NEWPORT, R.I. – Newport stands to see a 15.3 percent reduction in school aid under a proposed statewide education funding formula released earlier today.
The long-awaited formula, which is aimed at providing state and local officials with a quantitative basis for distributing funds to school districts based on enrollment and other contributing factors, was developed by the state Department of Education in cooperation with Brown University. Currently, legislators base financial aid by previous years’ precedents with no regard for enrollment or, for that matter, any other metric.
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MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Police have charged an employee of the Middletown School District with assaulting a 12-year-old girl after she and a group of juveniles allegedly rang the man’s doorbell at his home in Portsmouth and ran.
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NEWPORT, R.I. – Less than two weeks after Navy officials listed roughly 260 acres of excess waterfront property on the federal register, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, acting on behalf of a local Indian tribe is asking that the process take a step backward.
According to Tina Dolen, executive director of the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission (APIC), her office received a phone call late Friday afternoon from David Drozd, Director of the Base Realignment and Closure Management (BRAC), Program Management Office Northeast.
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The loss of his father, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, is one of the reasons cited by Rep. Patrick Kennedy for his decision to step aside from public office.
NEWPORT, R.I. — Rep. Patrick Kennedy, an eight term Democrat and the only remaining member of his storied political family in elected office, will not seek re-election this November.
From the Providence Journal, who broke the story last night:
“I will not be a candidate for reelection this year,” the 42-year-old Kennedy says in an emotion-laden advertisement released by his office Thursday that will air Sunday night. Facing the camera in a blue suit and striped tie, the Rhode Island Democrat mentions his years of service and the death of his father, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, last summer.
“We all know how difficult the last few years have been,” Kennedy begins. “Rhode Island families have struggled,” he adds, citing the bad economy and mortgage foreclosures.
Then Kennedy says of his father, the longtime Democratic senator from Massachusetts: “Illness took the life of my most cherished mentor and confidant, my ultimate source of spirit and strength.”
Kennedy’s surprise decision spells the end of an era in American politics, instantly raises the prospects for the congressman’s Republican opponent, state Rep. John Loughlin III, of Tiverton, and may spur a fight among Democratic contenders for the seat.
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The former Navy Hospital in Newport is just one of the sites that could be redeveloped. (Source: AIPC)
NEWPORT, R.I. – Roughly 260 acres of Navy property located along Aquidneck Island’s west side have been officially listed with the federal register, declaring the property as “surplus” and available for acquisition.
“Great news for Aquidneck Island and Rhode Island! This announcement is both long awaited and greatly celebrated,” the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission said Tuesday upon learning of the news.
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NEWPORT, R.I. – Schools and community organizations across Aquidneck Island and in Jamestown have been closed in advance of Wednesday’s anticipated snow storm.
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Snow covers a statue at the Brick Marketplace. (Taken back in December by Tom Shevlin)
NEWPORT, R.I. – The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the area from Wednesday morning
through late Wednesday night.
The watch area includes northern Connecticut, all of Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts. According to the weather service, snow is expected to develop over the watch area Wednesday morning or early afternoon and may become heavy at times with six or more inches of snow expected along the coast.
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AI Youth kicked off their first meeting on Friday. (Photo via Facebook by Suzanne Escobar Bang Kane)
NEWPORT, R.I. – A menagerie youth groups from multiple churches across Aquidneck Island will come together Friday nights for a new program entitled AI Youth (Aquidneck Island Youth).
The program, which kicked off on Friday evening at Evangelical Friends Church in Middletown, invites junior high through high school students to enjoy games, skits, a live youth band and a message. “We will be coming together once a month to gather all students of the faith in Christ, to provide a platform for relationships, growth and unity overall in the family of God,” says Ed Pichette, Youth Pastor at EFC Newport.
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MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – Two teenagers are being charged with armed robbery after allegedly holding up the Domino’s Pizza parlor on West Main Road at One Mile Corner.
Middletown Police Department responded to Domino’s Pizza, located at 19 West Main Road, for an armed robbery just after 1 a.m. Monday morning. Domino’s employees stated that two males wearing all dark clothing and ski masks entered the business with a firearm. The suspects left on foot with no direction of travel mentioned with an unknown amount of money.
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The old Sakonnet River Bridge is being replaced. Could tolls be on the way too?
STATE HOUSE – Seeking to close a more than $350 million budget gap, Governor Donald C. Carcieri yesterday unveiled plans to install tolls on the new Sakonnet Bridge as part of his FY 2011 budget.
The sure to be controversial plan would mimic the toll structure on the Pell Bridge, charging motorists $4 each way or 83 cents for Rhode Island residents with an EZ Pass account. Ownership of the bridge would also be transferred to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority (RITBA), which currently owns and operates the Pell and Mount Hope Bridges.
Under the plan, RITBA would buy the the yet-to-be-completed span for $164 million, paid for through a revenue sharing agreement in which 70 percent of toll collections would be directed to the state over an estimated 20-year period.
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NEWPORT, R.I. – Residents turned out in force last Wednesday for a special workshop detailing proposed improvements to the South Eastons’ Pond berm. Over the course of the meeting, engineers from city consultants Fuss & O’Neill sought to explain their reasoning behind the selection of some controversial materials and design components which neighbors argued would detract from the history and beauty of the area.
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Primary among the design’s appeal, according to the engineers, is cost and time. Under the proposed plan, which would include the installation of a steel coffer-dam with a concrete cap on the western embankment, and a 42-inch high fence along the same section, construction costs would run roughly $3.3 million, with an estimated completion time of 4-6 months.
But residents who attended the Jan. 20 meeting, said that they would be willing to pay more and wait a few months longer for an alternative plan that would eliminate the fence and coffer-dam with a more traditional graduated slope design. That plan, engineers estimate, would cost at least an estimated $3.4 million and would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 months longer to complete.
In the end, whichever plan is chosen by city councilors, the cost of the repairs is destined to be worked into the bills of ratepayers of the Newport Water Division, which includes not only Newport, but Middletown, the Navy, the Portsmouth Water & Fire District, as well.
So what do you think? Should the city pursue the more economical option, or the plan that best retains the character and beauty of the Easton’s Pond area?
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. – Hoping to throw a roadblock in front of a plan to bring a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to Mount Hope Bay, state lawmakers are considering a bill that would require any ship longer than 150 feet carrying a cargo of hazardous material to clear Rhode Island’s bridges by at least 25 feet.
Rep. Douglas Gablinske (D-Bristol) hopes that his bill will prevent the transit of LNG tankers into Mount Hope Bay. (Photo courtesy RI.gov)
Introduced by Rep. Douglas W. Gablinske (D-Bristol), the legislation was heard before a meeting of the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday.
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A 25-foot U.S. Coast Guard boat assigned to the Coast Guard Station Boston, Mass., provides a security escort for the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Tanker Matthew in Boston Harbor. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Public Affairs Specialist 3rd Class Kelly Newlin)
NEWPORT, R.I. – President of the Senate M. Teresa Paiva Weed (D–Newport, Jamestown) has established a special Senate task force to review the proposed construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) offshore loading platform in Mount Hope Bay.
The task force, which was announced on Friday, will be chaired by another Aquidneck Island representative, Sen. Charles J. Levesque (D–Portsmouth, Bristol).
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Save They Bay has launched an aggressive multimedia campaign against a proposed LNG terminal in Mount Hope Bay. (Source: SaveBay.org)
NEWPORT, R.I. – Save The Bay has recorded 2,500 signatures in its online petition to stop a proposed “off-shore” liquefied natural gas terminal in Mount Hope Bay.
Part of a broader multi-media campaign launched in Novemebr, the petition is aimed at drumming up public opposition to a plan by Weaver’s Cove Energy LLC, which they say could have major environmental and economic implications for Narragansett Bay.
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Newport, RI
