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May 2, 2008

Tonight: Celtics play the Hawks for championship

The Boston Celtics, leading their series with the Atlanta Hawks 3 games to 2, play game six tonight at 8.

The game, at Philips Arena in Atlanta, is sold out. Catch the game on Comcast Sports Net and ESPN.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 7:05 PM | Comment

NTSB: Bad weather take-off blamed in Block Island crash

BLOCK ISLAND -- A pilot’s poor decision to take off in bad weather likely led to the plane crash that killed three people here in July 2006, investigators have concluded.

White Plains, N.Y., surgeon William P. Homan, his wife, Valerie, and mother, Betty, died July 5, 2006, when Homan’s Piper Cherokee Arrow crashed through the trees shortly after take-off about a half-mile from Block Island State Airport.

The plane was bound for Westchester County Airport in New York in stormy weather shortly after noon with William at the controls.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators concluded in a March 31 report that Homan’s “inadequate preflight decision making” and failure to clear trees near the airport probably caused the crash. Low hanging clouds, rain and thunderstorms were name as contributing factors.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Air controllers in Providence cleared Homan for take-off at 12:06 p.m. after advising him of moderate rains over the airport and heavy precipitation to the south and west, the report says. He was flying in instrument conditions in which the ceiling was lower than 1,000 feet and visibility less than three miles.

A witness told investigators that he saw the plane depart amid thunder and very heavy rain. He lost sight of it in the rain and clouds when it climbed to 300 feet. Moments later, a man working on his boat nearby heard a plane engine followed by a ripping sound. Police officers found the wreckage followed by a trail of debris in a wooded area at 3:05 p.m.

Only a 12-year-old Maine coon cat, Sebastian, survived.

The report shows that an autopsy determined Homan, 58, had recently taken bupropion and fluoxetine -- prescription antidepressants -- and oxcarbazepine, a mildly-impairing anti-seizure medication used to treat pain and manic depression.

The FAA would not typically approve the use of any of the medications, investigators said, and Homan did not indicate their use or a diagnosis for which they would be used in his most recent application for an airman medical certificate.

They could not conclusively establish what role the medications or conditions for which they might have been taken played in the crash.

Homan held a private pilot’s license for single-engine planes, with a rating that allowed him to fly using instruments. He logged about 1,125 hours of flight time, 230 in instrument conditions. The plane had been inspected two months earlier.

A White Plains native, Homan was a renowned surgeon who specialized in treating morbidly obese patients with stomach-bypass surgery. He was director of the bariatric surgery program at White Plains Hospital Center in New York.

The Homans owned a house on Mill Pond Lane on the island.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:27 PM | Comment

Newborn harbor seal rescued off North Kingstown

MYSTIC, Conn. -- Mystic Aquarium officials say they have rescued a newborn harbor seal pup off the coast of Rhode Island.

It is the aquarium's first pup rescue of the season. The female pup was discovered Thursday in North Kingstown, and is believed to be less than 3 days old. It had the umbilical cord still attached and weighed about 17 pounds.

Aquarium officials say because of its young age, the pup will be closely monitored.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:42 PM | Comment

Bristol man pleads guilty to business kickback scheme

A Bristol man today pleaded guilty in federal court in Connecticut to filing a false tax return in connection with what prosecutors say was a kickback scheme involving his Pawtucket business.

Louis G. Xifaras, 57, waived his right to a grand jury weighing whether to indict him and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith in Hartford, according to a news release from Connecticut acting U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy. The IRS's Criminal Investigation Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated.

Xifaras owns Innovative Network Solutions of Pawtucket, a provider of Internet services including server installations. In 1999, a Southwestern Bell Communications employee approached Xifaras with a proposal to ensure Innovative Netowrk Solutions got subcontracting work from SBC in exchange for kickbacks being paid to the SBC employee, the new release says.

The kickbacks were paid to the SBC employee by putting the employee's wife on Internet Network Solutons' payroll as a “no-show” employee.

