Razzle- Dazzle Parade in Putnam, Connecticut is tonight.....

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

PUTNAM — As it has for more than a decade, the Northeastern Connecticut Holiday Dazzle Light Parade on Sunday will illuminate downtown Putnam with more than 130 expected participants and thousands of attendees.
The 16th iteration of the seasonal event will kick off at 5 p.m., winding its way from Grove Street, through downtown and ending at the Owen Tarr Sports Complex near Providence and School streets.

The parade, a collaborative effort of WINY Radio 1350am and the town’s recreation department, typically attracts up to 12,000 revelers who begin lining the parade route hours before the first float steps off.
Gary Osbrey, owner of WINY Radio and founder of the parade who got his start at WNRI 1380AM in
Woonsocket, RI, said the idea for the event came after viewing a nighttime Disney World parade.
“I thought it was so cool and said to myself, ‘We can do this in Putnam,‘” he said. “I scouted out light parades in the state — I think there were only two at the time — and pitched the idea to the town. A few years later they said ‘Let’s do it.’”
That first year, Osbrey was hoping to attract 25 participants and ended up with 65 people signing up to march.
“I think the continued popularity of the event is we have a come-as-you-are attitude, with no contest for best float,” he said. “We appreciate the guy from Wodstock who wants to bring put lights on his tractor and bring it down as much as we are happy to see the most extravagantly-decorated float.”
Carrying on its tradition of honoring local groups and individuals, the parade committee this year chose the Cargill Council No. 64 Knights of Columbus as the event’s grand marshal.

RI Has Lost Jobs for the Past 3 Months

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Rhode Island has lost 3,900 jobs over the last three months including the loss of  200 jobs in the month of October, according to the RI Department of Labor and Training.


While RI was losing hundreds of jobs in the past month, Massachusetts added nearly 5,000 in October.

The RI labor force totaled 554,500 in October 2017, down 700 from September 2016

A Time to Reflect....

Posted by Wayne G. Barber & Photo by Wayne G. Barber

George Surbets, Mr. Fontenault, George A.Barber, George Ducharme

Thank You for your Service to our Great Country.

NO kneeler's here !

Ted Hebert leads the men

Thank You, Commander, Councilmen,Ray Trinque, Denny Ballou, Councilmen,  David Place. Rep. Dist 47 Cale Keable and Senator Fogarty, Boy Scouts and Miss Gosselin for warming our hearts on a very cold day with her golden voice.

Providence Shooting Gone Wrong - State Police and Providence Police Shot the Wrong People

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

GoLocal has learned that a series of errors by law enforcement led to the shooting of a man and a woman in a pickup truck on 1-95 in front of Providence Place Mall.

The two shot were believed to be tied to an earlier incident related to a prisoner stealing a Rhode Island State Trooper’s cruiser earlier in the day. But, the man and the woman who were shot were not involved in the earlier incident. The unidentified man was killed in the police shooting and the woman is in critical condition.
SEE EXCLUSIVE VIDEO ABOVE
According to multiple law enforcement sources, an unidentified Rhode Island State Trooper transporting a prisoner had his vehicle stolen when he pulled over to investigate an accident on Route 146. The cruiser was stolen by Donald Morgan, age 35, who has no permanent address.
The incident took place at about 9 a.m. and it is unclear why the cruiser was not secured per protocol.
“The trooper was transporting the individual to court this morning and came upon an accident scene, and somewhere along those lines, again it's still being investigated, but the suspect somehow from the rear of the vehicle got into the vehicle, the front of the vehicle, and drove the cruiser,” said Rhode Island State Police Colonel Ann Assumpico.
“It's under investigation but I know the trooper did leave the vehicle for a short time,” said Assumpico.
“Again he was transporting the individual to court, you have to understand, once we come upon an accident, it is our duty to check on the welfare of the person involved. I know the individual was handcuffed,” she added.
The cruiser was recovered shortly afterward, when it was found abandoned in Providence.
When Providence Police and Rhode Island State Police found the abandoned cruiser and sources say they were told by witnesses that the perpetrator had escaped with a white pickup truck.
White Pickup Truck Appears to Be the Only Connection

At a press conference this afternoon held by Providence Police and Rhode Island State Police officials, both Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steve Pare and Assumpico spoke and repeatedly expressed that the two incidents are under investigation.

“At about quarter of 11 this morning, we had an officer involved in a shooting resulting in the death of a suspect. We have not positively identified the suspect. There was a second person in that vehicle that was shot and critically injured, she has not been positively identified. She is in the ER,” said Pare.
“We had police officers from Providence and we had troopers from the State Police involved in the shooting, so we had multiple. That's what we are investigating now, so we don’t have a lot of the details,” said Pare.
Pare said at the press release, “We don’t know if it is related to the earlier theft of a police cruiser, at this point, that is what we are putting together as well."
But, GoLocal has learned that there is no relationship other than the misidentification of the vehicle.
“The suspect who is here and shot and killed by police officers has not been identified as far as the relatedness of what precipitated this deadly use of force, we have not determined that,” said Pare.

Suspect Morgan

Police do not know the relationship between the driver and passenger of the pick-up truck.

“We are looking at a number of police officers and troopers who discharged and when they discharged, this is going to take several hours because there are multiple officers involved and its going to take some time,” said Pare. '[We're] not sure if there were weapons in the truck, [the] investigation is ongoing."
Suspect Still on the Loose
Assumpico announced at 3 p.m. that troopers are seeking to arrest a Providence man in connection with the theft of the State Police cruiser.
Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of this suspect are asked to call Rhode Island State Police 401-444-1000. Source: GOLOCALPROV

Brick House Restaurant closes in Woonsocket

Posted by Wayne G, Barber

Thank God councilman Richard Fagnant held up their license last Monday at the Woonsocket Town Council annual license renewals !
Sounds like another Vintage Restaurant deal !

WOONSOCKET – A high-end restaurant that opened just six months ago has closed its doors, and the manager says it's because his investor has not held up his end of the bargain.
Brick House, a pub and restaurant that took over a vacant Diamond Hill Road property, opened its doors in April but has now closed, according to General Manager Bobby Vigeant.
Vigeant announced the news in a Facebook post on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
"When my company started this business venture we thought had a partner to handle finances and be the investor," Vigeant wrote. "What we got was a lot of Excuses and little to no money."
The restaurant had taken over the space that once held Plaza Mexico and hired Chef John Baptista formerly of Camille's in Providence. In it's short run, the business was called before the City Council for a liquor hearing after reportedly failing to pay a license fee.
When the City Council took up renewal of licenses for city businesses at their meeting on Monday, it was noted that two liquor distributors had provided noted to the board stating that Brick House owed them money. Councilors noted that the business also owes property taxes, as well as payment on water and sewer bills. Source: Valley Breeze

Morgan Formally Declares for Gov., Says She Will Fight For the Middle Class Up-Front Live

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Morgan Formally Declares for Gov., Says She Will Fight For the Middle Class on wnri. com UP-Front Live !

Rhode Island House Minority Leader, Patricia Morgan today joined the Up-Front radio program on wnri as she formally announced her campaign for Governor. As a Republican candidate, she is likely to face Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and former State Representative Joe Trillo in the GOP primary in September of 2018.

On the Up-Front radio show hosted by Chris Bouley and Roger Bouchard she talked about her focus on helping all Rhode Islanders. She said she is a fiscal conservative and believes the state needs to meet its budget challenges by cutting the state's budget. She says that under Governor Gina Raimondo the cost of state personnel has increased by tens of millions of dollars. I think 44 million dollars to run the Rhode Island State House per year is getting out of hand when our neighbor State New Hampshire with the same population gets by fine on 18 million to run theirs.
In 2016, she "broke the glass ceiling" by becoming the first female to be elected as minority leader in the Rhode Island state House.
A former educator, businesswoman and military spouse, Morgan announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination with a video released to supporters

Is Rhode Island’s Healthcare System Near Collapse?

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Here are some recent developments in the Rhode Island healthcare system:

Care New England announced on Tuesday that it is closing Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket after its deal with Prime Healthcare collapsed.
Prime Healthcare owns Landmark Hospital in Woonsocket. Presently, Prime is being investigated by the Department of Justice.
Care New England has lost $117 million combined in the past two fiscal years.
Care New England’s proposed sale to Boston-based Partners HealthCare is in question and the failure to sell off the money-losing Memorial only puts the deal at greater risk. In the past year, Memorial lost $23 million. "We agree with and support the steps that Care New England has announced today.  We look forward to continuing our due diligence process, which will now include evaluating the impact that Care New England’s new plans for Memorial will have on its overall turnaround plan," said Rich Copp, Vice President of Communications of Partners HealthCare in an email to GoLocal on Tuesday.
Lifespan -- the state’s largest healthcare group --  is trying to reverse its own financial challenges. In 2015, Lifespan lost $9.5 million. In 2016, the financial losses jumped to $29 million.
St. Joseph Health Services pension fund went into receivership and faces a shortfall of tens of millions and over 2,700 pensioners face cuts to their pensions of potentially as much as 40 percent.
VNA of Rhode Island, one of Rhode Island’s oldest home care and hospice providers, based in Warwick, Rhode Island, announced their closure by the end of the calendar year.
Nearly every hospital is impacted, thousands of employees are at risk, and pensions are failing.
This is all before changes to Obamacare have taken place. On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that directs the Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury, and the Department of Labor to “take action to increase competition, increase choice, and increase access to lower-priced, high-quality healthcare options,” said the President before signing the document. The plan will take the first steps to expand choices and alternatives to Obamacare plans and increase competition to bring down the costs for consumers. Source: GOLOCAL PROV.