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Victim punched in the head in unprovoked attack PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Providence Police are investigating a number of violent attacks that all took place within one half hour early Sunday morning. Brown University sophomore, Joseph Sharkey, was punched in the head while he was talking to a group of women on the corner of George and Thayer Streets around 2:23 a.m. Sharkey is a guard on the Brown University Basketball team. "He king of got sucker punched in the face and kind of hit his head on the concrete, after that he was knocked out cold," said Brown University...

www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2013/federal-indictment-unsealed-as-rhode-island-state-police-and-federal-agents-arrest-seven-search-ten-businesses-and-residences-and-seize-cash-vehicles-and-business-records-in-alleged-cigarette-trafficking-conspiracy Federal Indictment Unsealed as Rhode Island State Police and Federal Agents Arrest Seven; Search Ten Businesses and Residences; and Seize Cash, Vehicles, and Business Records in Alleged Cigarette Trafficking Conspiracy Investigation and Indictment Alleges Complex Interstate Conspiracy That Allegedly Defrauded Rhode Island of More Than $1 Million in Tax Revenue U.S. Attorney’s Office May 08, 2013 District of Rhode Island PROVIDENCE, RI—A federal grand jury indictment that names seven individuals and alleges a complex interstate contraband cigarette trafficking conspiracy responsible for the sale of more than $1.2 million dollars of contraband cigarettes in Rhode Island and the loss of...

On the same day that the 2013 NRA Convention began in Houston, TX Barack Obama was in Mexico telling an audience that “most of the guns used to commit violent crimes here in Mexico, come from the United States.” What he didn’t tell that audience was that his administration is responsible for Operation Fast and Furious, a program in which the ATF told reluctant gun store owners to sell high-powered guns to bad guys who would then ‘walk’ those guns to drug cartels in Mexico. Yet, Republicans and gun rights activists have avoided bludgeoning those in the administration and on...

Rhode Island on Thursday became the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, as a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Catholic state ended with the triumphant cheers of hundreds of gays, lesbians, their families and friends.

Rhode Island is poised to join nine other states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Gov. Lincoln Chafee planned to sign gay marriage legislation into law Thursday evening, immediately following a final procedural vote in the state’s General Assembly. The outcome of the vote is not in doubt. Hundreds are expected to gather at the Statehouse to celebrate the new law, which has already passed the House and Senate once. The first weddings could take place Aug. 1, when the new law would take effect. …

Taylor Swift is adding to her property portfolio after securing a $17.75 million deal for a new seaside home in Rhode Island. The I Knew You Were Trouble hitmaker recently went house hunting along the U.S. northeast coast with her mother Andrea, father Scott and younger brother Austin, and she appears to have settled on a lavish estate in the town of Westerly. The property, which boasts five bedrooms and sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, had reportedly been on the market for $20 million - but Swift managed to use her charms to negotiate the lower price -- she...

The FBI has revealed that they now know the identity of the American known as Misha who helped radicalize the Boston bombing suspects. Family members of dead bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev have described Misha as the guiding influence in the elder bomber developing radicalized views. Speculation as to who Misha is has varied wildly in the past week, with some suggesting he is the mastermind behind the marathon bombings while others believe he could be a Russian spy - sent to identify and keep tabs on young men like Tamerlan who are at risk of turning to militant Islam. To date...

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stopped talking once he was prematurely read his Miranda rights. That helps the authorities establish the lone wolf narrative. Whatever else we might have learned from him is probably lost. ... District Court Judge Marianne Bowler arrived at the hospital where he is being treated to preside over his initial hearing Monday, when she read him his Miranda rights. ... Judge Bowler has some interesting international connections. She is a member of the Member of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Apparently in that capacity, she visited and spoke on legal...

The body of a young man found in the Providence River on Tuesday may be that of Sunil Tripathi, a student at Brown University who disappeared March 16, police told CNN. A Brown rowing coach reported a body in the river near India Point Park, Lindsay Lague, a spokeswoman for the Providence Police Department, said Wednesday. Lague said authorities may be able to identify the body as soon as Thursday morning. When asked if it might be Tripathi, Detective Mark Sacco said it was "likely" but was cautious to say they won't know who it is until the medical examiner...

Rhode Island is on a path to becoming the 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry after a landmark vote in the state's Senate on Wednesday. The Senate passed gay marriage legislation by a comfortable 26-12 margin, following a House vote of approval in January. The bill must now return to the House for a largely procedural vote, likely next week, but the celebration began Wednesday. Hundreds of people filled the Statehouse with cheers following the vote. "I grew up in Rhode Island and I'd like to retire in Rhode Island," said Annie Silvia, 61, who now...