Innovative Network Solutions falls under a ccorporation category that means the company pays no income tax, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The company’s income and expenses are reported on the owner’s income tax return. Xifaras in 2002 reported $968,070 income, deducting $272,882 that INS paid to the SBC employee’s wife. But kickbacks "disguised as salary for a no-show job are not deductible business expenses," the news release said, so Xifaras should have reported taxable income of $1,240,952, not $968,070.

Xifaras is slated for a July 21 sentencing and faces a maximum of three years in prison and up to a $100,000 fine. He must cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service and pay all taxes, interest and penalties for 2000 through 2004.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:38 PM | Comment

Weaver's Cove suit against R.I., Mass. DEMs dismissed

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by LNG developer Weaver’s Cove Energy against the environmental management agencies of Rhode Island and Massachusetts in which the company argued that the agencies were taking too long to evaluate its application to dredge sections of the Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit concluded this afternoon that Weaver’s Cove had not been hurt by the agencies’ inactions and that the company’s dispute may be with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, not the state agencies.

James Grasso, a spokesman for Weaver’s Cove, said the company was still reviewing the decision and had not formed a response yet.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, whose office argued the case before the three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., issued a statement: “Weaver’s Cove Energy, the Court found today, cannot bypass or short circuit this mandatory review by rushing to a Court that has no jurisdiction,” Lynch said.

Weaver’s Cove Energy is the company owned by Hess LNG that is seeking to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall River, Mass. The LNG vessels that would bring the super-cooled fuel to the terminal are so large that parts of the Mount Hope Bay in Rhode Island and the Taunton River in Massachusetts would have to be dredged for the ships to pass. Weaver’s Cove needs permission from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management as well as the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to dredge the waterways.

The company filed a lawsuit with the appeals court, arguing that the agencies took longer than the one-year review period allowed by the federal Clean Water Act. Weaver’s Cove asked the court to declare that the state agencies missed the deadline and have therefore waived their right to deny permission to dredge.

-- Journal staff writer Timothy C. Barmann

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:35 PM | Comment

Update: Marchers head to State House for labor rally

PROVIDENCE -- Banners and drums in hand, members of various workers unions and others are on the march, heading slowly toward the State House in a show of solidarity against what they view as unions coming under increasing attack.

The marchers are flowing past the Providence Place mall and the GTECH building, headed to the Capitol -- so drivers passing through the area should expect delays even for a typical Friday rush hour.

Around 4 p.m., marchers gathered near the Rhode Island Convention Center late this afternoon to ready for the march.

It's expected union members, joined by Jobs With Justice members attending their national convention this weekend in Providence, will protest what they see as attacks on longtime benefits, from health care to pensions to college tuition waivers.

The number of marchers has grown to several hundred, a reporter on scene estimated, among them representatives of the Teamsters and various fire departments.

For a time, drumming sounded outside The Journal's downtown building, near the gathering. Among those preparing for the march were members of the Rhode Island Professional Firefighters Pipes and Drums.

There are "Jobs With Justice" signs and a banner proclaiming "public education: a promise that must be kept." Marchers also were handing out buttons, stickers and postcards.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Jennifer D. Jordan

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:59 PM | Comment

A call for peace amid sorrow at shooting victim's funeral

Journal photo/Bob Thayer
Samira Galvao, the cousin of Helder Tomar, touches his casket today outside the Merrick R. Williams Funeral Home in Pawtucket. Tomar, 19, was shot and killedSaturday after a fight with another teenager in Jenks Park in Central Falls.

PAWTUCKET – Helder Tomar, the first of two teenagers killed in an outbreak of violence in Central Falls last weekend, was laid to rest today in an emotional funeral marked by an eloquent plea for peace.

“My son is leaving me, my good son is leaving me,” Helder’s mother, 55-year-old Virignia Tomar, said over and over again in Creole as friends and family members went up to the coffin to bid farewell to him.

“You’re leaving everybody behind and you have a lot of friends and family around you today,” Mrs. Tomar said.

A tall, distinguished-looking woman whose hair is streaked with gray, Mrs. Tomar emigrated to the country from Cape Verde with her husband, Paulo, in 1990 to make a better life for their seven children.

