With COVID-19 sending people outdoors and in search of socially distant recreation, more people are discovering and rediscovering surfing in southern Rhode Island.
Alex Nunes
Alex oversees the three local bureaus at The Public’s Radio, and staffs the desk for our South County Bureau. Alex was previously the co-host and co executive producer of The Public's Radio podcast, Mosaic. The show explored the history of immigration in Southern New England through the stories of individual immigrants and their descendants and received an Edward R. Murrow Award for best podcast in the New England region. Alex previously worked as an editor at The Westerly Sun and The New London Day.
Posted inArticle, Politics, South County Bureau
Controversial Columbus statue will stay in Westerly park
Town council members voted Monday night affirming the Westerly Public Library’s decision to claim ownership of the monument and keep it in downtown Wilcox Park.
Posted inArticle, Politics
RI Foundation awards $1 million more in pandemic-related economic aid
The Rhode Island Foundation is distributing the money in grants to state non-profits through the COVID-19 Response Fund established earlier this year.
Posted inArticle, Education, South County Bureau
‘We just want to be valued’: A movement for justice on the rise in South Kingstown
In South Kingstown, a group of student activists has taken the call for racial justice into the schools. They say they’re trying to build a movement that can serve as a model for other towns.
Posted inArticle, Politics, South County Bureau
‘Someone had to do it’: Westerly Black Lives Matter activist makes bid for state Senate seat held by longtime incumbent
In Westerly, a 26-year-old political newcomer and Black Lives Matter activist says he’s ready to challenge his town’s status quo. His name is Julius Dunn, a write-in candidate who acknowledges he has his work cut out for him running for state Senate against a 13-term incumbent.
Posted inArticle, Environment, South County Bureau
Agency draft plan prioritizes rising sea levels, storm surge, shoreline access among key issues facing RI coast
The Rhode Island agency that manages coastal policy and enforcement is accepting public comment on what it identifies in a draft plan as top issues challenging the Rhode Island coastline.
Posted inArticle, South County Bureau
Student activists call for racial justice reforms in South Kingstown schools
Black Lives Matter student activists in South Kingstown are proposing changes they say will help their school system become more diverse and better serve students of color.
Posted inArticle, South County Bureau
Rhode Island may be the Ocean State, but it wants people to think twice before heading to its beaches
Police are out, parking restrictions are tighter in places, and the state is even sending media advisories out-of-state to deter would-be beachgoers. It’s all in hopes of limiting crowds and the spread of the coronavirus. We went to Atlantic Avenue in Westerly to see the impact so far.
Posted inArticle, South County Bureau
The RI town that built American monuments debates the future of its own Columbus statue
Between the mid-19th and 20th Centuries, quarry workers in Westerly unearthed some of the nation’s finest granite, and the town’s expert sculptors shaped it for buildings, monuments, markers, graves and mausoleums erected in 42 U.S. states. Now, amid a national debate on public monuments, Westerly is considering the future of one statue that never left town.
Posted inArticle
Providence moves ahead with review of controversial Columbus statue
Parks Superintendent Wendy Nilsson says the new Special Committee For Commemorative Works formed last week and will hear testimony and make recommendations on the future of the nearly 130-year-old monument.
