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« June 21, 2007 | Today | June 23, 2007 » June 22, 2007Assembly: Will they finish?PROVIDENCE -- After a dinner break, House lawmakers reconvened at 8 p.m. and headed into a night of closing out the state's legislative business for the fiscal year. They were working on item 49 on a list of 93 bills -- although, in practice, legislators do not always stick to items in the order listed on their agenda. Check in with projo.com late this evening or early this morning for updates of what the General Assembly hopes will be its last session of this year. And if the House and Senate go past deadlines for The Journal newspaper, projo.com will post another update tomorrow during the day. Gotta see what's happening yourself? Turn to Cox Cable Channel 15, where action is being carried live. Posted by Mike McKinney at 8:01 PM | Comment Assembly: Tax package backed by mayors is dying
Journal photo / Gretchen ErtlMembers of the House on the job today. PROVIDENCE -- In a major development out of the General Assembly tonight, the state tax package pushed by several mayors and town administrators appears to be dying. The House of Representatives killed two of the five bills that make up the package, and the remaining ones are not expected to survive. "It's on life support," House Finance Chairman Steven Costantino said of the package after the House recessed for dinner at 7 p.m. It's expected to reconvene shortly. The Senate has also taken a break. One of the two killed bills is H-6381, which would have allowed cities and towns to pass ordinances to assess a charge on people who use fire departments' master fire alarm boxes. The other bill, H-6414, would have saved a projected $5 million by prohibiting municipal water providers from charging rental fees for fire hydrants to cities and towns. Most of the bills would simply allow communities to enact service-related fees and taxes. The tax package -- also called a "municipal-aid package" by supporters -- was to let cities and towns raise a projected $37 million-plus in new taxes and fees, significantly more than the $19 million in education aid the Assembly stripped from the governor’s budget proposal. Debate spanned an hour on the fire-hydrant tax-package provision alone today, with many Democrats speaking out against the bill. And House Majority Leader Gordon Fox moved to "recommit" the bill, which given that this is the session's final hours, killed it for the year. Another proposal in the package calls for instituting a 3.5-percent tax on cable and satellite television service (the tax would not apply to Internet and digital telephone services) and would apply to all users across the state. The tax would cost an additional $1.75 for a customer with a $50 monthly cable bill. And it would provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to municipalities each quarter after being distributed based on population proportion. Another proposal would generate an estimated $8.5 million by raising municipal water rates by 8 percent. And another water-related bill would save $5 million by prohibiting municipal water providers from charging rental fees for fire hydrants to cities and towns. A separate real estate transfer tax would raise an estimated $15 million by increasing the fee paid by home seller at the time of sale. Governor Carcieri has said he would veto the bills if approved by the legislature. -- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Steve Peoples of the Journal State House Bureau Posted by Mike McKinney at 7:07 PM | Comment Assembly: A little shelter for man's best friendPROVIDENCE -- It's no secret to anyone who's watched that House members sometimes bark at each other this time of year. But beneath the State House dome this afternoon the barking went to the dogs. And then on to the Senate. The bill was H-5179, which would establish penalties against anyone who keeps a dog outside "tethered, caged, fenced" or confined in a number of other ways "without adequate shelter from the elements." According to the legislation, it would be a violation if a dog was confined outside for more than two hours without "access to an outdoor housing facility." It would also be a violation in several other scenarios. The House of Representatives, wading through a lengthy list of bills as the legislative session's adjournment awaits, narrowly passed it 34-31 and sent it to the Senate. -- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:35 PM | Comment President Bush will visit R.I. next weekPresident Bush will be in Rhode Island this coming Thursday -- his first visit to the state of his presidency -- a White House spokesman confirmed for the first time today. The spokesman would not say yet whether the president's visit will be to the Naval War College in Newport -- the location it's been rumored he is going to visit. But more details are expected to be forthcoming over the weekend. Cmdr. Karen Sellers, the War College’s public affairs officer, yesterday would not comment on talk that Mr. Bush will be in Newport on June 28 as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Naval War College’s Naval Command College, a school for military officers from around the world. The five-day symposium and reunion for the 1,600 alumni of the Naval Command College will be held June 25-29. An exhaustive schedule for the celebration posted online by the War College lists in detail each day’s events, including presentations, speeches and meals. No events, however, had been scheduled for next Thursday. Mark Stahl, coordinator for the Rhode Island Community Coalition for Peace, sent out e-mails this week announcing plans for a demonstration. The reunion also coincides with the arrival of the Tall Ships to Newport. A flotilla is expected to be sailing into and around Newport Harbor -- which the Naval War College overlooks -- from Wednesday through Sunday, July 1. -- Journal staff writer Alex Kuffner Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:07 PM | Comment Weather update: Shifting from sunny to scaryDepending on where you sit in Rhode Island right now, you could see nasty dark gray clouds or bright blue sky. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms will continue to develop late this afternoon and move south-southeast across southern New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and northern Connecticut. While many locations could remain dry through 6 p.m., rainfall should generally range from one-tenth inch or less, with up to a half-inch in the heavier thunderstorms. Any thunderstorms will pose a lightning risk and contain briefly moderate to heavy rainfall, the National Weather Service warns. A few of these thunderstorms may also produce small hail. Take a look at the sky above downtown Providence via projo.com's Webcam, and check out the latest line of showers with our live radar, at: http://projo.com/weather. Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:50 PM | Comment Photo: A familiar sight in the House
Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:43 PM | Comment Update: Driver in fatal Barrington crash ID'd
BARRINGTON -- The police have identified the woman who died in a single-car crash today as 22-year-old Danielle M. Mello. Mello, who lived at 44 Maple Ave., was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a news release. Earlier today, the police said Mello, who died early this morning, was believed to be exceeding the 45 mph speed limit on Route 114 north near the Riverside turnaround. "Investigation to date indicates that excessive speed contributed to the cause of the accident," the most recent news release said. At about 2:26 a.m., the driver apparently lost control of the Lexus she was driving on Route 114, also known as Wampanoag Trail, and struck a tree broadside, snapping it in half and uprooting it, LaCross said. The car also rolled over, but LaCross said he’s not sure whether that happened before or after the car struck the tree. LaCross said earlier today he does not believe Mello was wearing a seat belt. LaCross said such tragedies are particularly difficult in a town as small as Barrington. "On behalf of the men and women of the Barrington Police Department, our deepest sympathies and condolences are extended to the Mello family during their tragic loss," LaCross said in the statement this afternoon. -- projo.com staff writers Kate Bramson and Michael P. McKinney Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:35 PM | Comment Update: No verdict yet in teacher's aide murder trial
WARWICK -- The jury weighing the fate of James Richardson, the Cranston man accused of killing Margaret Duffy-Stephenson in 2005, was released this afternoon without reaching a verdict. The jury is scheduled to resume deliberating on Monday at 9:30 a.m. in Kent County Superior Court. The defense delivered its closing arguments this morning, contending that all the prosecution had was a trace of what could be Richardson's DNA found on the dead woman's hand. In his closing argument, Special Assistant Attorney General Thomas O'Brien said the state had much more than that: Opportunity and motive. The DNA was the final piece in the puzzle, O'Brien said. The case went to the jury about 1:30 this afternoon. Duffy-Stephenson, 37, a teacher's aide in East Greenwich, was found slain in her Blackmore Street home on Nov. 18, 2005. Officials placed her time of death sometime during the night of Nov. 16 into the early morning hours of Nov. 17. In his closing, defense attorney John Hardiman argued that the DNA sample presented as evidence of Richardson's culpability is too small to be conclusive. He said it also could have come from casual contact. The DNA alleged to be from Richardson was found under a fingernail on the victim's right hand, according to the prosecution. Hardiman also said the crime scene was compromised, and there's more evidence against the victim's husband, James Stephenson, than Richardson. -- Journal staff writer Talia Buford Richardson is charged with one count each of burglary and first-degree murder. Read about yesterday's testimony in the case here. Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:50 PM | Comment Judge makes lawyer, not daughters, Eifrig's guardianPROVIDENCE – Superior Court Judge Alice B. Gibney decided today that neither of Laurette Borduas Eifrig’s grown daughters is suitable to be her guardian, saying there is too much animosity between them to put either in charge of their mother’s care and finances. Gibney, in a 33-page written decision issued late this afternoon, ordered that North Providence lawyer Paula M. Cuculo remain as Eifrig’s guardian and that only Cuculo should have access to Eifrig’s trust funds. Cuculo was appointed Eifrig’s temportary guardian by Gibney last summer after the 90-year-old Eifrig, who is blind and suffers from dementia, was moved by her older daughter, Suzette Gebhard, to Rhode Island from Virginia, where she resided for 13 years, near her younger daughter, Francine Ardito. Gebhard, former head of the Rhode Island League of Women Voters and a one-time Democratic congressional candidate here, secreted her mother in her house in Warren for many months and refused to let her sister or Cuculo visit. In late January, after police knocked down Gebhard’s door to gain access to Eifrig, she was hospitalized briefly and then moved by Cuculo to Capitol Ridge, where she has said she wants to continue to reside, according to testimony she gave to Gibney last month. Ardito, who has power of attorney for her mother and is co-trustee of her mother’s Virginia trust, has now started a legal battle in Virginia to wrest control of her mother’s money away from Cuculo so she can freeze her mother out of Capitol Ridge and bring her back to an assisted-living facility in Virginia. She has directed financial institutions there not to release any more money to Cuculo. Gibney has scheduled a hearing for next Tuesday to decide whether Ardito should be held in contempt. Until her further order, the judge also ordered that Eifrig remain at Capitol Ridge, where Gibney says she's adjusted well --Journal staff writer Tracy Breton Posted by Andrea Panciera at 4:27 PM | Comment A topping off at Fidelity / Photo
SMITHFIELD -- Boston-based Fidelity Investments held a "topping-off" ceremony today for its newest and largest building in Rhode Island, a 577,000-square-foot structure being constructed on its 500-acre Smithfield campus. The building will house 1,000 employees, according to the mutual funds giant. Two years later, Fidelity completed a second building in Smithfield, a 275,000-square-foot structure. Combined, the two, four-story buildings cost $100 million. The newest building will triple Fidelity’s total investment in the 500-acre campus. -- Journal staff writer Benjamin Gedan Posted by Peter Phipps at 3:49 PM | Comment Assembly: Separation of powers question back againPROVIDENCE -- Asking the state Supreme Court whether the Coastal Resources Management Council is subject to the 2004 separation of powers constitutional amendment won House approval after fiery debate this afternoon. But there's a long way to go, and H-6266, the bill asking the court to weigh in on whether the coastal permitting agency is subject to separation of powers, got plenty of talk. The question is whether the state Constitution gives the Assembly special jurisdiction over environmental matters, and therefore enables lawmakers and their appointees to continue sitting on the CRMC in spite of separation of powers, the 2004 ballot question whose passage removed lawmakers and their appointees from statewide bodies with executive power. The watchdog group Common Cause of Rhode Island claimed the question was worded so broadly that the opinion, depending on what it said, might have the effect of undoing separation of powers completely. Rep. Laurence W. Ehrhardt, R-North Kingstown, criticized it, saying, "We should hang our heads in shame" over the bill. But Rep. Al Gemma, D-Warwick, expressed support, as did Rep. Peter F. Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket. Kilmartin said that regardless of the voter-approved separation of powers amendment, the bill is worthwhile because there is a "natural tension" in the state Constitution. That tension is similar to the one between freedom of the press and protection of privacy, he said. -- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry, criticized the bill as one that will amount to asking the state Supreme Court whether it really counted when the state's voters approved the separation of powers amendment. "We're just delaying implementation of separation of powers," Gorham said. Later he added, that it is among the "most disengenuous" items he's heard the House consider. The House asked the state's highest court the exact same question last year, but the court declined to give an opinion. The reason was that the legislature returning this year would have some new members, so the court would be giving an answer to a different legislature than the one that asked. Later this afternoon, the House also passed H-6566, also sponsored by DeSimone, which is a House resolution asking the state Supreme Court justices to give a written opinion on the matter. Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:45 PM | Comment Assembly: The final push beginsPROVIDENCE -- The traffic jam inside the State House begins this afternoon. In what could be the legislative session's final day, though it may go into tomorrow morning, the House and Senate will settle a host of unresolved, but potentially critical, controversial and sometimes last-minute, proposals. One to watch: Talk of allowing video-slot parlors at Newport Grand and Twin Rivers in Lincoln to stay open 24 hours a day on weekends. Just don't look for anything on paper telling you what it's all about -- the bill hasn't been introduced yet. By day's end, it could be. And by night's end, it could be law -- or not. Many more questions could soon be answered: - Will legislation pass easing some restrictions in the state's toughest-in-the-nation fire code? Read more about it here. - Will the legislature ban overtime for nurses? - Will a package of what officials call prison reforms survive? - Will Rhode Island join a herd of states in moving up its presidential primary date? - Will a hospital bed-tax that insurers would pay, but which could result in some cost being passed down to the public, win approval? Some bills will live as laws, some will be killed and others will simply die on the vine. The House Finance Committee, which will take up certain bills and then slingshot some to the House, has been meeting since about 1 p.m. The House was slated to go in at 2 p.m. but was actually called to order at 2:45 p.m.. Go here to see what the House has on its calendar today. The Senate has a full to-do list, too. Take a look here. Projo.com will help you keep up with the action by providing updates this afternoon and evening. If staying inside on another beautiful day in front of a TV doesn't faze you, you can also watch much of what happens on Cox Cable's Channel 15. -- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:25 PM | Comment Operation helps gimpy cheetah get back up to speedArthritis can even slow down the fastest animals on land. But Togo, a 15-year-old cheetah at Roger Williams Park Zoo, should start feeling better after a veterinarian spent two hours today operating on his right front leg. Togo, who is old for a cheetah, had been showing signs of discomfort over the past two years, and animal care staff at the zoo discovered arthritis in Togo's leg last fall. The operation fused what is the equivalent of the animal's wrist joint, according to Laura Dunn, a spokeswoman for the zoo. That will alleviate pain because it will stop the joint from moving and also provide more support, she said. The operation "went great. Everything went as expected. There weren't any complications," Dunn said this afternoon. Togo will be kept in a confined area of his exhibit for a while to limit his running and jumping. The public won't be able to see him again until possibly Sunday, Dunn said. Cheetahs are the fastest animals on land, capable of speeds up to 70 mph. And while Togo may never reach that speed, he should soon be able to move as he pleases around his space at the zoo, according to Dunn. "He's an old guy but he's in remarkable shape otherwise," she said. Posted by Jack Perry at 3:06 PM | Comment Europe OKs sale of drug produced in SmithfieldSMITHFIELD -- Alexion Pharmaceuticals has received permission to sell its drug Soliris in Europe, greatly expanding the market for the medication it plans to produce in its new facility in Smithfield. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in March, and Alexion began selling it in the U.S. the following month. This morning, the European Medicines Agency, a London-based Europen Union body, granted permission for sales in Europe, according to Alexion. Soliris is the only approved therapy in Europe and the U.S. to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, an illness that destroys red blood cells. The disease can cause anemia, severe fatigue, pain and kidney disease. -- Journal Staff Benjamin N. Gedan Posted by Jack Perry at 2:44 PM | Comment Photo: Portugal's president visits Fall River
Posted by Jack Perry at 2:03 PM | Comment Man charged with 42 lbs. of pot deported in 2005More details are emerging today about the man charged with possession of 42 pounds of marijuana. Juan Paula, 41, of 230 Dexter St., had been deported to the Dominican Republic in February 2005 after serving time in New York state for drugs, said State Police Lt. James O. Demers, commander of the high-intensity drug trafficking area task force. However, Paula returned illegally and set up shop in Providence, where he was selling marijuana to smaller dealers throughout the city, Demers said. The 42 pounds of marijuana would have sold for a total of more than $50,000. -- Journal staff writer Amanda Milkovits Posted by Kate Bramson at 1:58 PM | Comment Update: Jury begins deliberations in Warwick murderWARWICK -- Jurors began deliberating the fate of James Richardson, the man accused of killing Margaret Duffy-Stephenson in 2005. The defense delivered its closing arguments this morning arguing that all the prosecution had was a trace of Richardson's DNA found on the dead woman's hand. In his closing argument, Special Asstistant Attorney General Thomas O'Brien said the state had much more than that: opportunity and motive. The DNA was the final piece in the puzzle, O'Brien said. The case went to the jury about 1:30 this afternoon. Duffy-Stephenson, 37, a teacher's aide in East Greenwich, was found slain in her Blackmore Street home on Nov. 18, 2005. Officials placed her time of death sometime during the night of Nov. 16 into the early morning hours of Nov. 17. Richardson is charged with one count each of burglary and first-degree murder. In his closing, defense attorney John Hardiman argued that the DNA sample presented as evidence of Richardson's culpability is too small to be conclusive. He said it also could have come from casual contact. The DNA alleged to be from Richardson was found under a fingernail on the victim's right hand, according to the prosecution. Hardiman also said the crime scene was compromised, and there's more evidence against the victim's husband, James Stephenson, than Richardson. Read a story from yesterday's testimony. -- Journal staff writer Talia Buford Posted by Jack Perry at 1:55 PM | Comment Findings: No wrongdoing by Westerly chief, policeWESTERLY -- Police Chief Edward Mello did nothing wrong in storing two handguns at his home and he and police officers handled properly a May incident in which his ex-girlfriend allegedly broke into his home and seized the guns, an investigator announced today. The department was also within rights to omit the incident from the daily police log so as not to reveal the address of the police chief, because that address would be sensitive information, according to the investigation by John J. Leyden, a retired U.S. Marshal asked by the town manager to investigate the police's handling of the incident. The findings were released at a Town Hall news conference this morning. Town Manager Joseph T. Turo had Leyden this month to look into the events of the early hours of Sunday, May 13, in which a woman, who Mello had dated regularly for a time, allegedly was in the chief's house. A report had described the offense as a "B&E dwelling house w/o consent" and said Mello declined to pursue charges. The investigation cleared the police for not pursuing the charges against the woman because she and the chief were deemed to no longer be seriously dating, so the incident did not fall under a domestic incident, which would have required pressing of a charge. The chief came home to find the ex-girlfriend with the guns, and she threatened to shoot herself. Before today's findings, some Police Department members called for a union vote of no confidence in the chief, but the union decided to wait until the investigation concluded. From 1994 to 2002, Leyden was the state's U.S. Marshal. He worked in law enforcement for 47 years before the 2002 retirement. Previously he was a major in internal affairs in the Providence Police Department. He served as North Kingstown police chief, after taking over as interim director of public safety in 1983. He has helped reorganize troubled police departments in North Smithfield, Scituate and Burrillville. -- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Randal Edgar Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:47 PM | Comment Injured state trooper opens his eyes again todayPROVIDENCE -- Trooper Brendan Doyle opened his eyes again this morning, as he continues to show signs of improvement since he was critically injured by an alleged reckless driver in downtown Providence early Saturday morning. Doyle is still listed in serious condition at Rhode Island Hospital. The 25-year-old man is being fitted for a special helmet to protect his injured head, said his father, Robert Doyle. The helmet will have a camouflage design and the Rhode Island State Police emblem on it. Doyle’s mother, Maureen Adams, a nurse at Rhode Island Hospital, has rarely left her son’s side. She has been holding her son’s hands and talking to him, protective of him, as he’s slowly brought out of the medically induced coma. “She’s a fantastic mother,” said Robert Doyle, her ex-husband. “Even though he’s 25, I can tell when she’s leaning over him and whispering in his ear, it’s like he’s one years old again,” Robert Doyle said. Doyle has also been visited by Governor Carcieri, Atty. Gen. Patrick Lynch, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and Providence Police Chief Dean M. Esserman, as well as numerous troopers, police officers and the firefighters who rescued him. State Police Col. Brendan Doherty has visited daily, Robert Doyle said. -- Journal staff writer Amanda Milkovits Doyle was off-duty and out with friends on Pine Street after 2 a.m. on Saturday when he saw a convertible BMW suddenly jump the curb twice and drive recklessly through the pedestrian-clogged narrow road. Doyle ran after the car and yelled to the driver that he was a state trooper and should stop. When the car screeched to a stop in traffic at Dorrance Street, Doyle caught up to the vehicle and began to make a call, the police said. That’s when the driver, James D. Proulx, 36, of Smithfield, allegedly got out and sucker-punched the young trooper in the face, causing him to strike his head on the pavement. Proulx, a mortgage loan officer and formerly a state correctional officer and Smithfield police reservist, is being held on $1 million bail with surety for the assault. Posted by Kate Bramson at 1:36 PM | Comment Police believe fatal crash victim was speeding / Photo
