News

By AP

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The corporation that owns Rhode Island's main landfill has accused a Warwick developer of a ``$20 million blunder'' by constructing a tipping facility that was unnecessary and is now scheduled for demolition.

The suit by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation says the tipping station, designed and managed by Ahlborg Construction Corporation was an example of gross mismanagement and fraud.

By Ian Donnis

Providence, R.I. – About 150 people marked Labor Day on Monday by remembering four men killed during a 1934 strike in Central Falls.

Event organizers say national guardsmen shot the four men dead as they sought cover in Central Falls' Moshassuck Cemetery. Rhode Island AFL-CIO President George Nee says it's easy to forget how that kind of bloodshed brought about working conditions that many now take for granted.

By AP

Providence, R.I. – Gas prices in Rhode Island have dropped for the fourth straight week.

AAA Southern New England says in its weekly survey that prices have now fallen by a dime over the last month.

Self-serve regular unleaded is now averaging $2.65 per gallon, or a penny less than last week. That's also three cents below the national average. The average price at the same time last year in Rhode Island was $2.67.

By ELISABETH HARRISON

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – URI has received a $20 million federal grant to upgrade research laboratories - the largest single grant in the school's history.

URI Vice President for Research Peter Alphonso says the money will help colleges and universities around the state recruit scientists at the cutting edge of their fields.

By AP

Providence, R.I. – Fire officials in Attleboro say a woman was stung more than 500 times after disturbing a yellow jackets' nest on her property.

Capt. Tim Birch says firefighters responding to the woman's home on Sunday used a carbon dioxide chemical fire extinguisher in an attempt to blast the swarm of insects away, but it wasn't enough, and three firefighters were treated for stings.

By IAN DONNIS

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – All this week WRNI will run a series of profiles of the five candidates running for mayor of Providence. Democrat John Lombardi once briefly held that job, and he's pursuing it again.

The 58-year-old Lombardi lives on Federal Hill. He's a lawyer and 26-year city councilor who calls for reducing the city's high dropout rate through expanded early childhood education. He also backs more efforts to help small business, in part through a revised city loan program.

Providence, R.I. – Listen to the WRNI Morning News Podcast for Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010.

By AP

BOSTON – The brawl over a planned wind farm in Nantucket Sound is moving to a hearing room in Boston this week.

Today, regulators at Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities will begin considering whether National Grid utility's contract with the Cape Wind project is a good deal for ratepayers.

Teams of lawyers will present and cross-examine witnesses over 12 days of hearings that have been previewed in hundreds of pages of written testimony.

By Ian Donnis

Providence, R.I. – Democrat Frank Caprio has a strong likelihood of winning the governor's office, according to one political analyst.

A forecast done by analyst Nate Silver and published by the New York Times finds that as of Sept. 3 Caprio has a 61 percent chance of winning. That's based on a matchup with independent candidate Cincoln Chafee -- who is said to have a 34 percent chance of victory -- and republican john robitaille -- who is given a five percent chance.

By Ian Donnis

Providence, R.I. – The 43-year-old Jonathan Scott lives on the east side. He's a self-employed public relations consultant who says Providence can add jobs by building on its existing strengths of universities and hospitals.

"You partner with Brown, you partner with Lifespan. I think they take a lot of hits for having tax-free properties in Providence," Scott says. " And I think we need to start to actually ask them to get into public-private partnership with the city on different projects."