WEST BAY
Former Mayor Laffey enters fray in Mattiello-Frias race
Former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, who left Rhode Island six years ago for a new life in Colorado, jumped back into home-city politics on Friday in defense of Republican Steven Frias. Frias is challenging House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, a Democrat, in his home district in Cranston. The Providence Journal has more about the race.
Kent lab’s dedicated to crusader
When it comes to providing the best care for patients, Dr. Robert E. Baute doesn’t compromise. That was the message as the Kent Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Lab was dedicated to the man who fought so hard to make it a reality. Baute made state health department approval of the lab, which started offering elective coronary angioplasty in August 2015 and is expected to commence handling emergency cases by the end of this year, a crusade that spanned 15 years. The Warwick Beacon has more.
Gladstone’s got a green thumb
Urban gardening is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a village, town, or city, and it’s a relatively new movement aimed in part at helping to end hunger. First Lady Michelle Obama has done it by growing her Kitchen Garden in her urban backyard at the White House, and Hugh B. Bain Middle School has done it with its Green Thumb Club and community garden. Now, as the Cranston Herald reports, Gladstone Elementary School wants to do it, too.
SOUTH COUNTY
Raises part of new Westerly police contract
Police officers will receive a 2.5 percent pay raise in the first year and 3.5 percent increases in each of the next two years under the new contract, approved by the Town Council Friday afternoon, between Local 503 of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers and the town. The Westerly Sun has more details on the deal.
Stagecoach Inn: Integral piece of Richmond history
It was over two centuries ago that Francis Brown constructed his hotel in what is now known as the village of Wyoming. For decades, it would echo with the din of mill workers toiling at the factories hugging that span of Wood River. The Chariho Times has more on the history of the Stagecoach Inn.
Chariho rebrands in face of tech competition
Faced with increased competition from neighboring school districts offering their own career and technical-education programs, the Chariho Regional School District is doing what a corporation with similar challenges would do: it is rebranding. “We’re not going to sit back idly in the face of duplicated programs and attempts by other districts to not send to the regional center,” Superintendent of Schools Barry Ricci told The Westerly Sun.
Westerly has little say on airport
The town has little to no authority or control over Westerly State Airport aside from the right and duty to develop zoning regulations for the area outside the facility’s property, Town Attorney Matthew Oliverio has determined. According to The Westerly Sun, the airport has been on the council’s docket for the past 18 months ever since the Rhode Island Airport Corporation initiated eminent domain proceedings against 12 homeowners
BLACKSTONE VALLEY
What’s next for Silver Top?
As the Cerrone family contemplates the future of the once controversial Silver Top Diner it purchased recently, Pawtucket officials have proposed a few locations to site the small restaurant, including a Fountain Street parcel adjacent to the Rhode Island Antiques Mall. Have a helping of Jonathan Bissonnette’s story on the matter in The Times.
Burrillville residents battle power plant
The majority of the nearly 700 Burrillville residents that attended a marathon public hearing on a tax treaty with the company proposing a $700 million power plant in the community’s Pascoag section urged the Town Council to make a bold move against Chicago-based Invenergy and hold off signing the agreement. Read more in The Call.
Offers come in for old middle school
Woonsocket has received two offers for the city’s old middle school in response to the latest round of bidding conducted after the Baldelli-Hunt administration’s prior efforts to sell the blighted structure died in a storm of controversy this summer. Learn more in The Call.
Trip to laundromat leaves man hot under the collar
A visit to the wash ‘n dry shouldn’t be such a gamble, but Richard Krupski had a run-in with a commercial dryer this week that was more like a slot machine. Find out the dirty details in The Call.
NORTHWEST
To say that Richard “Ricky” Ballirano is no ordinary teenager would probably be an understatement. Just 17 years old, he has impressive maturity, business sense, people skills, and above all else seemingly near unmatched enthusiasm. The Johnston Sun Rise details how Ballirano used that enthusiasm to give an old landmark a much-need facelift.
PROVIDENCE
Gov. weighs perils & profit of recreational pot
Governor Raimondo and her staff have been quietly planning for a possible future when marijuana is sold, taxed and consumed in Rhode Island like a bottle of wine. What happens in Massachusetts on Election Day could determine their next move. If Bay State voters approve of recreational pot use, “we have to look at it harder and faster,” Raimondo said in a recent interview, voicing an openness to recreational use more strongly than ever before — with important caveats. The Providence Journal is digging into the controversial issue.
Crowd scatters at drive-by shooting
Police are searching for a shooter who opened fire on a group of young men in Wanskuck early Saturday. An officer patrolling around 2 a.m. near Douglas Avenue and Admiral Street, a few blocks from Providence College, heard a single gunshot and saw people running, said Lt. Michelle Guerette. The Providence Journal has more on the investigation.
SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS
Bay State ballot questions
When Massachusetts voters head to the polls on Nov. 8, they will be deciding more than just who they want for president. Several questions, some controversial, will be on the ballot. The Fall River Herald News details the Bay State ballot questions, including who’s backing and opposing them.
CAMPAIGN 2016: Ballot Questions »
Halloween: Not just for kids
If you were a kid in the first two-thirds of the last century, your parents may have thought of Halloween as “just for kids.” But The Fall River Herald News explains more and more adults are getting into the action.
Female quarterback says she’s ‘one of the guys’
Christine Figueiredo had already filled out the paperwork for her daughter Kara to play high school soccer for the fourth straight season. “It was filled out, but she crossed soccer out and put football,” Christine said. “Then I high-fived her.” The Fall River Herald News has more on how Kara became the starting quarterback for her high school’s JV team.