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March 13, 2008

Photo: Shoes call attention to plight of the homeless

Journal photo / Kris Craig
A year after the closing of the Welcome Arnold Shelter in Cranston, advocates placed 100 pairs of shoes on the steps of the State House rotunda this afternoon. The shoes were meant to be bring attention to the homeless population. The shelter, the state's largest, housed 100 people nightly. It had been closed to make way for a new state police headquarters. That plan has since been dropped.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 7:05 PM | Comment

Update: Acela in Providence hits 3 workers, killing 1

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
A state Medical Examiners official and police and fire officials look on as the scene of the fatal Amtrak crash is being investigated this afternoon.

PROVIDENCE -- One person has been killed, and two others seriously injured after they were struck early this afternoon by an Amtrak Acela train heading north to Boston from Providence.

Two of them were Amtrak employees; the third was a contractor. All three were at work inspecting tracks when they were hit at about 1:15 p.m., an Amtrak spokesperson Tracy Connell said shortly after 3 p.m. She could not say if they were male or female.

The two who were hurt have been taken to a hospital, but Connell did not know which one.

No one on board the train was hurt, she said, and passengers remained on the train. According to Connell, there were 162 passengers on board and six crew members.

Although the incident drew Amtrak police, city police and and fire and rescue workers, state Medical Examiners Office staff and even Mayor David N. Cicilline, no one on the scene would talk about how the accident happened. Amtrak police are leading the investigation.

Late this afternoon, Amtrak in a statement did say that the high-speed express train was going below the 55 mph limit authorized on that stretch of track.

Amtrak service in the area going in both directions was halted for about 2 1/2 hours while the Acela stayed on the tracks just north of the Providence rail station, where the Acela routinely makes stops.

At 3:48 p.m. service was resumed, Amtrak said in the statement sent at 4:15 p.m. The train, No. 2154, was also released and continued on to Boston. Some residual delays are expected into the evening. Check here for Amtrak schedules and train status.

MTBA service continued to operate between nearby South Attleboro, Mass., and Boston.

The train had been on the tracks just north of the Providence rail station, between Cadillac Lounge located 361 Charles St., which is near the main Post Office building, and an office building for Gastroenterology Associates at 44 West River St. on the other side.

It was passing through a stretch of track bounded on both sides by sloping ground leading up to a chain-link fence. When it came to a stop, part of the train had passed under the Charles Street overpass, where the corridor narrows.

-- With reports from projo.com staff writer Michael McKinney and Journal photographer Mary Murphy

At one point a crowd of about 40 to 45 people, including members of the press, watched the scene from the overpass.

A green tarp was placed over part of the side of the sixth or seventh car from the train's front while rescue personnel worked to remove the person who had been killed from underneath.

They emerged with an orange stretcher carrying remains covered in a white sheet.Firefighters carried the stretcher alongside the train, up the slope, placed it on a guerney and then wheeled it into the waiting Medical Examiners' truck.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:52 PM | Comment

Suspect in Somerset stabbing held pending hearing

SOMERSET, Mass. -- The police have obtained an arrest warrant charging a Fall River, Mass., man with assault and assault with intent to murder for a stabbing that happened Tuesday night.

Paul M. Cambra, 37, of 673 Second St. is being held at the Bristol County Jail in Dartmouth, Mass., pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Monday at 9 a.m., the police said in a news release.

The police went to 359 Main St. on Tuesday at 7:26 p.m. Witness interviews and other investigation led to Cambra as the suspect, according to police.

The police were granted the warrant to arrest Cambra but an effort to apprehend was unsuccessful, the police said.

Today, at about 8:30 a.m., Cambra appeared with his lawyer Scott DeMello at Fall River District for arraignment, the police said.

The warrant charges Cambra with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to murder and with armed assault in a dwelling.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:36 PM | Comment

So far, Green Airport untouched by Southwest troubles

Wire photo
Southwest Airlines, the dominant carrier at T.F. Green Airport, was recently fined $10.2 million for failing to properly conduct safety inspections on its planes.

WARWICK - The maintenance concerns at Southwest Airlines have not caused any delays at T.F. Green Airport, spokeswoman Patti Goldstein says.

Yesterday, Southwest grounded 43 planes to examine if they were structurally sound enough to carry passengers, the Associated Press reported today. The inspections followed criticism from the Federal Aviation Administration that the airline had missed required inspections of some planes for cracks.

Southwest, the dominant carrier in Rhode Island, had cancelled 118 flights nationwide by midday yesterday, about 9 percent of its scheduled flights.

"It didn't impact us at all. We were pleased with that," Goldstein said. "It's an airline with a very good safety record. They addressed the problem."

For more local breaking business news, visit the Biz Blog at projo.com/business.

Posted by Benjamin N. Gedan at 6:31 PM | Comment

Fire at construction site at Women & Infants Hospital

PROVIDENCE -- Flames ignited by a welder’s torch caused some damage this afternoon at the site of a building addition that is under construction at Women & Infants Hospital, a Fire Department official said.

It is unclear if the building itself was damaged, and engineers are expected to examine the structure, said Deputy Assistant Fire Chief J. Curtis Varone.

A cascade of sparks created by a welder working on the second story of the five-story building at Dudley and Gay streets fell into combustible materials inside a plastic form around a steel girder and caused a fire that destroyed the 15-foot-long, 18-inch-diameter form and spread to plastic sheeting, Varone reported.

“There was heavy smoke inside the building,” and firefighters searched the interior to make sure that there were no victims, Varone said. Seventy-five to 100 construction workers had left the building before firefighters arrived.

-- Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

Firefighters approached the fire more gingerly than usual, Varone said, by limiting the searchers and their search area and by clearing a safety zone around the fire’s point of origin.

There was a concern that because the structure had not yet been fireproofed, the flames might have caused a weakening and that there could be a collapse, he said.

The form, which wrapped an 8-inch-square steel girder, was designed to hold a concrete pour.

The fire was reported at 1:08 p.m., and firefighters spent one hour and 10 minutes at the location.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:23 PM | Comment

Brief power failure hits Barrington, Seekonk, Rehoboth

About 9,000 households in Barrington and the nearby Massachusetts commnities of Seekonk and Rehoboth were without power for an hour today after National Grid experienced a line failure.

The power went out at 12:45 p.m. after the failure at a substation on Mink Street in Seekonk, according to David Graves, a spokesman for National Grid. Power was restored at 1:45 p.m.

It’s unclear what caused the line failure at the substation located between Routes 6 and 114, said Graves.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:21 PM | Comment

State Police help boost security at Woonsocket High

WOONSOCKET -- Six state troopers are working with the Woonsocket Police to beef up patrols around the city after a man attempted to abduct a Woonsocket High School girl Tuesday.

Acting Police Chief Eric Croce held a news conference today to announce that the city was beefing up patrols and to appeal to the public to report anything they might have seen connected to the incident which occurred on Elm Avenue where the girl said she was abducted on her way to school Tuesday at around 8:35 a.m. and on Wood Avenue and Mill Street where she escaped just a few minutes later when the man slowed for traffic.

Croce said that the State Police work with Woonsocket Police patrol the city during busy school hours when children are walking to and from school. There are 18 schools in the city. The state police will assist the Woonsocket Police until Tuesday, he said.

Police have no suspects, Croce said. “We are appealing to the public for help,” he said.

The girl was walking on Elm Street when the car approached her near Jervis Street. A man driving the car started a conversation with the girl and when she responded he stopped the car near Jervis, got out and forced her inside the vehicle.

The girl was not in the car long. She jumped out of the car and ran away for help when the man slowed for traffic. Supt. of Schools Maureen Macera said there has been another incident where a fourth grade girl was talked to by a man in a car but ran back into the building. Police are investigating whether the incidents are related or isolated.

-- Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:38 PM | Comment

Ferraro at Bryant brings Clarence Thomas into the mix

SMITHFIELD -- Geraldine Ferraro today made a Bryant University audience pause as she spoke about how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas -- the second black judge to sit on the high court -- got into Yale University.

Her remarks came after she spent two days in a swirl of controversy for a statement she made suggesting that it was only because he is a black man that Sen. Barack Obama is a serious contender in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. She also stepped down from a position in Sen. Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Ferraro, one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate, was the lunchtime speaker before a group of 1,000 -- most of them women -- at Bryant's 2008 Women’s Summit.

Ferraro began her speech today by saying she wasn’t going to talk about “what you’ve seen me talk about in the last few days,” saying a few minutes later that she was going to be frank, “which tends to get me in trouble.”

She talked about the benefits of having women in positions of power in industry, education and politics.

“I believe in more women in leadership,” she said to applause. “And not simply because she’s a woman.”

