Tagged: Providence

The nation’s first Food Tourism Conference is coming to Providence thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign which reached its goal of $12,000 over the past weekend.

Seth Resler is a foodie, and he believes there are many others out there like him. 

That’s the idea behind the first Taste Trekkers Food Tourism Conference. 

Resler, who has produced a number of food-related events, believes that there is a large number of people who base a major part of their vacation planning on where and what they will eat.

Providence Police say crime in the city fell four percent last year.  The news comes as detectives investigate the capital city’s first murder of the year. Twenty-year-old Wesley Smith was gunned down Wednesday night on Dudley Street in south Providence.

Both burglaries and robberies fell by double digits, continuing a 20-year trend.

There were five more murders last year than there were in 2011. But Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare says even the higher number is consistent with the city’s 20 year average of 20 murders per year.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras unveiled a 20-point economic plan Wednesday morning during a meeting of the Providence Foundation. The mayor's repeated rhetorical emphasis -- how Providence has bounced back from the financial abyss thanks to collaboration and shared sacrifice -- sounded like one message he'll wield next year during an expected Democratic run for governor.

A group of mayors from around Rhode Island called Monday for the state Senate to legalize same-sex marriage. It remains unclear when the Senate will take up two competing same-sex marriage bills.

The advocacy group Rhode Islanders United for Marriage says the mayors of six communities support same-sex marriage: Providence, Warwick, Pawtucket, North Providence, Central Falls and Cumberland. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras calls same-sex marriage a matter of equality and something that will give Rhode Island an economic boost.