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« December 19, 2007 | Today | December 21, 2007 » December 20, 2007Update: Hannah Montana, and fans, storm Dunk / Photo
The 14-year-old Disney phenom Miley Cyrus, otherwise known as Hannah Montana, will take over the Dunkin' Donuts for a soldout show that's been touring nationwide. She's attracting legions of tweenies, who bought up her 9,000 tickets at the Dunk in three minutes. That meant a windfall for secondary sellers, like StubHub.com, who could charge even more for their tickets. And it's a three-peat tonight, with cars crawling, horns beeping, and lots of youngsters heading to the Dunk' holding an oldster's hand. Traffic isn't any better, we hear, coming into the city. It's jammed on Route 95 south from the Massachusetts line, and on Route 195 westbound, also from Massachusetts, backed up to Exit 1 in Seekonk. Get the latest "jam factor" measurements here. Once you get into downtown, some sidewalks and secondary roads are still snowlined and icy, so beware. Going to the concert? Projo.com would love to have your personal review. Here's a link to a survey, which will be activated later tonight, where you can post your Hannah Montana experience. Posted by Jack Perry at 7:06 PM | Comment Update: Runway conditions not seen as cause of mishap
Discussing the incident with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation board last night, Frazier said he understood "the runway was in good operational condition" at the time of the incident. His comments were based on his assesment on the National Transportation Safety Board. (An earlier version of this post indicated they were based on his discussions with the NTSB.) The jet, used for an US Airways Express flight from Philadelphia, landed last Sunday, following snowfall. No one was hurt. He declined to disclose details of the incident, citing the NTSB's investigation. But he said the NTSB's findings would probably not place blame on Green Airport. "We feel confident that the conclusions will be favorable," Frazier said. Posted by Benjamin N. Gedan at 6:10 PM | Comment Leaks force closing of Westerly DMV branch officeThe Westerly branch office of the state Division of Motor Vehicles is being closed, effective today, because of "severe leaks" in its roof and ceiling, the DMV announced this afternoon. While it's closed for repairs -- which could take several weeks -- the Wakefield branch of the DMV will be open five days a week rather than its usual two days, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Westerly is normally open three days a week, on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The Wakefield office is located in the Stedman Government Center, Tower Hill Road. Anyone with a road test scheduled for the Westelry branch office should, staring tomorrow, report to the road test site for the Wakefield branch. That's at 756 Kingstown Road, Wakefield, at the rear of the Old Mountain Lanes building. Efforts are being made to contact those with road tests scheduled by phone. Those with questions may call 401-789-1430, or visit the DMV Web site for more information about the Wakefield office. Some transactions and forms are also available online. Charles F. Dolan, DMV's administrator, apologized for any inconvenience, saying, "This is an emergency situation; we certainly would not have considered closing a branch for any other reason." At this point, he said, it's not safe for customers or staff to be in that facility. Dolan said the DMV hopes to have the branch open again for business in "several weeks time."
Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:31 PM | Comment Winner of Powerball $151.9M jackpot to be revealedThe elusive (reclusive?) winner of the $151.9 million Powerball jackpot has surfaced. The ticket holder has appointed "his/her lawyer" to claim the prize tomorrow at state Lottery headquarters in Cranston, the Lottery said in an announcement this afternoon. A press conference with lottery officials and the lawyer will be held at 10 a.m., where information about the winner will be revealed. It's the largest Powerball prize ever won in Rhode Island, which offers the game along with several other states. All pertinent information related to the winner will be known and available at that time. The ticket from the Nov. 28 drawing was sold at the Warren Mart, 428 Child St. in Warren. Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:13 PM | Comment Body of E. Providence man, 78, found in snow at his homeEAST PROVIDENCE -- Rain and warmer weather thawed snow and revealed a 78-year-old man’s body this morning. A neighbor of Virgil A. Ferreira, of 70 Roger Williams Ave., discovered the deceased in the remaining snow about 5:30 a.m. near the side or back door of his ranch house. He was wearing a winter coat and gloves. There was also a shovel close by, the police said. Lt. Armen Garo and Sgt. Mark Norton said an autopsy is being performed, but Ferreira may have died from a heart attack or another natural cause. It is unknown how long he was outside in the snow because “the body decomposes” differently in cold conditions or when buried in snow, Norton explained. “He was basically on ice,” Norton said. Garo believes Ferreira may have been outside since the snowstorm a week ago, the first of two in the last week, because there were multiple newspapers delivered and not brought inside. The lieutenant also said Ferreira lived alone. The Journal’s archives show his wife, Pauline, died in 1997. -- Journal staff writer Alisha Pina Posted by Andrea Panciera at 4:34 PM | Comment PUC approves 5.2 percent hike in electricity rates
The Public Utilities Commission, this afternoon, approved a request by National Grid to increase electricity rates by about 5.2 percent as of Jan. 1. The utility company said the increase was needed to cover the projected increase in crude oil prices over the coming year. The utility company purchases electricity for most of its customers, and its long-term contracts with electricity suppliers call for National Grid to pay more when the market price of oil or natural gas go up. The typical customer will see an increase of $3.80 in their monthly bill, according to National Grid, bringing that bill to $76.66 a month, from its current $72.86 a month.
