Providence County | featured news

PROVIDENCE — A federal judge has sentenced a Florida man to three years in prison for using stolen identities and fraudulent cards to make withdrawals from more than 100 ATMs in Rhode Island and Massachusetts over two days.Dean Emmanuel Colin, 27, of Miami, pleaded guilty on Sept. 11 to bank fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. on Tuesday sentenced Colin to 36 months in federal prison and three years of supervised [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved President Trump's nomination of Peter Gaynor, the former director of Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency.The Senate in a 81-8 vote accepted the nomination of Gaynor, who has served as the acting administrator of FEMA since March 9.Trump tapped Gaynor in June [...]

SCITUATE — A 22-year-old Foster man was arrested and charged with driving under the influence Monday after, the police say, he drove a pickup truck across a lawn and into a swimming pool on Central Pike.At about 1:30 a.m. Monday, the police were called to the house, located about 300 yards off the road, where they followed the "circuitous tracks" of a vehicle across the lawn, according to a news release from Scituate Police Chief Donald R. Delaere Jr.Near a [...]

A Rhode Island union local that represents 200 school bus drivers, monitors and aides has voted to authorize a strike against the New Jersey-based company that provides bus service for East Providence and Barrington, the union said Tuesday.“Nobody likes to hear the word strike,” said Matt Taibi, secretary-treasurer of Local 251 of the Teamsters Union. “We know that parents, students, schools, workers, and [the bus company] will be inconvenienced in the event of a [...]

PROVIDENCE -- Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced this week that he is appointing seasoned trial lawyer Miriam Weizenbaum to lead the state's civil division.Neronha announced Monday that Weizenbaum will succeed Rebecca T. Partington, who will retire at the end of February after leading the civil division for four years and more than 30 years with the office.Weizenbaum has practiced since 1995 with Amato "Bud" DeLuca in their firm, DeLuca & Weizenbaum. Her work [...]

PROVIDENCE — Governor Raimondo has been weighing a version of a proposal the Boston City Council recently approved to raise millions of dollars for the production of more affordable housing options: an increase in real-estate sales taxes.Raimondo spokesman Josh Block declined to confirm or deny that Democrat Raimondo intends to include a hike in the state's real-estate conveyance tax in the budget plan she is scheduled to deliver to state lawmakers on Thursday, but he [...]

CRANSTON (AP) — Rhode Island State Police are investigating the apparent suicide of an inmate at the state prison over the weekend.Shawn Riddick, 29, who was serving a year-long sentence for carrying a gun without a permit, was found unresponsive in his single cell at the medium security facility at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston on Saturday, state Department of Corrections spokesman J.R. Ventura told The Boston Globe.CPR was performed at the scene [...]

A 19-year-old Burrillville man faces child pornography and other charges after a police investigation.Xavier Lafleur was arrested Friday on a number of felony charges related to exploiting children, police said.Lafleur faces charges of indecent solicitation of a child, manufacturing and publishing of child pornography, possession of child pornography, two counts of electronic dissemination of indecent material to minors, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and [...]

SMITHFIELD — Outgoing Bryant University President Ron Machtley made more than any other college president in the nation, with a total compensation package of $6.2 million, in 2017, according to  the Chronicle of Higher Education.The report ranks the compensation packages of more than 600 private colleges and 250 public universities, using 2017 data.John J. Bowen, president of Johnson & Wales University, earned the second-highest compensation package, at $5.3 [...]

Good afternoon and welcome to This Just In. I'm Mike McDermott, managing editor of The Providence Journal. Gov. Gina Raimondo delivers her sixth State of the State address tonight, and we'll have coverage during and after the speech on providencejournal.com. You can also follow our State House team, [...]