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June 30, 2008

Rescue operation under way in Jamestown waters

The Coast Guard, police officers and a helicopter are on the scene of a rescue situation involving a person in the water off Fort Wetherill in Jamestown this evening, the Jamestown police said.

-- Journal staff writer Paul Davis

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:34 PM | Comment

Query: Have your unemployment benefits run out?

Jobless in R.I.: Are you a Rhode Island resident who has run out of unemployment benefits but still can’t find a job? A federal program signed by President Bush today could extend the benefits of jobless residents whose unemployment ran out as of May 2007 or later. If your benefits have run out and you are willing to talk to a reporter about what it’s like trying to make ends meet, please contact Lynn Arditi at larditi@projo.com or call (401)277-7335.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:32 PM | Comment

Forklift driver in Pawtucket injured when floor gives way

PAWTUCKET -- A forklift operator who was part of an work crew cleaning out a building on Roosevelt Avenue was injured when the floor gave way beneath him, causing him and the forklift to crash down into the basement.

The accident occurred at 3:20 p.m. today on the first floor of the building that the Red Farm Studio greeting card company at 1135 Roosevelt Ave. Pawtucket Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Mercer said the crew had been brought in to clean out the building after the greeting card company closed.

The forklift operator wasn’t immediately identified. Mercer said he was taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence to be treated for injuries he suffered in the collapse.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:31 PM | Comment

Accused killer waives right to extradition hearing

PROVIDENCE -- Juan L. Diaz, who fled to Albany, N.Y., after being accused of murdering a woman in Pawtucket last week, has waived his right to an extradition proceeding, expediting his return to the state.

Diaz is expected to be picked up by Rhode Island sheriffs on Thursday and held over the July 4th weekend at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, said Michael J. Healey, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s office.

He is expected to be arraigned in the murder case in District Court, Providence, on Monday, July 7.

Diaz, 24, is accused of shooting Mayra A. Cruz Wednesday in the basement apartment he occupied at 14 Reservoir Ave. The Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Thursday that Cruz, 26, of Galego Court, died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

According to Pawtucket police records, Diaz phoned the police and said he had shot Cruz accidentally during a struggle over a gun.

But Diaz fled before the police arrived at the basement apartment, setting off a manhunt that led to Albany, where he has family. He was picked up on the street in Albany after Pawtucket detectives traced a cell phone call he made to a girlfriend in the Prospect Heights housing project in Pawtucket.

Diaz is being held at the Albany County Correctional Facility. By waiving extradition, he gave up his right to have a court in New York determine whether the murder charge warranted handing him over to authorities in Rhode Island.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:30 PM | Comment

Brown team discovers material to absorb mercury gases

PROVIDENCE -- The swirly-shaped compact fluorescent light bulbs have become the darlings of those who care about saving energy and combating climate change, except for one nagging problem. When they break, they release tiny quantities of highly toxic mercury.

Now, a team from Brown University believes it has developed a solution. It has discovered a material that rapidly absorbs mercury gases and could be used as the packaging for mercury bulbs or as a tool for cleaning up broken bulbs.

The researchers have applied for federal patents and expect to soon enter into discussions with companies that could manufacture the packaging.

The packaging was developed after Robert Hurt, a professor of engineering, and engineering student Natalie Johnson, discovered that a variant of a substance called nanoselenium, a trace element used in diet supplements, absorbed virtually all the mercury released by a broken bulb.

Working with Steven Hamburg, associate professor for environmental studies, and other students, the team used the substance to develop a mercury-capturing lining that could be used inside store-bought compact fluorescent packages.

-- Journal environment writer Peter B. Lord

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:30 PM | Comment

Smith Hill house fire displaces 7 people

PROVIDENCE -- Six adults and one child are temporarily homeless after an early morning fire damaged their Smith Hill home, according to the Fire Department.

The blaze began in the basement of a triple-decker at 87 Lydia St., and was reported to the Fire Department at 2:15 a.m., according to Assistant Fire Chief Michael J. Dillon. When firefighters arrived, all the occupants were out of the building and nobody was injured.

The Rhode Island chapter of the American Red Cross was on hand to help the displaced occupants with temporary lodging and other assistance.

The flames extended into the walls and traveled up to the first and second floors, according to Dillon. There was moderate fire damage to the basement and the first and second floors, and damage from smoke and water throughout, which together with the fact that electrical service was disconnected, left the house uninhabitable.

Firefighters had the blaze under control within 20 minutes.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

-- Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

Posted by Karen Bordeleau at 5:25 PM | Comment

5 R.I. companies awarded workforce expansion grants

The Governor's Workforce Board and the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. have awarded workforce expansion grants for new employee training to five Rhode Island companies. The grants total $387,348.

Companies receiving the grants are: Albion Special Care, LLC of Lincoln for $45,990; Duralectra-CHN of Woonsocket for $125,000; Hope Global of Cumberland for $50,809; Infusion Resouce of Providence for $62,497; Senesco Marine of North Kingstown for $103,052.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 5:25 PM | Comment

RIC dedicates new 'green' dorm

State education officials today are expected to celebrate a special “green” certification for a new 367-bed residence hall at Rhode Island College.

The Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education will take part in the celebration at 5 p.m. on the college campus with outgoing RIC president John Nazarian and incoming president Nancy Carriuolo.

The new residence hall is the largest building in Rhode Island to receive the so-called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It is also the first residence hall in Rhode Island to earn the designation.

The 127,500-square-foot building was designed by RGB, a Providence-based architecture, engineering and interior design firm.

Energy efficient design is expected to save more than $115,000 annually in heat and air conditioning costs. The building was sited to minimize the clearing of natural vegetation and more than 750,000 tons of trash from the construction work was recycled.

-- Journal environment writer Peter B. Lord

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:22 PM | Comment

Cincinnati is not interested in Donnie Evans

PROVIDENCE -- City schools Supt. Donnie Evans is no longer a finalist for the Cincinnati school district now that the Cincinnati School Board has decided to keep looking.

Evans said he was disappointed but not surprised that the school board decided to launch a new search, adding that the board had told him that it was unhappy with the search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. Evans did say, however, that he was talking with another search firm about applying for three other superintendent openings, which he declined to name because of the confidential nature of the searches.

According to The Cincinatti Enquirer, the board decided to re-open recruitment because its members felt that neither finalist would receive a 5-2 majority. The other finalist, Diana Bourisaw of St. Louis, withdrew her candidacy late last month, citing personal reasons, which left Evans as the sole candidate.

“We don’t want our new superintendent to start with a factionalized board,” school board president Eve Bolton told The Enquirer. “We’ve done that before.”

The Cincinatti board is expected to name an interim superintendent July 14.

Meanwhile, Providence’s new superintendent, Thomas Brady, is scheduled to arrive here on July 14. Brady, the interim superintendent of Philadelphia, was hired this winter approximately a week after Evans announced that he would not be seeking a second three-year term in Providence.

Brady spent 25 years in the military before entering the educational field and he has held top administrative positions in Fairfax, Va., and Washington, D.C.

-- Journal staff writer Linda Borg

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:18 PM | Comment

Henderson Bridge closed to walkers during repairs

Repair work is under way on the Henderson Bridge and that means those who wish to cross the bridge on bicycle or on foot must use a sidewalk on the westbound side of the bridge.

The first phase of construction is on the bridge’s eastbound lanes. Cars headed east are limited to one narrow lane, according to a Department of Transportation news release today.

Bicycles and pedestrians are banned from the east side of the bridge during construction. On the westbound side, bicyclists must walk their bikes along the sidewalk and across the span.

The bridge connects Waterman and Angell streets on Providence's East Side to Massasoit Avenue in East Providence.

A detour for bicyclists and pedestrians headed to East Providence is in place from Waterman Street up Butler Avenue to a right on Angell Street, where they can access the sidewalk next to the bridge's westbound lanes.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:15 PM | Comment

Pawtucket's Division Street Bridge is 2-way again

PAWTUCKET -- The Division Street Bridge is being reopened to two-way traffic, seven months after it became one-way, and an elaborate set of detours was put in place, when a weight limit was imposed on part of Route 95.

The bridge, now one-way eastbound, is expected to reopen to two-way traffic Wednesday morning, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m.

State Department of Transportation maintenance crews are busy painting stripes, working on traffic signals and repaving the roadway, Kazem Farhoumand, DOT’s acting chief engineer, said today in an interview.

The work, necessary before two-way traffic is restored to Division Street, has taken longer than expected, Farhoumand said, because of delays by private utility companies relocating wires from utility poles on the city-owned bridge.

The Division Street Bridge has been one-way between George and Prospect streets since Nov. 28, when the state transportation department imposed a 22-ton weight limit -- later lowered to 18 tons -- on the bridges that carry Route 95 over the Pawtucket River.

The weight limit was intended to prolong the life of the bridges, built half a century ago as part of the interstate highway system. The detours imposed as a result of weight limit involved diverting traffic through Pawtucket’s labyrinthine network of streets.

There were concerns, when the detours took effect, that they would cause traffic jams in the city and wear and tear on Division Street Bridge, which was built 130 years ago and rehabilitated in 1985.

But the traffic jams didn’t develop. Most trucks too heavily loaded to cross the Route 95 Pawtucket River Bridges legally detoured onto Route 146 or Route 295.

-- Journal staff writer John Castellucci

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:14 PM | Comment

Brown may have solved light-bulb problem

PROVIDENCE -- The swirly-shaped compact fluorescent light bulbs have become the darlings of those who care about saving energy and combating climate change, except for one nagging problem.

When they break, they release tiny quantities of highly toxic mercury.

Now, a team from Brown University believes it has developed a solution. It has discovered a material that rapidly absorbs mercury gases and could be used as the packaging for mercury bulbs or as a tool for cleaning up broken bulbs.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:12 PM | Comment