She kept her composure through most of the hour-long service at the Merrrick R. William Funeral Home on Smithfield Avenue. But when the time came to close the coffin and take her dead son to Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery for burial, she and others in the room began to wail.

Helder Tomar, 19, was shot to death in a fight that broke out last Saturday afternoon in Jenks Park with 19-year-old Anthony Strobert, who has been charge with murder.

The day after the shooting, 16-year Edelmiro Roman of Central Falls was shot down on Dexter Street and and killed.

Police say they believe that Roman, whose family is from Puerto Rico, was killed in retaliation for Tomar’s slaying.

Addressing the crowd of young people who packed the funeral home this morning, lay preacher Marco De Barros called for peace.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

“Death is part of life, but it’s supposed to be natural, not by violence, not by strife,” said De Barros, a 1996 graduate of Shea High School, where Tomar was a student.

“My question, young people is ‘What now? What are you going to do with this experience? I believe we are at a crossroads. We have a choice to make.”

He urged the crowd to choose peace over continued violence. “If we keep living this way –– an eye for an eye –– all of us will be blind.”

Posted by Peter Phipps at 4:16 PM | Comment

Barrington teen charged with murder admits bail breach

PROVIDENCE -- Ryan Greenberg, the Barrington teenager accused of second-degree murder in his friend's boating death, was ordered held at the Adult Correctional Institutions for 60 days, including time served, after admitting he violated bail when he and others were found with alcohol last month.

Under the agreement between the defense and prosecution, Greenberg, 17, is slated to be back in court on June 23 for another hearing. Special Magistrate Joseph A. Keough indicated in Providence County Superior Court this afternoon that if Greenberg stayed out of trouble he would most likely be put on home confinement and $100,000 surety bail. That means he would need to put up 10 percent cash or the full amount in property.

Under such confinement, Greenberg would be limited to attending school, having medical treatment and meeting with his lawyer.

No witnesses were brought forward today because of the defense-prosecution agreement.

Greenberg had been ordered to stay away from drugs and alcohol, submit to random drug testing, and be of good behavior when he was released on Jan. 2.

During the pre-trial phase, Keough said in court today, Greenberg had passed all 32 alcohol and drug screening tests to which he had been subjected.

But the police said that on April 19 he was part of a group that a Barrington officer found while on party patrol in the town's Brickyard Pond area.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer C. Eugene Emery Jr.

Last month prosecutor Christian Capizzo said in court that Greenberg refused to take both a field sobriety test and a breath test. He was also charged with underage possession of alcohol, although that charge was filed in Family Court.

Greenberg is one of the so-called "gap kids," the 17-year-olds who were treated as adults when they were originally arrested after the General Assembly changed law it has since repealed. The state continues to wrestle with whether teens who fell into the category should be tried in adult or Family Courts -- a matter that goes before the state Supreme Court May 13.

Greenberg was originally arraigned as an adult on the murder charge in the death of Patrick Murphy last July and on other charges related to Murphy’s death, so Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's office brought him into Superior Court as a bail violator.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:26 PM | Comment

2 Burrillville students charged with arson in school fire

BURRILLVILLE -- Two 18-year-old students were held without bail after they were accused of burning a T-shirt and a roll of toilet paper in a locker room at the town's high school, the police said today.

Joshua Haffner, 47 Litzen Rd., North Smithfield, and Elias Richardson, of 314 Chestnut St., Uxbridge, Mass., were charged with first-degree arson yesterday, according to Burrillville police Lt. Kevin SanAntonio.

The youths used a lighter to ignite the shirt as it sat atop a locker and to set the toilet paper on fire in a bathroom stall, SanAntonio said. The fires around 12:45 p.m. Wednesday caused some damage to the ceiling and stall area, but they had stopped burning by the time they were discovered by a school janitor.

They were arrested yesterday following an investigation by the police officer assigned to the school, David Beauchemin, SanAntonio said.

The suspects were arraigned in District Court, Providence, today. Judge Frank J. Cenerini ordered them held without bail in advance of a bail hearing on May 9, San Antonio said.

“This is an occupied school,” he said. “You’re putting people’s lives in jeopardy. It’s a very serious offense."

-- Journal staff writer Mark Reynolds

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:19 PM | Comment

Clean, walkable cities touted as goal at summit / Photo

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
Bruce Katz, a director of the Brookings Institution, tells several hundred planners and businessmen at the Grow Smart Rhode Island conference today that the nation's economic future is in its cities.

PROVIDENCE -- More than 400 planners, government officials and business people attended the Power of Place Summit today at the Rhode Island Convention Center by Grow Smart Rhode Island, the anti-sprawl group.

Bruce Katz, director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, told the audience that the nation’s cities are the key to its prosperity, and a new federal partnership needs to be formed to help strengthen city economies and create a strong, well-educated workforce

Patrick MacRoy, executive director of the Alliance for Healthy Homes, called on planners and city officials to make local populations healthier by encouraging clean, walkable cities.

-- Journal environmental writer Peter B. Lord

Posted by Jack Perry at 3:05 PM | Comment

School drivers in South Kingstown put off strike

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- School buses will roll Monday as negotiations between the drivers union and DATTCO, the bus company, continue.

Members of the Teamsters Local 251 voted to strike Wednesday, when they rejected DATTCO’s contract proposal 29-17.

The strike had been planned for Monday, but the union has agreed not to take action as long as talks are under way, said Cliff Gibson, chief operating officer for DATTCO.

“The union has assured me no job action as long as bargaining continues,” Gibson said.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

The Teamsters forwarded DATTCO a proposal around 11 a.m. today, Gibson said. He expected to exchange proposals to “bargain out the final points” over the next few days. Another round of talks is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

“We’re very glad we’re still at the bargaining table,” Gibson said. It was unfortunate the drivers “contemplated job action without finishing negotiations.”

Shop steward Tracie Warren and Teamsters business agent Brian Carroll did not return phone calls today. The union represents 36 drivers and 26 aides and monitors.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 2:55 PM | Comment

Man accused of robbery, stealing Fall River police car

FALL RIVER, Mass. – A Kingston, Mass., man is facing a host of charges after police say he robbed a convenience store at knifepoint, assaulted a police officer, and stole a police cruiser.

Police in Fall River received a 911 call at 5 a.m. today about a robbery at a 7-11 at 1040 North Main St. According to a police report, when an officer arrived, he saw a man fitting the suspect’s description, running down the street.

Officer Michael Digangi yelled at the suspect to stop. When he didn’t, according to the police report, Digangi approached the suspect and the two began to struggle.

The suspect was able to break away, and got into the police cruiser. Dignangi tried to pull the suspect out, but the car spun out and the suspect was able to drive away –– fast.

Officer Keith Strong arrived as the suspect drove away.

Strong, in his cruiser, chased the suspect to Burns Street; the suspect bailed out of the car near 183 George St., where police say they ultimately found Michael Coyle –– hiding in the basement.

Digangi said in the report that he recognized Coyle as the suspect who had taken off in his police cruiser. And, according to the report, money was found on the floor near where Coyle hid.

-- projo.com staff writers Michael P. McKinney and Brandie M. Jefferson

Police also determined that there was another person involved in the robbery.

Ultimately, Richard John Cabral, 48, of 183 George St., Fall River, was also arrested after police initially questioned and released him.

Coyle, of Kingston, Mass., faces charges, including assault and battery on an officer, carjacking, shoplifting and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Cabral faces one charge of armed robbery.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 2:43 PM | Comment

New defense bill is worth $196 million for R.I. companies

Rhode Island companies and contractors would receive $196 million in defense and military construction funding under a Department of Defense Authorization Bill approved yesterday by the Senate Armed Services Committee. The funds are in addition to the funds proposed under the Department of Defense’s budget.

“This funding...will help create manufacturing and technology jobs in Rhode Island and ensure that Rhode Island’s defense industry remains on the cutting edge," said U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

Rhode Island’s defense industry employs about 16,000 people throughout the state and contributes $1.6 billion annually to the local economy.

The defense authorization bill would provide a 3.9 percent across-the-board pay raise for all uniformed personnel, a half a percent more than President Bush requested, add more than $120 million for various nonproliferation efforts, and include legislative provisions to improve our ability to reduce or respond to threats of WMD both abroad and at home.

Now that the bill has been approved by Committee, it goes to the full Senate for consideration.

Under the Congressional budget process, once the authorizations are in place, funding for the agencies, programs, or activities is then provided separately in annual appropriation spending bills.

--Journal business editor John Kostrzewa

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 1:50 PM | Comment

Lunch for seven, please -- with watermelons for three

PROVIDENCE -- Rebekah Gudaitis, her two little girls and a friend had lunch in the city today -- with three elephants.

Around 12:30 p.m., at one end of the tunnel dividing the Rhode Island Convention Center and the Westin Hotel, Juliana Gudaitis spoke with awe about watching three circus elephants consume.

"I liked it when they smashed the watermelons," Juliana said, recalling the moment when each elephant stepped on a watermelon laid before it, turning melon to moosh suitable for eating.

"It was awesome," said Alyssa Gudaitis, who had a friend with her.

The Gudaitis family, of Burrillville's Pascoag section, had won a radio station contest to have lunch with elephants, who are in town as part of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus.

A crowd gathered as the trio put on the greatest show of lunch-time, if not quite the "greatest show on earth."

(That show -- the circus's familiar trademark -- is in the middle of a five-day run at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Sabin Street).

After their appetites were satisfied -- with a police car keeping traffic in check -- the elephants crossed the street and headed away.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:28 PM | Comment

Hearing today for Barrington teen facing murder charge

A bail violation hearing is set today for a Barrington teenager who faces a second-degree murder charge in the summer boating death of his friend Patrick Murphy.

Police say Ryan Greenberg was found with a group of friends and alcohol on April 19 near Brickyard Pond.

Greenberg, 17 at the time of the boating incident, had been free on bail since his arrest, and ordered to stay away from drugs and alcohol, submit to random drug testing and be on good behavior when he was released Jan. 2 to await trial.

He was sent to the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston to await today's hearing.

Last month, a patrol officer said he found more than a dozen beer cans on the ground, a 30-pack with more empty cans on the ground, and more than 15 full cans of beer in backpacks, along with a couple of bottles of Gatorade that apparently contained vodka.

Greenberg is set to appear in front of Special Magistrate Joseph A. Keough in Providence County Superior Court at 2 p.m.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 12:28 PM | Comment

Kennedy, colleagues back bill vs. genetic discrimination

The United States has laws prohibiting against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, national origin and age.

But what about discriminating against you?

As the scope of protection grows the characteristics by which discrimination is possible shrinks. And right now, it ends with genetics.

Yesterday, Congress voted to approve the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, a bill that puts restrictions on how genetic testing and the influence its results can have on health insurance.

“There is nothing more personal and more deserving of protection than the genetic make-up of each and every individual in our nation,” Rep. Patrick Kennedy, one of the bills 224 co-signers, said in a statement.”

“Just as our nation does not allow discrimination based on race or disability, we must not allow discrimination based on our own genetic identity.”

The aim of this bill is to prevent health insurers from canceling, denying, refusing to renew, or changing the terms or premiums of coverage based solely on a genetic predisposition toward a specific disease.

It also will bar employers from using any available genetic information when making hiring, firing, promotion, and other employment-related decisions.

Genetic testing allows for the investigation into proteins, chromosomes and even individual genes to check for mutations or irregularities. Finding irregularities in certain spots can alert doctors to a propensity for some diseases –– such as some types of cancers or neurological disorders.

The testing, however, cannot inform a person whether or not he or she will develop a disease.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 12:06 PM | Comment

Newport mansion tours to be offered in Chinese

NEWPORT -- The Newport Preservation Society is looking to attract more Chinese speakers to the city's famed mansions.

It's announcing an initiative today to team with Bryant University in Smithfield to offer tours in Mandarin for Chinese tourists.

Under the agreement, Bryant's U.S.-China Institute will translate the society's tour scripts into Mandarin. It also will provide a Mandarin speaker for Chinese tour groups at the mansions.

Denise Schweren of Bryant says the initiative will help welcome more Chinese tourists to Newport.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:11 AM | Comment

Workers set to march to State House

Jobs with Justice is holding its national conference in Rhode Island, but it's not all cheese plates at the convention center.

The group of workers' rights advocates is also marching alongside Working RI to the State House today to rally for what it calls "a vision of Rhode Island that will protect and promote the dignity of every Rhode Islander."

Joining the rally will be the secretary and treasurer of the state AFL/CIO, George Nee; the executive director of the National Jobs with Justice Sarita Gupta, and a handful of local advocates.

The group is set to leave from the Westin Ballroom at 4 p.m. and speak at the State House Lawn at 5 p.m.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 10:33 AM | Comment

This weekend: Jobs with Justice

Jobs with Justice is coming to Rhode Island.

The coalition of labor organizers, students, religious groups and community activists is holding its national conference in Rhode Island today through Sunday at the Rhode Island Convention Center.

This year the group is focusing on health care, organizing with student workers and fair treatment of immigrant workers with a series of workshops on issues such as Exploring Root Causes of Migration and the impacts of Economic Justice; Exploring the history of relationships of Faith and Labor in the Movement for Social and Economic Justice; and Green Jobs with Justice.

For registration information, visit the Jobs with Justice Web site.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 9:16 AM | Comment

Block Island residents pay state's highest gas prices

NEW SHOREHAM -- Residents of Block Island enjoy beautiful views and a slower pace than the mainland. Now they have something else to boast about: the state's highest gas prices.

The price of a gallon of regular unleaded hit $4.14 a gallon at the island's only gas station on Thursday. A gallon of premium is up to $4.39 per gallon, and diesel is up to an eye-popping $4.80 per gallon.

AAA Southern New England says the average price of a gallon of regular in the Ocean State is $3.62 per gallon.

Gasoline has to be brought onto the island by ferry, so that adds an extra cost to the price.

Of course, motor travel is limited on the tiny island, though summer visitors swell the demand for gas.

Extra: How are high gas prices impacting Rhode Islanders? See projo.com's special report.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 8:35 AM | Comment

Newport erects marker to memorialize fallen officers

NEWPORT -- A new granite marker outside Newport's police station pays tribute to city police officers killed in the line of duty.

The memorial is scheduled to be dedicated in a ceremony Monday attended by Police Chief Michael G. McKenna, city officials and others.

The marker bears the names of the three officers who have been killed while on duty in Newport: Eugene Barker in 1884, Robert C. Scott in 1922 and Patrick J. Clune in 1938.

Barker and Clune were both shot to death. Scott was on a traffic post when he was hit and killed by a car.

The memorial includes the names of the officers, their dates of death and the words: ``In Valor There is Hope.''

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:02 AM | Comment

What do May showers bring?

May is looking like April this weekend.

We've got rain until early afternoon today with a high temperature just reaching about 51 degrees. Winds should be mild from the east.

Tonight we may see more rain with temperatures dropping to the low 40s. We'll have clouds all night with a mild east wind.

Tomorrow we can expect more rain in the late morning with cloudy skies all day and temperatures reaching the mid-50s. The wind continues calmly from the east.

Another chance of showers tomorrow night with more, overcast skies and a low temperature in the mid-40s. East winds may pick up a bit to 11 mph.

And Sunday -- guess what? -- rain, clouds and east winds. But winds may pick up, gusting as high as 25 mph. Temperatures may rise slightly, topping off near 60.

Sunday night, more rain, more clouds temperatures should dip to 48 degrees.

Back to Monday, we'll see clouds, temperatures in the mid-to-high 40s, and, yes, a chance of rain.

Cross your fingers and look for changes in the forecast on projo.com's weather page.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 7:01 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page features a story about Governor Carcieri's signing a supplemental budget that implements widespread cuts to close a $168 million gap this fiscal year.

Download a copy of today's front page in .pdf format.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment