« July 9, 2007 | Today | July 11, 2007 »

July 10, 2007

Harry Potter and the saga of the midnight showings

For those who can't wait one night's sleep for it, the latest installment of the Harry Potter series hits several Rhode Island movie theaters at midnight. Or a little after midnight.

Special advanced screenings of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are scheduled to be shown at Providence Place Cinemas 16 at 12:05 a.m., 12:15 a.m., 12:20 a.m., and 12:25 a.m.

At Showcase Cinemas in Warwick, 12:05 a.m. and 12:10 a.m. showings are scheduled.

Showcase Cinemas Warwick Mall has two 12:05 a.m. showings.

South Kingstown Cinema 8 offers a midnight showing.

Island Cinemas 10, in Middletown, has a midnight showing.

Tickets to some of the showings can be purchased online through movietickets.com.

Need some advice on whether you should go? Click here to read Journal arts writer Michael Janusonis's review of the movie.

Need to catch up on young wizard Potter and his pals? Click here for an interactive trivia refresher.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:52 PM | Comment

Unhealthy air redux: You know the routine

Unhealthy air quality's coming -- one more time.

That's the recipe for tomorrow as we get ready to stew again, though overall temperatures are forecast to be lower and there's a chance of thunderstorms. The likelihood of thunderstorms increases tomorrow night.

For tonight, fog is in the forecast and there could be areas of fog before 9 a.m. tomorrow, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass.

The Department of Environmental Management predicts air quality will approach unhealthy levels, the same prediction over the past couple of days.

It means tomorrow will bring more free RIPTA routes, aside from special services.

The poor air expected tomorrow is due to high levels of fine particles in the ambient air, the DEM said in a news release. Fine particles are produced by many natural and manmade sources, including factories, power plants, motor vehicles, fires and windblown dust.

Get the latest weather here...

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

The state Department of Health warns that short-term exposure to elevated levels of fine particles can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. Short-term exposures also can aggravate symptoms of asthma and bronchitis and can increase susceptibility to respiratory infections.

For people with heart disease, short-term exposure to elevated levels raises risk of heart attacks and arrhythmias, DEM said.

"Long-term exposures can cause decreased lung function, chronic respiratory disease and even premature death," the DEM said.

People with heart or lung disease, older adults and children are more sensitive to the effects of breathing this stuff.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:33 PM | Comment

Update: Rte. 195W lane closings tonight for repair

PROVIDENCE -- The center and right lanes in the area of Exit 1 (downtown Providence) on Route 195 west will be closed beginning at 8 tonight for a permanent emergency repair to correct a hole in the pavement, the state Department of Transportation announced.

Also, the on-ramp from Wickenden Street to Route 195 west will be closed. There will be detour signs in place.

Heavy trucks, such as tractor-trailers, will be banned from using the center lane.

Earlier today, the Department of Transportation reopened the center lane by Exit 1 that it closed earlier when road crews assessed the pavement hole and made a temporary repair.

To get the work out to large trucks, the Rhode Island Trucking Association has been notified and is putting the word out about the prohibition on large trucks in the center lane, said DOT spokesman Charles E. St. Martin III.

Drivers should tune into 1630 AM, 511 and electronic message boards for updated information. The DOT said it expects to finish in time for the morning commute on Wednesday.

Go to the DOT's system of cameras and list of current traffic incidents for updates on the travel situation out there.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:30 PM | Comment

Averting sea-lettuce stink at Conimicut Beach

WARWICK -- Today comes word that state environmental staffers will go on P.U.! patrol at Conimicut Beach tomorrow.

Actually, it's more like a preemptive P.U.! strike. Department of Environmental officials will remove and get rid of of sea lettuce that has washed ashore on the beach -- before it has time to decompose and emit a foul smell.

As long as the sea lettuce is green, as it is now, the DEM says the stink can be avoided if the stuff is taken away.

It all starts at 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of Symonds and Shawoment Avenues in what the DEM in governmental parlance calls "part of an ongoing operation to prevent hydrogen sulfide odors in the Conimicut area."

Staff from DEM's Office of Emergency Response will drive a beach cleaner along the shore and remove the sea lettuce. The Warwick Department of Public Works will dispose of the material.

Sea lettuce, or Ulva lactuca, is green algae that lives near and below the low tide mark. When it becomes stranded on the shore, it can form large mats. As these mats decay they can produce a foul, rotten egg odor. Once the sea lettuce begins to decompose, it becomes gelatinous and is nearly impossible to remove. There is little that can be done to eliminate the foul odors.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

"The cooperative agreement between DEM and the City of Warwick is an example of how agencies can work together to avert a potential odor problem from occurring", the DEM news release said.

A similar cleanup was scheduled last summer.

The DEM encourages other waterfront communities to take similar steps.

Waterfront property owners, neighborhood associations and civic groups can also help keep the waterfront "fresh and odor-free" by removing sea lettuce in areas that DEM and the City of Warwick cannot get to with its equipment.

When the tides leave sea lettuce along the waterfront, Warwick residents can use a rake and gloves to gather it up and deposit it in yard waste bags. Homeowners should put the filled bags out with the trash for pick up.

For larger pickups, call the Warwick Department of Public Works at 738-2000, ext. 6517, in advance.

Extra: Find out more about algae in the Narragansett Bay from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:26 PM | Comment

Update: Fire marshal investigating Slater Hospital fire

CRANSTON -- The state fire marshal's office is investigating this morning's fire at the Eleanor Slater Hospital. Ninety-five adult psychiatric patients have since returned to the Adolf Meyer building where the fire broke out.

The fire was confined to Adolf Meyer 10, a unit in the back of the building, according to a news release from the state Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals.

David Curran, an investigator in the state fire marshal's office, would not comment as to whether the fire is being investigated as suspicious. "We are not allowed to comment during an open investigation," he said.

The fire marshal's office investigates fires routinely.

Cranston firefighers went to the building, at 54 Howard Ave., at about 10 a.m. after a fire alarm came in. Ninety-five adult psychiatric patients and 45 staff were evacuated from the building without incident.

Adolf Meyer 10 and Adolf Meyer 7 -- which was unoccupied at the time of the fire -- took damage. Cleanup of those units has begun.

The fire at the hospital -- in the Pastore Complex where several state departments are based -- appears “unrelated to the electrical problems” that resulted from two underground electrical fires Sunday night at the complex that temporarily knocked out power to six state departments yesterday, Jeff Neal, the governor’s spokesman, said earlier today.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson and Journal staff writer David Scharfenberg

“We are thankful for the prompt response of the Cranston Fire Department and for the assistance provided by the Cranston Police and the State Police,” Ellen Nelson, director of the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals, said in the statement. “The evacuation went smoothly in large part due to the coordinated efforts of our staff and that of the Fire Department.”

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:08 PM | Comment

Photo: Before there were headphones, there were ...

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Christa, right, 2, and Amelia, 3, Boone of North Attleboro, Mass., held their ears because the organ music at the Looff Carousel at Slater Park in Pawtucket was just a bit too loud for them today. They waited as their sister rode the carousel, which costs just 25 cents a ride and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Tuesdays and Thursdays when it's open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 3:48 PM | Comment

Health Dept. clears 2 beaches opening, shuts third

The state Health Deparment today cleared Warren Town Beach and the Ginny-B Campground Beach in Foster for swimming.

Water samples, the state says, show bacteria levels within acceptable limits.

But the department today recommended closing Oakland Beach in Warwick due to high bacteria counts.

The health department said it will continue to monitor the water quality regularly to assure safe bathing throughout the summer.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 3:14 PM | Comment

Tides help decide who will remove dead whale / Photo

Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl
Michael Martins, 6, of Narragansett, today checks out the remains of the 14-foot minke whale washed ashore in Narragansett Friday.

NARRAGANSETT -- The question of who is responsible for removing a dead whale that washed ashore on a private beach four days ago may have been answered today.

The town has been given approval by the Coastal Resources Management Council to bury the whale in the dunes at the nearby Roger W. Wheeler State Beach, according to Gail Mastrati, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Management.

Nearby residents said they first noticed the 14-foot minke whale on Friday afternoon but were unable to get a clear answer as to who was responsible for moving it. The carcass lies a little east of the Wheeler beach, behind Stanton Avenue.

Mastrati said the whale first washed ashore on private property, which meant it was the property owner's responsibility to remove it. The tides later moved the whale below the mean high tide line, shifting the responsibility to the state, she said.

-- Journal staff writer Randal Edgar

Posted by Kate Bramson at 2:34 PM | Comment

No sweat, electric use is under control

The New England power system is running comfortably today -- well below record levels.

Last summer's heat wave pushed electricity use on Aug. 2 to 28,138 megawatts, a record.

Power use today is only expected to reach 24,000 megawatts, said Ellen Foley, a spokeswoman for ISO New England.

It's very hot in western New England, but it's cooler in the east keeping power use in check, Foley said.

The ISO, a cooperative that manages the region's electric grid, estimates that 1 megawatt of electricity can power 750 to 1,000 homes.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 2:08 PM | Comment

Crews will try to raise a sloop that sank Saturday

JAMESTOWN -- Crews will try to raise an antique sloop today that sank off Jamestown Saturday after a collision during a boat race.

The Amorita was built in 1905 and was racing in the Robert H. Tiedemann Memorial Regatta against 30 other boats. It collided with two boats near a course marker at the southern tip of Jamestown.

The boat's owner, William Doyle, says the hull was significantly damaged and it went down quickly. Crew members were rescued by nearby boats.

Doyle and co-owner Jed Pearsall of Newport say they're optimistic the sloop can be salvaged.

Doyle says they'll use whatever means are needed to bring the boat up.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:05 PM | Comment

Computer fire at Memorial Hospital shuts MRI suite

PAWTUCKET -- Staff in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging suite at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island saw smoke come from a control room computer this morning, prompting them to carry out emergency procedures, call Pawtucket firefighters and reschedule today's MRI appointments.

Power to the computer was turned off and the company responsible for the computer has been contacted to analyze what happened, according to a news release from the hospital.

Staff members in the control room saw the smoke at about 10 a.m. and followed emergency procedures, according to the hospital. Hospital spokeswoman Louise C. Paiva said staff, escorting a patient, evacuated the two-room facility -- the control room and a room for patients.

No one was injured. What caused the smoke was not yet clear. It did not affect other areas of the hospital.

Paiva said the on-hospital-campus MRI facility is in the outer edge of the campus. The hospital also has an off-campus MRI facility on Prospect Street.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:12 PM | Comment

DEM: State beach traffic back to normal / Photo

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers
By 10:45 a.m. today, a crowd had gathered at Misquamicut State Beach in Westerly, where the forecast calls for hazy sun and a high in the low 80s.

Beach traffic in Rhode Island today is what you’d expect on an ordinary summer Tuesday.

“It’s a typical summer weekday,” said Gail Mastrati, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Management, which manages the state beaches. “Parking lots are moderately full. It varies from beach to beach. Some are about half full.”

Two days after the busiest beach day those at the DEM can recall, there’s “nothing out of the ordinary,” Mastrati said.

The DEM took the unprecedented move mid-afternoon on Sunday to close the parking lots for all state beaches. In all the years DEM has been managing the state’s beaches, they’ve never before seen all the state beach lots filled to capacity, Mastrati said.

Like today, yesterday was uneventful, also, with not nearly enough people flocking to the beach to cause any problems.

Your turn: Check out what projo.com readers have suggested to ease congestion at the beaches – and weigh in yourself on our survey.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 11:59 AM | Comment

Sen. Reed discusses Iraq efforts / Video

Sen. Jack Reed and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., this morning discussed the details of a measure they will offer this week to prod the Bush administration toward a strategic change of course in Iraq.

Watch video of the press conference.

Levin and Reed plan as early as tomorrow to debate the latest version of an amendment they first crafted more than a year ago. If the measure becomes law, it would force the administration to begin troop withdrawals from Iraq within 120 days of its enactment. Another provision of the Reed-Levin plan has been to set a non-binding goal of completing by next spring a shift to a more modest U.S. mission in Iraq, with large but unspecified troop reductions.

"I believe we have to make a change. I believe we have to begin that change very quickly," Reed said at the press conference, adding that the legislation would "start that process."

