NEWPORT, R.I. – A Middletown man died early Saturday morning after jumping from the center span of the Newport Pell Bridge, just as hundreds of swimmers were preparing to take to the water for the annual Save The Bay Swim.
According to State Police, 44-year-old Steven P. Michaud apparently pulled his minivan over at the top of the bridge some time around 6:30 a.m. and climbed over the rail, falling some 215 feet to the water below.
A Jamestown Fire Department boat, already in the water for the popular Newport-Jamestown fund-raising swim, quickly pulled Michaud from the water and transported him to Newport Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Friends of the wayward teen search for their friend on Monday morning. (Photos by Jack Kelly)
Middletown Fire Department crews were on scene when the call came in reporting the boy safe ashore in Little Compton.
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – A Massachusetts teenager who set out in a small rowing dinghy from Third Beach on Monday was overcome by the current and swept across the mouth of the Sakonnet River to Little Compton, police and fire officials said.
According to the Middletown Fire Department, crews first received a call reporting an adrift vessel in the vicinity of Sachuest Point at 10:53 a.m. Lifeguards from the town beach attempted to reach the boat, but to no avail.
On shore, several friends of the wayward youth frantically paced the coastline peering out over the water. Shortly before noon, a call came in from the teen who reported to his friends that he was safely ashore in Little Compton in the area of Main Road.
A Middletown firefighter sets his sights on the water off of Sachuest Point on Monday.
Middletown and Little Compton police were investigating the incident, and more details will be added as they become available.
NEWPORT, R.I. – A grand jury has indicted one of two suspects in an armed robbery at the Domino’s Pizza on West Main Road in Middletown.
Angel Vargas is being charged with three counts of first-degree robbery, one count of conspiracy, and one count of using a firearm while committing a crime of violence for allegedly robbing three victims at gunpoint in February. He is being held without bail at the ACI and will be arraigned in late May.
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – a New Jersey man died over the weekend while snorkeling with a friend off Sachuest Point Wildlife Refuge, police said on Tuesday.
According to several eyewitnesses, Jose Fernandez, 57, of Medford Lakes, N.J., failed to come to the surface several minutes after entering the water while spearfishing with friend Jay Stokes, also of New Jersey.
Stokes found Fernandez face up on the ocean floor while swimming back to shore, police say.
Save the Bay's Jonathan Stone (Left) and NBCVB CEO Evan Smith (Far Right), squared off against Weaver's Cove CEO Gordon Shearer (Right) during a public forum sponsored by the Alliance for a Livable Newport. (Photo by Tom Shevlin)
NEWPORT, R.I. – One of the city’s most active community groups has come out in opposition to a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Mount Hope Bay.
In a position paper issued on Thursday, the Alliance for a Livable Newport (ALN) has ruled that the proposed facility would be “detrimental to the quality of life in Newport and nearby communities.”
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – As we reported back in January, West Marine has been planning a move to West Main Road in Middletown to the former site of the Office Depot store. Now, we’re learning more details about the expansion.
According to a company release, the new location is being eyed as a “Flagship store” which, due to the area’s strong maritime trades industry, will feature added services, an expanded inventory, and a dedicated megayacht operation.
Plans to transform the USS Saratoga into a marine museum (seen here in an artist's rendering) have been scrapped in favor a new plan to bring the USS JFK to Aquidneck Island.
NEWPORT, R.I. – The group leading an effort to transform the aging USS Saratoga into a marine museum has shifted its focus to a new mission, after the Navy determined that the Sara would no longer be available for donation.
In what organizers are describing as a “new direction” for the aircraft carrier project, the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation has announced plans to acquire the USS John F. Kennedy and bring her to a yet-to-be-determined location on Aquidneck Island.
“The USS Saratoga is no longer available for donation, but a new opportunity has opened up,” the museum said in a written statement.
Newport Police Chief Michael McKenna walks with a contingent of Newport's finest during Saturday's National Police Parade.
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Police officers from across the state and country descended on Aquidneck Island over the weekend for the annual National Police Parade.
A bagpiper marches down West Main Road on Satuday.
Honoring 124 officers killed in the line of duty in 2009, the parade capped a weekend-long series of events which included a Saturday morning charity 5k and fun run from Sachuest Beach, golf tournament, and steak fry.
Cambridge police officer, Sgt. James Crowley, who found himself at the center of a national debate about race and police procedure after arresting African American Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates at Gates’ Cambridge home following a 911 call about a possible burglary, served as this year’s Grand Marshall.
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Residents at Middletown’s Northgate apartment complex have been reporting an increase level of coyote activity in their neighborhood, putting some on edge about what they describe as brazen behavior.
WJAR Channel 10 had a story on the problem earlier this week, and according to Numi Mitchell of the Narragansett Bay Coyote Project, the coyotes’ presence is likely due to human activity – specifically, she surmised, someone may be inadvertently feeding the pack.
More in the video above. The Middletown Town Council is expected to hear from the NBCP about the problem this coming Monday.
The Aquidneck National Police Parade is scheduled to kick off on Sunday, May 2.
NEWPORT, R.I. – This weekend’s forecast calls for blue skies, highs in the low 70s, and hundreds of uniformed police officers from across the country marching down Broadway. Yes, the annual Aquidneck National Police Parade steps off on Sunday from One Mile Corner.
This year’s Grand Marshall will be Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Mass. Police Department, who made headlines in July when he arrested Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, who is black, at Gates’ Cambridge home after police responded to a 911 call about a possible burglary. President Obama said the Cambridge police had “acted stupidly” in the case, thrusting the dispute into the national spotlight which culminated with both Gates and Crowley invited to the White House for a “beer summit.” [click to continue…]
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — Expanding its Integrative Care Program, Women & Infants Hospital has announced plans to open a new “wellness center” at 333 Valley Rd. in Middletown.
The Integrative Care Program, within the Program in Women’s Oncology at the hospital, will bring a full menu of complementary therapies for oncology patients and add a broader base of wellness programming to appeal to all women when it opens the Women & Infants Center for Health and Well-Being on Aquidneck Island in May.
Crews from the Middletown Fire Department took in the view from Hanging Rock while preparing for the worst during a training exercise on Friday. (Photos by Tom Shevlin)
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – No need to panic. Middletown’s bravest drew more than a few curious onlookers on Friday afternoon during a training exercise high atop Sachuest landmark Hanging Rock.
Slowly, firefighters make their way down the ladder from Hanging Rock.
As seen above, crews from the Middletown Fire Department accessed the cliff via ladder truck from nearby Hanging Rock Road, which was closed to vehicular traffic. One of the island’s more popular hikes, the climb to the top of the rock normally takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 minutes from the main entry point at the Norman Bird Sanctuary. But using their ladder truck, firefighters were able to reach the overlook in mere seconds – a critical difference in the event of an emergency.
A bather walks past a sign at the Atlantic Beach end of First Beach warning of unsafe swimming conditions.
NEWPORT, R.I. – The city’s water system operator has reached an agreement with the plaintiffs of a high-profile lawsuit aimed at compelling the city to address its chronic water quality issues.
Under a settlement reached in U.S. District Court, Earth Tech, Inc. has agreed to pay the city $99,000 to the City of Newport to be used exclusively for surface water quality monitoring to address sewer overflows and/or storm water discharges from the city. [click to continue…]
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – 
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — Expanding its Integrative Care Program, Women & Infants Hospital has announced plans to open a new “wellness center” at 333 Valley Rd. in Middletown.
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Newport, RI
