to move in with his nephew, where he will serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.

The order goes into effect today, according to the fax, and remains in effect until further notice.

Apparently other news organizations received the same notice, since the order includes "anchor persons" and "camera personnel," in addition to reporters and editors.

"Any person connected with your organization that violates this order may be subject to arrest and prosecution for willful trespass," the letter says.

Full story ...

Posted by Jack Perry at 4:39 PM | Comment

Rep. Kennedy due on Larry King show soon

U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, D-R.I., is expected to be on Larry King Live some time during the next week or so, perhaps next Monday, for a segment on mental-health parity legislation, a spokeswoman said this afternoon.

Kennedy will not be on tonight's airing of the show, said Kennedy spokeswoman Robin Costello.

Costello said the show, on CNN, is assembling a panel of speakers for an hour-long focus on the issue and needed time to do so. She said no firm date has been given yet.

(The Journal's Political Scene column had previously reported that Kennedy was scheduled to be on tonight. King now has scheduled an interview with parents of a girl missing for a year, recently found locked under the stairs in a house a few miles away.)

Kennedy has helped push the legislation -- HR 1424, "The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act” -- as a way to "improve the overall health of all Americans by granting greater access to mental health and addiction treatment and prohibiting health insurers from placing discriminatory restrictions on treatment," according to Kennedy's Web site.

For a bill description, click here.

Kennedy and U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minnesota, introduced the bill on March 7. Kennedy's Web site says is backed by a bipartisan majority of 265 members of Congress.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:25 PM | Comment

Judge rejects states move against big law firm

Superior Court Judge Gilbert Indeglia this afternoon rejected the state’s request to remove Hinckley, Allen Snyder as the lawyer for the Southern Union Co. in a major Tiverton pollution case.

Indeglia said that while Jeffrey M. Grybowski may not have shown the best judgment, the governor’s former chief of staff had done nothing to breach the confidentiality of information he was privy to about the Southern Union case when he worked at the State House.

The judge ruled that Grybowski and his firm took the proper steps when he joined Hinckley Allen in April to shield him from any information in the matter.

Lawyers for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management had asked that Hinckley Allen be disqualified because Grybowski, in a conversation with DEM chief legal counsel Patty Allison Fairweather, had offered to help settle the case.

The subject of settling the case came up in when Grybowski called Fairweather in April to inform her that he would be screened from the case. The state argued that that raised concerns that Grybowski was not adequately screened. Hinckley Allen countered that Grybowski never discussed anything substantive.

Indeglia said that while Grybowski perhaps shouldn’t have been the one to carry Fairweather’s message about a possible settlement between the state and Southern Union, neither Grybowski nor Hinckley Allen had done anything to breach the confidentiality or merit the firm’s removal from the case.

--- Mike Stanton, Journal Staff Writer

Posted by Peter Phipps at 3:27 PM | Comment

Small businesses meet big businesses and Pentagon

WARWICK -- Hundreds of small companies from throughout New England are gathering today at the Crowne Plaza hotel to pitch their products and services to the Pentagon and major military contractors, including Lockheed Martin and Textron Inc.

The annual "matchmaker" event was last held in Rhode Island about four years ago. It was organized by the Rhode Island Procurement Technical Assistance Center, an arm of the state Economic Development Corporation that helps local small businesses seek out lucrative contracts to assist the U.S. military.

"For our state, the defense industry is extremely important," Governor Carcieri told the gathering this afternoon.

--Journal Staff Writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Peter Phipps at 3:23 PM | Comment

Providence superintendent to address state of schools

PROVIDENCE -- Supt. Donnie Evans will give his first State of the Schools address tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Juanita Sanchez High School complex library, 182 Thurbers Ave., Providence.

The event will begin with opening remarks by Mayor David N. Cicilline, followed by Evans, who will highlight some of the district’s achievements during the past year.

Evans arrived in Providence from the Tampa, Fla., school district almost two years ago. He will review the academic progress made by the district in relationship to his strategic plan, called Realizing the Dream, which is aimed at accelerating student achievement.

-- Journal staff writer Linda Borg

Posted by Kate Bramson at 1:46 PM | Comment

Prignano lawyers walk out of pension hearing / Photo

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman
Lawyer Stephen Famiglietti prepares to walk out of the administrative hearing today on the revocation or reduction of the pension of his client, former Providence Police Chief Urbano Prignano Jr.

PROVIDENCE -- Former Providence Police Chief Urbano Prignano Jr.'s lawyers got up and walked out of a hearing today that is part of a Retirement Board inquiry into whether Prignano should lose, or see a reduction to, his pension because he participated in a police promotions cheating scandal.