Women, she said, could bring a new viewpoint to politics. As an analogy, Ferraro pointed to the benefits other minorities brought to positions of power.

“Take a look and think about Justice Thurgood Marshall,” she said of the first black judge to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, “who drew on his life experiences as an African-American and as a civil rights activist to write some of the greatest civil rights decisions of the Sixties and of the entire century.”

She added that she did not think Thomas -- the second black African-American to sit on the high court -- showed the same “sensitivity” as Marshall.

Instead, she said, Thomas acts as a rubber stamp for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and “votes against affirmative action, which actually got him into Yale.”

The audience went quiet. She said, "Um," and quickly continued with a remark about how lawyers are supposed to be able to argue both sides of a case, "but I'm not that good of a lawyer."

In his book "My Grandfather's Son," Thomas wrote that he believes Yale's affirmative action policy when he was a student detracted from the value of his 1974 degree, because potential employers assumed he was a less qualified graduate than his white peers.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson, with reports from the Associated Press

In a speech last week, Ferraro said of Obama, the son of a white American woman and a black Kenyan man:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

During the past two days she has defended the remarks, which led Oboma opponent Clinton to distance herself from Ferraro.

In her own defense, Ferraro has noted she felt that she was able to run in 1984 for the vice presidency because she was a woman.

“In 1984 if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice presidential candidate," she said on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 4:15 PM | Comment

Update: Audit of R.I. trash agency reveals 'irregularities'

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers
New Resource Recovery Corp. Executive Director Michael O'Connell, who had raised concerns about the agency, talks at a press conference today about the resulting audit and its findings.

A preliminary audit of activities at Rhode Island’s $70 million trash agency has found possible "irregularities and appearances of impropriety," as well as potential criminal activity warranting further investigation.

The 33-page report, released today by Governor Carcieri, points to "many apparent relationships and possible conflicts of interest regarding current and former commissioners and employees’’ of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp.

At a State House news conference this afternoon, Carcieri said that he has sent the report to the U.S. attorney, the Rhode Island attorney general and the Rhode Island State Police.

``I’m concerned that these problems are just the tip of the iceberg,’’ said Carcieri, adding that the report at minimum shows that Resource Recovery "has been mismanaged for years.’’

Carcieri vowed to submit nominations for a new board to the Rhode Island Senate on Monday. The board is down to just two voting members as a result of infighting, and Carcieri said that he intends to remove one of them – longtime chairman Austin Ferland.

The auditors, who spent 45 days digging into a host of concerns raised by new executive director Michael O’Connell, recommend a full-scale forensic audit to explore, among other things, unspecified allegations of ``employee theft’’ and ``other activities that might be criminal in nature.’’ The report also raises concerns about payments for services not rendered or services of questionable value, potential state ethics violations and violations of procurement procedures.

Much of the report is devoted to questions about the corporation’s development of a controversial industrial park near Rhode Island’s Central Landfill in Johnston. As a result of slipshod practices, the corporation stands to lose millions of dollars on the project, while taking land off the Johnston tax rolls.

And it singles out former Johnston Mayor William A. Macera, who supported creation of the controversial industrial park while ``members of his own family would benefit through land sales.’’

Extra: Read a summary of findings in the preliminary audit.

-- Journal staff writer Mike Stanton

In 2000, one year after Macera wrote an ``Open Letter to the People of Johnston’’ in support of the industrial park, Resource Recovery bought 36 acres from Macera’s cousin and other relatives for $6 million – land that included an old family dump.

Two years later, in 2002, Resource Recovery bought 67 acres from then-Mayor Macera and his family members for $2 million – land that was encumbered by wetlands. The land was "ostensibly’’ purchased for gravel that could be excavated as cover at the nearby landfill – but executive director Sherry Mulhearn had an engineering report before the sale that the presence of wetlands and high silt content made the land unsuitable for gravel extraction.

The report also cites irregularities in the corporation’s hiring of Van Liew Trust to manage more than $100 million in agency funds. John St. Sauveur, a Resource Recovery commissioner, failed to disclose that he had an ownership interest in Van Liew.

And the report questions the propriety of a quasi-public corporation spending more than $2 million in recent years on charitable and civic contributions.

Auditors from the state Bureau of Audits, working with private forensic auditors from a Boston firm, reviewed 10 real-estate transactions totaling $21.4 million, many of which they found exceeded market value. The corporation paid prices ranging from $476,000 to $829,000 an acre.

