Trash Contract Finalized
At the April 9 meeting of the Newport City Council, a new fiveyear solid waste and recycling contract was awarded to Waste Management of Foxboro, Mass. The vote was 5 to 1, with Councilor Michael Farley recused and Third Ward Councilor Kathryn Leonard voting against the agreement. A new system of city-owned carts will be implemented to streamline collection procedures, […]
National Arboretum Week in Newport
Celebrate the unparalleled beauty of Newport’s urban landscape at events across the city during National Arboretum Week, April 21-26. The Pell Center will host “Beyond Legend: Reimagining Newport’s Urban Forest” on Monday, April 21 with a thoughtprovoking presentation about the past, present and future of Newport’s trees. The free event runs 5-7 p.m. and includes light refreshments. The Preservation Society […]
Newport’s Trees through the Ages
When Roger Williams negotiated the purchase of Aquidneck from Native Americans in 1638, the island forest was lush. From that point forward, the forest was steadily cleared for construction and farmland. By 1779, three years of wartime occupation and desperation for winter fuel had decimated the tree canopy. The landscape of the city was reborn, however, one hundred years later […]
Union Urges Panel to Avoid Pay Cuts
Money should not be saved on the backs of teachers, Lisa Wood, president of the National Education Association – Middletown, the union representing the town’s teachers, told the Middletown School Committee at its April 10 meeting. Wood, an eighth grade math teacher at Gaudet Middle School, said she was addressing comments made recently in a letter written by committee member […]
Ready to Go Daffy?
Newport’s going daffy. Well, it’s about time. Loyal and hardy friends that they are, hundreds of thousands of bright yellow daffodil blooms are bursting forth throughout Newport this week, in spite of the long winter. What a joyful and welcoming sight they are. Newport’s now blessed with over 250,000 perennially blooming daffodils planted by the Daffodil Project – 98,500 of […]
‘ Periwinkle Blue’ Flags Help Honor Young DUI Victim
Six hundred small “periwinkle blue” flags planted on the school’s front lawn greeted Middletown High School students first-thing Wednesday morning. A new set of posters–same color–were set up inside. “We wanted the kids to be asking each other what it was all about as they got off the bus,” said Lori Verderosa, coordinator of the Middletown Prevention Coalition MPC) that […]
‘Born This Way Prom’ Welcomes All Teens
Long considered to be a teenage rite of passage, prom season is just around the corner, and one group on Aquidneck Island is making sure that all teens have a place to celebrate. Now in its fifth year, the Born This Way Prom, coordinated by Interweave at Channing Memorial Church, will take place at the Easton’s Beach Rotunda on Friday, […]
Newport Ready to Rise to Energy Challenge
With a deadline just two weeks away, Newporters who care about saving energy have rolled up their sleeves to recruit 200 more city residents to join what’s known as the Rhode Island Energy Challenge. Besides simply saving energy, getting 200 more people to enroll— that’s the number still needed to reach 500, or five percent of the city’s population—would win […]
HDC OKs Ochre Court Antennas
Following a continuance from its March meeting and a site visit to Salve Regina University, the Historic District Commission has endorsed a request from AT&T to install telecommunications equipment on the roof of Ochre Court to join antennas from Verizon already there. Although HDC members had paused over the idea of additional antennas on such a significant structure, they were […]
