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Expansion of Johnston housing board stuck in RI Senate - 52 minutes ago
JOHNSTON -- The Town Council's proposal to add two more commissioners to the Johnston Housing Authority has hit a roadblock in the General Assembly, where a key lawmaker accuses Johnston officials of devising legislation as a means to "target someone" politically.The lawmaker, Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, chairs the Senate's Committee on Housing and Municipal Government and his opposition has pitted him against various Johnston officials as well as the vocal husband of the bill's House sponsor, state Rep. Deborah Fellela.Tassoni said Fellela's husband, Henry Fellela, swore at him after it became clear that he would not schedule the bill to leave his committee for the Senate floor. This was on Thursday, June 25."It's quite obvious after what I went through on Thursday that there's a vendetta in Johnston and I'm not going to be part of it," said Tassoni, who declined to identify the alleged target of an expanded housing board.Some Johnston officials, including Fellela and the council's president, Robert V. Russo, say they simply want greater participation on all local boards and commissions, including the five-person panel that oversees the housing authority."They're trying to hold it up in the Senate for political reasons," Russo said. "I don't see any credible rational reason to object to it besides politics...I don't know why someone would not want more members, more eyes and ears on their board unless they have something to hide."Some other Rhode Island communities have seven-member housing boards, but the sixth and seventh members of these boards are residents of public housing, said Tassoni, adding that Johnston officials would not amend the proposal accordingly after he raised the issue on June 26.If the legislation paves the way for the appointment of two more commissioners to the housing board this summer, the panel could come under the control of four commissioners, all appointed within several months of each other. The council recently appointed Dr. Christine DiComes to the five-member housing board. Another position on the panel is up for reappointment in September.The housing authority, created by an act of the legislature, serves 728 people and owns 160 properties. About 2,000 people are on the waiting list for housing and the authority's management of the list has been a source of political controversy in the past.The authority's executive director, David aRusso, said the Town Council did not consult him before it passed a resolution requesting the legislation on June 23."Why do we have to consult him?" aRusso said. "If they're doing a good job, they'll do a better job with more people."aRusso accused the council of a power grab to muster stronger control of the board.aRusso is chairman of the Democratic Town Committee and president of an umbrella organization for town and city committees from around Rhode Island.When he was asked if he might be the target that Tassoni is referring to, aRusso said he doesn't know.He said "he can only surmise" that the council wants more power over the waiting list.He said that his own 5-year contract ends in September, but the contract carries a provision for "automatic renewal."

Update: Dog owners criticize Carcieri's Twin River veto - 1 hour ago
By Katherine GreggJournal State House BureauPROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Making good on an earlier warning, Governor Carcieri has vetoed legislation allowing Twin River to operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week, while also forcing the owners of the Lincoln track and slot parlor to drop their plans to suspend greyhound racing Aug. 8 and run a full 200-day season.The Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association soon after issued a statement criticizing the governor's veto, saying that the owners were "disappointed with Governor Carcieri for prioritizing big banks over Rhode Island jobs."The owners of the bankrupt slot parlor had served notice of their intent to suspend the live races .Aug. 8 after conducting the minimum of 125 annual racing days required by current law. Legislative relief from their obligation to run the races, at a steep loss, was also one of the conditions of the Chapter 11 restructuring plan filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court District last week.The House and Senate approved the bill nonetheless, despite warnings from Gary Sasse, the director of the state Department of Administration, that the state could lose upward of $25 million in needed gambling revenue if legislators interfere with the restructuring plan that Twin River owners, a subsidiary of BLB Investors, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week. Under that plan, Twin River would turn over the keys to the greyhound track and slot parlor to its lenders, who would be free to bring in a new operator within 120 days, unless an alternate agreement was reached. The agreement hinged, in part, on the state's approval of round-the-clock gambling, which promises to raise an additional $3 million to $4 million in state revenue, and the legislature's agreement to relieve Twin River of the obligation to run greyhound racing. In his message, Carcieri said he vetoed the legislation because dog racing at Twin River has become increasingly "unprofitable,'' the $9 million operating subsidy the owners currently pay the dog-owners "contributes to Twin River's crippling debt,'' and "most of that money inures to the benefit of out-of-state kennel and dog owners and not Rhode Islanders.''This entry was first posted at 5:01 p.m. and updated at 5:31 p.m.Continue reading...

Update: Police identify EB worker killed in accident - 2 hours ago
By Donita NaylorJournal Staff WriterNORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. -- The Electric Boat employee who was fatally injured in an accident at the submarine builder's Quonset Point plant Wednesday morning was Ritchie Morse, 31, a North Kingstown resident who had worked at Electric Boat for 10 years, a police spokesman said.North Kingstown Police Capt. Thomas J. Mulligan said Wednesday that the incident is still being investigated. In a news release Wednesday, Mulligan said that the worker was moving a section of steel out through the large door of Building 2003, Bay-1 East, but rain began falling, so he moved to bring it back in. The transport was stopped, Mulligan said, and Morse had exited it, when the closing door trapped him against the transport.General Dynamics Electric Boat spokesman Robert A. Hamilton identified the transport as a Scheuerle. The German company makes self-propelled shipyard transporters for the shipping and boatbuilding industries.Deputy Fire Chief Walter Burrows said an ambulance responded to the call, at 7:29 a.m. Wednesday, for a mechanically trapped worker. When rescue workers arrived, Burrows said, Electric Boat's emergency response team was already treating the injured worker. Burrows said they continued to administer aid while Morse was taken to Kent Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.Counselors were sent to the site, Hamilton said. (This entry was first posted Wednesday, and updated today at 1:57 p.m.)

Fidelity to bring hundreds of new jobs to R.I. - 3 hours ago
Mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments of Boston plans to bring hundreds of new jobs to Rhode Island, Governor Carcieri said Thursday.The move is part of an internal reshuffling of staff among Fidelity's various locations in Massachusetts, including Boston and Marlborough.As part of that reshuffling, Fidelity plans to move several hundred jobs to its Smithfield campus.In a statement, Carcieri said, "Fidelity has established itself as one of our most important corporate citizens. Today's announcement to bring 500 additional jobs to the state is welcome news, and builds on the growing financial services industry here in Rhode Island. Fidelity continues to make an investment in Rhode Island and its workforce, and I look forward to the positive impact of the company's expanded presence."The move will boost employment in Rhode Island, which has an unemployment rate of 12.1 percent, the highest since at least 1976.

Mobster St. Laurent taken to hospital; lawyer seeks delay - 3 hours ago
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The lawyer for Anthony M. "The Saint" St. Laurent Sr., who is accused of trying to recruit fellow inmates to kill a Patriarca crime family rival, has moved for a delay in the case, saying St. Laurent has been taken to a Massachusetts hospital from Fort Devens federal prison."It has been reported that the defendant is seriously ill and in no position, physically or mentally to have a legal discussion with counsel," said the motion filed Wednesday by Providence lawyer Victor J. Beretta." ... Counsel and the defendant move that all action" in the case "be delayed until further notice," the motion states.A federal grand jury in April indicted St. Laurent on charges of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and of murder for hire against Robert P. "Bobby" DeLuca Sr., whom authorities describe as a capo regime in the Patriarca crime family. Authorities say St. Laurent was a made member of the Patriarca crime family.St. Laurent has been serving a five-year term at Federal Medical Center Devens, in western Massachusetts, for extortion. The motion filed by Beretta does not disclose the hospital where St. Laurent has been moved. St. Laurent pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court, Providence, before Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond, via a video link from Fort Devens on April 20. Beretta's motion also says that St. Laurent's former lawyer, court-appointed public defender Olin Thompson, "has not formally withdrawn as counsel nor has he forwarded his discovery to counsel." The motion says that is so because Thompson "rightly believes that he needs to confer with the defendant before he takes any action."On June 29, Thompson, the court-appointed public defender for St. Laurent, filed a motion to withdraw now that St. Laurent "has hired private counsel."