After a trial that lasted a month, the jury deliberated a little over 8 hours before finding a former North Kingstown High School boys basketball coach not guilty of two felonies — second degree child molestation and second degree sexual assault. But the same jury found Aaron Thomas guilty of two misdemeanors — two counts […]
South County Bureau
Posted inHealth, Local, South County Bureau
Edesia looks for clarity amid chaos of Trump cuts
Outside Edesia’s North Kingstown headquarters, bulldozers are busy digging the foundation for a giant new warehouse to store the company’s product: Plumpy’Nut, a life-saving fortified peanut butter to feed malnourished children around the world. The construction project, planned long before the abrupt gutting of USAID, is funded by private donors. The Bezos family gave $137 […]
Posted inArts And Culture, Artscape, South County Bureau
‘Westerly’s Gold’: New documentary tells the story of soupy sausage
Every January, Italian American families in Westerly, Rhode Island gather together to start making soupy, a dry-cured pork sausage that’s specific to the town. A new film called “Westerly’s Gold: Sweet, Spicy, and Full of Tradition” documents the process and stories of the families who’ve been making the local delicacy for decades.
Posted inHealth, Local, South County Bureau
Rhode Island health centers raise alarm over proposed Medicaid cuts
Famous homeowners like Taylor Swift have helped polish the image of Westerly, R.I. But the tony image belies a harsher reality for the year-round folks in this beach town. More than one in five of the town’s roughly 23,100 residents – close to 5,000 people – are enrolled in Medicaid, the government insurance program for […]
Posted inHealth, Local, South County Bureau
Community renews calls for change of leadership at South County Hospital
Interview highlights On the request to replace South County Health CEO Aaron Robinson Steven Fera: He’s made some management decisions that have not involved collaboration with health care workers, physicians, nurses, or community members. Some of those decisions involved the loss of most of our primary care providers in Washington County. So there’s one provider […]
Posted inLocal, South County Bureau
Narragansett Chief Sachem calls for scrutiny of Rhode Island land transfers
Late last year, Brown University transferred some 255 acres of land it owned in Bristol to a trust associated with the Pokanoket Tribe. That came after a separate land trust associated with another indigenous group, called Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation, acquired land in Tiverton with help from a state open space grant. […]
Posted inArts And Culture, Local, South County Bureau
‘Soupy Fest’ returns to Westerly, celebrating spicy sausage and Italian heritage
Get out the crackers and cheese, and uncork a nice bottle of red wine, because ‘Soupy Fest’ is returning to Westerly. What’s soupy, you might be asking? Westerly soupy maker Joe Lombardo has your answer: “In simplest terms, it’s cured pork with spices,” Lombardo said in a recent interview. You could think of soupy as […]
Posted inEducation, Housing, Local, South County Bureau
URI plans more student housing. Can that help the housing crunch in South County?
As interest in attending the University of Rhode Island continues to grow, the state’s flagship university said Wednesday it plans to build more student housing. URI plans to lease state land on the Kingston campus to a private developer, which would then build and operate student housing on the land, the university said in a […]
Posted inLocal, Politics, South County Bureau
How Democrats won over Richmond Republicans
Politically speaking, Richmond is a purple town with some interesting voting patterns. Donald Trump won the rural Southern Rhode Island town this year. But down the ballot, Richmond had a virtual blue wave, with Democrats dominating races for town council, school committee, and state representative. Longtime Republican Richard Nassaney doesn’t shy away when it comes […]
Posted inLocal, South County Bureau
Fish and Wildlife director highlights importance of Rhode Island’s coastal refuges
The head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in Rhode Island this week to mark the annual National Wildlife Refuge Week. Director Martha Williams met up with South County Bureau Reporter Alex Nunes for a morning of birding at the Trustom Pond refuge in South Kingstown to talk about the importance of Rhode […]