Stephen R. Famiglietti, the lead lawyer for Prignano, and an associate left because they objected to not getting to see certain documents before the hearing.

Jennifer Sternick, a lawyer for the Retirement Board, introduced the materials -- various items in which Prignano implicated himself in the cheating scandal -- through witness Sgt. Walter Chin, an internal affairs officer.

Lawyer Vincent Ragosta, assigned by the Retirement Board to conduct the hearing, said today's session concluded this phase of the hearing against Prignano, unless Famiglietti changes his mind and comes back to cross-examine witnesses and present evidence.

Ragosta's charge is to compile the arguments and evidence from those involved and forward a report to the Retirement Board.

Current Providence Chief Dean Esserman also testified today, urging that the Retirement Board "do justice" and revoke Prignano's pension.

Prignano, whose health has been described as ailing, receives a $64,621-a-year pension. His lawyer has said a city pension is his only source of income.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:31 PM | Comment

Bloody scene at Warwick murder site described

WARWICK -- Warwick Detective Daniel Gillis described a grim scene today when he recounted for a Superior Court jury what the police saw inside the house where Margaret Duffy-Stephenson was found slain two years ago.

Blood was splattered on windowshades. Blood was in a room next to the staircase and along the door to that room. Blood was on a wall of the staircase leading from the first floor to the second. And in a bathroom, police found bloody smudges on a light switch and a footprint in blood.

At the base of the staircase was the body of Duffy-Stephenson, a special-education aide, who had a laceration to the throat and multiple stab wounds, according to testimony.

She had returned home from a brother's Fort Lauderdale wedding a few days earlier to resume work while her husband, James O. Stephenson III, and their child remained in Florida. James Stephenson became concerned when he could not reach her by phone, as did Duffy-Stephenson's fellow employees at Archie R. Cole Junior High School in East Greenwich.

Gillis testified on the third day of the murder trial of James Richardson in Kent County Superior Court. Richardson, whom Duffy-Stephenson's husband James hired in 2000 to work at his landscaping company, is accused of killing Duffy-Stephenson in 2005.

The jury today also saw an image of the layout of the Stephensons' house, crime-scene photos and pictures of a ransacked office -- an office where a safe that contained money was found empty, the authorities have said.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford and archival reports

Richardson worked for the company, full- or part- time, until 2005, Stephenson testified last week. Richardson also performed odd jobs for the Stephensons, such as tending to their Blackmore Street lawn. Over time, Stephenson told the jury, Richardson had a personal relationship with the family.

"We treated him like he was a part of our family," Stephenson testified last week.

Richardson was often asked to watch the Stephensons' house when they went on vacation, Stephenson testified, but he was unable to do so in November 2005, when the family traveled to Florida for a relative's wedding. Richardson planned to be in the Philippines at the time visiting his wife, whom he'd married that summer, Stephenson said.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:45 PM | Comment

R.I. high court won't hear parking-lot murder appeal

PROVIDENCE -- The state Supreme Court has decided not to hear the appeal of a man convicted 10 years ago of fatally shooting a downtown parking lot attendant.

Wesley R. Spratt, who is serving life in prison for first-degree murder, wanted the state's highest court to hear his request for post-conviction relief. He was appealing a 2005 Superior Court dismissal of the post-conviction relief application.

In an order made public today, the Supreme Court remanded the case back to Superior Court.

In 1997, Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause sentenced Spratt in the killing of Christopher J. Naylor at the lot behind Roger Williams University's city branch.

Because no other court has yet heard "the merits of the applicant's post-conviction relief arguments," the state Supreme Court is "left with nothing to review on appeal" regarding Spratt's claims, the court's opinon says.

Spratt sought the post-conviction relief, which is not specified in the court order, through Superior Court at first, filing a formal application in 2003. At the Superior Court hearing, Spratt "insisted the Superior Court lacked jurisdiction" and wanted his post-conviction arguments to be made in U.S. District Court. So the Superior Court dismissed his application in order that he do that.

Some back and forth ensued, with Spratt's post-conviction relief application winding up back in Superior Court in 2005. That court dismissed it because Spratt previously argued that same court did not have jurisdiction.

"We certainly understand the hearing justice's frustration with applicant's post-trial machinations," the Supreme Court order says. "Specifically, his disingenous attempt to revive his postconviction-relief application after insisting that the Superior Court had no jurisdiction to hear it is troubling."