Rhode Island was set to become the 10th U.S. state to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples after the state Senate approved a gay marriage bill on Wednesday, in a major victory for gay rights activists. The state House had approved a similar measure in January, but the bill will now go back to the House for a new vote because it was amended. Gordon Fox, the speaker of the House, said in a statement that he will schedule that vote for May 2. "Pending the final vote by the House of Representatives, Rhode Island will no longer be an...

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, while testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, actually conceded that Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi, the Saudi national who moved from ‘suspect’ to ‘person of interest’ to ‘witness’ to ‘victim’ all in less than 24 hours after the Boston bombings, was indeed placed on a terrorist watchlist. This is in stark contrast to what she told the Rep. Jeff Duncan at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week. Providing further intrigue is that one day before Napolitano conceded Al-Harbi’s watchlist status, talk show host Glenn Beck explained how difficult it was for someone...

Police found the body of a man in the Providence River and they think it is 'very possible' that it is missing student Sunil Tripathi who was wrongly accused of being one of the Boston Marathon bombers. Tripathi, 22, was a Brown University student and has been missing since the middle of March.

After years of pretending to be a Navy SEAL and a member of law enforcement, a Rhode Island felon is facing multiple years in California and Rhode Island prisons after finally slipping up because of expired vehicle tags. William Burley pleaded not guilty to charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and in possession of ammunition on Wednesday in Morongo Superior Court. Just the previous week in the same court, Burley, a Yucaipa resident, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, a prohibited person in possession of ammunition and receiving stolen property. Due...

The House Committee on Homeland Security wrote DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano a letter on Saturday demanding answers on the Boston Marathon bombing. This was after Tamerlan Tsarnaev became the fifth person since 9-11 to participate in terrorist activities despite being under federal investigation. DHS Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul told reporters Saturday that we are “probably looking at a terrorist cell” being involved in the Boston attack. ... Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul said bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev appears to be the fifth person since 9/11 to participate in a terror attack, despite being under FBI investigation. McCaul, R-Texas, said...

April 20, 2013 Obama Buries Boston Massacre Saudi Connection Kris Zane One Boston Massacre terrorist is dead, under suspicious circumstances. We saw the second terrorist—Dzhokhar Tsarnaev—literally shut down an entire metropolitan area for over twenty-four hours. And now he’s under lock and key, whisked away from the public eye. America saw what martial law looked like as light-armored tanks roamed the streets and hundreds of special forces conducted a house-to-house search, looking for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, apparently a punk kid.Except martial law was never declared. Except America wondered: if one nineteen-year-old kid could shut down an entire metropolitan area, what could...

Most locals concede that getting anything of substance accomplished in Boston is a Herculean task. Residents have all but embraced the principle of civic inaction with a perverse kind of local pride. In the end, who you know is probably more important than what you are trying to do. And there is no doubt that little is accomplished without the approval and support of the mayor, Thomas M. Menino. So it is with the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) near the intersection of Tremont Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Better known as the Roxbury mosque, the ISBCC...

•Slain Chechen terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was married to middle class college student Katherine Russell, 24. •The couple have a three-year-old daughter called Zahara •Tamerlan spent every weekend with Katherine's family at their suburban Rhode Island home •Bomber's aunt says: 'He has a wife in Boston and from a Christian family, so you can't tie it to religion...he found his love, he married, he had a daughter, and he was very happy about his daughter.' Boston terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has a three-year-old daughter with a middle-class college student who converted to Islam, MailOnline can reveal. Convert: A woman believed...

Last Thursday's public hearing was effectively ground zero for "gay marriage" in Rhode Island. The hearing started early Thursday evening and lasted over 12 hours, until the following morning. Both sides were there in force. But the biggest impression in the State House that night was definitely made by the pro-family forces. The huge demonstration by the Hispanic community completely overwhelmed the homosexual activists who thought they would be dominating that day! It was an incredible sight.

Senate votes on climate change and the Keystone XL oil pipeline laid bare divisions among Democrats — and underscored why the White House, not Congress, will be where the critical climate decisions reside in President Obama’s second term.Several votes during the freewheeling debate over a nonbinding budget plan provided a political barometer of where the chamber, including vulnerable Democrats, stand on the topics. Advocates of the proposed pipeline scored a symbolic victory Friday when 62 lawmakers voted for an amendment backing the project to bring oil from Canadian tar sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries. Seventeen Democrats supported Sen....