Posted by Tim Barmann at 4:12 PM | Comment More ways to give during the holidaysHas the holiday spirit put you in a giving mood? The Providence Journal continues to publish requests from local charities for holiday giving. In addition to the full list of charities on our Web site, we've added a few more you may want to help out this season, or throughout the year: GENERAL VIPS (Volunteers In Providence Schools) The organization provides after-school tutoring and enrichment classes to hungry teenagers who attend Providence public schools. There are 25 or so high school students who come each day to theTechnology & Learning Center every afternoon for three hours after school to get homework help and tutoring. The organizationreally needs gift cards from area grocery stores or donations that will help us feed these hungry and eager-to-learn teenage students. For more information, call Theresa Seddon at VIPS, at (401) 274-3240. ANIMALS Animals Depend On People Too (A.D.O.P.T.) The group that helps homeless pets at the Cranston Animal Shelter and throughout the state, is in need of monetary donations. A.D.O.P.T. also helps families throughout the state with financial help for sick or injured pets, spays and neuters and other problems. Call Linda Monahan at (401)-826-0320 . The Hope For Animals Sanctuary The cat shelter is in need of cash donations as well as litter, toys, cat food, cat toys, and soft blankets for beds. The sanctuary is also looking for foster homes for some of its special needs cats. Volunteers are always needed. For more information please contact Ann at (401) 966-4129. The web site is www.hopeforcatssanctuary.com To be included in either the newspaper or online list, send your charity's information, including a name and contact number to pjnews@projo.com. Put Holiday Giving in the subject field. Posted by Pam Cotter at 3:53 PM | Comment Update: Cicilline fires EMA head, outlines action steps
Cicilline, at a press conference this afternoon, said the responsibility ultimately lay with him for the series of missteps that stranded hundreds of school children for up to eight hours. He released an eight-page report reviewing the storm, which included a timeline of communications and "action steps" to prevent such a situation again. He also expressed deep disappointment in the performance of Providence School Supt. Donnie Evans, but said that he will continue to support the superintendent’s efforts to boost student achievement. “By mid-afternoon it should have been clear that a serious problem with school bus delays was brewing and no red flags were raised,” Cicilline said in a statement. “I expect those with primary responsibility for the transportation of children in our district to be fully engaged in monitoring and supervising the process until the last child is home and to act quickly and seek assistance when problems arise.” The mayor immediately fired Leo Messier, the city’s director of the EMA, and suspended without pay school operations chief Tomas Hanna for 30 days. Providence Police Maj. Monty Montiero was named acting director of EMA. Last week, snow falling as fast as 3 inches per hour crippled the roads and highways in the state, trapping commuters and school buses – many of them in Providence – for hours at a time. In all, the city received a little over 6 inches of snow, not much by New England standards. But by 8 p.m. 60 percent of Providence public school buses filled with elementary school students who had been dismissed early were still stuck in gridlock. That evening, Messier called the school bus situation “inconvenient.” But he said children “will get home eventually” because they have call phones to call their parents. Messier becomes the second emergency management official in the state to lose his job this week. On Tuesday, Governor Carcieri fired Robert J. Warren, the director of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency. Cicilline’s actions come after receiving the results of a week-long review conducted by Chief of Administration John Simmons and Police Chief Dean Esserman. Extras: Read the 8-page review, released today, of the city's handling of the storm / Timeline of storm communications / Press release with mayor's "action steps" Click below to read the five-step plan described in the press release to deal with the next "extreme weather" conditions: - The City has modified its Emergency Operations Plan to require the Emergency Operations Cabinet to be automatically activated whenever school children are being transported during extreme weather with dangerous driving conditions. - First Student Transportation has agreed to establish a communication system that will improve the ability of bus drivers or bus monitors to communicate directly with the bus yard in order to report any difficulties in transportation students. - The School Superintendent will establish a communication procedure that requires parents to be notified every hour by an automated phone call system when there are substantial delays on school buses. - The School Superintendent is to establish, immediately, a dedicated hotline to answer parents’ questions regarding their children’s transportation. The hotline will be staffed with sufficient personnel during emergencies so that parents will not be kept on hold for unreasonable periods of time. - The School Superintendent will reverse the current transportation schedules in weather emergencies to ensure that the youngest and most vulnerable children are transported first. Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 3:06 PM | Comment R.I. delegation asks NFL to let more fans see Pats' finaleThe state's congressional delegation is pressing the NFL to ensure that more New Englanders can watch the Patriots' final regular season game against the New York Giants. The Dec. 29 game is scheduled for cablecast on the NFL Network. Fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with televisions subscribe to the network, according to a press release from the delegation, meaning many New Englanders won't be able to watch the game on television. The delegation has sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, asking the league to change its broadcast boundaries, so Rhode Islanders who don't subscribe to the NFL Network can watch the game on a widely available broadcast channel. According to the delegation's press release, when a game is nationally televised on a cable channel, the NFL requires the game to also be simulcast on a widely available broadcast channel in the team’s primary market. "However, the NFL has ruled in this case the primary markets are Boston and New York City, leaving fans in Rhode Island and all across New England, out in the cold," the release says. The letter to Goodell says, “The New England Patriots are assuredly a regional team, with many loyal fans in the state of Rhode Island. The state welcomed the Patriots for many years when they held their training camp at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and Gillette Stadium is a short twenty-five minute drive from downtown Providence. "Unfortunately, limiting transmission of the game to Boston excludes many of the team’s biggest fans from this event," the delegation writes. "Therefore, we urge you to make the final game available on over-the-air television across New England to ensure that the region’s Patriots’ fans will be able to watch this highly anticipated game.” The letter us signed by U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Reps. Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin, all Democrats. Posted by Jack Perry at 1:16 PM | Comment Lawyer: Smoke-shop criminal cases going to trialThe criminal cases stemming from the state police rain on a Narragansett Indian smoke shop apparently will go to trial after all. William P. Devereaux, who represents six of the Narragansett Indians, said today, “(The state) didn’t want to agree to what we proposed,” declining to elaborate on what it was that his defendants wanted. Seven Narragansett Indians, including Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, are due to go to trial Jan. 7 in Providence County Superior Court on misdemeanor charges that include assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Despite exhaustive plea negotiations, prosecutors and lawyers for the tribe have been unable to reach an agreement in that court. Several mediation sessions have been held, without a resolution, with the assistance of retired Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger. Weisberger had ordered the parties to participate in another session today. John Brown, the tribe’s medicine man in training and one of those facing charges, said yesterday the defendants had been called to the court to discuss “some level of arrangement.” He said he had not been told the specifics. The case landed before the state Supreme Court when Governor Carcieri appealed Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl’s ruling in August that he could be called to testify about the orders he gave the state police leading up to the raid. The court has not decided if Carcieri will be compelled to testify during the trial. The state police raided the roadside store at the governor’s order on July 14, 2003, after the tribe began illegally selling cigarettes without charging Rhode Island taxes. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch has objected to the process, arguing any plea negotiations should take place in the trial court. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement, he has said, the cases should go to trial. “The process is called mediation,” said Michael J. Healey, his spokesman. “It’s not called binding arbitration.” The state is willing to accept no-contest pleas with a filing, meaning the charges would essentially disappear if the defendants stayed out of trouble for a year, Healey said. A no-contest plea is considered an admission of guilt. Posted by Andrea Panciera at 12:10 PM | Comment Cicilline, City Council each to air storm reviewsPROVIDENCE -- Will another EMA head roll after today? The mayor and City Council will be discussing the city's performance -- or lack of it -- during last week's snowstorm at two separate events today. Mayor David N. Ciclline is holding a news conference at 1 p.m. today to announce his “action plan” for making sure that what happened last week does not occur again. The City Council had previously called a special meeting at 6 tonight to review all the problems that arose during and after the storm and to explore why things went wrong. In a letter delivered to the mayor’s office on Tuesday, Luna pointed to the stranding of schoolchildren on buses, a breakdown of communications and the failure of the city agency to properly prepare for the storm as his reasons why Messier should be dismissed. “One must wonder how Mr. Messier can effectively prepare our city for a terrorist attack or other life-threatening emergency if he cannot handle eight to ten inches of snow,” Luna said. Neither Messier nor Cicilline could be reached for comment yesterday but Karen Southern, the mayor’s press secretary, said Cicilline will respond to questions about Luna’s request at his press conference today. On Tuesday, Governor Carcieri fired the executive director of the state Emergency Management Agency after heated public criticism of the state’s response to the snowstorm that crippled the state and left commuters and schoolchildren stranded for hours. -- From a report by Journal staff writer Richard C. Dujardin Posted by Andrea Panciera at 11:39 AM | Comment Looking for a rink to skate away on?The snow is falling, but that doesn't mean it has to be all cars-abandoned-on-the-highway or slipping-on-the-sidewalk. No, snow can also mean a winter wonderland. A good way to capture that feeling? Ice skating. Of course, there's the Bank of America City Center rink downtown, a great place to take a half-hour twirl on the ice during lunch -- or after work, while everyone else is skidding out on the highway, you can work on your double axel. There are also rinks in South County, East Bay and along the Blackstone Valley River. Find out more on projo.com. But remember, ice does not an ice skating rink make. According to the state Department of Environmental Management, you can't tell if ice is safe just by looking. There are many factors that determine how stable the ice, including the salinity, and presence of currents and streams. Get more information about the ice skating safety in the DEM's ice safety guide. -- Brandie Jefferson Posted by Jack Perry at 11:30 AM | Comment Photo: Melting the way for mall shoppers
Posted by Jack Perry at 11:26 AM | Comment R.I. driver says hammer thrown at his van in Mass.CANTON, Mass -- A Rhode Island man says he narrowly escaped injury when a hammer was thrown through the window of his van during a road rage incident in Massachusetts. Helder Miranda told state police he was cut off by a pickup truck on Interstate 93 in Canton. After he exchanged words with the other driver, Miranda said a passenger in the pickup flung the hammer at his van. The hammer shattered a passenger-side window and missed hitting Miranda by inches. No one was else was in the van, which the Warwick man often uses to give rides to the elderly. The pickup, which had Connecticut license plates, did not stop after yesterday's incident. State police recovered the hammer and are testing it for fingerprints. Posted by Jack Perry at 11:07 AM | Comment Whitehouse criticizes EPA's decision on emissionsU.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says he still wants Rhnode Island to be able to set its own emission standards, despite a ruling yesterday denying states such authority. The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday denied waiver requested by the state of California that would allow the state to set rules that limit the emissions of carbon dioxide beyond the limits set by the federal government. Rhode Island and 14 other states were poised to adopt the California regulations once the state was granted the waiver necessary to divert from federal standards. Whitehouse vowed to "keep fighting to pressure this administration to do the right thing and allow states like Rhode Island to take action." The standards would have required automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions – most significantly carbon dioxide – by 30 percent in new cars and small trucks by 2016.
-- Brandie Jefferson Posted by Jack Perry at 11:03 AM | Comment ME: Car fire victim died of carbon monoxide poisoningA woman found dead in a car after it caught on fire died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a statement released today by the state Medical Examiner's office. Katherine Helweg, 59, of South Kingstown, died on Dec. 11. Leaking grease caused her 2000 Subaru Forester to catch on fire, according to Michael Sweeney, chief of investigations with the fire marshal’s office. Helweg was found in her car after firefighters extinguished the flames, originally thought to be a house fire. According to Sweeney, she was “incapacitated” and was not able to get out of her car as it burned. According to the report, Helweg had coronary artery disease, which was listed as a contributory factor to her death. Police also say she had diabetes. Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 10:59 AM | Comment Today's front pageToday's front page features a story about two pedestrians killed in separate accidents after they were forced to walk in the street because of snow-covered sidewalks. There's also a story about questions surrounding overtime paid to the president of the Providence Fire Union. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006