Regional Briefs
EAST GREENWICH (AP) — Rhode Island State Police have charged a South Kingstown woman in connection with a crash in January that claimed the lives of two of her passengers.
Police say 25-year-old Precious Montey is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on two counts of driving under the influence of liquor or drugs resulting in death.
Police say Montey was behind the wheel of a Jeep in East Greenwich at about 3 a.m. on Jan. 27 when she lost control, veered across two lanes, and struck a tree.
Two passengers, 21-year-old Emma Brown and 33-yearold Lorenzo Smith, both of South Kingstown, died at the scene. Montey and another passenger were hospitalized.
Police say Montey’s blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit to drive. It couldn’t be determined if she has a lawyer.
Man, woman found shot to death
PROVIDENCE (AP) — A woman picking up her grandson from a Rhode Island home says the 4-year-old told her he heard gunshots and his mother was dead.
Police found the bodies of a man and a woman in a Providence home Thursday after responding to reports of shots fired around 3:40 p.m.
Vankham Sonevong later identified the woman as her 24-year-old daughter, Vicky. Sonevong says the man was her daughter’s boyfriend, 28-year-old Steve Soundara. Sonevong says Soundara previously threatened to kill her daughter.
Providence police have not officially identified the bodies. Authorities say both suffered gunshot wounds, and they have recovered a gun believed to have been used in both deaths.
Police say they were not seeking any suspects as of Thursday night. Woman charged in double-fatal crash
One of Rhode Island’s last dairy farms may give up cows
SOUTH KINGSTOWN (AP) — One of the last remaining dairy farms in Rhode Island may be forced to sell its cows after more than a century in business because of crushing debt.
The Providence Journal reports that the Cottrell family’s farm in South Kingstown is one of only nine in the state. In the 1950s, there were nearly 400.
Matt Cottrell says he recently bought enough grain for three weeks. When that runs out, the Cottrells will need to get rid of their cows and lease their fields to a turf farm.
In 2016, the Cottrells sought permission to install a 1-acre solar field. They hoped to generate income to deal with their debt, but the process was slowed as the town crafted regulations. Approval of the project will likely take until May or June.
Man charged in library stabbing sent to psychiatric hospital
BOSTON (AP) — The man accused of stabbing a woman to death inside a Massachusetts public library has been sent to a maximum security psychiatric hospital.
Defense Attorney J.W. Carney tells The Boston Globe that 23-year-old Jeffrey Yao was transferred to Bridgewater State Hospital after officials from the Middlesex Sherriff’s Office told a judge he was too mentally ill to remain in jail.
Yao has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of 22-year-old Deane Kenny Stryker. Authorities say he stabbed Stryker 20 times with a hunting knife at the Winchester Public Library on Saturday in what prosecutors have called an unprovoked attack.
Carney praised the sheriff’s office for recognizing that Yao is “not appropriate for a jail, but rather a maximum security psychiatric hospital.”
Lawmakers urge creation of inspector general’s office
PROVIDENCE (AP) — Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Rhode Island are pressing for the creation of an Office of Inspector General to root out government abuse, fraud and waste.
Republican Rep. Robert Lancia said at a news conference Thursday that the state’s budget shortfall makes the need for the watchdog role more urgent. He is the lead sponsor of a bill to create the office.
The bill would give the office subpoena power to investigate mismanagement of public funds at the local, state and federal level. In addition to pursuing civil and criminal cases, the inspector general would issue annual recommendations on cost-saving measures.
The Providence Journal reports that the legislature has an auditor general and the Department of Administration has auditors that work with state agencies.