Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Don Imus will be not just broadcasting live tomorrow in Providence as he does every weekday morning on 790 AM, he'll be broadcasting in person, from Providence.

He's bringing his nationally syndicated radio show to the Rhode Island Convention Center from 6 to 10 a.m. to benefit the Groden Network, which focuses on helping adults and children with autism, a favorite cause of Imus, a philanthropist also known for starting the Imus Ranch for kids with cancer in New Mexico.

Imus will be on site in Providence with sidekick and newsman Charles McCord, co-host Karith Foster, sportscaster Tony Powell, and executive producer Bernard McGuirk.

Imus has had a 30-year run as a national force in radio, and is known for mixing an irreverent style with serious interviews, conducted with a casual twist, with national figures. He's come to Rhode Island before, and over the years, had Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr. on as a frequent guest while he was still mayor.

Tickets -- all proceeds go the cause -- can be purchased online

-- Journal columnist Mark Patinkin

PROVIDENCE -- The heavy rains of during the last two days gave the Narragansett Bay Commission its first opportunity to put its newly completed, $359 million combined sewer overflow project to work gathering contaminated runoff from the city's sewers. The conclusion: it worked!

From the time the sewer line gates were opened late Wednesday night, some 39 million gallons of contaminated overflows were collected in the new, 3-mile tunnel under downtown Providence. No contaminated sewage was allowed to overflow into the city's rivers or Narragansett Bay, according to the commission.

During the day today, a battery of massive pumps transferred the overflows from the pipe, 300 feet underground, to the Fields Point Sewage Treatment Facility, where it is receiving full secondary treatment.

"It caught everything, which was great. Everything got full treatment all around," Bay Commission spokesperson Jamie Samons said.

Nearly an inch of rain (.83") fell on Providence during the storm, according to the National Weather Service. Following its protocols, the state Department of Environmental Management closed much of the upper Bay to shellfishing until Nov. 15. DEM officials say it will take some time to assess the effectiveness of the new CSO, so it can reduce the number of closures following rains.

-- Peter B. Lord, environmental writer, Providence Journal

Watch the video: Phase I complete: Combined Sewage Overflow project

By RICK MASSIMO
Journal pop music writer

The University of Rhode Island's Songs of Social Justice series was one of the highlights of the 2006 musical calendar. Performers who had devoted not only their careers but their lives to social change, sharing songs and stories of struggle with an audience composed largely of university students who were getting an education they could never have gotten anywhere else.

Now highlights of that series are available on a double-disc set that benefits a scholarship fund at URI.

Songs of Social Justice contains music and stories from Utah Phillips, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tom Paxton, Rosalie Sorrels and more (unfortunately, Public Enemy's Chuck D doesn't make it on) and is available for $25, all of which goes to the Stephen Myles Social Justice Scholarship at URI.

>> Continue reading: URI Social Justice music series now on CD

NORTH PROVIDENCE -- John J. Whiting, the chief of the criminal investigative division of the Pawtucket police and the department's senior ranking major, has been named the new chief of police in North Providence.

Mayor Charles Lombardi said Whiting, 55, is exactly the kind of leader he believes can move the department forward and that Whiting can command respect from the time he walks through the door. He will be sworn in on the evening of Nov. 16.

A three-member panel headed by former state police Supt. Stephen Pare reviewed the qualifications of 14 applicants and, earlier this month, forwarded to Lombardi the names of three finalists and one alternate. Lombardi said choosing from the top contenders "was not an easy decision." Included among the finalists was State Police Lt. David Palmer who, through arrangement with State Police Supt. Brendan Doherty, has been serving as acting chief since former chief Ernest Spaziano's surprise resignation in February.

Whiting has been a member of the Pawtucket Police Department for 29 years, and part of the command staff there for 12 years. He played a key role in a joint investigation into North Providence police Sgt. Michael Ciresi that began when the officer's gun was found at the scene of a home invasion on East Avenue in Pawtucket in December 2004. Ciresi was ultimately convicted on 9 of 10 counts, and is currently at the Adult Correctional Institutions while he appeals his 20-year sentence to the Supreme Court.

In his letter of application for the North Providence post, Whiting said he does not shy away from difficult decisions or assignments" yet at the same time he believes he tries to handle situations in a "just and fair manner."

"There are a lot of fine men and women in the North Providence police department and I am looking forward to working with them," he said.

Whiting has a varied background. He is a cum laude graduate of Bryant College, where he received degrees in criminal justice and business management. He also holds a juris doctorate from the New England School of Law.

Det. Sgt. David Drezek, president of the North Providence lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, commended the selection of a permanent chief of police, saying it will help to move the department forward. He also thanked Lt. Palmer for helping to bridge the gap to permanent leader.

-- Journal staff writer Richard Dujardin

By RICK MASSIMO
Journal pop music writer

The first Rock the Ink Festival, the three-day bonanza of tattooing and hard rock that took over the Dunkin' Donuts Center and the Rhode Island Convention Center last weekend, drew more than 9,000 people, according to Cheryl Cohen, the Dunk's director of marketing.

The festival, headlined by Killswitch Engage on Friday night, Godsmack on Saturday night and former Poison frontman Bret Michaels on Sunday, was an ambitious program that brought - well, let's just say it wasn't a Boat Show crowd (thank goodness). But really, on Sunday afternoon at least, it looked more than anything like any other convention of like-minded devotees.

Even though there appeared to be a larger police presence than at most Dunk shows, Cohen said there were no security problems.

"They were quiet, nice -- they just wanted to do their own thing."

Harold Reissner, 85, of Barrington, a survivor of the Holocaust, spoke today to West Warwick High School English and history students who had read "Night" by Elie Wiesel. Providence Journal photo / Kathy Borchers

Until he was 13, Harold Reissner had what he describes as an "active, happy" childhood. He played sports, he was a boy scout, he attended the local public school.

Then the Nazis began their campaign of persecution against Jews.

"Things changed very quickly," the 85-year-old Barrington resident told about 100 students today at West Warwick High School.

Reissner was no longer welcome at school. Friends ignored him. Some taunted him or spit on him.

By age 17, Reissner had been shipped with his parents and younger brother to a concentration camp in Latvia. It was the first of many he would be see as Hitler pursued his mad plans to conquer Europe and kill off an entire race.

He was eventually separated from his mother but managed to stay with his father and brother until April 1945, when he came down with typhoid fever.

Because of his illness, he missed a final death march that killed his father and brother, just days before American soldiers arrived.

Reissner said he and a few others who were left behind hid in the dirt under floor boards of a camp building until the sound of heavy equipment drew them out.

The sound was from the Americans.

He said he started talking publicly about his experiences eight years ago because he was concerned that some people were denying that the Holocaust happened.

"There are few survivors left," he said.

-- Journal Staff Writer Randal Edgar

Rhode Island's unemployment rate now ranks highest in the country, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rhode Island's jobless rate in September climbed to 8.8 percent, nudging it ahead of Michigan's rate of 8.7 percent, the report shows.

For the last three months, Michigan had reported the highest unemployment rate in the country, with Rhode Island in second place. In September, though, Rhode Island's unemployment rate ticked up two-tenths of a percentage point, from 8.6 to 8.8 percent, and Michigan's rate edged down two-tenths of a percentage point, from 8.9 to 8.7 percent.

Rhode Island's unemployment rate of 8.8 percent is at the highest level in 16 years, according to the state Department of Labor and Training. The number of unemployed residents last month rose to 50,200 the highest on record.

The national unemployment rate last month remained unchanged at 6.1 percent.

Federal labor officials reported the September unemployment rates for the other New England states as follows: Connecticut, 6.1 percent; Maine, 5.6 percent; Massachusetts, 5.3 percent; Vermont, 5.2 percent, and New Hampshire, 4.1 percent.

The full list of states can be viewed at: http://www.bls.gov/web/laumstrk.htm

Is your house "under water" ?

If you bought your house within the last 5 years, you may be among those Rhode Islanders who now owe more on your mortgage than your home is worth. Falling house prices are leaving more homeowners with mortgages they can no longer refinance -- and houses that they can't sell for enough money to pay off their loans.

Reporter Lynn Arditi is looking to interview Rhode Island residents who are facing this problem for a story. Please contact her at larditi@projo.com or call (401) 277-7335.

A Brown University professor who was active in the early stages of the nation's manned space travel program will be one of a handful of featured speakers next week at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the National Aviation and Space Administration.

James W. Head III, a planetary geologist who joined the Brown faculty in 1973, will be among four noted scientists on hand Oct. 14 at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia to talk about how space exploration triggered advances in the study of this planet's origins.

Since the Soviets stunned the world in 1957 with the successful launch of the satellite Sputnik, NASA has sent manned and unmanned spacecraft to explore the moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, comets, the asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and many planetary satellites, Head has noted.

"Together," Head said in a Brown news release, "the results of this exploration have unveiled stunning planetary vistas and revealed the missing chapters of Earth history."

Head himself figures in history as one of the scientists recruited to work on NASA's Apollo Lunar Exploration Program during the years of preparation for astronaut Neil Armstrong's arrival on the moon in what he called a "giant step for mankind." Among other jobs, Head helped NASA to select the lunar landing sites. Today his research focuses on processes that form and modify planetary surfaces.

-- John Mulligan, Journal Washingotn Bureau

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- While the financial rescue bill that passed the Senate last night faces uncertain prospects as the House returns to work on it today, members of Rhode Island's congressional delegation point to signs that opposition to the package may be softening back home.

Nevertheless, Rhode Island's congressmen and senators -- all of whom have supported the federal rescue effort -- reported yesterday that public anger and worry over the need to stabilize the financial markets remain at high levels.

"I've had more calls and contacts on this than on any other single issue -- immigration, energy prices, or as far as I can remember, even the war,'' Rep. James R. Langevin said in an interview yesterday. But Langevin said the word from his constituents in the Second Congressional District suggests a modest shift in favor of a major federal rescue effort since Monday, when the House shocked the stock market by defeating the first economic stabilization bill.

Speaking in rough estimates about hundreds of calls, e-mails and other contacts, Langevin said that for the week or so preceding Monday's dramatic House vote, a commanding majority of the constituents who checked in were either flatly opposed to any such rescue plan, or else "very scared, very nervous, wondering why this was necessary and what was going on." He said "maybe 20 percent were saying 'yes' " and even that fraction tended to express demands for such provisions as a ban on "golden parachutes" for officers of firms that might need rescuing.

>> Continue reading: Langevin favors bailout, says RI voters beginning to, too

If you want to vote in this year's general election and you haven't registered yet, you still have three days.

Saturday is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 general election.

To register, you must be 18 by Nov. 4, be a U.S. citizen, a resident of Rhode Island, and have a valid Social Security number or Rhode Island driver's license. There is no charge to register.

Even if you don't register by Saturday, you can still cast a vote for president / vice president, but not in any other race.

Unregistered voters who wish to vote for president / vice president may cast a ballot through their local board of canvassers -- not at the polls. However, since the turnout for the Nov. 4 election is expected to be large, alternative locations may be in effect.

For example, unregistered voters in Providence who want to vote in the presidential race will cast their ballots in the lobby of the Dunkin' Donuts Center, not at the Providence Board of Canvassers, according to Rhode Island Board of Elections planning specialist Miguel J. Nuñez .

Unregistered voters are encouraged to contact their community's board of canvassers to confirm the location for voting in the presidential race.

Rhode Island law does not permit voters to register online. For more information, contact your community's board of canvassers or visit the R.I. Board of Elections voter registration page.

WARWICK -- A meeting this afternoon of the state's Public Utilities Commission deteriorated into a one-way shouting match, with some members of the audience yelling at the three commissioners not to delay a decision on a proposal that would make it easier for thousands of customers without heat or electricity to get their service restored.

The prosposal would allow all utility customers to reconnect their gas and electricity service by paying 10 percent of their balance, and agree to a schedule to pay the remaining balance. Current rules require a payment of 25 percent to 50 percent.

"This 10-percent down is the least of what you should do," said Jann Campbell, a Cranston resident, her voice rising to a shout.

"On top of that, it should be done today! Not Thursday, not 10 years from now. People have waited long enough!"

Campbell, one of several speakers who appeared before the commissioners, then peppered PUC Chairman Elia Germani about why the panel couldn't make a decision immediately.

Many in the packed room hearing room joined in, chanting "Now! Now! Now!"

Germani tried to respond, only to be cut off by Campbell and other audience members.

At that point, the chairman and the two other commissioners, Mary Bray and Robert Holbrook, called for a recess, got up from their table and left the hearing room. They were followed by more shouts from the audience: "Greed! Greed!"

The scene reflected the growing anxiety about how people will afford to heat and power their homes this coming winter at a time of record-high utility costs.

>> Continue reading: Shouting utility customers overwhelm PUC meeting

If you want to vote in this year's general election and you haven't registered yet, you're cutting it kind of close.

Saturday is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 general election.

To register, you must be 18 by Nov. 4, be a U.S. citizen, a resident of Rhode Island, and have a valid Social Security number or Rhode Island driver's license.

There is no charge to register.

Rhode Island law does not permit voters to register online. For more information, contact your community's Board of Canvassers or visit the R.I. Board of Elections voter registration page.

Tina Pelit, a third-grade teacher at the Harry Kizarian Elementary School in Providence, was honored today with the No Child Left Behind American Star of Teaching award at a surprise gathering at the school. The U.S. Department of Education annually selects one teacher from every state to exemplify the best teaching practices. Providence Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

Paul Cardullo, 83, left, of Lakeland, Fla., and Anthony Balasco, 78, right, of Cranston, talk about the bailout during lunch at Warwick Mall. Providence Journal photo / Bill Murphy

Providence Journal MoneyLine columnist Neil Downing asked people having lunch at Warwick Mall today what they thought of the federal bailout plan.

"I agree there needs to be some sort of bailout, but for the person that's losing their home too," said Janice Pires, 58, of East Providence. "They need to be helped."

Watch the video

Your Turn: React to the defeat of the bailout

Governor Carcieri plans to recognize several summer Olympians with Rhode Island ties this afternoon in the State House's State Room.

At least three athletes will be on hand, including 15-year-old North Kingstown swimming star Elizabeth Beisel, soccer standout Michael Parkhurst, and Providence welterweight boxer Demetrius Andrade.

The public event is scheduled from 4 to 5 p.m.

The governor's spokeswoman, Amy Kempe, said that Brown University gymnast Alicia Sacramone won't be attending. Neither will accomplished tennis player and East Greenwich native Jill Craybas, although her family is expected to be on hand.

-- Steve Peoples and Katherine Gregg, Journal State House Bureau

The historic auction of carbon credits for power plants in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states raised more than $38 million on Friday, according to reports released this morning. The sponsors said it was a "strong start" for the innovative new program. Rhode Island's share will be more than $1.3 million.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is the first to create a mandatory market for the right to emit air pollution. Power plants buy "allowances" for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit. The concept is that if power plants have to pay to emit pollution, they will have an incentive to reduce their emissions.

No one knew for sure what would happen when bids were opened Friday. But according to a report this morning from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative -- or RGGI, pronounced "Reggie" -- 59 entities from the energy, financial and environmental sectors took part in buying allowances for Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The auction set a price of $3.07 per ton for carbon dioxide. Rhode Island's share of the proceeds is more than $1.3 million, which by law must be spent on renewable energy or energy conservation programs for businesses and individuals in Rhode Island.

"This is a very encouraging launch to the RGGI program, which is working as designed: using the market to provide incentives to efficiently reduce global warming pollution, and at the same time providing funds to reduce consumer bills and improve efficiency," said Cynthia Giles, head of the Rhode Island office of the Conservation Law Foundation, a major backer of the program.

-- Journal environment writer Peter Lord

BOSTON -- The man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller is scheduled to be arraigned today on a variety of charges.

Rockefeller is in Suffolk Superior Court today to face charges of parental kidnapping; assault and battery; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a motor vehicle; and giving a false name to police in connection with the alleged snatching of his 7-year-old daughter off a Boston street in July.

Investigators say Rockefeller is really Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter -- pronounced "GAYR'-hahrtz-ry-tur" -- a German citizen who has been living under aliases since coming to the United States in 1978. Authorities have identified him as a "person of interest" in the 1985 disappearance of a California couple.

Defense attorney Stephen Hrones says he will enter pleas of not guilty, and likely will seek bail.

-- The Associated Press.

By PETER LORD
Journal environment writer

Rhode Island today joined nine other Northeast and mid-Atlantic states in an unprecedented auction of the rights of local power plants to generate pollution.

The auction is being called historic, but to the average electric customer, it should also be unnoticeable -- at least for awhile.

The so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is historic because it's the first to mandate that power producers must pay for the right to emit air pollution, in the form of carbon credits. Europe has carbon credits, but they were given away, creating a windfall for power companies.

Here's how the program will work: Power producers will be audited periodically and will have to demonstrate they have purchased credits to cover the amount of carbon their plants emit. So dirtier plants will need more carbon credits or allowances, which they will have to pay for.

The idea is that by monetizing the cost of the carbon, power plants will have an incentive to innovate and find ways to reduce emissions.

>> Continue reading: Credits mean regional power plants pay for air pollution

PROVIDENCE -- An employee at a Pawtucket storage facility accused of illegally storing a highly toxic metal and failing to notify authorities that the toxin had been dumped at the site said in court today that he was instructed by his supervisor not to notify the police of the October 2004 mercury spill at the facility.

On the second day of the criminal trial in U.S. District Court against the Southern Union gas company for its role in the mercury spill, federal prosecutors this morning called on the second Southern Union employee to arrive at the scene, as well as one of the employees of the firm hired to clean the spill.

Gary C. Sunday, a former facilities manager, testified that on the day the spill was discovered, on Oct. 19, 2004, he was the first to respond to maintenance worker David Gendron's report of a possible mercury spill at the former Southern Union facility on Tidewater Street in Pawtucket.

Southern Union Co. is charged with two counts of illegally storing mercury, a highly toxic metal that attacks the central nervous system, and one count of failing to notify authorities when vandals apparently broke into the facility and dumped the toxin on the property and the nearby Lawn Terrace Apartments.

Upon observing the spilled mercury outside some of the buildings, Sunday said this morning he called his supervisor, Joseph Jackson, telling him "it was a bad situation."

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Philip Marcelo

>> Continue reading: Southern Union trial: Worker testifies about mercury spill

Becky Gulsvig plays Elle Woods in the national tour of Legally Blonde. She was understudy in that role in the Broadway production.

PROVIDENCE -- The Legally Blonde tour, starring Broadway understudy Becky Gulsvig, gets under way in a preview performance Sunday at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The show starts its run Sept. 23.

The opening of a national tour here is something of a coup for the theater and the city, which has been hosting the cast and crew for most of the month as they prepared to take the show on the road for the next year.

The show, about sorority sister Elle Woods who enrolls in Harvard Law to try to win back the boyfriend who dumped her, runs through Sept. 28.

Read The Journal's recent story on the musical: Legally Blonde a bombshell for PPAC and watch a behind-the-scenes video

Ohmigod, can't wait for the musical to get here? Get ready to bop -- and snap -- with this audio preview from the musical's official site.

Samantha Zacks, a.k.a. "Barbie Biturate," left, collides with Charlotte Thomas-Davidson, a.k.a. "F'Shizzy Borden," right, during a spring bout downtown. Providence Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson

Providence Roller Derby's championship bout -- Shake, Rattle and Roll -- kicks off at 8 tonight.

The final bout of the season pits the Mob Squad of Providence against the Old Money Honeys of Newport.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and the bout begins at 8 p.m. at the Bank of America Skating Center, at 2 Kennedy Plaza, downtown Providence. Tickets are $13 at the door.

Music is provided by DJ's B.I.Z. and the COUNT, according to the web site. Music at halftime will be by the Providence Morons. And an after party will be held at Local 121, at the corner of Matthews and Washington streets.

This week's financial crisis may remind Rhode Islanders of the banking crisis of 1991. Providence Journal MoneyLine columnist Neil Downing explores how this crisis is different in significant ways.

Watch the video: Although Wall Street woes bring RI banking crisis to mind, it's different, Downing says

Read today's story: Current crisis is different from R.I.'s credit union debacle

Chat: How do these latest Wall Street developments affect you? Downing will host a live chat with projo.com readers at noon on Friday. To submit questions for Downing in advance, go to projo.com/chat, click the red launch chat button, select a user name (you don't need a password), enter the MoneyLine chat room and follow the instructions there.

Read more on this week on Wall Street and its impact on Main Street at projo.com/yourmoney

Neil Downing is the MoneyLine columnist at the Providence Journal.

Watch the video: Providence Journal MoneyLine columnist Neil Downing talks us through the difference between investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, and deposit-taking "regular banks" like Bank Newport and Washington Trust.

CENTRAL FALLS -- The police are looking for a man in connection with a robbery at the Navigant Credit Union on Broad Street this afternoon.

Police Chief Joseph Moran said the incident occurred at around 1:16 p.m., when a man walked into the credit union, handed a teller a note demanding money, and made off with an undetermined amount of cash. Moran said the man did not display a weapon.

No one was injured during the incident, Moran said. He said police are still working on a description of the man and other information about the robbery.

-- Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina

The Twin River slot machine parlor this afternoon said its lenders extended their financing arrangement with the Lincoln gambling venue until Jan. 31.

The slot parlor will suspend interest payments to some of its lenders until then, an action Twin River said is needed to conserve its finances.

"However, the suspension of interest payments to the junior secured lenders allows them to take certain actions under their agreements that could result in a bankruptcy filing shortly after the expiration of the forbearance period."

The slot-parlor's owner, UTGR Inc., has negotiated for months with its lenders to rework $577 million in financing. The two sides entered into a pact, known as a forbearance agreement, which allows the company time to work out payment plans with its lenders and creditors. The agreement expired Aug. 29 without a new deal being reached.

State officials have hired two consultants to advise them on operations at Twin River, because gambling is the third-largest source of state revenues. Negotiations over Twin River's debts came after the slot-parlor's owners missed a loan payment in March.

Journal staff writer Paul Grimaldi