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Besides life imprisonment for murder, Spratt was sentenced to 20 additional years as a habitual offender because of previous convictions. He was also sentenced to another 20 years for crimes stemming from the Naylor murder: robbery, carrying a pistol without a license and carrying a firearm while committing a crime of violence.

The state Supreme Court affirmed his conviction in 1999.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:00 PM | Comment

Some dispute professor's gambling numbers

BOSTON -- Clyde Barrow's academic research concludes that thousands of Massachusetts residents spend close to $1 billion annually at casinos in Connecticut.

The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth professor's numbers are often used to support the arguments of those who would like to see casinos in the Bay State, especially now that the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has received federal recognition and is examining the possibility of building a resort casino in Middleborough or New Bedford.

That $878 million, and the $120 million that ends up in the state of Connecticut's coffers, they say, should stay in Massachusetts.

But gambling critics accuse Barrow of being a tool of the gambling industry and claim his numbers are based on faulty methodology.

-- The Associated Press

State Rep. Daniel Bosley, a casino opponent, claims Barrow's studies are speculative, rely on too small of a sample of casino customers and assume values for calculating total spending that cannot be verified.

"Given Dr. Barrow's flawed research, it's a little embarrassing that he is a tenured professor at a public university," Bosley told The Boston Globe.

Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Almond, who chaired a group in that state fighting a casino proposed by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., called Barrow "one of Harrah's paid consultants."

Barrow's research center accepted $20,000 last fall from the Rhode Island Building Trades Council, a consortium of unions that publicly supported Harrah's. The money was for a study on the tax benefits of a casino. At about the same time, the trades group accepted a donation of $25,000 from Harrah's.

Barrow said he maintained his independence on the study and had no knowledge of Harrah's contribution to the buildings trade group.

James Kennedy, general counsel and research director for a legislative committee chaired by Bosley, said last year the 9,000 vehicles counted at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos over five days by Barrow was too small a sample, and that Barrow failed to corroborate his finding with a companion analysis.

Kennedy's report also raised doubts about Barrow's assumptions for the number of occupants to count for each vehicle from Massachusetts and the amount of spending to count for each occupant.

Barrow defended his work, saying it undergoes peer review and is published in scholarly journals.

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:41 AM | Comment

Gas prices drop 6 cents

Gasoline prices in Rhode Island have fallen for the second week in a row, according to AAA Southern New England.

The average price has fallen six cents to $3.009 for regular, unleaded gasoline at the self-service pump, according to AAA's weekly survey.

Before falling last week, the price had increased for 15 straight weeks, AAA said.

The average price is still 59 cents higher than it was at the beginning of the year.

Prices have fallen nationally, and Rhode Island is four cents below the national average of $3.049 cents per gallon, AAA says.

Watch AP video on the national trend in gas prices.

Posted by Jack Perry at 10:41 AM | Comment

Traffic: Route 295 north is quite congested

Route 295 north in Cranston at Route 14 (Plainfield Pike) is backed up to a crawl at this hour, with average speeds of 16 miles per hour and the slowest traffic creeping along at 5 mph.

The state Department of Transportation’s congestion mapper ranks the road at an 8.1 on a 10-point scale.

For other traffic needs, check out the state roadways, via the Department of Transportation's online traffic offerings.

You can find any traffic alerts describing accidents here, browse traffic cams to see real-time photos of the highways and check out the DOT’s road construction schedule here.

Also, listen to or read the radio reports for the week about traffic and construction on specific roadways.

To report a traffic incident, call the Transportation Management Center at (401) 222-5826 and choose option #2.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 8:00 AM | Comment

Sen. Reed to speak about trauma care

PROVIDENCE -- Senator Jack Reed is in Providence today to speak about ways to improve trauma care at hospitals in Rhode Island.

Reed has scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference at Rhode Island Hospital, where he'll be joined by the hospital president and a trauma surgeon.

Reed's office says Rhode Island Hospital is the only Level-One Trauma Center in southeastern New England.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:10 AM | Comment

Rainy days ahead before sun shines down on us

PROVIDENCE -- If you check out the National Weather Service’s seven-day forecast, it looks grim, with rain day and night until Thursday, when it should be mostly sunny.

However, some days there’s only a chance of showers, despite the rain logo the weather service is using for the full day. Today has the highest chance of rain – at 60 percent – and then the chance of showers ranges from 20 percent to 40 percent.

We should see a high near 70 today and similar temps the next couple days. By week’s end, looks like we’ll be up to mid- to high-70s.

Get the latest conditions and forecasts from projo.com.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 7:04 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page features a story reporting that the percentage of Rhode Islanders spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing is greater than the national average.

Download today's front page in .pdf format.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment