NARRAGANSETT — The easing of rules on outdoor dining that proved to be a critical lifeline for many Rhode Island restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic were extended Monday during a ceremonial bill signing by Gov. Daniel McKee.
PROVIDENCE — The cost for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline is down week-over-week for the first time since May, but further declines will be dependent on a number of conditions moving forward.
Editor’s note: With the pandemic’s restrictions greatly reduced or lifted, most businesses and service agencies have returned to regular operations. Here is a list of organizations that still have restricted operations or reduced hours.
PORTLAND, Maine — Proposed rules designed to protect a declining species of whale have arrived at the White House for review.
CHARLESTOWN — Joe Vericker, an award-winning photojournalist who has taken photos of presidents, popes and celebrities, stood inside the Books on the Pond Gallery on Narrow Lane one warm afternoon last week with Nancy Vericker, his wife of 40 years.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a new push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list.
Should vaccinated people mask up with COVID-19 cases rising?
MOULTONBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) — Parents are demanding answers after a New Hampshire summer camp that calls itself one of the best in the nation unexpectedly shut down after just six days this month.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Swimmers are being urged to avoid ponds in Foster and Kingston that have high levels of bacteria, the Rhode Island Department of Health said Friday.
WESTERLY
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Gov. Dan McKee has signed into law legislation allowing restaurants to continue to use COVID-19 modifications, including outdoor dining and takeout windows.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Environmental officials in Rhode Island have extended their ban on shellfish harvesting in certain areas of the state.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — An online fundraiser for a suspended Rhode Island police officer has been taken down and money returned to donors.
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (AP) — Boaters in Rhode Island may be thrilled, but state and local officials say they're not celebrating the return of a popular boating event.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — New cases of COVID-19 have ticked up slightly in Rhode Island following weeks of declines.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Providence is working with local mental health experts to change the way city law enforcement responds to public safety calls.
CHARLESTOWN — Wampanoag Chef Sherry Pocknett has been creating culinary surprises in kitchens since she was a little girl growing up on Cape Cod.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Smoke and ash from massive wildfires in the American West clouded the sky and led to air quality alerts Wednesday on parts of the East Coast as the effects of the blazes were felt 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) away.
BRISTOL, R.I. (AP) — The superintendent of a Rhode Island school district roiled by a debate over starting the coming school year on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah has resigned.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island's courts are preparing to resume regular operations this fall.
High Honors
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A 45-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday to more than 11 years in prison for driving a teenage girl from Michigan to his home in Rhode Island so they could have sex, according to federal prosecutors.
Students in Wichita, Kansas, public schools can ditch the masks when classes begin. Detroit public schools will probably require them unless everyone in a room is vaccinated. In Pittsburgh, masks will likely be required regardless of vaccination status. And in some states, schools cannot man…
A Russian hacker known internationally as the “bot master" was sentenced Tuesday to the 33 months he has already served in custody on federal charges he operated a network of devices used to steal computer credentials, distribute spam and install malicious software.
VAN HORN, Texas (AP) — For years, the official letterhead for the small town of Van Horn, tucked neatly among the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains, read simply: “Farming, ranching, mining.”
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s average gas price is up a penny from last week, averaging $3.04 per gallon, and high demand has contributed to the rising costs.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Ten nonprofits from across Rhode Island will receive $10,000 in grants as the state reached the first milestone of its RI Gives Vax Challenge, Democratic Gov. Dan McKee announced Monday.
CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) — A civil liberties organization on Monday called on a Rhode Island city to halt what it says is an illegal traffic stop quota by its police department.
NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. (AP) — Police on Block Island seized 21 mopeds after their drivers were seen operating them unsafely and in violation of their rental contracts over the weekend.
BOSTON (AP) — The FBI has released hundreds of pages of records from notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger's file.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Fishermen are harvesting fewer scallops off the East Coast as the population of the valuable shellfish appears to be on the decline.
The heavy rainfall that hit New England washed out some roads and bridges and flooded basements.
PARIS (AP) — No one disputes that the world is unfair. But no one expected a vaccine gap between the global rich and poor that was this bad, this far into the pandemic.
JAMESTOWN, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man is planning a 19-mile swim from Block Island to Jamestown later this month to raise money for a nonprofit that works to keep oceans clean.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Nature trails and hiking paths across Rhode Island are getting $1.4 million worth of improvements through Federal Highway Administration grants, state officials said.
WORCESTER — City officials are going to hear more about plans to spend the city’s $111 million share of COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
OCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey is moving aggressively to become the leader in the fast-growing offshore wind energy industry on the East Coast, but not everyone is blown away by those ambitious plans.
LAWRENCE + MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
WESTERLY
BOSTON (AP) — Home-delivered marijuana has arrived in Massachusetts.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island is shutting down six state-run COVID-19 testing sites that since September 2020 have exclusively served school and child care students and staff.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his involvement in the 2019 gang rape of an incapacitated 16-year-old girl, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced Thursday.
PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Departments of Environmental Management and Transportation have awarded $1.4 million for recreational trail grants to support trail development and improvement projects throughout the state. The Recreational Trails Program is funded through the Federal Highway A…
WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island police officer, who was off duty and out of uniform when authorities say he followed a car off a highway and shot the 18-year-old driver in the arm, was released on $25,000 bail after his first court appearance in the case Friday.
WESTERLY — A year ago, members of the Dunn’s Corners Fire Department had to work hard to save a 50-year tradition, altering the annual Karl E. Kenyon Smokey Bear Parade to adhere to social-distancing guidelines. Firefighters broke from the usual crowd interactions and local residents were le…
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The median house price in Rhode Island is up 25% from what it was a year ago but slightly more houses are available for sale now than there were in May.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island's unemployment rate fell slightly last month when the state added about 1,700 jobs, the state Department of Labor and Training said on Thursday.
A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year has been extended from June 30 until July 31. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions of tenants in their homes. Many of them lost jobs during the coro…
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (AP) — The only home on a small island in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay has been sold.
CHARLESTOWN — In 10 days, the town of Charlestown will no longer be holding virtual meetings or broadcasting meetings live in a hybrid format, as town officials said Monday that state laws leave the community "with no other option."
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The state's economy continues to make a strong comeback from the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic, a University of Rhode Island economics professor said Wednesday.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island officials are warning residents to avoid contact with water in four ponds because of toxic blue-green algae blooms.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island environmental regulators have denied a permit for a medical waste-to-energy facility in West Warwick.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress eyes an infrastructure package, a coalition of transportation agencies and Amtrak on Wednesday released a 15-year plan of rail improvements for the congested Northeast Corridor that would boost daily train routes and significantly speed travel on Acela express lines.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Providence on Tuesday joined a small but growing number of U.S. cities pledging to provide a guaranteed monthly income to a certain number of low-income residents.
BOSTON (AP) — The rise of hybrid and remote work during the past year and a half is just one of the ways the future of business in Massachusetts could change in the post-pandemic years — shifting the state’s economic “center of gravity” away from the greater Boston core, according to a repor…