Before the Ocean State’s Constitution gets around to mentioning freedom of the press, freedom of speech or the right to bear arms, it enshrines the concept of “shore privileges.” “The people shall continue to enjoy and freely exercise all the rights of fishery and the privileges of the shore,” reads Article 1, Section 17, “including […]
David Wright
David Wright is a veteran TV, radio, and digital reporter who has contributed stories to Rhode Island PBS Weekly since 2022 and more recently joined The Public’s Radio team.
For more than 20 years, he was a correspondent at ABC News. Career highlights include covering the White House during President Trump’s first term, the Vatican during 3 different papacies, and reporting from numerous global conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, and Gaza. Past interviews include Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, John Kerry, Hamid Karzai, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Elon Musk.
He recently won a New England Emmy and a NETA award for a story he did for Rhode Island PBS Weekly. Other awards include several national Emmy and Murrow Awards, plus a Peabody, a DuPont, and an Overseas Press Club award.
David began his career in public radio as a reporter and host at WBUR and KQED. A native of Buffalo, he is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford. He and his wife Victoria met when they were both covering the 2005 papal conclave in Rome. They have 3 teenage daughters and a German Shepherd Dog.
Posted inLocal, Shoreline Access, South County Bureau
Coastal council to hear public testimony on contested beach right-of-way
If you’ve never heard of Quonochontaug Barrier Beach, you’re forgiven. This exquisite stretch of sand in Westerly is one of Rhode Island’s best kept secrets, because wealthy property owners have tried to keep it mostly for themselves. ”We would love nothing more than to be able to use it year round,” said Joy Cordio, a […]
Posted inHousing, Local, South County Bureau
Judge deals blow to Winnapaug redevelopment
Plans to turn the Winnapaug Country Club into something bigger and more profitable have once again found themselves in the rough. The owner and would-be developer of the 120-acre golf course, Winn Properties, has long wanted to do something more with it. But Winn’s redevelopment plans have repeatedly failed to win approval from town planners. “It’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Local, Politics
Rhode Island gives Judge Frank Caprio a big sendoff
Friday’s funeral Mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul will be live-streamed at RIPBS.org starting at 10 a.m. Judge Frank Caprio had famously humble beginnings. But Friday he is receiving a farewell in grand style — the Rhode Island equivalent of a state funeral — befitting a man some people called “the nicest […]
Posted inArticle, Environment, Local, South County Bureau
Sharks! A Rhode Island reality check
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies comes the return of Jaws! To celebrate the blockbuster’s 50th anniversary, Spielberg’s classic thriller returns to select theaters Labor Day weekend. That same weekend, thousands of Rhode Islanders are planning to head to the beach. Leo Bourque of Gloucester, Mass., has had […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Labor, Local, New England News Collaborative, Politics, South County Bureau
Rhode Island lawmakers tilt at windmills, hoping to save Revolution Wind
Revolution Wind, the massive offshore wind farm under construction off the Rhode Island coast, appears to be dead in the water for now. Citing unspecified security concerns, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued an immediate stop-work order Friday. Now, Rhode Island lawmakers are pushing back, insisting that mothballing the project would cost thousands […]
Posted inLocal, South County Bureau, Weather
Hurricane Erin brings out a ‘Surfin’ Safari,’ Rhode Island-style
Surfing Rhode Island, especially on a day such as this, is not for the faint of heart. Bob Mancini and Andrew Wright were at Narragansett Town Beach on Thursday at the crack of dawn, hoping to ride the waves without so much as a surfboard. “This is the World Series of bodysurfing right here,” Mancini […]
Posted inEducation, Local, Politics
Backlash at Brown over Trump deal
College Hill is quiet these days. With Brown undergraduates enjoying the last few weeks of summer vacation, the few people on campus seem to have the place to themselves. But the mood on campus is not so sunny, not after President Trump gloated about the deal the Brown struck last week to get the administration […]
Posted inLocal, Religion
The story behind the Pawtucket “miracle baby”
At a Pawtucket hospital back in January 2007, Dr. Juan Sánchez-Esteban had all but given up hope of saving a baby boy he had just delivered by Caesarian section. Tyquan Hall was stillborn. No heartbeat, no brain activity, despite Dr. Sánchez-Esteban’s best efforts to revive him. As the Brown-affiliated physician braced himself to deliver heartbreaking […]
Posted inLocal, Politics
Edward D. DiPrete, former governor of Rhode Island, dies at 91
Edward D. DiPrete, Rhode Island’s 70th governor and the first and only Rhode Island governor ever to go to jail, died this week. DiPrete had just celebrated his 91st birthday with family and friends. “He represented the end of an era,” said Philip West, the former executive director of the ethics watchdog Common Cause. West […]
