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July 26, 2007

Fire on Longfellow Terrace brought under control

PROVIDENCE -- The Providence Fire Department brought under control a fire in a three-and-a-half story wood-frame house at 27 Longfellow Terrace this evening, said James Taylor, chief of communications for the Fire Department.

One firefighter was taken to Rhode Island Hospital for an ankle injury. The Red Cross was called to assist nine adults and two children displaced by the fire.

The call came in at 5:17 p.m. and the fire was brought under control at 6:08 p.m.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:57 PM | Comment

Daily Show comedian plays Newport tonight

Looking for laughs?

Tonight, the Newport Summer Comedy Series brings comedian Lewis Black to the Newport Yachting Center. Black, a Grammy winner and guest on The Daily Show, offers political commentary, social satire and more. The Yachting Center is on America’s Cup Avenue. The show (for those 16 and older) starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $52. Call (401) 331-2211 or go to www.newportcomedy.com.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:55 PM | Comment

Judge finds Memorial Hospital guilty of unfair labor

PAWTUCKET -- A judge has ruled that Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island was guilty of an unfair labor practice when it banned a pro-union sticker worn as a lapel button during contract talks involving the contentious issue of mandatory overtime.

In a scathing 26-page decision, Judge Wallace H. Nations accused hospital officials of making an issue of the sticker either to drum up support for their bargaining position, or out frustration with the negotiations, which were dragging on inconclusively last summer while the union attacked the hospital in the newspaper and on TV.

“I believe that the “KNOW RESPECT” sticker was banned by the hospital as part of its tactics in negotiations or out of frustration with the negotiations and for no other reason,” said Nations, an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C.

A hospital press release that characterized the sticker as stressful to patients and inflammatory “appears to me to be trying to create an issue around the button to garner support for the Hospital’s bargaining position,” the judge wrote.

In a written statement this afternoon, Memorial Hospital said it was disappointed with the judge’s ruling, which requires the hospital to post notices announcing the actions that its supervisors took were illegal and to undo the disciplinary measures that were taken against nine button-wearing nurses who were union members.

“It was never our intent to stifle union members’ free expression. We respect and value all of our employees. Our concern at the time was, as it always is, our patient’s well being,” hospital spokeswoman Louise C. Paiva said.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

“A decision on whether to appeal the ruling has not yet been made and is under consideration with legal counsel,” she said.

Chris Callaci, a field representative for the United Nurses & Allied Professionals, hailed the decision as a “complete victory,” noting that both of the unfair labor practices charges that the union brought against Memorial Hospital had been upheld.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:38 PM | Comment

Secretary of State Mollis' son in trouble again

NORTH PROVIDENCE -- An 18-year-old son of Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis has again run afoul of the law, this time for operating a motor vehicle in the presence of alcohol.

Police said one of its officers was responding to a call that someone was throwing beer bottles out of a white Ford Explorer, when he observed an SUV matching the description at Mineral Spring and Douglas Avenues.

Officer Daniel P. Williams said when he stopped the vehicle he saw Angelo Mollis, of 5 Modesto St., behind the wheel, along with three passengers -- the secretary of state’s 21-year-old son, Michael, his 19-year-old stepson Gian Piscione, and a family friend, 21-year-old William M. Mallard of Cranston.

Also in the car, according to the officer, was an open box of Corona Beer with two open bottles. Angelo, who had had another run in with police in Providence last January when he was picked up for allegedly taking a $10 shirt from J.C. Penney store without paying for it, was cited by police Tuesday for driving a vehicle in the presence of alcohol.

Police said that before issuing the citation they had conducted a series of sobriety tests at the scene and had determined Angelo Mollis had not been driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Nor did they find any evidence of damage to a lawn where beer bottles were allegedly thrown.

-- Journal staff writer Richard C. Dujardin

In another recent incident involving the Mollis children, Michael Mollis, who was a passenger in the Tuesday night episode, received a speeding ticket from North Providence police on July 13 allegedly for driving a black Lincoln on Charles Street at speeds of up to 50 miles at 9:20 in the morning.