The report says that the transactions were riddled with poor planning, sketchy documentation, faulty due diligence, improper environmental review and potential conflicts involving Resource Recovery board members Austin Ferland and John St. Sauveur and executive director Sherry Mulhearn.

The sellers of two of the properties had done business with an associate of Ferland, a major Rhode Island real-estate businessman. The corporation also used an appraiser who had done business with Ferland’s company.

Title insurance was ``repeatedly provided’’ by the company of St. Sauveur’s son.

Two of the sellers were related by marriage to Mulhearn, who also used a law firm that employed another relative of the agency’s executive director.

Among other problems that the audit found: that several major construction projects were undertaken "without apparent consideration’’ that the buildings will have to be torn down to make way for the expanding landfill.

Posted by Jack Perry at 2:47 PM | Comment

ACLU: DMV changes Social Security card requirement

The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles has pulled back a requirement that all people renewing driver's licenses show Social Security cards, under a legal settlement.

The ACLU filed a Superior Court lawsuit last month, asserting the DMV "had no statutory authority to implement the policy and that it violated the due process rights of licensees," according to the ACLU's Rhode Island chapter news release today.

Social Security cards came up in a different situation this week in the story of a Providence store owner who demanded to see the card of one or both of two Spanish-speaking customers.

Under a consent judgment filed today concerning the DMV policy, the ACLU said, the DMV agrees:

* To “immediately cease and desist ... mandating the production of an official Social Security card to individuals seeking to renew their licenses or state identification cards."

* To let people whose renewal applications were rejected between Aug. 1, 2007 and March 13 only for failing to present a Social Security card to be renewed without penalty as they fulfill all other legal requirements.

* To immediately put in place rule-making proceedings to amend the DMV regulations and repeal the rule that came under fire in the lawsuit. The result will be "formally eliminating the Social Security card requirement for people applying for and renewing their driver’s licenses or identification cards."

* To pay $250 in court costs.

The agreement says the DMV does keep the right to “collect Social Security numbers from individuals seeking license or identification renewal in the event the numbers are not already on record” with the DMV.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

The ACLU said the suit was filed on behalf of Providence resident Wendy Becker, who could not get her license renewed because she did not have her Social Security card. "Although the DMV initially claimed that the policy was adopted in order to comply with federal law, the lawsuit noted there was no basis for that claim," the ACLU release says.

James Kelleher, the ACLU volunteer lawyer who filed the suit, said in the news release the goal was was to "gently remind those in power that their authority is limited by law. While pleased that this particular goal has been achieved, it is unfortunate that this unlawful Social Security card rule has left an unintended residue as evidenced by the disgraceful scene that unfolded earlier this week at a local business. Perhaps this victory will offer some caution to those who would overstep the boundaries of law and decency.”

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:29 PM | Comment

Smoke-shop trial: Police detective describes raid

PROVIDENCE -- State police Det. Joseph F. Philbin, testifying in the trial of seven Narragansett tribal members accused in a state police raid on a tribal smoke shop, said he took down tribal conservation officer Thawn Harris after seeing him assaulting a female state trooper.

Under a defense lawyer's questioning in Providence County Superior Court today, Philbin said he began to run on the property after hearing a female screaming, “Here they come, get ready.”

Then Philbin saw that another tribal officer was not going to honor the warrant, he said on the 10th day of testimony.

In July 2003, the state police were carrying out a search-and-seizure warrant to stop the tribe from selling tax-free cigarettes at the Charlestown smoke shop, but the situation turned violent, with television images capturing that day.

Read about yesterday's testimony in court.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:12 PM | Comment

2 entangled right whales spotted in Cape Cod Bay

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. -- Scientists say two endangered right whales spotted in Cape Cod Bay have rope stuck in their mouths, but are in no immediate danger.

A spokeswoman for the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies says the female whales were spotted by a survey team Tuesday.

The center then launched a boat to get a closer look and managed to cut a sample of rope from one of the whales.

Spokeswoman Tanya Gabettie says both animals were feeding and swimming normally with other whales and no effort was made to remove the rope stuck between plates of baleen.

Both marine mammals will be monitored, and the center will intervene if the rope impedes the ability to swim or feed.

The North Atlantic right whale has an estimated population of less than 400.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 1:05 PM | Comment

Update: CMRC alleges DEM violated wetlands at park

On the eve of a public hearing on Governor Carcieri’s plans to merge Coastal Resources Management Council with the state Department of Environmental Management, CRMC has issued a cease-and-desist order against DEM for alleged wetlands violations at Fishermen’s Memorial State Park on the shores of Point Judith Pond in Narragansett.