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - - As of midnight, Rhode Island became the 15th state to decriminalize non-medical marijuana possession, meaning that anyone caught with up to one ounce will get a $150 ticket instead of facing a misdemeanor criminal charge. The softened penalty is the state's latest move to regulate use of a drug that has become more acceptable. The ball began rolling in 2006, when the General Assembly passed a law establishing a state medical-marijuana program, allowing patients to grow their own cannabis or get it from caregivers, or growers, certified by the state.

Last Thursday's public hearing was effectively ground zero for "gay marriage" in Rhode Island. The hearing started early Thursday evening and lasted over 12 hours, until the following morning. Both sides were there in force. But the biggest impression in the State House that night was definitely made by the pro-family forces. The huge demonstration by the Hispanic community completely overwhelmed the homosexual activists who thought they would be dominating that day! It was an incredible sight. When you entered the Rhode Island State House, this is the first thing you saw! As reported last week, if the "gay marriage"...

As the New York Legislature considers a bill to allow medical marijuana, a couple of Rhode Island business journalists are reaping the profits. Anne Holland and Ron Perry founded Medical Marijuana Business Daily two years ago in Providence to cover the emerging industry of legitimate marijuana sales, as total black market business continues to represent the single largest cash crop in America at more than $35 billion. The trade in illegal marijuana - mostly for recreational use - trumps the second-largest cash crop, corn, at a mere $23.2 billion, of which $4.5 billion worth is exported from America's breadbasket to...

In May, New England's fishermen will again see a cut to the number of fish they can catch, this time so deeply that the historic industry's existence is threatened from Rhode Island to Maine. But as hard as the cuts are likely to hit fishing communities, local seafood eaters may not notice at all. In the region's markets, grocery stores and restaurants, imported fish dominate, and the cuts make that less likely to change. The cuts will shrink the catch limit 77 percent for cod in the Gulf of Maine and 61 percent for cod in Georges Bank, off southeastern...

Catch limits threaten business and a way of life for generations in Gloucester, Mass. and all of New England

Customers who want to pay with a $100 bill at a Rhode Island chain of restaurants will now have to fill out a form. WPRI reports that Gregg's locations will now require a name, phone number and driver's license number whenever someone pays with a $100 bill. Owner Bob Bacon says it's because they have received five fake $100s in the last three months. He tells the station the policy is not about getting restitution if they receive a fake bill. He says it's about creating a paper trail so they can track down whoever is making the fake bills.

President Obama and his family are likely headed to Martha's Vineyard for a summer sojourn again this year. A source tells POLITICO that the Secret Service has started booking accommodations on the toney island off the Massachusetts coast. So far, the White House isn't saying anything, but the Vineyard is abuzz with the news. The first family is expected toward the end of August, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- Legislation introduced in Providence last week represents one of the strongest attacks on the Second Amendment in Rhode Island in years. House Bill 5573, sponsored by representatives Linda Finn (D-72), Edith Ajello (D-1), Maria Cimini (D-7), and Christopher Blazejewski (D-2), would require all firearms in the state of Rhode Island to be registered – both pistols and long guns. Current law specifically prohibits the keeping of such a list, and this legislation would directly overturn that law. Criminals do not use registered guns, and this bill would do nothing to address crime or public safety. Registration is...

Meet Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee: Former Republican, current Independent, future Democrat? In late December, Rhode Island’s six Republican state representatives (out of a total chamber of 75 members—no, that’s not a typo) announced an intriguing initiative. The state’s house minority leader declared that in the new year, his party would pursue an audacious plan to eliminate the Ocean State’s sales tax, which stands at 7 percent, among the nation’s highest. The elimination of the sales tax had been suggested by the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, the state’s premier (well, just about only) free-market think tank. The...

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) announced Sunday that she has spearheaded a bipartisan letter calling on the French government to cancel plans to release a convicted terrorist who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an American and an Israeli diplomat. The letter, which was sent to France’s Ambassador to the United States, urges French officials to stop the release of George Ibrahim Abdallah, the former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade who was convicted in 1987 of killing an Israeli diplomat and a U.S. military attaché. The U.S. State Department has also expressed its opposition...

Efforts to eliminate pork and offset spending from the Hurricane Sandy relief package failed ... ... Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) offered another amendment that added $33.7 billion ... the Frelinghuysen amendment. According to Patrick Louis Knudsen of the Heritage Foundation: One of the most stunning elements in the amendment is $16 billion for the Community Development Block Grant, a slush fund that states and localities can hand out pretty much anywhere they choose. The amendment contains several pages of language ostensibly aimed at restricting use of the funds, but also says they can be applied to “other eligible events in...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Rhode Island House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation to allow gays and lesbians to marry in the only New England state where they can't. The House voted 51-19 after an often emotional debate that touched on civil rights, religion and the nature of marriage. The bill now moves to the Senate, where both supporters and opponents of gay marriage say it is difficult to predict the bill's fate. "This has been a long journey," said House Speaker Gordon Fox, who is gay and supported same-sex legislation when it was first introduced in 1997. "Today...

