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July 3, 2007

Dock and 3 boats are burning in Portsmouth

A commericial dock and three boats are burning in Portsmouth near the Mount Hope Bridge.

Just after 6 p.m., there was a plume of black smoke drifting 300 to 400 feet in the air. The smoke could be seen for miles. Flames could also be seen across Mount Hope Bay in Bristol.

At 6:30, the Portsmouth fire department said that a wooden lobster boat, a tug boat and a barge with a crane were on fire.

The dock is about a half of a mile southwest of the bridge.

--- Journal staff writer Mike Szostak

Posted by Peter Phipps at 6:17 PM | Comment

Johnston nursing home cited for bed sores

The Health Department is monitoring the Briarcliffe Manor nursing home after two patients were declared in “immediate jeopardy” because of severe bed sores and transferred to another nursing home.

A third patient who suffered a bed sore that tunneled from the bottom of his spine through to his groin had already left the nursing home for the hospital early last month.

All three patients were terminally ill and undergoing hospice care. Raymond Rusin, the Health Department’s chief of facilities regulation, said these patients did not get the level of attention that their frail conditions required.

The nursing staff also failed to notify the patients’ families of the bed sores as required by state law, and the home’s director of nursing was not aware of the problems.

The “immediate jeopardy” ruling, declared on June 22 and made public today, means that the nursing home’s failure to follow regulations “has caused or is likely to cause serious injury, harm, impairment or death to a resident,” according to federal law.

The finding triggered a threat from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to stop paying for services there effective July 19, which could have shut the nursing home.

But Rusin said because Briarcliffe submitted a preliminary plan of correction, the home is no longer in danger of losing its Medicare certification or closing down.

It still must demonstrate that it has identified and corrected the problems that led to the bed sores, also called pressure ulcers.

“The facility responded very quickly and has been very positive in terms wanting to identify exactly what the issue is,” Rusin said. “We’ve continued to monitor. They have done exactly what they said they were going to do.”

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:47 PM | Comment

The blog will be back Thursday

The 7to7 Breaking News blog will not be published tomorrow. It will return after the holiday at 7 a.m. Thursday.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:25 PM | Comment

Photo: Man and his parrot at Woonsocket fire

Shawn McKenna got his parrot Merlin out of his burning house on Carrington Avenue in Woonsocket today.

Journal photo, Bill Murphy

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:22 PM | Comment

Update: Whitehouse, Reed blast Bush over Libby

Rhode Island's U.S. senators were blunt today in their criticism of President Bush’s commutation of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence.

Sen. Jack Reed this afternoon called it “wrong” and said he was disappointed that Mr. Bush “dismissed the will of our criminal justice system.”

Fellow Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse labeled the commutation “shocking and highly inappropriate.”

Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been active in the panel’s inquiry into the administration’s firing of several U.S. attorneys, sought to portray the Libby commutation as part of a pattern.

"From a secret program that eavesdropped on Americans without a warrant to efforts to expose a CIA agent as part of a campaign of political retaliation, at every turn this administration has shown a level of contempt for our system of justice that is Nixonian in its scope and impact,’’ Whitehouse said in a press release issued last night.

Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his testimony to federal investigators about the leak of a CIA official’s identity to the press. Mr. Bush did not pardon Libby for those crimes but commuted his 30-month prison sentence, deeming it "excessive." The underlying investigation of the leak of the CIA agent’s identity did not lead to any criminal charges.

-- John Mulligan, Journal Washington bureau, with reports from projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

"At a time when the Bush administration's commitment to justice is in serious doubt, for the president to choose to overrule the decision of a judge in a court of law to protect a political ally is a telling statement that he and his advisors simply believe themselves to be above the law,’’ Whitehouse said in his statement.

Reed is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, which oversees federal spending on the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“Just because the president has the right to commute a criminal sentence doesn’t mean he did the right thing,” Reed said in his statement.

“Scooter Libby was convicted by a jury on four counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to FBI investigators. These are serious crimes, and I was disappointed that President Bush dismissed the will of our criminal justice system. It was wrong for Bush Administration officials to out an undercover CIA agent, it was wrong for them to engage in a cover up, and President Bush is wrong to let Mr. Libby off the hook for breaking the law.”

Posted by Jack Perry at 4:52 PM | Comment

Update: Man accused of setting home on fire

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A 44-year-old Charlestown man was charged this afternoon with arson, assault and resisting arrest after being accused of lighting on fire the house he and his wife live in.

Wearing shorts and no shirt today in Fourth District Court, Wakefield, Brett Perkins shook his head, laughed and interrupted the judge several times, saying it wasn’t fair that he was being held without bail.

“Why am I being put through this when I’m not even guilty?” he asked.