CRMC inspectors, in a letter dated Tuesday, have informed DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan that approximately 7 to 8 acres in the campground were cleared recently without setting up erosion and sediment controls to protect the pond. (See a map of the area.)

CRMC also alleges work was done within 200 feet of coastal features and freshwater wetlands without obtaining the necessary permits. While CRMC does not say who actually did the work, the park is among state properties supervised by DEM.

Coincidentally, Sullivan and his aides were meeting with a class of landscape architect students at URI this morning to discuss a “conceptual redesign” of Fishermen’s state park that would provide more campsites and other amenities.

Sullivan said the clearing of former farm fields and a golf course was done last fall, and CRMC was informed.

DEM staff marked the wetlands and told their work crews to stay out of them. Sullivan said one equipment operator made a “few minor mistakes.”

Sullivan said he was embarrassed that CRMC would act against DEM this week, for work that was completed in December. He added, “In light of the timing of the Finance Committee meeting this afternoon, it is obscenely obvious what has been done here. I’ll leave it at that.”

The hearing on the proposed merger is scheduled for 1:30 today before a subcommittee of the House Finance committee.

-- Journal environmental writer Peter B. Lord

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:24 PM | Comment

Harvard hacker may have exposed students' information

CAMBRIDGE, Mass -- Harvard University is notifying thousands of graduate students and applicants that their personal information may have been exposed by a data breach.

The school says a computer hacker gained entry to its server last month.

Harvard says about 10,000 of last year's applicants may have had personal information compromised, with 6,600 having their Social Security numbers exposed.

The school says it will provide the applicants with free identity theft recovery services and help with credit monitoring and fraud alerts.

The hacker also may have gained access to housing data and records for students at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Harvard said in a statement that its initial investigation did not reveal the full extent of the breach.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 10:58 AM | Comment

Advocates: Take hate out of immigration discussion

A group of advocacy organizations is meeting today to discuss ways to tame the language being used in the debates surrounding immigration in Rhode Island.

A statement released by the Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy said the organization is calling the meeting in response to an incident reported yesterday in the Providence Journal.

In the incident, a business owner asked a customer, an American citizen, to show his Social Security card after hearing the customer speaking Spanish in the store.

According to the statement, CHisPA , the local affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, and any interested groups and individuals will meet to develop “a strategy to ending hate speech in the immigration debate.”

The meeting is set for today at 11 a.m. at the CHisPA office, 421 Elmwood Ave. in Providence.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 10:22 AM | Comment

Lots of action on MySpace page of Spitzer's 'date'

Nearly 1,000 times since yesterday, people have felt the need to speak out and share their views on a story that, no doubt, touches them personally.

And at a rate of almost 100,000 per hour, people are taking a look at “Kristen,” the alleged escort in the center of the bizarre Elliot Spitzer-prostitution to-do.

Spitzer resigned yesterday as governor of New York, effective Monday, after allegedly spending at least $80,000 on prostitutes, including "Kristen."

And since I typed the first sentence, “nearly 1,000” has become 1,100 – that’s how many comments have been left on her MySpace blog since 6:45 p.m. yesterday. And she's had more than 400,000 page views today alone.

Thanks to the Internet, the line between fame and infamy can be hard to discern.

According to "Kristen's" Web site, she aspires to be a singer; the curious can listen on her MySpace account and, if they like what they hear, follow a link from to a store selling two of her songs. One for 98 cents, the other for 57 cents.

Regardless of the quality of the music, or the price, one commenter has certainly hit the nail on the head: "I'm betting this starts to get a lot of radio play by tomorrow."

Comments on the MySpace range from the “We love you, stay strong” variety to political endorsements to fancy flash animations soliciting for the “Client 9 Club.”

Many of the comments have moved beyond Spitzer and call girls to mini conversations between commenters and even somewhat philosophical discussions on nature of “Kristen’s” (real name: Ashley Alexandra Dupré) detractors:

Jeff: “Don’t let the haters hate”
The Yeti: “That's what haters do. They hate. Duh.”

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 9:36 AM | Comment

City teachers vote no confidence in Evans, McClure

PROVIDENCE -- Members of the Providence Teachers Union have voted overwhelming to issue a vote of no confidence in Supt. Donnie Evans and School Board President Mary McClure.