Officer Mark Mastin said when he stopped the vehicle he noticed a Fraternal Order of Police emblem on the rear license plate. When asked about it, Michael Mollis acknowledged he was not a police officer, but that his grandfather had been one and that the emblem was given to him by his father.

He reluctantly relinquished the emblem after being told the emblems are for police and their immediate family only. Police issued a verbal warning for the emblem and said they would return it to the FOP.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:32 PM | Comment

Man rescued from East Beach in Charlestown

CHARLESTOWN -- A 72-year-old man from South Hadley, Mass., was flown by helicopter to Backus Hospital in Norwich, Conn., after lifeguards pulled him out of the ocean at East Beach.

According to preliminary information, the man went into the water about waist-deep around 3 p.m. Then he apparently lost consciousness.

Lifeguards pulled him out and worked on him, according to Gail Mastrati, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Management.

Mastrati said the man was believed to be breathing when he was was flown out. His condition was not available.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:48 PM | Comment

Student pilot crash lands a Cessna in Middletown

MIDDLETOWN — A student pilot making a pit stop during a solo cross-country flight lost control of a Cessna 172 aircraft while landing at the Newport State Airport this afternoon, crashing the plane.

The pilot, Zachary S. Lord, 19, of Worthington, Mass., was uninjured in the accident, which aeronautics inspector James J. Warcup, of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation., attributed to wind, according to a police report.

State and local police and fire personnel responded to the airport, at 211 Airport Rd., at about 1:50 p.m. for a report of an airplane on its nose, leaking fluid.

Lord, who has a student pilot license, told police that he was flying from New Haven, Conn., and planned to stop at the Middletown airport before flying to New Bedford.

Lord told police he was approaching the airport from the north and preparing to land when the aircraft was jostled by a gust of wind, causing Lord to hit the rudder pedal too hard and the plane to veer to the left, police said. The plane skidded onto the grass before going into a ditch and stopping on its nose on a cross runway.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:46 PM | Comment

R.I. to get $300,000 grant targeting homelessness

Rhode Island will receive a $300,000 homelessness assistance grant to help people with mental illnesses or substance abuse problems to get treatment and transition to permanent housing.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed's office today announced the money, awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' substance abuse administration. the money will go to a program of community-based outreach, mental health and substance-abuse treatment services.

"It is estimated that nearly a quarter of homeless adults suffer from serious mental illness," Reed said in a statement. "This money will help more Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness get access to the services and treatment they need."

Reed's office said more than 6,400 Rhode Islanders stayed in emergency shelters from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005 -- the most recent information available.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:57 PM | Comment

Photo: Operator of tipped crane had minor injuries

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
A truck with a crane tipped onto its side this afternoon off Ernest Street in Providence.


PROVIDENCE -- The crane operator whose crane tipped onto its side this afternoon off Ernest Street sustained minor injuries, a Narragansett Bay Commission spokeswoman said.

The crane was working at the Narragansett Bay Commission's combined sewer overflow construction site.

The operator has not been identified.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- OSHA -- will examine the situation.

The accident happened around 1:12 p.m. and the Providence Fire Department responded, James Taylor, chief of communications for the Fire Department, said earlier this afternoon.

Commission spokeswoman Jamie Samons said this was the first time anything like this happened. She said the project has a strong safety record.

The sewer overflow project aims to keep sewer overflow from entering Narragansett Bay when there are heavy rains, said Samons. One goal of that is to reduce the overflows that cause shellfishing area closings.

The first phase of the overflow construction project is scheduled to finish in October of 2008.

-- projo.com staff writers Michael P. McKinney and Kate Bramson

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:21 PM | Comment

R.I. Convention Center saw record profits

PROVIDENCE -- Strong sales of food and beverages helped generate record revenue at the Rhode Island Convention Center in the last fiscal year, growing net income by 18 percent.