In his statement to the court, Police Lt. Jack Shippee said Perkins’ wife told the police that her husband lit the house on fire this morning and fled. The fire at the single-family home at 56 Charles Ave. was reported at about 10:15 a.m. It took firefighters about 25 minutes to get it under control.

Perkins returned to the house while the fire was being put out, Shippee said. Both he and his wife were outside the house when firefighters arrived. The police said Perkins was intoxicated and tried to drive away, allegedly hitting an officer.

-- Journal staff writer Brandie Jefferson

In addition to first-degree arson and assault – both felonies – Perkins was charged with drunk driving and resisting arrest. His bail hearing is scheduled for July 18.

The blaze injured no one but left much of the house in ashes; firefighters are still at the scene.

Some 55 firefighters responded to the call. Charlestown has a volunteer department.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 4:28 PM | Comment

Brown U. team to row in world's oldest rowing event

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England -- A rowing team from Brown University is among 18 crews from the United States that are traveling to England for the Henley Royal Regatta.

The Henley Regatta is one of the world's oldest rowing events and is held on the River Thames near London. Racing is scheduled to start tomorrow, with finals on Sunday.

A total of 467 rowing crews from 18 countries will take part in the annual regatta.

In the Temple Cup for student eights, Brown opens against Jesus College, Cambridge University.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Kate Bramson at 4:08 PM | Comment

The state to ask you not to smoke at the beach

The state Departments of Environmental Management and Health hope to encourage smokers not to light up on Rhode Island’s state beaches.

They’re expecting to announce the start of a voluntary no-smoking initiative at all state beaches on Thursday afternoon at Misquamicut State Beach in Westerly.

Cigarettes are the No. 1 source of litter on beaches, according to the DEM. They can also sicken children and wildlife who may ingest cigarette butts left in the sand. Still-smoldering butts can burn those who step on them.

The idea for a voluntary no-smoking initiative began when legislative proposals came before the General Assembly this year. Rather than pursue a statutory ban on smoking at state beaches, a number of parties agreed to pursue a voluntary initiative.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 3:50 PM | Comment

DEM puts emergency cap on menhaden catch

The state Department of Environmental Management today filed emergency regulations stipulating the amount of menhaden that commercial fishermen in Rhode Island waters can possess.

Menhaden are a bait fish for the lobster industry, attract striped bass and are valuable to recreational fishermen, who also use them as bait. They are also important because their presence contributes to the overall health of the Narragansett Bay and the ecosystem, according to the DEM.

Today’s regulations limit to 75,000 pounds the amount of menhaden allowed per vessel per day, whether the fishermen are fishing in Rhode Island waters or just passing through, the DEM reports.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

“They can possess whatever [amount of menhaden] out in federal waters, but once they come into our state waters, they’re subject to our requirements,” said Steven H. Hall, chief of the DEM’s Division of Law Enforcement.

This daily cap will be adjusted as necessary. It is in place now to protect the menhaden that migrated into Narragansett Bay waters through June, the DEM reports.

Hall said today he can't recall a time in the past when DEM has issued emergency regulations regarding menhaden.

An estimated 8 million pounds of menhaden migrated into the waters this season, and slightly more than 2 million pounds have already been landed by commercial fishing operations, according to the DEM. Because DEM scientists estimate that 4 million pounds of menhaden are necessary to maintain Bay health and an excellent feed base for other fish like striped bass, that leaves fewer than 2 million pounds available now to commercial fishermen.

Read a related column by Journal outdoors writer Tom Meade on how big bass have been feeding on menhaden in the upper Bay this summer, attracting fishermen.

And H. Bruce Franklin writes an op-ed piece for The Journal on menhaden -- "the most important fish in the sea" -- and the struggle over them.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 3:25 PM | Comment

Photo: Nuns at work

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Haitian nuns of the Sisters of St. Anne Order walk past the American flag during a tour of the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket today. Some 55 nuns of the Order toured the museum, before heading for Newport and other stops. The nuns work all over the world, in such places as Chile, Haiti, British Columbia, Africa and Argentina.

Posted by Jack Perry at 1:41 PM | Comment

Mayor's brother accused in conspiracy scheme

PROVIDENCE _ An accused drug dealer has alleged that the brother of Mayor David N. Cicilline and the Providence police conspired to set him up and grab more than $200,000 from him and his partner, Derrick Isom.

During a two-day hearing in U. S. District Court, Khalid Mason, of Providence, who is being held on three felony cocaine charges, said that John M. Cicilline, a lawyer, and Lisa Torres, a paralegal in his office, vowed that they could make the criminal charges disappear if Mason and Isom each paid them $100,000.

Mason also implicated Providence police Sgt. Scott Partridge in the scheme, claiming that part of a $25,000 retainer fee was used to pay for Cicilline and Partridge to attend the 2004 Super Bowl.

Patridge took the stand and testified that he did not attend the Super Bowl and he vehemently denied that he planted drugs in Mason’s apartment in Providence.

