Archive - Feb 2013 - News Article
February 10th
BURRILLVILLE — Tails are wagging and kids are reading at the Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library in Harrisville.
A special library program called "Literary Tails" is designed with reluctant readers in mind with the hopes of turning youngsters ages of 6-12 into more confident readers.
CUMBERLAND — The Blackstone Valley began to dig out from the Blizzard of 2013 this weekend but not without a few complications.
The intensity of the storm, its heavy snowfall overnight Friday and into Saturday morning, and high winds all hindered public safety crews in clearing roads immediately and set the stage for long hours of plowing into Monday.
February 9th
By
JAY LINDSAY and MICHELLE R. SMITH (AP)
PROVIDENCE — New Englanders began the back-breaking job of digging out from as much as 3 feet of snow Saturday and emergency crews used snowmobiles to reach shivering motorists stranded overnight on New York's Long Island after a howling storm swept through the Northeast.
WOONSOCKET — When the seniors in Woonsocket High School's Global Citizen Project found out they needed a quick down payment on a discount plane ticket to the African nation of Rwanda, strange things started happening.
"I sold one of my cars to pay for this trip," says Matt Brennan.
"My parents took a payday loan," says Camelia Niles.
"I took money out of my college fund," another says.
February 8th
Due to the anticipated severity of the blizzard overnight, there will be no delivery of the Saturday edition on Saturday. It will be delivered on Sunday along with the Sunday edition. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
February 6th
NORTH SMITHFIELD — The town has appointed a new finance director to replace Brian Silvia, who left in September to be finance director in West Warwick.
Brenda MacDonald, the town's assistant finance director, has now taken the reins as North Smithfield's new finance chief, according to Town Administrator Paulette D. Hamilton.
“Brenda has served the town well and will provide oversight of all financial departments, including tax collector, assessor, payroll, human resources and accounts payable,” Hamilton said.
WOONSOCKET – The city’s loss will be North Smithfield’s gain as Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse trades in its Diamond Hill Road store for a newer model in the neighboring town’s burgeoning Dowling Village retail center next week.
The latest blow the city’s main retail strip officially takes place on Feb. 13, when Lowe’s will close the local store. The Dowling Village site will open for the first time two days later, said Natalie Turner, a spokeswoman for Lowe’s.
WOONSOCKET – The few merchants left in Main Street’s prominent Commercial Block have been temporarily forced to close after city officials declared the building unsafe Monday.
Building Inspector Chris Chianese cited the owner, Stamatos Properties of Jamaica Plain, Mass., for failure to provide an approved heating system for the ground floor tenants.
BURRILLVILLE – As Lucille S. Guilbault remembers the Blizzard of ’78 with lots of other local folks today, she will be thinking more about birthday candles than the storm’s incredible depths and drifts of snow.
In addition to today being the 35th anniversary of the big storm, it’s also the 35th birthday of Guilbault’s daughter, Rebecca.
As the storm’s heaviest snows started to blanket the area in the early afternoon of Feb. 6, 1978, Guilbault began going into labor and was soon worrying about how she would get to the delivery room at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence.
PROVIDENCE — With just about everyone clamoring these days to make Rhode Island more business friendly, two local lawmakers are aiming to do just that.
Lincoln Rep. Gregory Costantino submitted a bill to give commercial customers some of the same protections against utility shut-offs – and similar abilities to get shut-off utilities restored — as are now granted to residential customers.
Cumberland Rep. James McLaughlin has introduced legislation to cut in half the $500 minimum corporate tax for the first three years a business is in operation.
