Latest Health Department Inspection reports

Some local establishments need to do some cleaning. Badly.

By Will Collette

This is the third installment of Progressive Charlestown’s periodic reports on the cleanliness of some of our favorite local eating establishment. 

In this installment, I’ll cover reports done by Health Department inspectors since my last article in mid-July.

You’ll find nearly all of the other local eating places covered in my earlier articles (click here and here), or you can check for yourself on the RI Department of Health’s website (click here).

This article notes recent inspections at eight local establishments – the Charlestown Rathskeller, the Hitching Post, Johnny Angels Clam Shack, the Matunuck Oyster Bar, Nordic Lodge, Wilcox Tavern, the Willows and Meadow Brook Inn.

Fifth anniversary party

By Jen Sorenson

Click here to join the party!

The Scary Seven

Enviro News Wrap

Latest IPCC Report; Colorado Flood Aftermath; Coal’s Long Goodbye, and more…

GlobalWarmingisReal contributor Anders Hellum-Alexander wraps-up and comments on the climate and environmental news headlines for the past week:

I spent last weekend in Denver and it turned out to be a terrible time to visit. In the Boulder area floods carved out the land and roads. Gas and oil tanks were disrupted during the flood, spilling their contents. There is a fundamental problem with using dirty energy sources, in the end we spill it.

The newest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report expands on the certainty that humans are the cause of climate change. Arguing against the theory of climate change is like arguing against the theory of evolution. Well, I guess people try to do that too.

Act now before it's too late!

Transforming Scallop Waste Into Medicine

Scientist study the potential of marine material typically tossed overboard

By KELLY KITTEL/ecoRI.org News contributor

URI professor Chong Lee has studied how the portion of the scallop that is usually thrown overboard might be used to feed fish and improve human health. (Melissa Devine)When you think about sea scallops you likely picture them either pan-seared or fried. 

But researchers at the University of Rhode Island may be changing the way we think about scallops, with new discoveries about their beneficial uses in medicines or as a tasty new ingredient in fish food.

Chong Lee, URI professor emeritus and research in nutrition and food sciences, said the value of sea scallops regionally is significant. “The port of New Bedford is not as large as the one in Alaska, but in terms of dollar value, it’s the highest ranking port in the U.S. because of scallops,” he said.

This is especially interesting as more than half of the scallop itself, once caught, never even reaches the dock. The part of the scallop people love to eat is the large adductor muscle that grows up to 2 inches in diameter. 

Big document drop discloses details on Whalerock deal

A dozen legal actions cancelled, complex property shuffle carried out

By Will Collette

Two days after the town closed the deal to buy the site of Larry LeBlanc’s proposed Whalerock wind farm, the town sent me more documents related to the deal and to the termination of all the complex legal maneuvering that surrounded the deal.

These documents totaled just under 150 pages. The largest item was the 128-page closing package (click here to read). 

Also included were ten motions filed in Superior Court to terminate all the legal actions connected to battles over the property.

Charlestown paid $2,114,415 for 74.91 acres out of the total 81 acre package. Charlestown paid an additional $12,232.50 in closing costs for town attorney time and title insurance.

LeBlanc partner James Barrows received final Charlestown approval – in world record time, and probably precedent-setting manner – for a two house-lot subdivision of 6.86 acres that was carved out of the original 81-acre site.

Among the documents were a number that ended various parts of the Whalerock battle including: 

What was that you said?

The Bible tells me so

By Pat Bagley

Click here for the Word.

Idaho’s Reclusive Promised Land

Zealous and heavily armed survivalists are establishing their own fortified town.

By Jim Hightower

I haven’t heard such enthusiastic, downright raucous applause since Texas Gov. “Oops” Perry suggested in 2009 that his state just might withdraw from the union. Unfortunately for him, the applauders weren’t Texans. They were the people of the other 49 states.

This year, though, Idaho is the recipient of hip-hip-hoorays from across the country. Why? Because it’s the site of an extraordinary new town-to-be named “III Citadel.”

This will be a walled, heavily-fortified, one-square-mile settlement of some 7,000 armed and angry, ideologically pure, anti-government extremists drawn from cities, towns, and gopher holes all across America. Lucky you, Idaho!

It all tastes like chicken

Diet Experience Can Alter Taste Preferences

ScienceDaily.com

If you've ever wondered how you learn to like a food you dislike, a new study conducted by UC Santa Barbara's Craig Montell, Duggan Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, may offer an answer. 

The work addresses a central question in neurobiology -- how experience can alter animal behavior. The research, just published in Nature Neuroscience, was conducted by Montell's team, which includes lead author Yali Zhang, Rakesh Raghuwanshi, and Wei Shen.

Among the most widely observed, but poorly understood modifiable behavioral phenomena is that dietary experience can alter taste preferences. This is essential for survival, since animals from insects to humans have to respond to a changing food environment. 

Alterations in taste are well known in humans, as people from the Far East have different taste preferences than people from the West. Individuals who move from one culture to another typically learn to accept the local foods, some of which were originally aversive.

75 Years Aft - The Great New England Hurricane Remembered (Part 2)

When Mother Nature makes her mark - photographic reminders

1938 Charlestown RI (Courtesy RI SOS virtual archive)

Guest article by by Tracey C. O'Neill

In researching the Hurricane of 1938, commonly referred to as the Great New England Hurricane or The Long Island Express, a horrific event in time long before I walked the shoreline of Rhode Island and most definitely while my own mother was in the womb, I discovered a photographic array eerily reminiscent of events I had covered in this decade. 

I produced a pictorial (link) illustrating the ravages of Mother Nature as seen 75 years ago alongside some photos taken during and after Sandy's pass last year. 

It should be noted that there are communities where no photos are shown due to the absence of the very residents who were taken by the sea in 1938, the need for those who survived to concentrate their efforts in communities where hope remained and the poor economic times.

Pope Francis: ‘I have never been a right-winger’

SNAP, Bishop Tobin!

By Steve Ahlquist  in Rhode Island’s Future- See more at: http://www.rifuture.org/pope-francis-i-have-never-been-a-right-winger.html#sthash.1fwEKOv6.dpuf

In an almost direct rebuke to critics, including Rhode Island’s own Bishop Thomas Tobin, leader of the Providence Diocese, Pope Francis, in his first extensive interview since being elected to the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has said,

We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.

Note that just about a week ago Bishop Tobin said, in an interview in the Rhode island Catholic, the diocesan newspaper Tobin controls,

I’m a little bit disappointed in Pope Francis that he hasn’t, at least that I’m aware of, said much about unborn children, about abortion, and many people have noticed that. I think it would be very helpful if Pope Francis would address more directly the evil of abortion and to encourage those who are involved in the pro-life movement.

Copar gets its third local quarry site

Relax, Klondike Road, it’s in Richmond. 
They’ll get to you soon enough

By Will Collette

The notorious Connecticut-based Copar Quarries have secured their third local mine site, this time right on Route 138 in the heart of Richmond. The official address is 58-60 Kingstown Road, although those two addresses are actually the site of two small buildings. I just found a lease Copar signed in April with Richmond Realty to mine stone in the huge tract of land slated to become the Richmond Commons mixed-use development.

The plan for Richmond Commons includes just under 400 units of housing (333 apartments) plus business space. It will encompass 45 buildings and over 700,000 square feet of residential and commercial space. If it is actually built, it will be the largest development in Richmond’s history. 

However, there is one aspect of the lease with Copar that makes me wonder if this project will actually be carried out.

Seagull Migration

From Fake Science

When a Hurricane is on the Horizon

How to Prepare Your Home and Stay Safe

by Lourdes Garcia

With winds often exceeding 155 miles per hour, hurricanes pose a great risk to your home and family. Sure, weather forecasts have improved, but hurricanes can still change course at the last minute and land where you least expect them.

They lead to additional weather warnings for severe rain, flash floods, heaving winds, tornadoes, storm surges, mudslides and landslides. Protect your home and loved ones by taking severe weather warnings seriously and properly preparing for one of these incredible storms.