At about 2:26 a.m., she apparently lost control of the Lexus she was driving on Route 114, also known as Wampanoag Trail, and struck a tree broadside, snapping it in half and uprooting it, Police Chief John M. LaCross said. The car also rolled over, but LaCross said he’s not sure whether that happened before or after the car struck the tree. The police have not yet named the woman. LaCross said her parents, also of Barrington, have been notified, but he wants to give them time to contact other relatives and friends before he releases the woman’s name. LaCross said he doesn’t believe the woman was wearing a seat belt. He believes she died on impact. -- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson Accident reconstruction teams were on scene all morning, LaCross said. It’s unclear how fast the woman may have been driving, he said, but evidence suggests she was exceeding the speed limit and lost control of the car. That evidence includes the skid marks and the fact that the car snapped in half and uprooted a tree that was perhaps 8 to 10 inches in diameter, LaCross said. The police do not know where the woman was going. She was pronounced dead at the scene by the state medical examiner’s office, which is now examining the body, according to the police. LaCross said such tragedies are particularly difficult in a town as small as Barrington. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased, on behalf of the police and fire department,” he said. Posted by Kate Bramson at 10:29 AM | Comment N. Kingstown police ID man from fatal crashNORTH KINGSTOWN – The police have identified the 83-year-old local man who died yesterday after a two-car crash on Boston Neck Road as Manuel Rocha, of 1955 Boston Neck Rd. Rocha was a passenger in a white Pontiac Grand Prix, which was driving north when the Pontiac and a gray Subaru Legacy wagon collided head-on at the intersection of Earle Drive, Lt. Carlton Arruda said this morning. The collision remains under investigation, and a police reconstruction team expects to go back to take measurements today, Arruda said. Rocha lived on Boston Neck Road, about two miles south of the accident scene, Arruda said. Posted by Kate Bramson at 10:04 AM | Comment Marine weather: Small craft advisory for later todayThe National Weather Service has issued a small craft advisory for coastal waters from the Merrimack River in Massachusetts to Watch Hill, R.I., in effect from 2 p.m. today through this evening. Thunderstorms developing in southern New Hampshire during midday are expected to move southeast across the eastern Massachusetts coast this afternoon. They may arrive in the Merrimack River-Cape Ann region around 1 p.m., Boston Harbor and the upper part of Cape Cod Bay between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and then Plymouth and possibly the upper part of Narragansett Bay between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. With those storms, we could get small hail, wind gusts to 30 knots and a few dangerous lightning strikes. For additional marine weather information, check out the National Weather Service’s interactive coastal marine map for this region. Also, for all your nautical needs, boaters love the Maine Harbors site, which is packed with tide charts, marine weather news, information on fishing tournaments and links to local boat builders, charter operators, lighthouses and publications. The tide charts on this site are so well done that boaters rave about them. Check out Rhode Island’s chart. To check the status of any beach for swimming, go to the state Department of Health’s beach-monitoring siteor call (401) 222-2751 for recorded information. Posted by Kate Bramson at 7:29 AM | Comment Recycle fluorescent bulbs tomorrowPROVIDENCE -- The state Department of Environmental Management urges Rhode Islanders to take advantage of a fluorescent light bulb recycling day hosted by Wal-Mart stores, Supercenters and Sam's Clubs in Rhode Island tomorrow. Rhode Island was chosen as one of five states across the country to host the event, which will offer consumers a free opportunity to drop off and recycle their used compact fluorescent light bulbs and fluorescent tubes, according to the DEM. The bulbs, which contain small amounts of mercury, will be collected outside the stores from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers can bring an unlimited number of CFLs, but there is a limit of five fluorescent tubes of 4 feet in length or smaller per household. Wal-Mart is partnering with Waste Management for the event. Posted by Jack Perry at 7:05 AM | Comment Today's front pageToday's front page features coverage of the General Assembly's overriding Governor Carcieri's budget veto and a feature on Race Week on Block Island. Download a copy of today's front page in .pdf format. Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment Sunny today with a chance of thunderstormsIt's going to be a great day. Sunny and dry with an interesting little wind blowing from the northwest. And if you like thunderstorms, it could get even better this afternoon and tonight. The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather statement for most of southern New England. If a storm hits, winds could hit 40 mph with hail and lightning. The storms are most likely to hit between 3 a nd 9 p.m. Tomorrow will be clear and warmer with a high of 78. Then on Sunday there will be a chance of more thunderstorms. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006