But the operating deficit at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center worsened in its first full year under the control of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority, an independent state agency that spent $28.5 million to buy the arena from the City of Providence in December 2006.

The convention center brought in $14.4 million, up $1.2 million or 9 percent from the previous year. Profits jumped by $427,000, rising to $2.8 million, the highest since the building opened in 1993, according to an unaudited income statement released today.

“These are phenomenal numbers,” Timothy Muldoon, the building’s general manager, said. “It has been a great year.”

-- Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:04 PM | Comment

Update: Police shoot, kill female carjacking suspect

A 49-year-old woman suspected of an armed carjacking in Attleboro was shot and killed by the police early this morning after leading police from Massachusetts and Rhode Island on a chase down Route 95, the police said.

This afternoon, Rhode Island State Police Maj. Steven G. O'Donnell described the carjacking as "totally random."

He said the woman, whose name has not yet been released, lived near the area, a quiet, suburban neighborhood with a new housing development in an old farm field on one side, and older homes on leafy streets on the other.

O'Donnell said the woman had grabbed a knife, run outside -- from where it was not clear -- and flagged down a car with two male juveniles in it. According to O'Donnell, she said to them, "Get out of the car or I'll stab you."

At about 12:30 a.m. today, the Attleboro, Mass., department issued the first of two inter-city police bulletins alerting area departments to a suspect fleeing an armed carjacking in Attleboro, on the Massachusetts-Rhode Island boundary line.

A motorist, riding with a male passenger, had told the police that a woman with a knife carjacked his black Honda at the intersection of Oakhill and Locust Street.

A Pawtucket officer spotted the carjacked vehicle traveling south on Route 95 at 1:09 a.m., and officers from that department and the state police attempted to stop the vehicle, according to Whiting.

The police say the suspect led them through parts of Providence, Cranston and Warwick before being stopped on the Jefferson Boulevard exit ramp, where the shooting occurred.

In a press release issued just before noon, Rhode Island State Police said a Pawtucket police officer, who had been wedged between the carjacked vehicle and his police cruiser, shot the woman.

The press release stated:

"The officer, fearing for his life, discharged his firearm in an attempt to immobilize the operator. It appeared that the operator was struck by at least one round; the operator was immediately removed from the vehicle and transported to Rhode Island Hospital. "

The woman died at about 2:19 this morning after being taken to Rhode Island Hospital, the police said.

The officer was not identified. The press release said he had been treated and released from Rhode Island Hospital.

-- projo.com staff writers Jack Perry and Kate Bramson, and Journal staff writer Tom Mooney

Attleboro police are investigating the initial carjacking, and multiple departments are investigating the shooting and the injury to the officer. Those agencies are the Rhode Island State Police and the police in Pawtucket, Cranston and Warwick, along with the attorney general’s office.

Posted by Jack Perry at 3:50 PM | Comment

Blues legend Etta James cancels Newport appearance

LOS ANGELES -- Grammy Award-winning blues singer Etta James is in stable condition after being hospitalized for complications from abdominal surgery she had last month.

Her manager says the 69-year-old singer of the Jazz standard ``At Last'' had to cancel upcoming tour dates with B-B King and Al Green. She's also canceled her planned appearance next month at the JVC Jazz Festival in Newport.

In her place will be blues singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi. Tedeschi has garnered acclaim since her 1998 album Just Won't Burn. She is married to Derek Trucks, a bluesy slide guitarist who has his own band, has played with the Allman Brothers and, most recently, been on tour with Eric Clapton.

James's manager says the hospitalization was caused by ``post-op complications.''

-- The Associated Press, with reports from projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:38 PM | Comment

Governor signs Sudan divestment into law

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri signed legislation this afternoon limiting Rhode Island's investment in Sudan and with companies that provide services to Sudan, where observers say government-supported militias have carried out genocide.

The militias have been targeting non-Arabs in Sudan's Darfur region. The governor's news release says the four-year civil ware there has killed more than 400,000 people.

Rhode Island joins 13 states in divesting from Sudan in an international effort to end the Sudanese government’s genocide in Darfur, according to a news release from the governor' s offce.

“We are joining the international community’s ongoing efforts to end this brutal campaign. We are sending a strong message to the Sudanese government,” Governor Carcieri said in a statement. “By putting this legislation on the books, we’re showing the world that we care deeply about the plight of the Sudanese people.”

Carcier was joined by General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, who submitted the divestment legislation, Rep. Joseph Almeida, who sponsored the legislation in the House of Representatives, and Scott Warren, a Brown University student who was an advocate for the law.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:28 PM | Comment

Rhode Island will get bonus for food stamp efforts

PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Island will get $801,373 from the federal government in recognition of strides the state has made in its food stamp program, Governor Carcieri's office announced today.

Kate Houston, U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, will present the award -- known as a food stamp program bonus -- to the governor tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the the State House.

"Rhode Island is receiving the bonus because it has reduced its payment error rate by more than any other state and has made significant improvements in its customer service delivery," according to the governor's office.

The news release did not specify how the bonus money would be used.

The governor will also announced an online application for people and families pursuing food stamp assistance. It's designed to expand access to the food stamp program.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:04 PM | Comment

Second baby giraffe born at Roger Williams Zoo

PROVIDENCE – A second male giraffe has been born at the Roger Williams Park Zoo and appears to be in good health and bonding well with his mother, Amber, according to the zoo.

The Masai giraffe calf was born Tuesday around 7 p.m., nearly three months after his half-brother, Mtembei, was born before a crowd of visitors on a busy Saturday afternoon. He looks pretty small compared to that other new calf. Check out photos of the giraffes on the zoo’s web site.

This giraffe is expected to be on exhibit this weekend, as long as he continues to bond well with his mother and the rest of the zoo’s giraffe herd, according to the zoo.

Mtembei, whose name is Swahili for “one who roams,” was named in a public contest that ended on Father’s Day. This time around, the zookeepers will “have the honor” of naming the new calf, according to a press release issued this afternoon. They have not yet named him.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 3:02 PM | Comment

Labor Department grants help to Quaker workers

FALL RIVER, Mass. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has granted Trade Adjustment Assistance to former employees of the Quaker Fabric Corp. to helped displaced workers find new jobs.

Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal program that aids U.S. workers hurt by international trade, offers up to two years of unemployment payments, job training, English language education, employment advice, as well as a job search allowance and money to help an unemployed worker obtain a new position.

Massachusetts unemployment assistance expires after 30 weeks.

In all, 900 Quaker employees lost their jobs earlier this month when the Fall River plant closed after six decades in operation.

There are at least 62 Rhode Island residents among the former employees.

“I’m pleased that Department of Labor has recognized the urgent needs of the hard working employees of Quaker Fabric," U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said in a statement today. "This needed assistance is a first step in ensuring that these families receive the benefits and training they deserve.”

-- projo.com staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Mike McKinney at 2:50 PM | Comment

ACLU: R.I. needs to address racial profiling

The Rhode Island chapter of American Civil Liberties Union said today that an organization's new report shows a need for "a broader commitment" to address racial profiling and racial disparities in the state's criminal justice system.

The report, "Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity," by The Sentencing Project, which advocates changes to the justice system, examined imprisonment rates nationally.

The ACLU issued a news release saying that although Rhode Island's overall imprisonment rate for all races is lower than in most states, "the report documents that the ratio of incarceration for blacks and Hispanics within the state, when compared to whites, was well above the national average."

The 2005 statistics, when comparing incarceration rates per population of 100,000 in Rhode Island, showed "great disparities exist between these rates for whites, blacks and Hispanics," the ACLU said. The incarceration rate for Hispanics was 631 per 100,000, and 1,838 per 100,000 for blacks, while the rate for whites in Rhode Island was 191.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:52 PM | Comment

Barrington man sentenced for stealing from company

PROVIDENCE -- A Barrington man was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for stealing more than $700,000 from his employer in unauthorized salary bonuses and in charging to the company personal expenses such as family vacations to Nantucket and Florida.

U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi today sentenced Samuel Sacco, 52, who was Spectra Systems' chief financial officer between 2000 and 2006, and ordered him to report to prison on Aug. 17, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert Clarke Corrente's office.

Sacco has admitted that he used a company charge account and company checks to pay for expenses and ordered unauthorized annual bonuses for himself, the U.S. Attorney's office says.

A Rhode Island company, Spectra Systems develops marking and authentication applications, including currency authentication techniques used by the Federal Reserve.

Sacco, who had been in charge of payroll and accounts payable, pleaded guilty in April to one count each of mail fraud and wire fraud.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Prosecutor Lee H. Vilker said at the plea hearing that the government could show Sacco charged approximately $394,515 in personal expenses to a corporate charge account. He also directed the corporate controller to pay for about $52,525 of Sacco’s personal expenses with corporate checks, the U.S. Attorney's office says.

Along with the family vacations, Sacco charged to the company gift cards, jewelry, insurance premiums, country club fees, liquor products, and fees for a sporting club.

Sacco also falsely told the company controller that the compensation committee had authorized annual bonuses. But corporate directors said no bonuses other than an initial signing bonus were ever allowed for Sacco, the news release says. He directed that a combined $266,325 in bonuses be paid to himself between 2002 and 2005.

The thefts addressed by the fraud charges came to $713,366. Sacco already made partial restitution, so Judge Lisi ordered Sacco to make restitution of approximately $640,000.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:43 PM | Comment

Paralyzed man, treatment volunteer, dies

BROCKTON, Mass. -- Matthew Nagle, who volunteered for a groundbreaking treatment for the paralyzed that allowed him to use his brain signals to work a computer, has died. He was 27.

Nagle fell into a coma on July 17 and was diagnosed with sepsis, an infection of the blood. He died Monday at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. Nagle lived at New England Sinai Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Stoughton.

(Read Journal Medical Writer Felice J. Freyer's November, 2004, story on Nagle and the research.)

Nagle was paralyzed from the shoulders down in July 2001 after he tried to help friends in a brawl at an Independence Day celebration in Weymouth and was stabbed in the neck. He was left unable to breathe without a ventilator and nearly unable to talk after scar tissue grew over his vocal cords.

Nicholas Cirignano, who stabbed Nagle, is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

In 2004, Nagle volunteered for a Brown University experiment with a device called BrainGate, which used a tiny sensor implanted in his head to read his electrical brain signals. The signals were read by computer software that allowed him to move a computer cursor.

The BrainGate chip was later removed, and electrodes were implanted to stimulate the diaphragm, which allowed Nagle to breathe without a ventilator and control his wheelchair with his breath.

His father, Patrick Nagle, said his son volunteered for the treatments because he wanted to do his part to help the paralyzed.

"He used to say: 'You know what, there's a lot of us in chairs. If we all do a little, maybe we can make it a lot,'" his father said.

Nagle was born in Cambridge and grew up in Weymouth. Besides his father, he leaves his mother, Ellen, and brother, Michael.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 12:16 PM | Comment

Gov. Patrick to meet with former Quaker employees

FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is scheduled to meet with former Quaker Fabric Corp. employees at 2 p.m. today at the site of a planned training center to be established specifically for the displaced textile workers.

Massachusetts has provided $250,000 for the City of Fall River to open a training facility at 139 South Main St. in Fall River. Patrick plans to tour that site today, along with Suzanne M. Bump, secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and Fall River Mayor Edward Lambert.

Massachusetts has asked the U.S. Department of Labor to provide a $2.2-million National Emergency Grant to support the facility, according to Linnea Walsh, a spokeswoman for the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

There were at least 62 Rhode Island residents among the 900 Quaker employees who lost their jobs when the Fall River plant closed earlier this month.

--Journal Staff Writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:14 PM | Comment

Patriots' summer camp schedule is right here

Here it is, the schedule for the New England Patriots' summer camp, which kicks off this weekend and runs through Aug. 3.

Practices are open to the public Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The pro-shop is open all day.

Nothing is open to the public Saturday. An afternoon practice is closed to the public and the pro-shop is closed.

But on Sunday, practice, from the 8:45 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5:30 pm. to 7:30 pm. is open as it the pro-shop -- from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

On Monday, there is no scheduled morning practice, but there is an open 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. practice. The pro-shop opens at 10 a.m., and closes at 6 p.m.

Parking and admission are free.

There is also the first Patriots Experience.

The Patriots Experience is a theme park "designed to provide football fans with a first hand NFL experience," according to the Patriots Web site. "The interactive games allow fans to test their kicking, passing, and tackling skills on a variety of obstacle courses, football tosses, and other similar challenges.''

It's also free.

Patriots Experience will be held next to the West Suite/Clubhouse lot on the way to the practice fields.

There will be open practices Tuesday from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The pro-shop returns to a 7:30 a.m. opening.

Wednesday -- Aug. 1 -- offers no morning practice, but there will be open 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. practice. There is also a 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Patriots Experience, while the pro-shop opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m.

On Thursday, there are the open 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. practices. The pro-shop opens at 7:30 a.m. but closes earlier, at 5:45 p.m.

And on Friday, there is one open practice, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. There's a 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. "Patriots Experience" and the pro shop will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There's also a long list of concessions, from the First Down Franks to the Pats Brats to the popcorn.

Visit the team's official site or call the training camp hotline at (508) 549-0001.

Starting tomorrow, projo.com's Patriots page will be the place to go for live blog reports and photos from camp. You'll also be able to post your own photos
.
-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:07 PM | Comment

Update: Family, friends recall Barrington teen / Photo

Journal photo / Frieda Squires
Hugs are exchanged at the memorial service today for Patrick Murphy, at St. John's Episcopal Church in Barrington.

BARRINGTON – In a memorial service this morning with a strong Irish theme, the family, friends and teachers of Patrick Murphy remembered the local teenager as brave, stubborn, and physically and morally strong.

Murphy, 17, was killed last week in a kneeboarding accident on the Barrington River. He would have been starting his senior year at Barrington High School this fall.

His father, John Murphy, spoke fondly of the family’s recent trip to England, Wales and Ireland. Murphy and his wife, Phoebe, coach women’s crew at Brown University and took their three children with them as the Brown crew team competed in the Henley Regatta on the River Thames near London, one of the world’s oldest rowing events.

Their oldest child, Jack, middle son, Patrick, and younger daughter, Penelope, were forced to interact with each other and their parents, as they had no computers and no friends with them, their father recalled. What a wonderful trip it was, he said.

With such quality family time, the parents noticed how much Patrick was growing up, he said.

“It became very clear to us that he was becoming an adult,” he said of his middle child.

Everyone attending this morning’s memorial service – including more than 100 in the overflow room alone at St. John’s Episcopal Church – had a glimpse of that trip on the memorial pamphlet handed out. On the cover is a photo of Patrick Murphy taken by his older brother atop a mountain they had climbed together in Wales on July 9.

The accident that took Patrick’s life happened on July 17, the day the family returned from their monthlong trip. Patrick had been eager to see his friends and reconnect, his father said.

Read more about the accident ...

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from Journal staff writer Meaghan Wims

John Murphy said the family is dealing with conflicting emotions, one of which is the “anger we feel for what was done to him,” he said. “We trust justice will be done.”

The police say alcohol contributed to Murphy's death, which occurred while he was on his kneeboard being towed by a boat driven by classmate Ryan A. Greenberg. The medical examiner ruled that Murphy was killed by blunt-force trauma and his body had been slashed by something sharp. Investigators believe it was a propeller.

Greenberg, 17, refused to be tested for alcohol, and he failed a field sobriety test. He is due to be arraigned tomorrow on felony charges of reckless operation, death resulting. The owner of the boat, Andrew Davis, told The Journal last week that he didn't know how the teens obtained the craft.

“We’ll save our anger for another day,” Patrick’s father said this morning.

The other emotions, he said, are grief and “great and lasting love.”

The father reminisced about his little boy with the big smile. He recalled strollers, wagons and tricycles. Patrick, he said, was a loyal and good companion, one who had begun borrowing his father’s clothes without his dad even knowing it.

During the memorial service, Patrick’s history teacher, Pat Sullivan, recalled a boy who always wore wrinkled shirts and the jokes he told about how Murphy needed an iron. On a serious note, Sullivan said that when he complained to his class about not having a podium, Patrick Murphy built him one.

Crying, the Barrington teacher said, “There won’t be a day when I don’t think about Patrick, especially when I lean on that podium to give a lesson.”

As bagpipes started playing at the end of the memorial service, John Murphy’s words echoed in the air – please don’t play a mournful song, he had asked the bagpiper.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 12:02 PM | Comment

Traffic: Lane closed on Route 146, Providence

A section of Route 146 north, Providence, near Route 95 is closed for construction work, according to the state Transportation Management Center.

The lane will stay closed until 2 p.m.

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

Also, check out congestion mapping -- i.e., how heavy the traffic is – here and 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 Jack Perry at 11:29 AM | Comment

Scituate police ID man killed in industrial accident

SCITUATE – The police this morning identified the Fall River man who was killed yesterday at the Scituate Reservoir as 37-year-old Roger G. Coe of Fall River, Mass.

Coe, of Lonsdale St., was an employee of a contractor doing work for Providence Water’s purification plant at the Scituate Reservoir.

A fellow employee who witnessed the accident was working his first day on the job, Police Capt. David M. Randall said.

The heavy steel device that toppled off a concrete platform four feet off the ground and landed on Coe weighed somewhere between 800 and 1,000 pounds, Randall said this morning.

“He took the whole weight of that thing on his body,” Randall said.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 9:52 AM | Comment

Memorial today for teen killed while kneeboarding

BARRINGTON – Friends and family of the 17-year-old Barrington student killed last week in a kneeboarding accident on the Barrington River are gathering this morning for a 10 a.m. memorial service.

The service for Patrick Murphy will be at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 191 County Rd., opposite the Barrington Center shopping plaza.

Dozens of mourners, most of them teenage boys in white shirts, are filing into the church under a bright blue sky.

The sanctuary holds about 300, said the Rev. Jennifer K. West. More than 150 can also be accommodated in an adjacent hall. The church is expected to need the space.

The incoming senior class at the high school, of which Murphy would have been a member, has roughly 275 members, and the Murphy family is active in the community. His parents, John and Phoebe, coach women's crew at Brown University.

Read more about the accident.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson with reports from Journal staff writer Meaghan Wims.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 9:31 AM | Comment

Sunny, high near 87

Look for a mostly sunny day today with a high near 87 degrees in the Providence area, according to the National Weather Service.

Tonight will bring patchy fog after 9 p.m. and partly cloudy skies with a high near 69 degrees.

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

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:04 AM | Comment

Carcieri to sign Sudan divestment bill

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri this afternoon plans to sign into law the requirement that Rhode Island divest state funds from companies that do business with Sudan, where government-supported militias have carried out what observers say is genocide.

The signing, in the State House's State Room, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

The militias have been targeting non-Arabs in Sudan's Darfur region.

Rhode Island joins 13 states in divesting from Sudan in an international effort to end the Sudanese government’s genocide in Darfur, according to a news release from the governor' s offce.

According to a news release, Carcieri will be joined by General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, who submitted the divestment legislation, Rep. Joseph Almeida, who sponsored the legislation in the House of Representatives, and Scott Warren, a Brown University student who was an advocate for the law.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:01 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page features photographs and a story about increasing enrollment at the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island.

Download a copy of today's front page.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment