REGIONAL BRIEFS

2 men die, 1 injured, in head-on crash in Amherst

— Two men have died in a headon crash involving a car and a minivan in Amherst, authorities say.

The vehicles collided at about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to a statement Wednesday from the Northwestern district attorney’s office. According to the preliminary investigation, the southbound car crossed the double solid yellow lines in a no passing zone, and crashed head on with the northbound minivan.

Both occupants of the car, a man in his 40s and a man in his 20s, were pronounced dead at the scene. Both were Amherst residents. No names were released.

The driver of the minivan remained at the scene and was cooperative with police before being taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The crash remains under investigation and no charges or citations have been issued.

Autopsies are scheduled.

State hospital groups renew cooperation talks

— Rhode Island’s two largest hospital groups, spurred by increased cooperation during he coronavirus pandemic, have restarted talks to boost collaboration and form with Brown University what one executive called an “integrated, unified, academic health care system.”

Lifespan and Care New England have in the past entered merger talks, most recently last year, but they always failed.

Lifespan President and CEO Dr. Timothy Babineau and Care New England President and CEO Dr. James Fanale said increased collaboration would be in the best interests of the state.

“During the past few months of the COVID-19 crisis, Lifespan and Care New England have been working together in unprecedented ways to benefit the people of Rhode Island, our patients and employees. As a result, both parties have agreed to enter into an exploration process to understand the pros and cons of what a formal continuation of this collaboration could look like in the future,” they said Tuesday in a joint statement.

Brown President Christina Paxson welcomed the news. “Any effort to increase collaboration between these two systems comes with the potential to benefit health care for Rhode Islanders and to advance biomedical research in partnership with Brown,” she told The Providence Journal.

Talks are expected to take several months. Oil spill settlement money to aid in loon restoration — Federal and state environmental agencies are spending more than $8 million from a legal settlement stemming from a 2003 oil spill to help restore the common loon to some areas of Massachusetts, and to support existing populations of the birds across New England and New York, federal wildlife officials said Wednesday.

The plan calls for the release of 45 to 60 common loon chicks from Maine and New York to historic Massachusetts breeding sites at the Assawompset Pond Complex in Lakeville and October Mountain Reservoir in Washington.

Another portion of the settlement will be used to increase survival of nesting loons at many breeding sites in the Northeast.

The final plan also includes projects benefiting common eiders and other coastal birds.

The work is being funded by a 2017 settlement with Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc. and others.