``I’m insulted by the allegation,’’ he testified.

The suppression hearing is scheduled to resume on July 11 with three more witnesses taking the stand. If Judge William E. Smith believes the testimony of Mason and the other defense witnesses, the drug case could fall apart. Smith will issue a ruling sometime after the testimony concludes.

Ciclline, Torres and Joseph A. Bevilacqua, a disbarred Rhode Island lawyer, were indicted on federal charges in Boston last January for allegedly participating in a similar scheme with other drug dealers. They have pleaded innocent to the charges and are awaiting trial.

-- W. Zachary Malinowski, Journal staff writer

Posted by Peter Phipps at 12:51 PM | Comment

U.S. defense attaché, of Cranston, dead in Cyprus

The U.S. defense attaché in Cyprus, a Cranston native and a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, was found dead in a remote rural area of the Mediterranean island Monday, four days after he disappeared with his diplomatic car. An official indicated that he committed suicide.

A police statement said an autopsy showed Lt. Col. Thomas Mooney bled to death from a cut to the throat. A Cypriot official involved in the autopsy, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the diplomat “had a wound in the neck which is compatible with self-infliction.”

“There is no evidence of foul play,” the official said.

Former Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey, a friend of Mooney’s since childhood, said today that he cannot believe a person such as Mooney would take his own life.

“There’s just no way this guy killed himself,” he said.

Mooney, 45, who was married with children, had served as military attaché in Cyprus since June 2006. He disappeared with his black Chevrolet Impala on Thursday, prompting a ground and air search.

-- Journal staff writer Mark Arsenault and The Associated Press

Police said Mooney’s body was found near his car, which was parked on a dirt road in the Lefka region of rugged, hilly terrain about 30 miles west of the capital, Nicosia.

“After the notification of next of kin, with deep sadness, I announce that Lt. Col. Thomas Mooney, who served his nation with distinction as our defense attaché, was found dead by Cypriot authorities on Monday,” U.S. Ambassador Ronald Schlicher said in a written statement.

The State Department said there was no indication of terrorist involvement.

“I wouldn’t point you in the direction of an act of terror,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Mooney was last seen at around midday Thursday. The embassy conducted its own search, and Cypriot officials were notified at least a day later. Police checked ports, airports and checkpoints linking the divided island’s Greek and Turkish communities.

Schlicher said the embassy was canceling an Independence Day reception late Monday “in light of these sad circumstances.”

Posted by Kate Bramson at 12:33 PM | Comment

Woonsocket fire injures one, displaces residents

Journal photo / Bill Murphy
Firefighters use ladders to get access to a fire this morning in Woonsocket.

WOONSOCKET – One resident of a 2 ½ -story apartment building was taken this morning to Landmark Medical Center for evaluation after fire broke out on the second floor of the building at 118 Carrington Ave.

The man was burned, but probably not severely, Deputy Chief James Vincent said.

Residents in the five- to six-apartment building are now homeless, Vincent said, as power has been cut to the building and the Red Cross is determining if the residents need help with a place to stay, Vincent said.

Vincent doesn’t know how many people were in the building when the fire started, but everyone else escaped safely, he said.

The fire was under control within about a half hour, Vincent said, but crews are still fighting hot spots. State and local fire marshals were still there shortly before noon.

The cause of the fire, which broke out in a second-floor apartment that sustained substantial damage, is unknown at this time, Vincent said.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 12:11 PM | Comment

Caravan to Cuba makes Providence stop

PROVIDENCE – Three people who are part of a caravan heading to Cuba with medical and humanitarian aid have gathered this lunch hour at the downtown restaurant, Cuban Revolution, with about a dozen supporters.

The Pastors for Peace Medical & Humanitarian Aid Caravan to Cuba group that has stopped in Providence is one of 14 caravans from 46 states and six Canadian provinces, according to local organizer Wallace Sillanpoa, a Rhode Islander who is not heading to Cuba on this year’s trip. The group started in Canada.

“This is not an act of charity,” Sillanpoa said of the supplies the group is toting to Cuba. “The purpose is to defy the U.S. blockade [of trade, aid and other relations with Cuba], which the organization as well as the United Nations, the European Union parliament and most countries consider illegal and immoral.”

Last year’s caravan stopover in Providence drew about 20 supporters to Cuban Revolution in June.

One of the women on this year’s trip – from Quebec, Canada – was allowed to cross the U.S.-Canada border, but the medical and humanitarian aid she was carrying was confiscated at the border, Sillanpoa said. When that happens, the Pastors for Peace protest – including holding hunger strikes, Sillanpoa said. The interfaith organization has always been successful, eventually, in getting the U.S. government to allow the confiscated materials to move through the country, he said.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 11:55 AM | Comment

Small state, big role in our country's independence

From its founding, Rhode Island has had a reputation for headstrong, buck-the-trend political leaders.

As we approach the Fourth of July, marking the day the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776, here are a few historical reminders of our role, courtesy of the state Legislature's Web site:

- On May 17, 1774, after parliamentary passage of the Coercive Acts (Americans called them "Intolerable"), the Providence Town Meeting became the first governmental assemblage to issue a call for a general congress of colonies to resist British policy.

- On June 15, 1774, the General Assembly made the colony the first to appoint delegates -- Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward -- to the anticipated Continental Congress.

-- In April 1775, a week after the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, the colonial legislature authorized raising a 1,500-man ''army of observation'' with Nathanael Greene as its commander.

- On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.

- On July 4, 1776, Rhode Islanders' Hopkins and William Ellery joined their fellow delegates in signing the Declaration of Independence. (Where was Ward? He contracted smallpox while at the congress and died before he could sign the document.)

-- On July 18, 1776, the Assembly ratified the Declaration of Independence.

More about Rhode Island's revolutionary history here ...

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 10:52 AM | Comment

4 tons of illegal fireworks lead to arrests in N.J.

TRENTON, N.J. -- Fifty people from states including Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware are arrested in New Jersey for illegal fireworks.

State troopers say they've confiscated nearly four tons of fireworks along the border with Pennsylvania -- which allows the sale of fireworks to out-of-state residents.

New Jersey state police say they confiscated 7,800 pounds of fireworks valued at $21,000.

It's illegal in New Jersey to use, possess or transport fireworks.

Read more about the arrests in The Star-Ledger of New Jersey and on South Jersey News Online.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Kate Bramson at 9:20 AM | Comment

Photo: Rockets ready to glare

Journal photo / Bill Murphy
Canisters containing the fireworks for tonight's Providence display are ready near the State House this morning. The fireworks show is set for 9:30 p.m.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:59 AM | Comment

Have fun on the water, roads this 4th -- if you dare

We could make an argument for just staying home this holiday week, given the various news releases we’ve gotten naming the Fourth of July as:

1) the “deadliest day of the year on America’s roadways” (according to the state Department of Transportation and numerous other state departments nationwide) and 2) “not only the busiest boating period of the year, but also … the deadliest, both nationwide and in the Northeast” (according to the U.S. Coast Guard).

If that’s not scary enough to keep you from drinking and driving or drinking and boating -- or driving or boating, period -- perhaps you should think about just having a barbecue in your own backyard.

Or this:

The DOT is urging people who plan to drink this holiday to designate sober drivers; find an alternate ride if you end up drinking without having pre-selected a safe driver; report drunk drivers on the roads; and prevent intoxicated friends and family from getting behind the wheel.

And watch out for those who start the holiday early. Even today and tomorrow follow July 4th closely as some of the most deadly days on America’s roadways, the DOT reports.

The good news: The DOT is reporting that seat-belt use in the Ocean State is the highest it has ever been, with nearly 80 percent of Rhode Islanders seen wearing seat belts during an observational survey taken after Memorial Day weekend.

That was the last time the state police held one of their “Click it or Ticket” campaigns to encourage seat-belt use, according to the DOT.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

That seat-belt use (by 79.1 percent of those in the survey) is up from the reported use after last November's Click it or Ticket campaign, which was 74.2 percent, according to DOT spokesman Charles St. Martin. Those DOT surveys observe drivers on a wide range of roadways and follow recommendations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, St. Martin said.

The Coast Guard reports that an average of 50 people in the Northeast have died annually in recreational boating and paddling accidents over the past nine years. Those not wearing life jackets: 83 percent of those killed.

“Your chance for survival usually comes down to one thing: having your life jacket on when you need it,” said Al Johnson, recreational boating safety specialist for the First Coast Guard District headquarters in Boston, in a statement issued yesterday. “The misconception persists that you can put on a life jacket once you’re in the water. It is extremely difficult to do, and unfortunately for most people immobilized by the shock of sudden immersion, it can be tragically impossible.”

Alcohol use and abuse runs high at this holiday season, the Coast Guard reports. While alcohol is involved in just over a quarter of annual fatal boating accidents in the Northeast, that number jumps to 42 percent during the Fourth of July, the Guard reports.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 7:02 AM | Comment

Mostly sunny, high of 76

The National Weather Service forecasts a mostly sunny day with a high near 76 degrees in the Providence area.

For those of you catching the fireworks in Providence tonight, the temperature should drop to about 60 degrees tonight and clouds will partly obscure the stars.

The Independence Day holiday tomorrow brings a slight chance of showers after 9 a.m., partly cloudy skies and a high near 80 degrees.

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 features a story about advocates fighting the state's efforts to move four severely retarded people from the group home they have shared for 25 years.

Download a copy of today's front page.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment