Three Rhode Island independent bookstores are relaunching a statewide program that challenges readers to visit every indie bookshop in the state — and rewards those who pull it off.

The Rhode Island Independent Bookstore Passport Adventure, first launched in 2019, returns April 18 and runs through April 26. Passports are free and will be distributed starting April 18 at three anchor locations: Charter Books in Newport, Books on the Square in Providence, and Wakefield Books in Wakefield. Participants then have nine days to visit all 20 stores on the list and collect a stamp at each one. No purchase is required for a stamp.

Completed passports must be returned to one of the three anchor locations by April 26. Everyone who finishes will receive a sheet of twenty 20% off coupons, one valid at each participating store. One grand prize winner will receive twenty $25 gift certificates — one per store — for a total value of $500.

“The RI Independent Bookstore Passport Adventure is an opportunity to celebrate our local indie bookstore scene and encourage our customers to explore the many unique bookshops this state has to offer,” said Jennifer Kandarian, manager at Books on the Square.

The program also coincides with Independent Bookstore Day on April 25, a national celebration organized by the American Booksellers Association. Eleven of the twenty participating stores are ABA members and will offer special events, freebies and discounts that day.

The 20 participating stores span the state, from Westerly to Tiverton:

arc{hive} book + snackery, Warren; Barrington Books, Barrington; Binds and Blooms, Coventry; Book Around, Pawtucket; Books on the Square, Providence; Brown University Bookstore, Providence; Charter Books, Newport; Forget Me Not Fables, North Providence; Heartleaf Books, Providence; Ink Fish Books, Warren; Island Books, Middletown; Little Bubblegum Bookshop, Providence; Martin House Books, Westerly; Map Center, Pawtucket; Paper Nautilus Books, Providence; Riffraff, Providence; Stillwater Books, West Warwick; Symposium Books, Providence; Wakefield Books, Wakefield; Yellow House, Tiverton.

More information is available at booksq.com/passport. Questions can be directed to ribookstorepassport@gmail.com.

• A report from Rhode Island’s Attorney General shows an increase in charges for possessing illegal high-capacity magazines.
• Prosecutors charged 384 cases involving magazines holding more than 10 rounds in 2025, up from 304 in 2024.
• Overall gun crime cases charged by prosecutors also rose from 415 in 2024 to 498 in 2025.
• The report highlights that illegal magazines were found at the scenes of the recent mass at Brown University and Pawtucket’s Lynch Arena.

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s annual “gun crimes” report shows that authorities have increased their enforcement of a new law that makes it illegal to carry a magazine holding more than 10 rounds.

Working with police, prosecutors charged 384 of the magazine cases in 2025 compared with 304 in 2024, says the report, which many regard as a kind of barometer on gun control in the state.

A 2022 law limits higher-capacity magazines. Illegal magazines were recovered at the scenes of two recent mass shootings, one at Brown University in December and the other at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket in February.

Neronha references both shootings prominently and with sadness in his opening to the report, which he compiles each year in accordance with state law.

“Whether gun crimes have trended up or down in 2025 (they have trended up a bit) is almost a moot point when a community as tight-knit as Rhode Island is still mourning in the aftermath of such tragedies,” Neronha writes. “And yet, our Office continues to work tirelessly to address gun violence.”

The report shows that prosecutors:

• Both charged and disposed of 787 cases in 2025 compared with 751 in 2024
• Charged 498 new cases statewide compared with 415 in 2024
• Charged 81 cases involving ghost guns in 2025 compared with 81 in 2024.

Ghost guns and bans on ‘large capacity feeding devices’

The report notes that on Oct. 31, 2025, a judge gave a life prison sentence to 28-year-old Jovon Depina for murdering Jovani Velez with a ghost gun.

A total of 418 of the 498 new cases were charged in Providence County.

On Oct. 23, 2025, 53-year-old Luis Sepulveda was found guilty of murder and of possessing a large-capacity feeding device.

Coalition Against Gun Violence says numbers in gun crimes report are telling

Ariana Wohl, board chair for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence, said the volume of magazine cases shows the significance of the new law.

“That’s hundreds of potential acts of violence that were interrupted,” Wohl said.

“Prevention is sometimes hard to recognize,” Wohl said, “because the violence isn’t happening, but these kind of cases help us show that … having the laws on the books matters.”

She acknowledged that the public cannot assume that anyone possessing an illegal magazine will commit an act of violence.

“But it only takes one angry person with a high-capacity lethal weapon to create a real tragedy,” she said. “The point of prevention is not to allow for even one.”

Para Bellum Provisions is analyzing Neronha’s report

Dan Kesler, vice president of Para Bellum Provisions, said he expected an even larger number of magazine cases in 2025.

“So the numbers went up this year for the magazine capacity limit, and I would have expected it would have gone up more than it actually did, because everyone is getting more accustomed to charging those crimes now.”

Kesler’s organization supports the gun-rights community and also provides firearms safety classes.

He also said that actual convictions are a stronger reflection of enforcement activity than arrests and charges.

He said that Para Bellum is working on an analysis of the attorney general’s gun report that will be posted on its website, ParaBellumProvisions.org.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Judge Maureen McKenna Goldberg walks into the Rhode Island Supreme court with reverence even after serving 35 years in the court building on the East Side. Goldberg points to a statue in back and tells the story.

“There is lady justice up there. She is really the guidepost for us all. Justice is blind, even and the sword for enforcement,” she said.

Thirty five years on the bench and one of only three women to ever serve the high court. Goldberg’s office said she is the second-longest serving justice in state history. She’s served under seven governors and three chief justices.

Goldberg is the queen of the court and a trailblazer. She attended St. Mary’s Academy Bay View, Providence College and Suffolk Law school in Boston.

Judge Maureen McKenna Goldberg spoke with NBC 10’s Dan Jaehnig. (WJAR)

Goldberg served as the only women on the court for span of 20 years, and in a male-dominated world, she quickly earned her reputation.

“I remember I had a witness in the grand jury, and we took a break and he came out and said ‘if you were a man I’d punch you in the mouth.’ I said go ahead. And there was a couple of state troopers there and they immediately went to headquarters and reported it,” she said.

The photo behind her desk is of famed State Police Col. Stone. Both friends and tough cookies. Goldberg was known as a fierce prosecutor before she put on the robe. She prosecuted big cases from the mob to Buddy Cianci’s attack on a man he thought his then wife was having an affair with.

“He was a very difficult case. You know he committed a serious crime and he’s lucky he didn’t go to jail for it,” said Goldberg.

She has a love for the law, is studied, and passionate about the Bill of Rights. Goldberg revealed for the first time the Rhode Island law she would like to see changed.

“Well, I don’t think the mandatory consecutive life sentences for a gun crime, where the judges have no discretion but to impose that. Where there is a homicide committee with a firearm and a conviction for a murder, mandatory life sentence,” said Goldberg.

She is known for her tough sharp questioning of lawyers before the court. Goldberg said she got that toughness from growing up in a family of seven.

Born in Pawtucket, she grew up in East Providence in an Irish Catholic family with strong parents where dinners at the table and education were a priority. Goldberg said her father was tough in teaching her to stand up for herself.

“Honesty, integrity and character were the most important aspects of his life. And he was an alcoholic. A prominent member, to the extent you can be prominent of alcoholics anonymous for 45 years. He was a wonderful father and my mother was too. We had a wonderful home life,” she said.

Goldberg has been married to her husband Robert for 45 years. He is a prominent attorney and Republican lawyer which forced her to recuse herself in some cases.

They are career-driven and met in Matunuck in a typical Rhode Island story. Her aunt worked for his father, who also became a judge.

“I’m lucky very lucky and I think he’s lucky too,” she said.

When Goldberg is not whipping up a veal dish or reading a Robert Gresham novel, the two are avid boaters.

“We spent a lot of time on block island and sailing waters of New England,” she said.

No surprise, her favorite movie is “The Godfather,” and their favorite restaurant is a toss-up between 22 Bowens in Newport or the University Club which she is a member of.

She has a good sense of humor and a contagious smile and when you ask her about her legacy.

“I’ve always said to family and friends and everybody else. Make sure you remember me as a good sport, but I’d like them to know I tried my best,” said Goldberg.

In retirement, she still has court responsibilities, but she is not finishing up cases she will be on the boat or spending time with her 13 nieces and nephews who she is close to.