A bill that was authored by an Ironworkers’ union organizer to expand union-only Project Labor Agreements–to include Hurricane Sandy cleanup and reconstruction–passed the New Jersey Senate on Monday along party lines 23-13. The Ironworkers’ union organizer who drafted the pro-union bill, Steven Sweeney, also happens to be the president of the New Jersey Senate and recently accused New Jersey Governor Chris Christie of “praying” for Hurricane Sandy to hit New Jersey. As it turns out, though, unions must be counting their blessing with the New Jersey’s Senate passage of S. 2425 which adds to an already-existing discriminatory PLA laws in...

PROVIDENCE — The Newtown massacre is giving fresh momentum to efforts to strengthen firearm laws in Rhode Island, with local leaders calling for a state ban on semi-automatic weapons and legislators vowing to look at gun access, mental health screening and other policies that might curb violence. The push has gun rights supporters on a quiet defensive, determined to protect their right to bear arms while acknowledging that the slaughter in next-door Connecticut has made an already delicate political debate especially sensitive. State Rep. Teresa Tanzi is one of those at the center of the debate. The South Kingstown Democrat...

Former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy says he’s established a group to lobby against legalized marijuana. … The Providence Journal reports that Kennedy’s group, Project SAM—for Smart Approaches to Marijuana—will instead lobby for increased treatment for marijuana and drug abuse. …

The proposal to legalize “same-sex marriage” in the State of Rhode Island is immoral and unnecessary. Despite enormous political pressure, the General Assembly should stand firm, resist the current fashionable trend, and continue to uphold its longstanding commitment to marriage as traditionally defined. The multiple problems associated with “homosexual marriage” have been explained in this space on many occasions in the past. The proposal to legalize same-sex marriage is an attempt to redefine the institution of marriage as it has existed in every culture from the very beginning of human history. Marriage between a man and a woman was designed...

Demographics buffs get a special Christmas present every year courtesy of the Census Bureau: its annual estimates of the populations of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This gives demographers a chance to see where the nation is growing and where it is not, and to get an idea of the destination of immigrants and of the flow of people into one set of states and out of another. Nationally the Census Bureau estimates that the United States has grown from 308 million people when the census was conducted in April 2010 and to almost 313 million in...

A 20-year-old Boston University sophomore and a self-described 'cellist-nerd' brought the Miss Universe crown back to the U.S. for the first time in more than a decade when she won the televised contest on Wednesday. Olivia Culpo beat 88 other beauty queens to take the title from Leila Lopes of Angola during the two-hour competition at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip. In a refreshing change, the Miss Universe title, which makes Olivia unequivocally one of the world's most beautiful women, appears to have been bestowed on a girl with a healthy streak of normality. Following the...

What do you do when you are an assistant professor at a public university and you’ve been caught red-handed retweeting a tweet advocating murder? If you’re University of Rhode Island professor Erik Loomis, you delete your entire Twitter account ... We’re glad he won’t be advocating violence on Twitter any longer. Hopefully, he will use the freed-up time to seek help from a mental health professional. * * * Update: What exactly is Loomis hiding? Before he deleted his Twitter account, we managed to make note of a few of his angrier tweets

The acting U.S. Commerce Secretary on Friday ordered federal regulators to return about $544,000 in unjust fines collected from 14 fishermen or fishing businesses, most of whom worked Northeast waters. Secretary Rebecca Blank also directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to forgive two other complainants a combined $150,000 in debt. Her decisions followed the second phase of a lengthy probe into charges by New England fishermen of abusive, unfair treatment by the officers and attorneys who enforce the nation's fishing laws. Blank's decisions mean nearly $1.2 million in unjust penalties has now been ordered returned to fishermen. In May...