The vote, 1,347 to 44, was announced today during an early morning rally in front of the school department’s headquarters at 797 Westminster St. in Providence. Hundreds of teachers conducted an informational picket in front of the building in the third such picket in as many weeks.

“The reason we’re out here is because they don’t know why we’re out here and they should,” said PTU President Steve Smith.

The vote, taken by secret ballot over the past two weeks, expresses teachers’ frustration with the way in which both Evans and McClure have run the schools since Evans was hired in September, 2005.

Smith denied that the vote has anything to do with the lack of a contract. After a summer-long hiatus, negotiations began again this fall only to become mired over issues large and small this winter. A mediator has been brought in to help both sides resolve the matter, but progress has been halting.

Smith said that this vote is not a prelude to work to rule, or a strike, adding that teachers will continue to honor their contract. But he said that teachers will continue to find ways of getting their message out to parents and members of the community.

Teachers this morning cited a number of issues with Evans, including such issues as special education, the closing or relocation of two schools, handling of the Dec. 13 snow storm, which left hundreds of students stranded on buses for hours. They also said that teachers are not consulted when the department makes major changes to curriculum. And they cited the turnover in staff, both administrators and faculty members since Evans’ arrival.

The school department didn’t comment on the vote this morning but said they would a statement later today.

-- Journal staff writer Linda Borg

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 9:15 AM | Comment

Homeless, advocates to appeal the governor

One year ago this week the state’s largest homeless shelter closed, ostensibly to make way for a new state police headquarters.

Less than a year later, the Welcome Arnold shelter was demolished, but plans to build the police building were scrapped.

Today, Jim Ryczek, director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, will join homeless and formerly homeless Rhode Islanders outside the State House to ask the state to take a new look at the homeless situation in the state.

Advocates will place more than 100 shoes outside of the governor’s office at 3 p.m. today to represent the unserved homeless people in the state.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 9:00 AM | Comment

Former Clinton fundraiser, Ferraro, in RI today

Geraldine A. Ferraro, who recently stepped down from a position in Hillary Clinton’s campaign after making remarks about how Sen. Barack Obama’s race has helped his campaign, is set to be in Rhode Island today.

In 1984, Ferraro became the first woman vice-presidential candidate to earn a spot on a national ticket.

Ferarro stepped down as the Honorary New York Leadership Council Chair yesterday after controversy over comments made to the Daily Breeze newspaper in Torrance, Calif.: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Today she is set to join a group of women at the Bryant University 2008 Women’s Summit: Inspiration and Empowerment, a day-long event featuring workshops and lectures by successful women in education, government and the private sector.

Providence Journal reporter Scott MacKay will speak with Ferraro this afternoon; check the blog for an update.

Other keynote speakers are Michelle Peluso, president and chief executive officer of Travelocity; Joan Countryman, the former head of the Lincoln School in Providence and one of the key players in Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.

Throughout the Summit, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., there will be 11 workshops aimed at helping women to become professionally successful.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson, with reports from the Associated Press

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 7:34 AM | Comment

Conn. student suing after being awakened by teacher

DANBURY, Conn. -- Danbury officials have been notified they are being sued by a student who was awakened in class by a teacher who made a loud noise.

Documents filed with the Town Clerk, a prelude to a lawsuit, claim that a sleeping student suffered hearing damage when his teacher woke him up by slamming her hand down on the boy's desk in December.

Attorney Alan Barry says 15-year-old Vinicios Robacher suffered pain and "very severe injuries to his left eardrum" when teacher Melissa Nadeau abruptly slammed the palm of her hand on his desk on Dec. 4.

A city official says the matter has been referred to Danbury's insurance carrier.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:02 AM | Comment

Sunny but chilly; it could rain (again) tonight

We'll see more sunshine today than yesterday, but the National Weather Service is forecasting a high temperature of just 42 degrees, so bring the winter coat. We can also expect a mild north wind becoming south later in the day.

Tonight may bring rain and even snow when the temperature drops to the mid 30s.

More rain is possible tomorrow afternoon, but mild temperatures with a forecast high in the mid 50s and a calm south wind.

To keep up with the ever changing weather, see projo.com's weather page.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 7:01 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page features coverage of a protest against a Rhode Island business owner who demanded that two customers prove their citizenship after hearing him speaking Spanish.

Download a copy of the front page in .pdf format.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment