Legislation before the Rhode Island General Assembly would take a swipe at both newspapers and transparency in government — two things that are intrinsically linked. House Bill 6375 and Senate Bill 916 seek to override any state laws that require municipal governments to post notices in prin…
By Jeffrey Diehl
You don’t have to be a hate-filled person to do something truly intolerant, insensitive and bigoted. Sometimes the problem is you have been misinformed and misled.
Let’s acknowledge the irrefutable: Child abuse is insidious and arises from circumstances that repel the sympathy and understanding of all. The recent grand jury report from Pennsylvania has reopened the wound and the history of the Catholic Church’s role in this crisis. However, in examinin…
Today, the Sun joins newspapers across the country in condemning the attacks on the news media by the president of the United States. This coordinated response was proposed by the editorial page editors of the Boston Globe, and roughly 200 publications have chosen to participate, ranging fro…
The optics weren’t especially appealing last week when five of the six Richmond Town Council candidates said they were going to run as a team. They framed it as a move “to do what’s right for the people” despite their nominal political differences: four Republicans and a Democrat. That’s one…
[Low] The southwestern region of Rhode Island has four state representatives and two senators, but there will be election contests in only half of the area’s General Assembly districts this fall. One of the senators, Minority Leader Dennis L. Algiere, of Westerly, will again be unopposed in …
LOW: “We don’t do brands in Stonington.” For that comment, Robert Birmingham, a member of Stonington’s Architectural Design Review Board, wins Quote of the Week. He was criticizing the design of the Hartford HealthCare building proposed for the site of the former Maple Breeze Park on Liberty…
“Fun-Sized” Rhode Island has a disconnect of Alaskan proportions when it comes to the handling of garbage at its state beaches. “There’s no question that it’s very hard keeping parks and beaches clean and welcoming on crowded days,” Janet Coit, director of the state Department of Environment…
Last week in Maryland, the Capital Gazette went about its business after the horrific deaths of five employees and published its next issue. It’s what newspapers have traditionally done after a calamity, whether a fire, a flood, or any other disruption. They found a way. Editors and reporter…
Editor’s note: The Sun joins many other newspapers and the Student Press Law Center in the following statement regarding the shooting Thursday at a newspaper office in Annapolis, Md.:
(LOW) The old Bradford Dyeing Association complex in Westerly, once home to one of the town’s biggest employers, has had a long history of problems — disasters, really — both before and after its current owner took over in 2009. There was fire in the spring of 2007, flooding three year…
You could see them in several spots around Westerly-Pawcatuck: the remnants of mementos left near the railroad tracks; a cross on Liberty Street; and, most recently, a yarn-wrapped tree in Wilcox Park. Surely there are others in the area: the memorials to young people who took their own live…
As this year’s session of the General Assembly begins winding down, legislators will be considering a number of bills relating to sexual harassment in the workplace.
The end of the school year is upon us and students across the state are looking forward to sleeping late, basking in the sunshine, and splashing into swimming pools.
And so the nightmare begins.
We all know that a 100-hour workday is impossible. Yet a Pentagon Inspector General’s report found that one Department of Defense subcontractor’s timesheet reported 1,208 work hours over a 12-day period!
Thank you for the Tuesday, May 29, feel-good brief, “Teacher who stopped attack says he had to save students,” about the 29-year-old “Hoosier Hero,” Indianapolis teacher Jason Seaman, who took three bullets as he tackled a student terrorist shooter in his classroom. Actions always speak loud…
I read with great interest the editorial in the Sunday, May 29, Westerly Sun, “Vermont should look in the mirror and confront racism,” from the Times Argus of Barre, Vt., regarding the prejudice being shown in Vermont. I have a story I would like to tell.
[UP] Congratulations to the Westerly Education Center and to General Dynamics Electric Boat for the Excellence Award they received last week from the Boston-based New England Board of Higher Education. The board was created by the six New England states in 1955 and committed the states to th…
(LOW) In the past, discussions about the fate of the old Ashaway school were mostly concerned with its historic and sentimental value, the possibility that it could be renovated and reused, and the cost of maintaining and protecting it. Those concerns have been superseded by justifiable and …
Did the local School Committee “overcorrect” three years ago when it named Todd Grimes as principal of Westerly High School? It’s a fair question to ask now that Grimes has been dismissed. When he took over in August 2015, it was his first experience as a principal, although he did work as d…
Rhode Island and Connecticut did what they had to do last week to help General Dynamics Electric Boat expand and improve its facilities and infrastructure, buy new equipment, and train its growing workforce. The defense contractor, which had net income last year of $2.9 billion on revenue of…
One year ago, The Westerly Sun published an editorial entitled “Budgets Aren’t Meant to Harm.” We agree. But the newspapers these days make it clear that a lot of Connecticut towns and cities are feeling the budget “pinch.” So are we.
(High) Derrik M. Kennedy, who became Westerly’s former town manager on Friday, sat down with Town Hall reporter Dale Faulkner earlier in the week for an exit interview that was both introspective and aimed at sustaining his legacy, particularly in the realm of building a professional leaders…
CPR Superheroes are everyday men and women with the power to save the life of another person. There are CPR Superheroes in every city and every country, waiting day and night to put their knowledge and skills to use.
(HIGH) There was encouraging news last week on the four-year graduation rates posted by our local high schools. The state Department of Education released 2017 results for schools across the state and the performance of Westerly and Chariho students was notably better than the state graduati…
On the one side, a handful of commercial fishermen who operate from Stonington Borough, the last port in Connecticut with a dock dedicated to their occupation. On the other, Eversource, the largest power supplier in New England, and its partner, a company based in Frederica, Denmark, that ha…
(HIGH) Congratulations are in order for Anna LaCroix of Richmond, winner of Gov. Gina Raimondo’s Women’s History Month essay contest, who will be sworn in on April 26 as Rhode Island’s 2018 Governor for a Day. The governor created the event four years ago for fifth- to eighth-grade girls as …
(LOW) Trying to help people who insist that they’re Right (and that their spouse, boss, parent, or even the “system” itself is Wrong) is a staple of the counseling business. Folks who take this attitude to the extreme are capable of some pretty harmful behavior. Part of the therapist’s job i…
The following letter was sent to the members of the Westerly Town Council.
(LOW) Near the end of January last year, St. Pius X School changed its name to St. Pius X Regional Academy, froze tuition, and restructured its course offerings in an effort to boost enrollment — which had fallen to about 160 — and attract more donors. The interior was even given a paint job…
Having coached middle school and high school boys basketball (you read that right … boys basketball), I clearly qualify as an expert on coaches and contracts. However, my background in economics and outcomes-based budgeting helps too.
(LOW) Some things are too predictable. Raise your hand if you were surprised that the Charlestown Town Council has come out in opposition to the radio antenna that the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency is planning to install at a site near Route 1 and Cross Mills Road. The 178-foot an…
(HIGH) There were two positive developments on the local housing front last week: An announcement that the loan and grant package for the Spruce Ridge affordable housing complex in Pawcatuck had been completed with the addition of more than $10 million of “low income housing tax credit” fina…
(HIGH) One of the raps against Derrik M. Kennedy, who is leaving his post as Westerly town manager, is that he doesn’t live here, and thus is out of touch, in some ways, with the community. That won’t be the case in his next job, as town manager of Mansfield, Conn. In a statement after accep…
For too long, Washington has failed to pass meaningful gun safety measures. Yet, the United States Supreme Court recognized in the Heller decision that the right to bear arms is not unlimited and gun ownership can be regulated.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services just proposed a rule that could dramatically lower seniors' out-of-pocket drug spending.
(High) If there was any ambiguity about the status of Westerly’s cherished non-riparian moorings before last week, a specialist with the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council dispelled them in his comments to the Town Council. The marine resources specialist, Kevin Cute, bluntly told …
(HIGH) Two days ago, we published an eloquent letter from a Westerly High School senior that was framed as a goodbye note to her loved ones, teammates, coaches, teachers, and to you, her readers: “This is a note for when I am killed in a school shooting.” She described her reaction to the Fl…
The following editorial appeared in the Portsmouth Herald on Friday:
The following editorial appeared in the Portland Press Herald on Friday:
The following editorial ran Feb. 15 in the Newport Daily News:
We’ll start with the positive: An announcement by the U.S. Department of Education that Sherenté Mishitashin Harris, a member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe from Charlestown, has been named as a candidate in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. Sherenté, a senior at the Metropolitan Reg…
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children 6 years and older participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Besides the obvious physical health benefits, active play can also increase children’s social competence and emotional maturity.
Seventy percent of jobs in Rhode Island require more training and education than a high school diploma alone, yet only 45 percent of Rhode Islanders have any type of college degree.
(High) The family of Maddie Potts wants some good to come of her death by creating foundation in her name. The Chariho High School senior collapsed and died of a brain aneurysm in September during a soccer match. In addition to two athletic scholarships and one arts scholarship of $1,100 eac…
We were about to go to press when the story changed yet again. I didn’t get to yell “stop the press,” but I did decide to hold the press. The state Department of Health was going to shut down the sold out “Soupy Seminar” scheduled later that night at the armory and we had a page 1 story abou…
Thursday’s forum on the opioid abuse crisis and the overdoses and deaths that occur illustrated again how the greater Westerly region is lacking in support services that many seem to feel only belong in cities, whether its public transportation, social services or mental health support.
(High) Workers in the finance office discovered recently that the Westerly Public School District has been paying for a crossing guard at St. Pius X Academy for some 18 years. It’s not a lot of money, about $5,000 annually this past year. It likely was much less when it started. We address t…
Westerly Town Councilors Jack Carson and Ed Morrone didn’t submit a performance review of Town Manager Derrik M. Kennedy by the agreed upon due date and councilor Karen Cioffi didn’t think taxpayers deserved to know that.
(High) The Westerly Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force appears to be gaining good traction after a rough period and it comes at a critical time. With all area towns experiencing their share of the opioid-induced drug overdose crisis, the task force is getting the community talking about a…
The future of Westerly Hospital is in the hands of a man who’s not afraid to say there’s more work to do following the institution’s rebound from bankruptcy to rebirth as an affiliate of the prestigious Yale New Haven Health system.
(High) After five straight years of losses in what many consider the biggest game of the season, the Westerly Bulldogs came away with a win in the Thanksgiving Day rivalry with the Stonington Bears. And they did so in convincing fashion, claiming a 34-13 victory — and on the Bears’ home fiel…