Amtrak announced plans Thursday to replace its fleet of high-speed trains on the East Coast. The railroad said that early next year, it would begin the process of replacing its 20 existing Acela Express train sets, which run on the Northeast Corridor rail line between Boston and Washington, DC. … Amtrak said Thursday that it had scrapped a previous plan to add 40 new passenger cars to the existing fleet, deeming it too expensive and “insufficient to handle new ridership growth projections.” …

Rhode Island’s blue-on-blue showdown is heating up. Famed litigator David Boies is taking a 96 percent pay cut to represent the state against recalcitrant public sector unions. The New York Times reports: Mr. Boies became involved, he said, because he was convinced that Rhode Island’s pension troubles were just the tip of a $5 trillion iceberg of unsecured retirement promises to the nation’s millions of public workers. “This is something that can cripple state and municipal governments at a time when the federal government is, more and more, cutting back on the services it provides,” he said. Public unions and...

Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I-R.I.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that his administration calls the decorated evergreen tree erected in the Rhode Island State House in December a “holiday tree”—rather than a “Christmas tree”—because that is what the tree is traditionally called. … But Rhode Island State Rep. Doreen Costa, who has called Chafee “Governor Grinch,” told CNSNews.com that she doesn’t remember Chafee’s predecessor, Gov. (Donald) Carcieri, calling it a “holiday tree”—nor does she recall Carcieri’s predecessor, Gov. (Lincoln) Almond, calling the tree a “holiday tree.” … But Carcieri also referred to it as a “Christmas tree,” she said. … “Governor Chafee,...

A man sentenced to 60 years for the brutal murder of a city woman will see early release from prison next month thanks to a decision by the Rhode Island parole board. Alfred Brissette, 38, of Woonsocket, pleaded no contest to what the Supreme Court described as a "brutal, barbaric and senseless" case of "thrill" killing in Burrillville in 1999. Brissette and Marc Girard were convicted of killing of Jeanette Descoteaux, also of Woonsocket in 2002. According to court records, Brissette and Girard lured Descoteaux into the woods at George Washington Park with an offer of cocaine. Brissette demanded that...

Virginia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will be the first three states to sell leases for the right to develop offshore wind farms, U.S. government officials said Friday. The leases will be auctioned online, probably in the first half of 2013, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the federal agency overseeing the sales. The auctions will determine which energy company, utility or entrepreneur gets to build huge wind turbines and reap clean electricity from them in designated areas in the Atlantic Ocean. Costs are expected to be in the billions.No offshore wind farms exist today in the United States,...

Man convicted of "thrill kill" to be released over a decade early Posted: 11/28/2012 10:00:03 AM Community members are angry after the Rhode Island Parole Board has agreed to release a man convicted of a “thrill” kill from prison on parole over a decade before his sentence is over. In 1999 Alfred Brissette and Marc Girard of Woonsocket decided to execute their plan to kill a random woman and bury the body. According to court Documents, the men met Jeanette Descoteaux and offered her cocaine if she came with them. Descoteaux agreed and followed the men in the woods of...

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 GoLocalProv News Team A prominent Rhode Island lobbyist and Democratic fundraiser gave a $300,000 personal loan to the twin sister of Jill Kelley, the woman tied to the love affair that ended CIA Director David Petraeus’ career, court documents show. Bankruptcy records filed by Natalie Khawam last April list Gerald Harrington, the founder of the Capitol City Group, as an unsecured creditor on the loan. Khawam owes nearly $4 million in total. The loan was first reported by the New York Post. A message left at Harrington’s Providence law firm was not immediately returned. The Post...

Some officials are calling for the U.S. military to take over the managerial structure of the Long Island Power Authority until power is restored on Long Island, where more than a quarter million homes and businesses are still in the dark after Sandy and a snowstorm. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and U.S. Rep. Peter King will ask the federal government for help, a spokesman for King tells NBC 4 New York. ... LIPA was warned as long ago as 2006 that it was not prepared to handle a major storm, that it badly needed to replace outdated technology and...

Providence Journal lays off 23 full-time employees PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence Journal Co. laid off 23 full-time workers Wednesday as part of a cost-cutting effort, including 16 members of the Providence Newspaper Guild and 7 non-union employees. The cutback represents 5 percent of The Journal's workforce. The reductions come about two months after 11 employees accepted a voluntary separation offer. "Given a persistent softness in advertising revenue and the resultant impact on our earnings, it is necessary that we reduce our cost structure," said Howard G. Sutton, publisher, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. "It is always...

Dems rush money to help David Cicilline survive brutal air war Democrat David Cicilline appears to be crumbling under devastating ads run by Brendan Doherty highlighting Cicilline’s mismanagement of Providence when he was Mayor, his lies during the 2010 congressional campaign about Providence’s finances, and his soft law and order record. Doherty, the former Superintendent of the State Police with a stellar reputation, is making the race about character. The Cicilline campaign is complaining bitterly about the ferocity of the Doherty ads.