Rockefeller grant supports research to aid coastal fisheries

URI Graduate School of Oceanography secures Rockefeller Foundation grant for sustainable fisheries work

From Todd McLeish, URI

Kingston, R.I. — The Coastal Resources Center (CRC) at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) has been awarded a grant of $559,296 from the Rockefeller Foundation in support of monitoring, coordinating and communicating learning from grantees and partners of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Oceans & Fisheries Initiative. 

This Low-Carb Diet Is Good for You and the Planet

Can you resolve to reduce your fossil-fuel consumption by eating fewer animal products?

By Jill Richardson

2014. A new year. The time to make resolutions. It’s when we all join gyms, sign up for dating sites, and start new diets — only to quit them a few weeks later.

If you’re into resolutions, I’ve got one for you to consider: In 2014, try a low-carb diet. Not a low–carb(ohydrate) diet, but a low-carbon one. As in carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas causing the climate crisis.

If you think it sounds a bit strange, hear me out.

Winter Trout Fishing in our area

DEM stocks five area fishing spots with rainbow trout

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management has stocked trout in ponds throughout Rhode Island for the winter fishing season. 

During the first two weeks of December, DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife stocked approximately 2000 Rainbow trout in several ponds statewide; Carbuncle Pond (Coventry), Barber Pond (South Kingstown), Silver Spring Lake (North Kingstown), Meadowbrook Pond (Richmond), and the Wood River, Rt 165 access (Exeter).

Charlestown Dems kick off election season with endorsement

Charlestown Democratic Town Committee Endorses Peter Kilmartin for Reelection as Attorney General
Editor’s note: this article comes from the Kilmartin campaign. The CDTC issued its own statement which you can read by clicking here.

Pawtucket, RI – With Peter Kilmartin making his intention clear that he will seek a second term as Attorney General, the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee endorsed him for reelection to the top law enforcement official in the state, citing his leadership and track record as an advocate for the people of Rhode Island.

Craft Peeps?

Snack Gentrification

By Jen Sorenson

It's inevitable. Click here to find out how bad.

A Charlestown Citizens Christmas, Day 3

Making 12 days seem like 12 years

By Charleston Dickens

On the Third Day of Christmas the CCA gave to us...

'Three Loopy Lawsuits'

Two Amateurs Appointed

And a Partridge on the Anonymous Abutters Bus

When Peeping While You’re Sleeping Is No Laughing Matter

The National Security Agency and our Department of Homeland Security want to squelch parody that pokes fun at them.
By Jim Hightower

It’s a scary world out there, with global terrorists plotting to kill us.

That’s why we must be grateful to the National Security Agency and our Department of Homeland Security. They’re constantly on watch, poised to spring to our defense, no matter from what hellhole the threat emanates.

Some homegrown cynics say the billions a year we spend on these two agencies of eternal vigilance is wasted.

Yeah? Well let me rub the noses of those cynics in the dangerous mess right in our own midst that was uncovered and efficiently (dare I say “heroically”?) dealt with by the proud patriots of NSA and DHS.

I speak of LibertyManiacs.com, a diabolical website run by a fiend named Dan McCall. Yes, McCall is an American, but apparently he has been recruited to the dark side, for he’s issuing communist-style propaganda that hurts the efforts of our “anti-terror” heroes — or at least it’s hurting their feelings.

Community Food Bank has only days left to match challenge grant

Click here to give on-line

She Knew I Would Make It

Every Christmas season brings me back to a decisive moment in my career.

By Donald Kaul

After Peter O’Toole died in December, The New York Times gave him a worthy sendoff. The marvelous English actor’s obituary, which began on the front page, ran several thousand words.

At the conclusion of its online version the Times ran this addendum:

“An earlier version of a slide show caption with this article misstated the title of release date of one of the films in which Peter O’Toole starred. It was ‘How to Steal a Million,’ not ‘How to Steal a Million Dollars,’ and it was released in 1966, not 1965.”

EcoRI takes a long, hard look at Copar Quarry in Bradford

Environment vs. Business: Who Wins?

Mining operations at the long-dormant Westerly Granite Co. site in Bradford began three years ago. The headaches — literally and figuratively — began about a year later.

Complex quarry dispute in Westerly shows what happens when the absence of long- and short-term planning leads to a collision of residential and economic interests.

Text and photos by FRANK CARINI/ecoRI.org News staff

WESTERLY — Nowhere among the stacks of newspaper clips, inspection reports, court transcripts and other documents devoted to the current use of the former Westerly Granite Co. quarry does the name Tony Soprano appear. But the ongoing feud between the current operators of the quarry and some neighbors certainly has a made-for-TV feel.

In fact, the story would be wildly entertaining if it wasn’t fracturing a community. The nearly-two-year ordeal has featured lawsuits, mediation sessions, public meetings, conflicts of interest and at least one arrest. It doesn’t appear close to being resolved.

Tom Tomorrow looks back at 2013, Part 1

Year in Crazy, Part One

By Tom Tomorrow

Click here to see January through July.

A Charlestown Citizens Christmas, Day 2

Making 12 days seem like 12 years

By Charleston Dickens

On the Second Day of Christmas the CCA gave to us…

Two Amateurs Appointed

And a Partridge on the Anonymous Abutters Bus

Connecticut food shoppers will get access to more information

GMO Labeling Law in Connecticut

From: Jan Lee, Triple Pundit, at ENN.com

Connecticut's new GMO-labeling law is a first — in more than one way.

With ceremonious flourish last week, Governor Dannel Malloy signed into law a bill that would require labeling on all products meant for human consumption that contain genetically modified ingredients (GMO). The legislation was passed by voters in June and actually received the governor's formal endorsement at that time.

The Dec. 11 ceremonial signing, which took place at the front of raw foods restaurant Catch a Healthy Habit in Fairfield, CT, was meant to send a signal: Connecticut is willing to legislate change in this arena, but it couldn't — or wouldn't — do it alone.

Another bit of wind turbine credo debunked

Study Finds Turbines Don’t Impact Home Values

By RUDI HEMPE/ecoRI.org News contributor

KINGSTON — A sweeping report covering all of the major wind turbine installations in Rhode Island has concluded that the property values of single-family homes near these spinning devices haven’t declined — at least according to the statistical data accumulated so far.
The report was delivered Dec. 17 by Corey Lang, assistant professor in the University of Rhode Island Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, before a relatively quiet but attentive audience of about 50 people. The study was one of several being sponsored by the state Office of Energy Resources (OER) on wind turbines.

Rebuilding Rhode Island’s Economy, Part 1

Economic Development 101

By Brian Hull in Rhode Island’s Future

I am of the mind that the biggest issue facing the state right now is the sluggish economy.  I know many share this belief.  

With that in mind, I will be focusing my (unfortunately limited) time writing specifically on creative strategies to improve Providence’s and the state’s economy, and thinking about it from the perspective of the upcoming gubernatorial and Providence Mayoral campaigns (i.e., what do the candidates have to say about what I write?).  

Before I delve into specific suggestions, I believe there are a few items relevant to economic growth that need to be clarified at the outset.