By next spring, the military's ability to dedicate 160,000 soldiers and Marines to Iraq "virtually comes to an end," unless the administration takes extraordinary measures, Reed said. He added that the public is "deeply concerned" about the administration's Iraq policy.

"Without the confidence of the public and willingness to support it," the strategy cannot be supported over time, he said.

In an effort to draw Republican support for their measure, Reed and Levin have discussed possible changes in its text.

Armed Services Committee member Reed and Levin, the panel's chairman, are members of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's ad hoc council of Democrats who meet periodically to help formulate the party's war policy.

Another member of the group, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, will offer today the Democratic leadership's first Iraq-related amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill. Webb seeks to require the armed forces to assign troops to minimum lengths of duty back in the United States between deployments in the war zone. The measure would complicate the administration's efforts to sustain high force levels in Iraq.

-- John Mulligan, Journal Washington bureau

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:58 AM | Comment

Report released on Big Dig ceiling collapse

WASHINGTON -- The fatal Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapse could have been avoided if designers and construction crews had considered the possibility that the epoxy securing tons of ceiling panels could slowly pull away, federal investigators concluded today.

The "epoxy creep" factor was among the major findings released at a hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board, which conducted a year-long investigation into the collapse that killed a Boston woman.

Read the full Associated Press story.

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:40 AM | Comment

Guard to practice helicopter jumps off Newport

The Rhode Island Army National Guard's Special Force's unit will practice jumping out of helicopters this morning off Newport's Easton Beach.

The event is open to the public.

The exercise is designed to sharpen the unit's ability to conduct "clandestine insertion operations" from the water, according to the Rhode Island National Guard.

Soldiers from the unit -- Company A, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group -- have deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq. The unit has 83 members.

For this morning's exercise, 40 unit members in small teams will jump with parachutes from the helicopter into the water, picked up and brought to shore via Zodiac boats.

The exercise will be from 10 a.m. until noon.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:55 AM | Comment

Cool morning won't last

PROVIDENCE – It’s a pleasantly cool 66 degrees at this point – but with 88 percent humidity already and temps expected to rise to 91, the cool morning won’t last.

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook because if scattered thunderstorms develop this afternoon, they could produce damaging wind, hail and brief flooding from rain in poor drainage areas. We could get up to 2 inches of rain in an hour. We could have frequent lightning strikes with the more powerful storms.

Expect the morning to be foggy across eastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island, with visibility along the immediate coast limited to less than one-half a mile.

Expect widespread haze today and tonight.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 7:07 AM | Comment

Ozone alert, RIPTA is free again today

Air quality will again approach unhealthy levels today because of higher amounts of ground-level ozone, the state Department of Environmental Management predicts.

RIPTA bus routes will be free, aside from various special Routes. Click here for more details.
The DEM advised that resident help lower air pollutions by limiting car travel and use of lawn mowers and charcoal lighter fuels. People should travel by bus or carpool when they can

Unhealthy ozone levels can cause throat irritation, coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, increased susceptibility to respiratory infection and aggravation of asthma and other respiratory problems, the state Health Department said.

Such symptoms are worsened by exercise and heavy activity.

Children, the elderly and people who have lung diseases, such as asthma, are at particular risk.

People should limit outdoor exercise and strenuous activity and stay in an air-conditioned environment if possible during the afternoon and early evening hours, when ozone levels are highest.

Other tips:

Reduce idling. Avoid congested traffic and lines at drive-through windows.

Drive your lowest-emission vehicle. Use the most fuel-efficient, usually the newest, car you have whenever possible.

Refuel at stations, which have vapor recovery. Fill your tank at a station equipped with a Stage II vapor recovery system. Don't top off.

Maintain your vehicle. Get a tune-up at the beginning of each summer.

Limit use of solvent-based household products. Use water-based or low solvent paints, varnishes, cleaners and personal care products.

Limit barbecue emissions. Use an electric starter instead of lighter fluid to start charcoal fires, or use an electric, natural gas or propane grill.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 7:00 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page features a photograph and story about the improving health of State Trooper Brendan Doyle, who was moved to a rehabilitation hospital yesterday after suffering a head injury during a confrontation with an alleged reckless driver.

Download a copy of today's front page.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment