Regional Briefs
Man dies after medical emergency at
construction site
PROVIDENCE (AP) — Police say a construction worker who suffered a medical emergency while working on a scaffolding in Rhode Island about 45 feet off the ground has died.
Firefighters responded to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Providence at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday after workers flagged down an officer working a detail nearby.
Two police officers scaled the scaffolding and performed CPR on the man for 15 minutes.
The worker was lowered to the ground in a basket and taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause is under investigation
Mark Sutherland, rector at St. Martin’s, said he was “deeply shocked” by the death and said the victim was a “cheerful and happy person.”
Massachusetts selects second planned offshore
wind project
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts is forging ahead with plans to develop offshore wind farms despite mixed signals from federal regulators.
The Baker administration announced that Mayflower Wind has been selected by the state’s electric distribution companies to begin contract negotiations to provide 804 megawatts of offshore wind to Massachusetts.
Wednesday’s announcement brings the amount of planned offshore wind energy under a 2016 bill signed by Gov. Charlie Baker to approximately 1,600 megawatts. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide affordable energy.
The plan has hit some snags. In August, federal regulators abruptly postponed issuing a key environmental impact statement for Vineyard Wind, which hopes to build an 800-megawatt, 84-turbine offshore wind farm. The combined energy output of the projects represents about 12% of total Massachusetts annual energy demand.
Casino operator alleges threat from top
Raimondo aide
PROVIDENCE (AP) — A top executive with the operator of Rhode Island’s two casinos has publicly identified Gov. Gina Raimondo’s chief of staff as the aide who threatened “consequences” if they opposed a rival company’s 20year no-bid contract to run the state lottery and video slots.
Twin River’s Marc Crisafulli told Senate Finance Chairman William Conley in a letter that the casino operator was initially reluctant to name Brett Smiley as the aide who made the threat.
Twin River wants the right to bid on IGT’s $1 billion contract to run the lottery and slot machines.
Raimondo, a Democrat, said Wednesday “absolutely no one” made any threats.
Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello in a statement said he was “deeply troubled” by the threat allegation.
The chairwoman of the state Republican Party called for an investigation.
Man who lived in house where babies’ bodies
found sentenced
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who lived in a squalid home with his girlfriend where authorities found the remains of their three dead babies has pleaded guilty to related charges.
Ramon Rivera pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges including assault and battery on a child and reckless endangerment. Rivera was sentenced to a total of seven years behind bars but was given credit for time served since his 2014 arrest, meaning he has about two more years to serve. In seeking the plea deal Rivera’s lawyer cited his lack of criminal history and his success while incarcerated. Attorney Anthony Salerno called the deal “a fair disposition.”
Rivera’s girlfriend, Erika Murray, was acquitted of murder but convicted of similar charges in June. She was arrested after the babies’ bodies were discovered inside the rodent-infested Blackstone home.
Mass. reports 2nd vaping-related death
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts health officials say a second state resident has died from a vaping-related lung illness.
Marylou Sudders, secretary of Health and Human Services, told WGBH-FM on Wednesday that the second resident was a woman in her 40s from Middlesex County. The state previously said a woman in her 60s from Hampshire County died of a vaping-related illness.
No additional information was released.
Sudders says both deaths were attributed to the use of nicotine vaping products.
She says the state has had 204 suspected cases of vaping-related pulmonary illnesses, 61 of which were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as confirmed or probable.
Police seek suspect in YMCA locker room theft
SOUTH KINGSTOWN (AP) — Police in Rhode Island are looking for the public’s help to identify a man they say stole credit cards from a YMCA locker room.
South Kingstown police said on Facebook on Tuesday the suspect used fraudulent identification to gain access to the Y in town earlier this month.
He then stole credit cards from the locker area, which he used to make purchases at several locations in Warwick and West Warwick.
Police released surveillance images of the suspect and are asking anyone with information to contact them.